Baked Maple French Toast Donuts

Good morning October! How did you get here so fast? Last night was the first night I really had to bundle up under the blankets, but I am not complaining. I love the cooler nights and everything else about fall. As long as December doesn't come around too quickly, I will be happy.

In honor of the cooler weather, I made some maple french toast donuts for you to enjoy this morning. These lightly spiced buttermilk donuts are simple to make. Just combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix, mix, mix until combined. They only need to bake for about seven minutes or so. Cover these babies with a sweet maple glaze and extra powdered sugar and you have yourself the perfect little treat.

I have been on a major donut kick lately. After making these pumpkin spice donuts a few weeks ago and buttermilk donuts earlier in the summer, I can't stop pulling out my donut pan to bake. French Toast is one of my favorite breakfasts so I was especially eager to try it out in donut form.

After all of my praise for these donuts, I have to admit that they almost didn't happen yesterday afternoon. When I got back from the grocery store, I realized that we didn't have any buttermilk. Don't you hate when that happens? Anyways, I really didn't want to go back out in the pouring rain but I'm glad that I finally did. Otherwise you probably would have been stuck with another pumpkin recipe today :)

Baked Maple French Toast Donuts

Recipe from Bakingdom

Struesel Topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter, cut into smaller chunks

Donuts:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 tbsp butter, melted

Maple Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Butter donut pan(s) and set aside.

Streusel Topping:

Whisk together the sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt until combined. Add the cold butter chunks and combine with your fingers. Freeze the streusel topping mixture until ready for use.

Donuts: 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices until combined. Add in the buttermilk, eggs and melted butter and stir for about 30 seconds. Make sure you do not over-mix the batter. Fill each cavity of the donut pan about 3/4 full. Remove the streusel topping from the freezer and sprinkle on top. 

Bake for about 7 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Transfer donuts to a cooling rack. 

Maple Glaze:

While donuts are cooling, combine powdered sugar, maple syrup, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir with a spoon until combined. When donuts are fully cooled, drizzle the maple glaze on top. Also sprinkle powdered sugar on top of donuts as desired.

Enjoy :)