These maple donuts with maple glaze are the perfect donut for fall. They taste just like maple cake in donut form and are topped with a wonderfully delicious and easy maple glaze. In other words, this recipe for homemade maple donuts is bursting with pure maple syrup flavor. Skip the gourmet donut shop and make these baked maple donuts the next time you need to satisfy your doughnut craving!
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore maple syrup. My love for this sweet and complex syrup extends to baking as well as topping and dipping. My Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies, Fudgy Maple Brownies, Chewy Maple Pumpkin Cookies and Brioche French Toast Casserole are just a few maple syrup based recipes I have on the blog. I am so excited to add this maple donut recipe to the mix. I know you’ll love this sweet, maple syrup donut recipe because:
- It has the perfect moist, dense and tender texture. These maple cake donuts with maple frosting are wonderfully moist. They bake up with a gorgeous golden brown color and smell like fresh maple cake.
- Tons of maple flavor. Maple syrup is baked into the maple donut and is used to flavor the maple glaze for donuts. This maple glazed doughnut recipe has pure maple syrup flavor in every bite.
- Easy to make with simple ingredients. These homemade, but still gourmet donuts are made using the same ingredients as maple muffins or maple cake. This maple donut recipe comes together in two bowls with no fancy equipment; just some good old fashioned mixing and baking.
Ingredients
This recipe for maple glazed maple donuts requires a handful of ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your house! Before I show you how to make maple donuts, make sure you have these ingredients ready to go.
For the Maple Donuts:
Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
Wet Ingredients: Gather melted butter, brown sugar, pure maple syrup, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract
For the Maple Glaze for Donuts:
Gather powdered sugar, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract and milk. As an optional topping, gather some chopped candied pecans or chopped maple bacon.
Substitutions
These maple syrup donuts are made to be quick and easy. So quick and easy, you can make it as a special breakfast to enjoy any day of the week. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these homemade baked maple donuts if you need them.
- Ground Spices: Feel free to use any blend of ground spices. Pumpkin spice, chai spice or apple pie spice would all be wonderful in this donut recipe. The total amount of spices for these maple doughnuts is about 2 ½ teaspoons.
- Unsalted Butter: Use salted butter if needed. Just make sure to omit the added teaspoon of salt listed in the recipe. Vegan or dairy free butter can also be used if needed.
- Sour Cream: Feel free to use an equivalent amount of greek yogurt or buttermilk.
- Milk: Any type of milk will work well in these donuts.
- Brown Sugar: Make these maple donuts even more maple flavored by swapping the brown sugar with maple sugar.
- Maple Syrup: This is a pretty important ingredient to these baked maple donuts. If needed use a good quality honey.
- Eggs: This recipe hasn’t been tested without eggs.
How To Make
This recipe for maple glazed donuts is as easy to make as whipping up a batch of muffins. So grab your ingredients and let me show you how to make maple donuts.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F (204 C). Grease a 6 ct. donut pan or muffin pan (see FAQs). In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together until well combined.
- In another large bowl, pour the melted butter, light brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk. Whisk well to fully combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Whisk well until smooth and fully combined with no lumps.
- Spoon or pipe about one heaping tablespoon of maple donut batter into each of the prepared donut cavities in the donut pan. This should fill about ¾ of each cavity of the donut pan.
- Bake the donuts for about 8-10 minutes. The donuts are done when the tops bounce back quickly when lightly pressed. Cool the donuts in the pan for 5 minutes before gently taking them out to cool on a cooling rack.
- While the doughnuts cool, make the maple icing for donuts.
- Make the maple frosting for donuts in a large bowl. Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and teaspoon of milk. Whisk well until smooth and combined.
- Dip cooled maple cake donut into the maple glaze for donuts. Gently shake off any excess icing.
- Place each maple iced donut on the cooling rack. After setting for about 1-2 minutes, top with chopped pecans if desired. Allow the donuts to set for about an hour before eating.
How To Store, Freeze and Thaw
Like doughnuts you get from a donut shop, these baked maple donuts taste best the day they are made. However, if needed they can be stored and enjoyed later.
- To store leftover donuts without glaze: Place the unglazed donuts in an airtight container at room temperature or a day or in the fridge for 2 days. Place a piece of wax or parchment paper between the layers of donuts if stacking them in the container.
- To store iced maple donuts: These are truly best when enjoyed the same day they are made. If needed, place them in a single layer in an airtight container in the fridge for a day, maybe two. After that the donuts begin to dry out.
- To freeze and thaw unglazed donuts: Place the unglazed maple donuts in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for a few hours. Glaze, set and enjoy!
M's Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly.
- Measure the flour properly: I highly recommend using a food scale to get perfectly measured dry ingredients every time.
- Don’t overmix the maple donut batter: Always use the lowest speed on your electric mixer or mix in the dry ingredients by hand. Make sure to mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
- Cool the donuts in the pan for no longer than 5 - 10 minutes.
- Fully cool the maple donuts before dipping in the maple glaze. This usually takes about 30 minutes after the donuts have finished baking.
FAQ's
Yes! If you don’t have a donut pan and still want to make this maple donuts recipe, use a muffin pan instead! Fill each cavity of a 12 ct. muffin pan ¾ full. Bake at 350 F (177 C) for 18 - 20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins bounce back when gently pressed. Glaze the muffins once they have cooled to room temperature.
Donuts have a lot of moisture. Therefore when donuts are stored in an airtight container, the water evaporates into the container where the donuts and glaze take on a wet texture. However, if they are left out, the water evaporates and the donut dries out. The best thing to do is try to enjoy the donuts the day they are made.
More Donut Recipes To Try
If you try this Maple Donuts Recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M
Maple Donuts Recipe
Equipment
- 1-2 6 ct. donut pan
- 1 whisk
Ingredients
Maple Donuts
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tsp (6 g) ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (118 ml) pure maple syrup
- 2 large eggs (US), room temperature
- ½ cup (120 g) sour cream, room temperature
- ½ cup (118 ml) milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
Maple Glaze for Donuts
- 1½ cup (180 g) powdered sugar
- 3-4 tbsp (45-60 ml) maple syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp (15 - 30 ml) milk, as needed
- ½ cup chopped pecans, optional for topping
Instructions
Maple Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 400 F (204 C). Lightly grease a 6 ct. donut pan with non stick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together until well combined.
- In another large bowl, pour the melted butter, light brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk well to fully combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Whisk well until smooth and fully combined with no lumps.
- Spoon or pipe about one heaping tablespoon of maple donut batter into each of the prepared donut cavities in the donut pan. This should fill about ¾ of each cavity of the donut pan.
- Bake the donuts for about 8-10 minutes. The donuts are done when the tops bounce back quickly when lightly pressed.
- Cool the donuts in the pan for 5 minutes before gently taking them out to cool on a cooling rack. While the donuts cool, make the maple icing.
Maple Glaze for Donuts
- In a large bowl, add the powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and teaspoon of milk. Whisk well until smooth and combined. For a thinner icing consistency, add more milk 1 teaspoon at a time.
- Dip cooled maple donuts into the maple glaze for donuts. Gently shake off any excess icing. Place each maple iced donut on the cooling rack. After setting for about 1-2 minutes, top with chopped pecans if desired. Allow the donuts to set for about an hour before eating.
Vicky kirgan says
What about the bacon?
Megan says
Hi Vicky, I included a link to a bacon recipe in the blog post.