Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
These maple brown sugar donut muffins are a fun, indulgent breakfast treat! The muffins are made with a maple donut cake batter that is baked in a muffin tin to make muffins instead of donuts. Then, each muffin is brushed in melted Land O Lakes® Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread and tossed in a sugar coating made out of brown sugar, maple sugar, and granulated sugar. The resulting muffins are absolutely delightful and evoke all the best fall flavors!
A big thank you to Land O’Lakes for sponsoring this recipe! Learn more in the blog post, and thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep Hummingbird High up and running!
Why You Should Make Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
Here are all the reasons to make maple brown sugar donut muffins:
These maple brown sugar donut muffins come together quickly and easily.
The batter for these maple brown sugar donut muffins comes together REALLY quickly. All you need to do is whisk the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, and then mix them together. That’s it! You don’t even need a stand mixer for this recipe. Why?
There are other techniques incorporated into this recipe that make the batter come together super easily. First, I instruct you to use maple syrup in place of sugar and melted Land O Lakes® Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread in place of stick butter. Because the ingredients are combined in a liquid form, you won’t need to cream anything. As a result, the batter comes together in just FIVE minutes. Cool, right?
These maple brown sugar donut muffins are easy to customize with different flavors and ingredients.
The best part about this recipe? You can easily customize its flavors to your taste and preferences. I added nutmeg to the donut muffin batter because I associate nutmeg with baked donuts. However, feel free to add or swap any other spices you prefer! I personally think that both cinnamon and cardamom would shine with the donut muffins’ maple flavor. You can also throw in ½ cup of mix-ins like nuts, chocolate chips, and more.
You can also customize the sugar coating to your preferences. I suggest playing around with the sugar ratios for the coating. For instance—for those who prefer more mapley muffins, go hog wild and use all maple sugar for the coating! And if you prefer a less indulgent donut muffin, I’ve added a tip on how to reduce the sugar coating and only coat the muffin tops. Be sure to check out the Baker’s Tips section for more info!
Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Ingredients and Substitutions
Now that I’ve convinced you to make maple brown sugar donut muffins, here’s everything you need for the recipe:
Shopping List for Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the exact ingredient quantities:
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- ground nutmeg
- kosher salt
- maple syrup
- Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread
- large eggs
- buttermilk
- granulated sugar
- light OR dark brown sugar
- maple sugar
And let’s talk about some key ingredients and potential substitutions:
Maple Syrup
You need 1 cup amber, dark, OR very dark maple syrup to make maple brown sugar donut muffins.
Golden versus Amber versus Dark versus Very Dark Maple Syrup
A few years ago, maple syrup was sold in three grades: Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C. Most folks at the grocery store often had to make a choice between the first two grades. (Grade C was often only sold to manufacturers who processed the syrup further into other products). Grade A maple syrups were lighter and had more delicate flavor profiles, making them perfect for pouring over pancakes and waffles. Finally, Grade B maple syrups were darker and more strongly flavored. Recipes using maple syrup as an ingredient often instructed home cooks and bakers to source Grade B maple syrup for the job.
However, in 2015, the USDA implemented a new grading system. Many of the maple syrups available to consumers now all fall under Grade A. This “new” Grade A divides them into four categories: Golden, Amber, Dark, or Very Dark. I recommend you use either “Amber,” “Dark,” or “Very Dark” maple syrup for these maple brown sugar donut muffins. But if you only have Golden on hand, don’t worry about it! Your buns will still be pretty tasty no matter what.
Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread
You need ½ cup melted Land O Lakes® Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread to make maple brown sugar donut muffins.
What is Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread?
Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread is Land O’Lakes’ new, limited-batch seasonal butter spread! It is flavored with maple and brown sugar, and just bursting with the sweet taste of maple syrup. I’m absolutely obsessed—I’ve been using it to top breakfast dishes like pancakes, waffles, and oatmeal, as well as a topping for savory sides like roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash.
In this recipe, I consider the Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread to be the muffins’ secret ingredient. It really amps up the maple and brown sugar flavor of these muffins!
Buttermilk
You need ¼ cup buttermilk to make maple brown sugar donut muffins.
