Soft, tasty and a perfect breakfast or dessert, these Maple Bars are the perfect donut to satisfy that sweet maple craving.
I’m a donut fan by heart. I mean you give me a nice glazed or frosted donut and I’ll be set!
Desserts are one of my things and the best part about these donuts is that they can double as a dessert or breakfast.
Maple is also one of my favorite flavors, especially in the Fall, so you know that these Maple Bars are made many times in the fall months, but we love them year round as well.
With on-hand baking supplies, these are a fun recipe to make if you are wanting to work with yeast.
I say never be afraid of yeast as it is not as intimidating as it sounds, and these Maple Bars are the perfect ones to practice your dough making skills on.
If you love a good breakfast or dessert, you absolutely cannot pass up this recipe. It has to be on your must make list.
Some of my other favorite donut type recipes we have on our site include: Chocolate Glazed Donuts, Baked Donut Holes and Strawberry Donuts.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- With simple flavors these are great for kids and adults.
- Easily double this recipe to make more for a crowd.
- They are larger donuts so it takes less to fill you up.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST):
Warm milk
Warm water
Granulated sugar
Instant yeast
Salted butter
Egg yolks
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour
Salt
Baking powder
Oil for frying
Powdered sugar
Maple syrup
Corn syrup
Maple extract
HOW TO MAKE MAPLE BARS, STEP BY STEP:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the milk, water, sugar, and yeast with a fork or spoon. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes till bubbly.
- Put the bowl on the mixer with the whisk attachment and add the butter, egg yolks, and vanilla and mix till mostly combined.
- Switch to the dough hook attachment and add the flour, salt, and baking powder and mix on low speed till the dough clears the sides. If you need more flour, add a tablespoon at a time till the dough is soft but not overly sticky. Knead for about 4-6 minutes.
- Move the dough to one side of the bowl and spray the empty half with cooking spray. Move the dough to the side with spray and spray the side that hasn’t been sprayed. Place the dough in the middle of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it double in size in a warm place. The time will vary depending on the warmth of your kitchen but should be about 1 hour.
- Once risen, remove the dough to a lightly floured counter and gently roll the dough into a 10×12-inch rectangle.
- Cut the rectangle in half, longways and then cut each side into 6 bars. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter. If desired, round the corners of the dough to make a pretty looking rectangle.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 6 bars on each tray, several inches apart and cover lightly with plastic wrap sprayed in cooking spray so the dough doesn’t stick. Let them rise again till doubled in size, about an hour.
- About 15 minutes before the second rise is done, line a wire cooling rack on a baking sheet close to the stove and fill a heavy-bottomed pot or tall skillet with about 2-inches of oil. If you have a candy thermometer, clip it on the side of the pan. Turn the heat to medium and heat to 350 degrees F. This will take about 15 minutes to get to temperature.
- Gently pick up a donut and fry the donuts no more than 2 at a time to not make the oil cool too much with overcrowding. Fry each side about 1 minute. When both sides are golden brown, remove to the cooling rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, in a shallow bowl or even a pie plate, combine the glaze ingredients. You want this to be somewhat runny. It should not be spreadable like a frosting, but dippable. If it’s too thick, add a teaspoon of milk at a time till desired consistency or ¼ cup powdered sugar at a time to make it thicker. Taste it and add more maple extract if you want it stronger, this is a personal preference.
- Once your donuts are cool, dip one side of the donut (the most rounded side) in the glaze and let it drip off a bit before placing back on the wire rack.
- Let them sit for about 10 minutes to let the glaze set a bit before eating.
CAN THESE BE BAKED INSTEAD OF FRIED?
Yes, if you choose that you do not want to fry them or you don’t have the things necessary to fry them they can also be baked.
Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in the oven at 350 degrees F until they are golden.
DO I HAVE TO USE MAPLE EXTRACT/SYRUP?
If you still want to make these donuts but do not want the maple flavor you can absolutely switch it out to whatever flavor that you’d like.
You can also choose to do a chocolate glaze, a cream cheese spread, etc.
HOW MUCH FLOUR SHOULD I USE?
