These bakery-worthy maple glazed brioche donuts are pillowy soft, covered in a brown butter maple glaze, and topped with toasted pecans!
These maple donuts are made with my go-to brioche recipe, fried up into perfectly golden pillows, and coated in a sweet brown butter maple glaze. It's a must bake every fall season!
For more brioche recipes, try Apple Cinnamon Rolls, Chocolate Tahini Babka, Brown Butter Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls, and Chocolate Filled Brioche Donuts.
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Why you'll love these maple donuts
- Pillowy Soft Brioche: As all enriched doughs should be, this brioche is so pillowy soft, you'll think these donuts came straight from a bakery!
- Sweet Brown Butter Maple Glaze: This isn't an ordinary glaze. It's a glaze with a deep maple flavor and notes of caramelized butter. So so good.
- Toasted Pecans: Pecans are optional, but they taste heavenly when they're toasted!
Ingredient Notes
Ingredient quantities are listed in the recipe card below. Here you'll find notes on why I chose certain ingredients, as well as ingredient substitutions.
- Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast: If using active dry yeast, combine with milk and sugar and allow to sit for 15 minutes. If using instant yeast, there is no need to let the yeast sit in the mixture.
- Whole Milk: Use whole milk for optimum flavor, and warm the milk to about 110 degrees F to activate the yeast.
- Granulated Sugar: The sugar will need to be mixed in with the milk and yeast to help activate the yeast.
- Eggs: You’ll need to 2 eggs at room temperature.
- All-Purpose Flour: The best way to measure your flour, as well as the rest of the ingredients, is by weight.
- Unsalted Butter: You’ll need about 6 tablespoon of unsalted butter at room temperature, which will need to be added one piece at a time to properly incorporate into the dough.
- Powdered Sugar: You'll need about 1 cup of powdered sugar for the glaze.
- Maple Syrup: Use high-quality Grade A maple syrup for the glaze!
Kitchen Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Large Glass Bowl
- Plastic Wrap
- Rolling Pin
- Round 3" & 1" Cutters
- Dutch Oven
- Digital Thermometer
- Wire Rack
- Large Baking Sheet (Highly recommend Caraway's!)
- Medium Mixing Bowl
Step by Step Instructions
Homemade donuts are not as difficult to make as you'd think! I highly recommend breaking the recipe up into two days by proofing the dough overnight, then frying the donuts the next day. The trickiest thing is dealing with hot oil, so be cautious and follow the recipe carefully!
STEP 1: Make the brioche dough and proof overnight. For more detailed instructions on brioche see this recipe.
STEP 2: Roll the dough out to ½" in thickness and use 3" and 1" round cutters to cutout as many donuts as possible. Re-roll and cut out more donuts as needed.
STEP 3: Place the donuts on individual parchment squares, cover, and allow to rise for about 45 minutes at room temperature.
STEP 4: While the donuts are rising, bring the oil to 355 degrees F. Fry the donuts for about 90 seconds on each side, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
STEP 5: Make the maple glaze.
STEP 6: Dip the donuts in the glaze and immediately top with toasted pecans.
Expert Baking Tips
- I recommend allowing your brioche dough to rise slowly overnight in the fridge. Cold dough is so much nicer to work with! But you can also let it proof at room temperature for one hour and make the cinnamon rolls immediately.
- Use any neutral oil, such as vegetable or canola, for frying.
- When frying, be sure to wait a couple minutes in between each set of donuts for the oil temperature to come back up to 355 degrees F.
FAQ
1. Using a stand mixer with the dough hook, mix the wet and dry ingredients on low-medium speed for a few minutes until it forms a ball around the hook.
2. Slowly begin incorporating the room temperature butter as it mixes on medium speed. It is very important to use room temperature butter in order for it to incorporate properly.
3. Once all of the butter is incorporated, turn the speed up to high and mix for about 8 minutes or until the dough passes the windowpane test.
The windowpane test is used to tell when the brioche has developed enough gluten. To check if the dough is ready, tear off a small piece and carefully spread it out to see if you can see the light through it without it tearing. If it tears, mix for another minute and check again.
