Our small batch baked maple donuts with maple glaze create delicate and cakey donuts with a wonderful pop of maple flavor. With our step-by-step photos, tips for success, and easy to follow directions, you’ll have a fresh batch of these on the table in no time!
Both my husband and I LOVE everything maple. Like, love it so much that we had maple sugar candies as our wedding favors, the first wifi password we could agree on (which has since been changed to something more secure) was maplesyrup1, and we always have a locally produced maple syrup in our fridge and a backup in the cabinet. So creating a baked maple donut recipe was a no-brainer!
This small batch recipe makes 6 donuts per batch. Perfect for smaller households, and easy to double if you have a group to feed.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Baked Maple Donut Recipe
- Baked Maple Donut Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
- Maple Donut Recipe Variations
- More Tips for This Recipe
- What to Serve with Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
- How to Store Baked Maple Donuts
- Baked Maple Donut Recipe FAQs
- Love This Recipe? You May Also Enjoy
- Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
Why You’ll Love This Baked Maple Donut Recipe
Easy to make, no frying required! Mix, pipe (or scoop) into your tins, and bake!
Awesome maple flavor! If you love maple everything, these are for you.
Great, cake-like texture. If you’ve never had baked donuts before, you may be wondering what the texture is like. The texture is a little cake like and super moist.
Ready in 25 minutes. Including prep and cook time, you only need about 25 minutes to make this recipe.
Baked Maple Donut Recipe Ingredients
- Pure Maple Syrup: Real maple syrup gives our recipe a nice hint of maple without being overpowering. It’s also a great way to naturally add sweetness, meaning the amount of refined sugar needed in our recipe is reduced – yay!
- Maple Extract or Maple Flavoring: To create the perfect maple glaze, a smidge of maple flavoring is needed. This amps up the overall maple flavor in each bite, giving you that punch of maple that you’re hoping for.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream makes these extra moist and delicious.
See recipe card at the bottom of the page for a full list of ingredients and all measurements.
Equipment Needed
A donut pan: This is one of those treats that does need a special piece of equipment. You can get metal or silicone pans based on personal preference.
- I love and use this 2-Pack of Non-Stick Metal Donut Pans
- I have friends who love and use this 2-Pack of Silicone Donut Pans
How to Make Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
Preheat oven and prep your pan: Preheat to 350°F, then spray your donut pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside
Prep your ingredients: Whisk together your dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, egg, sour cream, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into your dry ingredients until just combined (note: dough will be very thick).
Pipe (or spoon) dough into the pan: Place your dough into a piping bag (or gallon sized ziplock bag with a corner cut off) to transfer the mixture into your donut pans. If desired, gently smooth out the top of the dough after it’s been equally distributed into the wells of the pan.
Bake: Bake approximately 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool: Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Top with glaze: While your treat finishes cooling, make your maple glaze in a small bowl by whisking together all glaze ingredients. Once fully cooled, dip the top half of each donut into the glaze and set up-right on your cooling rack to set. Note: if I have additional glaze left, I often double-dip mine!
Store leftovers: Baked donuts are generally best eaten the same day, however, if you have leftovers, store in an air-tight container in the fridge for a day or two.
Expert Tip
Do not overmix your batter. Doing so can create tough baked donuts (and you don’t want that!). Gently fold your wet and dry ingredients together until just combined.
Maple Donut Recipe Variations
- Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. If you don’t have sour cream in your fridge, you can replace it 1-to-1 with either plain or vanilla Greek yogurt in this recipe! This is a great way of adding some extra protein too!
More Tips for This Recipe
Using a gallon sized ziptop bag (or a piping bag if you have one) makes transferring your dough into your pan super easy! Use a rubber scrapper to help move your batter from your mixing bowl to the bag. Then use a scissors to cut a small-to-medium sized hole in one corner. Pipe the batter into your donut pan by twisting the top of the bag and gently squeezing the batter down through the hole.
Don’t skip the vanilla extract in the batter! I’ve made this recipe with and without the vanilla extract in the batter, and the vanilla just does something magical in the final product. Don’t skip it!
Maple extract or maple flavoring will give your donuts that pop of maple flavor you are expecting. While maple syrup is used in both the dough and the glaze, it does not give you that pop of maple flavor you are expecting when baking with it. Adding maple extract or maple flavor in the glaze gives you that full bodied maple flavor you’re hoping for.
What to Serve with Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
These baked maple donuts are wonderful on their own, but here are some ideas for making them part of a complete breakfast or brunch spread:
Fresh coffee or tea is a great choice with any baked good (hello coziness!). A medium roast coffee won’t overpower the delicate maple flavor and a warmly spiced tea like chai will compliment the donuts nicely too.
Milk or orange juice are more classic breakfast beverages that pair well with sweet baked goods for those who’d prefer a cold beverage.
Fresh fruit like a bowl of fresh berries or a simple fresh fruit salad balances the sweetness of the donuts perfectly.
Eggs round out your brunch with protein for a more substantial meal. Whether you’re making a simple scrambled egg, homemade egg bites, or an egg bake, the savory pairing of an egg dish with these is a great choice.
