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Baked Maple Glazed Doughnuts. Made with a mix of maple, brown sugar, and whole wheat flour, then baked and dipped in a sweet brown butter glaze flavored with real maple syrup and vanilla. There’s really nothing not to love about these cute (and sweet) maple glazed doughnuts. The true secret is in the maple, be sure to use the highest quality you can find. They’re the perfect way to make any day fun, happy, and delicious.
For someone who used to say that she didn’t care for baked doughnuts, I have sure changed my ways. I now love a baked doughnut, and clearly, I’m having a lot of fun creating new doughnut recipes.
I’ve said this many times now, but frying is one of my very least favorite things to do. If at all possible, I like to oven bake all normally fried foods. Obviously, some recipes are just not the same without frying. I won’t deny that baked doughnuts are not the same as fried. But they’re still delicious, and most importantly, we feel a million times healthier after enjoying a baked doughnut versus a fried one.
To me, baked doughnuts are just better. Still fun, still yummy, still perfect for Sunday breakfasts, holidays, and afternoon snacking. Just no food coma after eating them.
I wanted to try and make these as wholesome as possible…yet still roll your eyes back good. For the batter, I love using whole wheat pastry flour. Which is whole wheat flour, just more finely ground so it will give you a lighter doughnut. If you don’t have whole wheat pastry four, white whole wheat flour, or even all-purpose flour, will work pretty much the same too.
Essentially the process of making a baked doughnut is the same as making a muffin. I like to mix the wet ingredients together first. Melted butter, vanilla, eggs, maple syrup, brown sugar, and then milk. Nothing fancy at all, but the key ingredients are the maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Then, I add in the dry ingredients. I use whole wheat pastry flour with a mix of baking powder, baking soda, and salt. For added warmth and yumminess, I always mix in cinnamon and a dash of cardamom too.
Again, no fancy ingredients, and hopefully all ingredients you already have in your pantry.
Divide the batter between doughnut pans (or use cupcake pans). As the doughnuts bake, the kitchen will start to smell like a sweet maple and brown sugar candle. It’s one of my favorite scents.
The glaze was the reason I really wanted to make these doughnuts. I love a maple glazed doughnut. I find them to be one of those doughnuts people often ignore so I wanted to highlight them!
The glaze is pretty simple. Butter, real maple syrup, powdered sugar, and then plenty of vanilla.
Not too strong, not too sweet, but just right. Especially when dipped into or drizzled over warm maple doughnuts.
Delicious!
And with that, here’s my recommendation for the coming weekend (since Mother’s Day is this Sunday). Bake up plenty of maple glazed doughnuts, add a side of fresh flowers, and serve them up to your mom. Something delicious and a little different from the usual French toast, pancakes, and waffles!
She’ll appreciate the thought that went into making these. Homemade doughnuts are always impressive!
Looking for other baked doughnuts? Here are my favorites:
Baked Chocolate Fudge Glazed Doughnuts
Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts with Cinnamon Maple Glaze
Baked Blueberry Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
Lastly, if you make these Baked Chocolate Fudge Glazed Doughnuts, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
So yummy ! Best baked doughnuts we have made!
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try! I appreciate you leaving a comment! 🙂 xT
WOAH. These are divine. 1,000 stars. I subbed to make gluten & dairy free using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 and Country Crock “butter” sticks. Also added a drop or 2 of maple extract/ flavoring to the glaze. Wowza. Better than ANY gf donut I’ve bought. I’ll be freezing a batch as well.
Awesome! So glad you were able to make these GF and they turned out yummy! xT
This recipe is incredible!! Sooo good. I recommend sifting your powdered sugar. These are seriously to die for and so simple
So glad you loved the recipe! Thanks so much for giving it a try! xT
This came out SO good!!! I used whole wheat flour, which I was a little skeptical of at first. My husband and I couldn’t believe they were whole wheat!!! He said “guess I can eat more since they’re healthy”😂 As always, thank you Tieghan!!!
Haha awesome! Thanks so much, love to hear this! xT
My wife just jumped into my feed looking for a nice sweet recipe. OMG I am so glad she did, this was one of the most delicious donuts I’ve ever tasted. I love all your work but this was such a treat. The whole house smells good to boot!
Please do yourself a favor and try this with a nice cup of coffee!
Hey Jeff,
Happy Wednesday!!🍊🍋 I appreciate you trying this recipe and your feedback, so glad to hear that it turned out well for you! xx
I love these! I have made peanut butter banana, maple glazed (twice), and chocolate (twice) but for some reason they come out on the dry side. Any suggestions.?
Hey Pat,
So glad to hear you have been enjoying this recipe!! Any chance they are over-baked? Are you using whole wheat flour or all purpose flour? It could be due to that possibly! Let me know! xx
12 minute bake time @ 350. I mix it up LOL. Yesterday I did 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 cake flour. Maybe cake flour only and 10-11?? I appreciate your help. I want them to be my go to sweet treat.
Ahhh gotcha, I’ve never tested these with cake flour so maybe that’s it!
Happy National Donut day! lol
Wow these were incredible! I’m not a big fan of donuts but I made these to surprise my hubby today because he is. I loved the texture of the donut and the flavor of the cardamom really came through and the glaze was to die for! The combination of the browned butter and maple with the vanilla was pure heaven!
Thank you for such an amazing recipe!
Have a great weekend!
PS~ My hubby loved them so much he had 2! 🙂
Hey Lori,
Thanks so much!! I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and I appreciate you making it! Have a great weekend:)
Hey Tieghan! Can the plain donut part be made ahead or do you recommend doing them all at once? Thank you so much!
Hey Natalie,
Sure, you can make that ahead of time:) Let me know how this recipe works for you, I hope you love it! xT
These are AMAZING! Do you have the nutrition facts anywhere?
Thanks so much Ruby!! Sorry we only have the estimated calorie count available listed above the ingredient list:) xx
Seems I forgot the maple syrup dangit!
Sorry to hear this Rose!!
Made these tonight! They are incredible, easy to make and the glaze is delicious 😋 My whole family loved them and this recipe is definitely one I’ll be making again! Thank you!
Hey Amanda,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it!! Have a great weekend! xx
So I followed the directions but used coconut flour instead, would that dramatically change the texture of the batter? It turned out crumbly vs more like a typical batter. Also- if the butter isn’t completed melted at room temp, does that make the texture of batter crumbly also?
Hey Lacey! I haven’t ever tried this recipe with coconut flour, but I would imagine that would change the batter quite a bit!
These donuts were SO incredible – I had to immediately box portions to drop off to a friend and my parents to prevent me from eating them all. Will be coming back to this recipe again for sure! I wrote a review of this recipe (& a few others!) in my weekly recipe roundup: https://whatnatisdoing.com/recipe-roundup-what-i-made-this-week-2-16-23/
Hey Natalie,
Happy Monday!!💐 Thank you so much for making this recipe and your comment, so glad to hear it was a winner! xx