1. First proof overnight - Make the brioche dough the night before, and allow it to proof overnight in the fridge. The next morning, cut the dough out into donuts, proof one more time in a warm environment, and fry.
2. Second proof overnight - Make the brioche dough the night before, and proof for about 1 hour in a warm environment. Cut the dough out into donuts, then proof overnight in the fridge. The next morning (ideally before 9am), take the donuts out to come to room temperature (about 1 hour) and fry as directed.
Absolutely! They won't have that classic white line or come out as golden, but they'll still be delicious (and a little healthier!). See this post for directions on baking brioche donuts.
Storage Tips
Homemade brioche donuts are best enjoyed the day they are made. I recommend freezing any leftovers for up to three months.
How to dispose of frying oil
Frying oil CANNOT be disposed of down the sink drain. The best way to dispose of frying oil is to let it cool completely in the pot, then pour back into its container and throw away in the trash.
Baking in Grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), I can ensure that you can make the recipe accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Other fall recipes to try
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Maple Glazed Brioche Donuts
Ingredients
For the brioche donuts:
- 113 g ½ cup whole milk, warmed to 110 degrees F
- 20 g 1 ½ tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoon instant or active dry yeast
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 300 g 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 85 g 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp
For frying:
- 1 ½ - 2 quarts 48-64 oz neutral oil*
For the toasted pecans:
- 30 g ¼ cup pecans, optional
For the brown butter maple glaze:
- 42 g 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 100 g ⅓ cup maple syrup, Grade A
- 113 g 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
For the brioche donuts:
- In a glass measuring cup, heat the milk to 110 degrees F and stir in the sugar and yeast. If using active dry yeast, allow to sit for 15 minutes for the yeast to activate. If using instant yeast, simply move on to the next step.
- Mix the eggs and vanilla into the milk yeast mixture.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt together.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and mix on low-medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until it forms a ball around the hook.
- Add in a few pieces of butter at a time, allowing them to fully incorporate before adding more.
- Once all of the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and mix for 8-12 minutes. To check if the dough is ready, tear off a small piece and carefully spread it out to see if you can see the light through it without it tearing. If it tears, mix for another minute or two and check again.
- Once the dough is ready, transfer it to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow to proof overnight in the fridge. Alternatively, you can let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
For frying the donuts:
- The next day, fry the donuts.
- Just before rolling out the dough, fill a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot with enough neutral oil to cover 2”.
- Heat the oil over medium heat and bring to 355 degrees F.
- Place a wire rack over a paper towel lined baking sheet.
- On a separate baking sheet, cut out 14 4” parchment squares for the donuts. (13 donuts + donut holes)
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ½” in thickness.
- Brush away any excess flour.
- Use well floured 3” and 1” round cutters to cut out as many donuts as possible and place each on a parchment square.
- Re-roll the dough and cut out more donuts as needed.
- Cover the donuts and allow to rise for about 45 minutes.
- Once proofed, use the parchment squares to gently lower 2-3 donuts into the hot oil.
- Fry the donuts for 90 seconds on the first side, then flip over and fry for an additional 90 seconds.
- Transfer the donuts to the wire rack to cool.
- Wait a couple minutes for the oil to come back up to 355 degrees F, then continue frying the donuts.*
- Once all of the donuts have been fried, make the pecans and glaze.
For the toasted pecans:
- In a small skillet over low-medium heat, add the pecans.
- Stir often for about 5 minutes until aromatic.
- Transfer to a cutting board and chop into rough pieces.
For the brown butter maple glaze:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until it becomes foamy and the milk solids have separated and become golden.
- Remove from heat and quickly whisk in the maple syrup, powdered sugar, and salt.
- Pour the glaze into a medium bowl.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze and place back on the wire rack.
- Immediately top with toasted pecans and enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend allowing your brioche dough to rise slowly overnight in the fridge. Cold dough is so much nicer to work with! But you can also let it proof at room temperature for one hour and make the cinnamon rolls immediately.
- Use any neutral oil, such as vegetable or canola, for frying.
- When frying, be sure to wait a couple minutes in between each set of donuts for the oil temperature to come back up to 355 degrees F.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know how it turned out!