I don’t have buttermilk. What can I use instead?
You can skip the buttermilk and instead just use whole milk. However, I don’t recommend doing so. The buttermilk adds a nice, tangy flavor that helps balance the sweetness of the maple and brown sugar flavors!
Instead, I recommend that you make your own buttermilk with whole milk. Whisk together ¼ cup (2 ounces or 57 grams) whole milk and ¾ teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice in a small liquid measuring cup. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken, then use as directed in the recipe. Although you can technically use non-fat or skim milk to make buttermilk, I don’t recommend it. These non- and low-fat versions will lead to less flavorful baked goods.
Alternatively, you can also make your own buttermilk with yogurt. I learned this neat trick from another blogger friend. She thins out ¾ cup natural, unsweetened, and unflavored yogurt with 2 Tablespoons of water to use in place of buttermilk. She says that you can also use a thicker yogurt (like Greek yogurt), but you’ll likely need to use more water to get it to the consistency of buttermilk. Similar to my note above, use whole yogurt if possible. Non- and low-fat yogurts will result in less flavorful baked goods.
Can I use powdered buttermilk?
Yes! Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to make ¼ cup buttermilk. Use as directed in the recipe.
Brown Sugar
You need ¼ cup light OR dark brown sugar to make maple brown sugar donut muffins.
Light versus Dark Brown Sugar
Brown sugar is granulated white sugar with a touch of molasses to give it its signature color and flavor. Because brown sugar contains molasses, it adds more moisture baked goods than granulated sugar otherwise would.
Brown sugar is available in two varieties: light or dark. Dark brown sugar is my personal preference; because it contains more molasses, I find it to be more flavorful. However, you can use either in this maple brown sugar donut muffin recipe without altering its flavor too much.
Maple Sugar
You need ¼ cup maple sugar to make maple brown sugar donut muffins.
What is maple sugar?
I like to think of maple sugar as maple syrup, but in sugar form! It’s made with the same stuff—the sap of a sugar maple tree. Basically, it’s made by boiling the sap longer than you would to make maple syrup. Doing so allows all the water in the syrup to evaporate, leaving you with maple sugar.
Where can I buy maple sugar?
You can typically find maple sugar in the baking aisles of gourmet and high-end grocery stores, as well as natural health food stores. In a pinch, you can also buy maple sugar online!
What can I use instead of maple sugar?
I don’t recommend skipping the maple sugar—it’s a key component to making the maple flavors in these muffins shine! Without it, your muffins will have more subtle maple flavors.
However, if you really can’t find maple sugar, you can substitute it with the same amount of brown sugar OR granulated sugar. I recommend granulated sugar; its lighter color will pop against the golden brown muffins!
How To Make Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
Here are the basic steps to make maple brown sugar donut muffins from scratch:
First, make the maple brown sugar donut muffins.
- Prep the ingredients for the maple brown sugar donut batter. (Prep Time: 5 minutes)
Prepping this recipe is easy! All you need to do is measure out the ingredients and make sure everything is at the temperature stated in the recipe. That’s it! I like to melt the Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread in the large bowl that I’m planning on making the batter in. Doing so saves me from another dirty dish! - Make the maple brown sugar donut muffins. (Work Time: 10 minutes)
Similarly, the batter for these muffins comes together quickly and easily. Simply whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then mix together the wet ingredients in a large bowl. Then, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
After that, divide the batter among the muffin pan’s cavities. I like to use a cookie dough scoop to scoop the batter quickly and easily into the cavities. - Bake the maple brown sugar donut muffins. (Bake Time: 18 minutes)
The maple brown sugar donut muffins need 18 to 20 minutes in the oven. After that, cool the muffins in their pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then, turn them out to prevent them from cooking further.
Note that this recipe works best if you coat the muffins with the sugar topping while they’re still warm. So pro-tip—as the muffins are cooling in this short time, prepare everything you need for the muffin coating!
Then, coat the maple brown sugar muffins.
