Maple Bacon Donuts
Easy maple bacon donuts featuring the delightful combination of salty, crispy bacon and pure maple syrup. For a perfect finish, these baked donuts are dipped into a sweet maple glaze and some crunchy bacon bits in top. It's like having homemade pancake and bacon breakfast in one bite!
I love making baked donuts. It’s so easy, so fast, and it’s actually healthier than fried ones.
From start to finish, it takes about 30 minutes to make but you do have to give it time to cool down. No matter how hard I try, I can never wait long to bite into a fresh donut. It’s just like biting into cookies fresh out of the oven, you know that you’ll burn your mouth but it seems worth it at the time.
To make these donuts, all you need is a mixing bowl, a whisk, and donut baking pan. Just bake some bacon ahead of time and the batter can come together with 5 minutes. Make sure to save the bacon grease after cooking bacon, it will used in the batter.
Another benefit to baked doughnuts is the healthier part. Since fried donuts are cooked in oil, most calories come from fat. Baked donuts are lighter in fat and calories. Do note that both types of donuts still would have about the same amount of sugar, depending on the flavor and glaze.
How To Cook Bacon In The Oven
- Preheat oven to 400°, line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a cooling wire rack inside the baking sheet.
- Lightly grease the wire rack. Lay raw bacon strips on the wire rack and bake for 13-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of bacon.
- Take out of the oven and set aside. Carefully blot the excess bacon grease on top of the cooked bacon with a paper towel. Make sure to save the bacon grease for the donut batter.
Lyuba’s Tips To Make Maple Bacon Donuts
- Bacon – it’s best to use the classic bacon without additional flavor. Since there is plenty of maple flavor in these donuts, you don’t need to get maple flavored bacon. You can use bacon like applewood smoked or original. Note that it is best to cook your own bacon plus you will need the bacon grease.
- You can cook your bacon ahead of time and store it and bacon grease separately. Store them in the refrigerator, in an air-tight containers. You will need to reheat the bacon and the bacon grease before making donuts. It’s easy to reheat the bacon grease in the microwave for a few seconds. As far as bacon, I recommend reheating it in the oven or in the pan on stove-top to get the crisp back.
- Make sure the bacon fat is completely rendered and bacon is crispy! Nothing worse than biting into underbaked bacon fat.
- Buttermilk – low fat buttermilk is the best option to create soft and moist texture (full fat buttermilk never works as well!). Note, non-buttermilk substitutes also never work as well!
- To transfer the batter from the mixing bowl into the piping bag easier, place the piping bag into a pint glass and fold it over the rim to open it up!
- Don’t overfill the donut pan cups, fill them about 3/4 full.
How To Store Homemade Baked Donuts
- Store donuts in an air-tight container. At room temperature, donuts can be stored for 1-2 days. Keep the container away from direct sunlight and heat.
- In the refrigerator: To extend the shelf life, store donuts in the refrigerator, still in an air-tight container. (If you live in a hot or humid environment, or if your donuts have cream filling or dairy toppings, it is always best to refrigerate them.) In the refrigerator, baked donuts should last 5-7 days.
Can I Freeze Homemade Baked Donuts?
- Yes, technically you can freeze them for 2-3 months but note that it will change the texture of the donuts. You also want to freeze them WITHOUT the glaze/icing and bacon on top.
- Make sure to cool baked donuts first. Place them onto a parchment paper covered cutting board side by side and freeze for about 2 hours. Set the timer!
- Once frozen, you can stack them with a square of parchment paper in between each donut and place them into a large freezer zip-top bag. Get as much air out as you can, label, and back in the freezer.
- To thaw, you can simply that individual or all donuts on the counter for about 30-40 minutes. Coat them in cinnamon sugar after thawing.
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Maple Bacon Donuts Recipe
Easy maple bacon donuts featuring the delightful combination of salty, crispy bacon and pure maple syrup. For a perfect finish, these baked donuts are dipped into a sweet maple glaze and some crunchy bacon bits in top. It's like having homemade pancake and bacon breakfast in one bite!
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Servings: 10
Calories: 295kcal
Equipment
- donut baking pan
Ingredients
Donuts:
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup low fat buttermilk
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 3 tbsp bacon grease
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp maple extract (optional)
- 1/3 cup crumbled bacon 3-4 slices
Maple Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 2-4 bacon slices – crumbled for topping
Instructions
Bacon:
- Preheat oven to 400℉, line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a cookie wire rack inside the baking sheet.
- Lay raw bacon strips on the wire rack and bake for 13-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of bacon.
- Take out of the oven and set aside. Make sure to save the bacon grease for the donut batter.
Donuts:
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and grease a donut baking pan.
- Combine all wet ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl and whisk well. Sift in dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Fold in bacon pieces.
- Scoop the batter into a large piping bag. Cut the tip off the piping bag, leaving only about 1/2- 3/4 inch opening.
- Squeeze batter into the donut cups of the pan in one smooth circular motion, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Make sure there is an even amount of batter all around.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes and let donuts cool on the wire rack, just until it’s cooled enough to be handled. Spread paper towel under the cooling rack to catch glaze drippings.
Glaze:
- Add powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.
- Heat up maple syrup in a microwave for a few seconds, until hot but not boiling. Add heavy whipping cream to maple syrup and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into powdered sugar and whisk until completely incorporated.
- Dip each donut into the glaze to coat it on the top and sides. (You can even dip the bottoms as well.)
- Top each glazed donut with some bacon crumbles.
Video
Notes
- Heavy whipping cream – this will provide the creamiest results but you can use half and half if needed. Note that half and half is thinner than heavy whipping cream so you will need to use a little less.
- Storing in the refrigerator: To extend the shelf life, store donuts in the refrigerator, still in an air-tight container. (If you live in a hot or humid environment, or if your donuts have cream filling or dairy toppings, it is always best to refrigerate them.) In the refrigerator, baked donuts should last 5-7 days.
- Storing on the counter: donuts in an air-tight container. At room temperature, donuts can be stored for 1-2 days. Keep the container away from direct sunlight and heat.
Nutrition
Calories: 295kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 247mg | Potassium: 179mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 116IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 1mg
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Some More Baked Donut Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in August 2019.
Categories:
Breakfast Recipes, Brunch Recipes, Dessert Recipes, Fall Recipes, Father's Day Recipe Ideas,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
