Description

You’ll love these homemade Maple Bacon Doughnuts that are every bit delicious just like at your local bakery shop. Tender, fluffy, and easy-to-make yeast doughnuts paired with a delightful maple icing and topped with salty bacon. Incredibly good, wonderfully rich, and detailed post notes/images provided to ensure recipe success!

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup whole milk, warmed to about 110°F
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 large Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 quart vegetable oil, for frying doughnuts

For finishing/topping doughnuts:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon milk of choice
2 teaspoons maple flavor or extract
1/8th teaspoon (pinch) kosher salt
6 slices cooked bacon strips, cut in half

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Instructions

Make the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl (if you plan to mix/knead by hand), combine the warm milk and 2 tablespoons of sugar together. Then sprinkle the yeast on top and mix well. Let the mixture sit for 10-15 minutes or until foamy.
Once the mixture is foamy, add in the remaining sugar, eggs, butter, flour, salt, and vanilla. If using a stand mixer, secure the dough hook attachment in place.
Knead the dough. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Then increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 2-4 minutes more. The dough may look shaggy at first and then it begins to come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl- look for a smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky texture. *Alternatively, mix the dough with a rubber spatula/wooden spoon. Knead until the texture is achieved.
Let the dough rise/proof. Shape the dough into a ball, then place the dough into a lightly greased large bowl, turning to coat, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap/clean kitchen linen. Allow the dough to rise in a warm environment for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until nearly doubled in size. Alternatively, place the dough, covered, into the refrigerator to rest overnight, 8-10 hours max (to make doughnuts on the following day).
Roll & shape doughnuts. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Then punch down the dough knocking out the air and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch in thickness. Use a doughnut cutter (at least 3-4 inches in size) to cut out 12 doughnuts along with their respective holes. You will likely need to collect scraps and re-roll until all 12 are stamped out.
Place the doughnuts onto the parchment paper. Note: I like to place the small holes anywhere on the same baking sheet (I use them as the testing pieces when frying). You can also discard the holes if you’d like. Cover the doughnuts with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen linen. Allow the shaped doughnuts to rest for 30 minutes while you prep the oil for frying. If you refrigerated your dough overnight, allow the chilled doughnuts to rest until they come up to room temperature (looking nice and puffy) before frying.
Fry the doughnuts. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot to 350°F. Set aside a large baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Once the oil temperature is achieved, working in batches, carefully add 3 doughnuts into the oil. Let fry for 1 minute per side until lightly golden brown. Then use a slotted spoon or fish spatula to transfer the fried doughnuts to the prepared wire rack. Repeat this process until all doughnuts have been fried. *If cooking doughnut holes, the cooking time for them will be significantly less. Allow the doughnuts to cool down for 10-15 minutes before icing.
To make the maple icing: In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup, milk, maple flavor/extract, and salt. Stir the mixture together until the icing is smooth and free of any lumps. Dip the doughnuts into the icing and set back onto wire rack to allow any excess maple icing to drip down. Immediately add the bacon pieces on top, gently pressing down. Feel free to crumble the bacon and sprinkle on top of the glaze if you prefer pieces instead of strips. I also like to drizzle a bit more icing over the finished doughnuts, optional.
Serve these maple bacon doughnuts right away while they’re at their best. Otherwise, store any leftover doughnuts inside of an airtight container and keep on the counter for up to 1 more day. Enjoy!

Notes

Please read the blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.

Keywords: maple donuts, maple bacon donut, maple bacon doughnuts, doughnuts, maple icing, maple glaze