- Prep the maple brown sugar donut muffin coating. (Prep Time: 5 minutes)
Again, prep for the maple brown sugar donut muffin coating is easy! Melt the Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread and pour it into a shallow bowl. Then, whisk together the three sugars for the coating in another shallow bowl. That’s it! - Coat the maple brown sugar donut muffins. (Work Time: 15 minutes)
Working quickly, take a warm muffin and brush it with the melted Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread. Sprinkle with the sugar topping immediately to coat it completely.
Some recipes instruct you to dip the muffins in the bowl of sugar, but I don’t recommend doing so. While it coats the muffins faster, it also causes the sugars to clump in the bowl after a while. If you follow my method, you’ll use less sugar, as well as get a much cleaner and evenly coated muffin.
Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ
FAQ: Make Ahead Techniques for Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
Can I refrigerate the maple brown sugar donut muffin batter to save it for baking later?
Yes! You can refrigerate the muffin batter for up to 3 days before baking. Their muffin tops will actually come out taller and more domed when you do! There’s also no need to bring the muffin batter to room temperature or adjust Bake Time dramatically.
FAQ: Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Recipe Techniques
Can I use paper liners for my maple brown sugar donut muffins?
Yes! Traditional donut muffins tend to skip the liners to allow bakers to coat the muffins completely in the sugar. Doing so results in a pastry that looks similar to a sugar coated donut. However, if you want to use paper liners, go for it! I totally get it. They make cleaning up after this recipe far easier.
That said, I do NOT recommend peeling off the paper liners and then coating the muffins in the way I instructed in the recipe. The part that was baked inside the liners will be too soft and fluffy to hold the sugar coating. Instead, keep the paper liners on and only brush and coat the tops of the muffins. Doing so results in a less indulgent maple brown sugar donut muffin (that’s still plenty delicious).
FAQ: Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Recipe Troubleshooting
Help! My maple brown sugar donut muffins don’t look as tall and domed as yours. What did I do wrong?
In the recipe, I instruct you to fill each muffin pan cavity with 3 generous Tablespoons of muffin batter. That amount goes beyond the conventional wisdom that states that you should only fill muffin pans up to ⅔- or ¾- full of batter! So, a lot of people tend to panic and stop at around that capacity. Many think that, if they follow my instructions, the muffin batter will overflow the pan and onto the oven floor when baked.
And I get that, I really do. But it’s also likely why your muffins aren’t as tall and domed as mine. It turns out one of the secrets to super tall and domed muffin tops is filling the muffin cavities with a generous amount of batter. Don’t worry about the muffin batter overflowing the pan!
Help! The sugars for my maple brown sugar donut muffin coating started to clump while I was coating the muffins. What did I do wrong?
Uh oh! Be honest—did you get impatient and start to dunk the coated muffins in the sugar topping? No judgement, I’ve been there. But the truth is that doing so ends up adding butter to the bowl of sugars, causing them to clump! If you want to prevent the sugars from clumping, you’ll need to sprinkle the muffins with the sugar instead of dunking them in the bowl.
But at the end of the day, it’s not the worlds biggest deal if your sugars start to clump. You can either break the clumps up with a whisk and/or fingers, or simply add more sugar to the bowl to keep coating your muffins!
FAQ: How To Store Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
How To Store Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
The maple brown sugar donut muffins are best the day they are made. However, the muffins can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap, or stored in an airtight container or under a cake dome, at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Can I freeze maple brown sugar donut muffins?
Yes! You can freeze maple brown sugar donut muffins.To do so, freeze them after baking and before coating. Follow the recipe instructions to bake the muffins. Once you’ve turned them out of the muffin pan, cool them completely to room temperature. Once cool, individually wrap each muffin in two layers of plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months.
When ready to serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Rewarm by placing the muffins on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, then follow the instructions to make the sugar coating and assemble the muffins.
Best Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Recipe Tips
Best Ingredient Tips
- This recipe instructs you to use melted Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread in the muffin batter AND its coating. I find that the easiest way to melt the butter spread is in the microwave. I place the butter spread in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on medium-low power for 10 seconds at a time. The intervals prevent the butter spread from overheating. You want to heat it so gently that the butter does not sizzle, crackle, or pop at all.
