Baked Mini Maple Donuts
Bite sized maple donuts are soft and fluffy and both filled and covered with a wonderful maple flavor, perfect for the coming of fall!
Posted on 9/7/14 by Kiley
I know I just said that I am not yet ready for fall to come, and that I still want to hold on to the last few days of summer. But then I made these Baked Mini Maple Donuts, and well, I think I am ready for fall, if only so I can feel justified in making these donuts like every weekend. Although I love maple year round, it really does feel like one of the fall flavors to me. Not as much as apple and pumpkin (Have you been on Pinterest? Completely taken over by those flavors right now!) but still enough of its own fall flavor to deserve an honorable mention. And how can you pass up a mini donut that is maple? Not an easy task!
When I made these, I was not sure how much the maple flavor was going to come out in these. Once they were finished and I was able to taste test these little guys, I know I made the right choices. The maple is not overwhelming for those of you who are not huge maple fans, but for those of you who really like maple, this recipe delivers with a nice clean and simple maple profile. I personally love maple, and have on my baking bucket list maple bars, because they are not a thing in this part of the country. We have regular maple donuts, but not maple bars. If you are also a big maple fan and want the maple flavor to really shine through even more, I would recommend using maple extract. That stuff can pack a punch of maple into anything!
The donut part of these is light and fluffy, and I feel so much better eating these because they are baked and not fried. Although I have a special place in my heart (stomach?) for fried regular donuts, because this recipe makes so many that are both baked AND mini, I do not feel as guilty having two...or three or four. The glaze on top really gives an emphasis on the maple flavor, as well as just the right amount of sweetness. I found that the donuts lasted well for about 2 days sitting on the counter, but on the second day and any after we microwaved them for a few seconds before eating them, to help them taste as fresh as possible.
Baked Mini Maple Donuts
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon maple granules (optional)
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup*
¼ cup yogurt (non-fat, non Greek)
2/3 cup milk
Glaze:
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon milk
Pinch of salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and spray a one-dozen mini donut pan* with non-stick baking spray.
Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave or on the stove.
In a large bowl, whisk together both kinds of flour, the baking powder, the salt, the sugar and the optional maple granules until everything is evenly combined.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, maple syrup, yogurt and milk.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Do not over beat the mixture or the donuts may get tough.
Fill each cavity of the mini donut pan half way full with the batter and bake for 7-9 minutes, until the donuts are lightly golden brown and spring back to the touch when pressed.
Let the donuts cool in the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes, then remove and re-spray the pan and fill it with more donut batter. Repeat the previous steps; you should end up with about 3 dozen mini donuts.
While the donuts are cooling, prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, combine all of the glaze ingredients. Adjust to taste; adding more or less maple syrup to achieve a thicker or thinner consistency.
*In place of the 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, you can also use ½-1 teaspoon maple extract.
*If you want to use regular sized donut pans, you will probably get just over 1 dozen donuts. I made 2 dozen mini donuts and also used a 6 cavity whoopie pie pan.
**This recipe is a Rooks to Cooks original. The photographs are copyright Rooks to Cooks and may not be used without permission.
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