Adding flour to a yeast dough highly varies depending a lot on how humid your kitchen is.
If you live in a highly humid place or you make this on a rainy day, you will use more flour. If you live in a very dry place and your kitchen is dry you will use less flour.
DO I HAVE TO USE INSTANT YEAST?
We recommend instant yeast for this as we have not tried any other. Not saying that others cannot be used but instant is what we suggest and use for this Maple Bar Recipe.
HOW TO STORE:
These can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature where they will keep for up to 1-2 days.
We do not recommend freezing this recipe.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- Use any of your favorite oil for frying, peanut, canola, vegetable or any other light oil with a high smoke point.
- These can be baked instead of fried, see above on how to do that.
- We do not recommend freezing this recipe.
- Let the oil temperature get back up to 350 between each batch of donuts for best consistency in frying.
- You can use agave nectar in place of the corn syrup.
- If you don’t want maple flavoring use another extract or make another topping.
- Easily double this batch to serve to larger crowds.
- We have only used instant yeast in this recipe.
Love a good donut recipe? Then you cannot pass up these Maple Bars, soft, filling and absolutely flavorful.
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried these MAPLE BARS or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Maple Bars
Ingredients
Donuts:
- ½ cup warm milk
- ½ cup warm water
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons instant yeast
- ¼ cup salted butter softened
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 ½-4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- Oil for frying
Maple Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon melted butter
- 1 Tablespoon corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the milk, water, sugar, and yeast with a fork or spoon. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes till bubbly.
- Put the bowl on the mixer with the whisk attachment and add the butter, egg yolks, and vanilla and mix till mostly combined.
- Switch to the dough hook attachment and add the flour, salt, and baking powder and mix on low speed till the dough clears the sides. If you need more flour, add a tablespoon at a time till the dough is soft but not overly sticky. Knead for about 4-6 minutes.
- Move the dough to one side of the bowl and spray the empty half with cooking spray. Move the dough to the side with spray and spray the side that hasn’t been sprayed. Place the dough in the middle of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it double in size in a warm place. The time will vary depending on the warmth of your kitchen but should be about 1 hour.
- Once risen, remove the dough to a lightly floured counter and gently roll the dough into a 10×12-inch rectangle.
- Cut the rectangle in half, longways and then cut each side into 6 bars. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter. If desired, round the corners of the dough to make a pretty looking rectangle.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 6 bars on each tray, several inches apart and cover lightly with plastic wrap sprayed in cooking spray so the dough doesn’t stick. Let them rise again till doubled in size, about an hour.
- About 15 minutes before the second rise is done, line a wire cooling rack on a baking sheet close to the stove and fill a heavy-bottomed pot or tall skillet with about 2-inches of oil. If you have a candy thermometer, clip it on the side of the pan. Turn the heat to medium and heat to 350 degrees F. This will take about 15 minutes to get to temperature.
- Gently pick up a doughnut and fry the donuts no more than 2 at a time to not make the oil cool too much with over-crowding. Fry each side about 1 minute. When both sides are golden brown, remove to the cooling rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, in a shallow bowl or even a pie plate, combine the glaze ingredients. You want this to be somewhat runny. It should not be spreadable like a frosting, but dippable. If it’s too thick, add a teaspoon of milk at a time till desired consistency or ¼ cup powdered sugar at a time to make it thicker. Taste it and add more maple extract if you want it stronger, this is a personal preference.
- Once your donuts are cool, dip one side of the donut (the most rounded side) in the glaze and let it drip off a bit before placing back on the wire rack.
- Let them sit for about 10 minutes to let the glaze set a bit before eating.
Notes
- Use any of your favorite oil for frying, peanut, canola, vegetable or any other light oil with a high smoke point.
- These can be baked instead of fried, see above on how to do that.
- We do not recommend freezing this recipe.
- Let the oil temperature get back up to 350 between each batch of donuts for best consistency in frying.
- You can use agave nectar in place of the corn syrup.
- If you don’t want maple flavoring use another extract or make another topping.
- Easily double this batch to serve to larger crowds.
- We have only used instant yeast in this recipe.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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