Bacon or sausage adds savory, salty flavors that complement the sweet maple wonderfully. We highly recommend our ultra crispy bacon in the oven!
How to Store Baked Maple Donuts
While baked donuts are best the day they’re baked, you can store any leftovers you may have in an airtight container for 1-2 days. Since these are not cream-filled, you can store them at room temperature if desired (just be sure to keep them out of direct sunlight to help prevent them from going stale) or store in the fridge.
Baked Maple Donut Recipe FAQs
Yes, baked donut batter is much thicker than you think it will be! If you are having issues getting all of your dry ingredients incorporated into your wet ingredients, you could add more maple syrup, a dab of sour cream, or even a little water. Do so in 1 teaspoon increments so you don’t make your dough too moist or runny.
Dense, dry donuts usually result from overmixing the batter or overbaking. When you overmix, you develop too much gluten in the flour, which can lead to a tough texture. Mix your wet and dry ingredients together gently until JUST combined; a few small lumps are okay! For baking, check your donuts at the 12 minute mark rather than waiting the full 15 minutes. Since every oven is different, they may be done earlier. The donuts are ready when a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
Make sure your donuts are completely cool before glazing, as warm donuts can cause the glaze to melt and slide off. Also, give the glaze enough time to set; it can take 15 to 20 minutes at room temperature. If your glaze feels too thing, it may have too much liquid in it. Try adding more powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time until it reaches a thicker consistency that will cling to the donuts. On the flip side, if your glaze is too thick and won’t spread smoothly, add a tiny bit more milk (just a teaspoon at a time) until it reaches the right consistency for dipping.
Love This Recipe? You May Also Enjoy
Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
Ingredients
Maple Donuts
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- ⅓ C brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- ½ C sour cream
- 2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Maple Glaze
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ C pure maple syrup
- 1 C powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
Instructions
- Preheat to 350°F, then spray your donut pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder) in a large bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, egg, sour cream, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into your dry ingredients until just combined (note: dough will be very thick).
- Place your dough into a piping bag (or gallon sized ziplock bag) to pipe into your donut pans. If desired, gently smooth out the tops after all of the dough has been distributed into your donut pan.*
- Bake approximately 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the donuts finish cooling, make your maple glaze in a small bowl by mixing together all glaze ingredients until smooth.*
- When the donuts have cooled, dip the top half of each donut into the glaze and set up-right on your cooling rack to set.*
- Baked donuts are best day-of, but if any remain, store in an air-tight container in the fridge for a day or two.
Ashley Ramsey says
Is the butter supposed to be melted or just softened?
Meredith says
Hi Ashley, this is a great question. You butter should be melted! I’ve updated the recipe card to note this. Thank you!
Ashley Ramsey says
Thanks for the reply! They came out sooo good! I’ve made many baked donut recipes, and this one has been the best by far!
Meredith says
I’m so happy to hear they turned out well for you Ashley! Thank you for trying my recipe 🙂
Katharine says
I followed the recipe exactly and these were amazing! Took them to a church event and they were a huge hit.
Meredith says
I’m so happy to hear these donuts were a hit Katharine! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try 🙂
Doreen Oborne says
They are so delicious!!
First oven baked doughnuts I make and so good
Meredith says
I’m so happy to hear that you loved them Doreen! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try 🙂
Terry says
I did not like this doughnut recipe. They are to heavy.
Meredith says
Hi Terry, I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this recipe. I’m curious to know if you’ve made baked donuts before (as the texture is different than what you’d get with a classic fried donut from a donut shop)? Thank you for taking the time to give this recipe and try and for the feedback.
Kim says
Can you add a little maple extract to the dough??
Meredith says
Hi Kim, yes, you’d be able to add a little maple extract to the dough if you’d like to really amp up the maple flavor! Since maple extract has a pretty strong flavor, I would start with 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. Let me know how it goes!
Kim says
Thx much
Meredith says
You’re welcome!
Tricia says
While we love everything maple, we didn’t care for these. We thought they tasted too much like pancakes and the texture was odd. I have never made cake donuts before so it could just be the nature of baked donuts. The glaze was tasty.
Meredith says
Hi Tricia, thank you for the feedback. Yes, a baked donut will have a different texture than a fried donut that you’d get from a donut shop. I’d be interested to hear if you try another baked donut recipe and have the same experience. Glad you enjoyed the glaze tho!
Julie says
Thank you for posting this recipe. Wow! It’s perfect! Tender donuts with fantastic maple flavor. Easy to make . I made these using my silicone donut pan.
I’ll be making these again this weekend for sure .
Meredith says
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this maple donuts recipe Julie!! Thank you for giving my recipe a try, and enjoy your next batch(es) too 🙂
M. says
I LOVE maple donuts, and these were super easy to make and delicious too. Highly recommend.
ourlovelanguageisfood says
I’m so glad you love maple donuts too and that you enjoyed these! Thank you for making my recipe.
David says
Who doesn’t like a maple donut? And as much as I like frying my own donuts, sometimes baking them is just so much easier…
ourlovelanguageisfood says
Totally agree! Glad you enjoyed this baked version too 🙂