Maple Bacon Baked Donuts

 

Doughnuts. Donuts. Which one is it? Is there even a difference. Well after a quick Google search I finally know the answer. And I'm going to share it. Doughnut is the "proper" spelling while donut is the more popular shortened, abbreviated if you will, version. So there you have it. Don't say I never taught you anything.

Is there anything better than a maple bar? In my opinion, not many. So I jumped on the trendy bandwagon and bought a donut pan in attempt to try to recreate my favorite morning junk food. Then I thought why not add... bacon. Oh snap! It might have been the best.decision.ever. Salty and sweet may very well be my favorite combination ever. The salty smokiness of the bacon off set the sweetness of the maple glaze perfectly.

I'll be honest... I used the recipe that came on the Wilton doughnut pan as it came. The next time I make these I will play around with the dough recipe itself because it was a tad plain-jane. It worked well with the maple and bacon though so I have no real complaints.

Maple Bacon Baked Donuts
2 cups cake flour, sifted
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In large bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs, and butter. Stir just until combined. Fill each doughnut well about 2/3 full.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Carefully remove. Finish doughnuts with maple glaze (recipe below) and crumbled bacon.

Maple Glaze
A quick note on the maple glaze... I didn't measure anything when I made it, I just sort of went with my instincts. So feel free to adjust it to your taste buds. 

3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. maple extract
1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 cup Milk

In a medium sized bowl combine powdered sugar, maple extract, and maple syrup. Slowly add milk, whisk until everything is combined. You want your glaze to be on the thicker side so start out by using less milk and adding more.

Set up your "donut dipping" work station, like I did here. I double dipped each donut to make sure they would get enough glaze, after the first dip I let the glaze set up and harden a little then re-dipped them and sprinkled the crumbled bacon on top.