- When prepping recipes that use melted butter or butter spread, I always melt the butter/butter spread first. Doing so gives it enough time to cool while I prep the other ingredients. You don’t want it to be so hot when you add it to the rest of the ingredients—it might accidentally cook the eggs in the batter!
Best Technique Tips
- To make a less indulgent maple brown sugar donut muffin, you can scale back on the coating and only coat the muffin tops with the Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread and sugars! To do so, bake the muffins in paper liners. Then, follow the instructions to brush the muffin tops and sprinkle them with the sugars for the coating. That’s it! Note that, if you go this route, you’ll likely need only half of the quantities listed in the ingredients for the coating.
- This recipe works best if you coat the donuts while they’re still warm, about 5 to 10 minutes after pulling them out of the oven and turning them out of the donut pan. Warm donuts absorb more butter and hold onto the sugar topping better.
More Muffin Recipes
- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Blueberry Cornflake Muffins
- Banana Cinnamon Muffins
- Blueberry Cornflake Muffins
- Banana Nut Muffins (Small Batch)
- Blueberry Muffins (Small Batch)
- Copycat Levain Bakery Blueberry Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Muffins (Small Batch)
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (Small Batch)
- Mini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins Recipe
Special Equipment
- a muffin pan
- cooking spray
- a 1-Tablespoon OR 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop
- a pastry brush
Ingredients
For the Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Batter
- 2 ¾ cups (12.35 ounces or 350 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (11 ounces or 312 grams) maple syrup, at room temperature
- ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (2 ounces or 57 grams) buttermilk, at room temperature
For the Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffin Coating
- 5 Tablespoons (2.5 ounces or 71 grams) Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread, melted and cooled slightly
- ¼ cup tightly packed (1.85 ounces or 52 grams) light OR dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup (1.75 ounces or 50 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (1.35 ounces or 38 grams) maple sugar
Instructions
For the Maple Brown Sugar Donut Muffins
- Prep the oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray the inside of the cavities in the muffin tin generously with cooking spray.
- Make the dry mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
- Make the wet mix. In a large bowl, mix together the maple syrup, melted Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread, eggs, and buttermilk.
- Make the muffin batter. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Assemble the muffins. Use a 1 ½-Tablespoon or 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to fill each cavity with 3 generous Tablespoons of the batter.
- Bake the muffins. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the muffins are domed and a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the muffin pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn the muffins out onto the rack to cool slightly.
- Make the coating. While the muffins are cooling, make the coating. Pour the melted Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread into a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and maple sugar.
- Assemble the muffins. Quickly brush the top and sides of a muffin with the melted Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread. Immediately sprinkle with the sugar coating to coat completely and place on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining muffins.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container or under a cake dome at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Notes
- This recipe instructs you to use melted Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread in the muffin batter AND its coating. I find that the easiest way to melt the butter spread is in the microwave. I place the butter spread in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on medium-low power for 10 seconds at a time. The intervals prevent the butter spread from overheating. You want to heat it so gently that the butter does not sizzle, crackle, or pop at all.
- When prepping recipes that use melted butter or butter spread, I always melt the butter/butter spread first. Doing so gives it enough time to cool while I prep the other ingredients. You don’t want it to be so hot when you add it to the rest of the ingredients—it might accidentally cook the eggs in the batter!
- To make a less indulgent maple brown sugar donut muffin, you can scale back on the coating and only coat the muffin tops with the Maple Me Crazy™ Butter Spread and sugars! To do so, bake the muffins in paper liners. Then, follow the instructions to brush the muffin tops and sprinkle them with the sugars for the coating. That’s it! Note that, if you go this route, you’ll likely need only half of the quantities listed in the ingredients for the coating.
- This recipe works best if you coat the donuts while they’re still warm, about 5 to 10 minutes after pulling them out of the oven and turning them out of the donut pan. Warm donuts absorb more butter and hold onto the sugar topping better.
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NO TIME TO BAKE?!
Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
Jade says
We don’t have Land O Lakes where I live and no comparable maple spread – can we substitute regular butter? I understand some of the mapley taste will be lost but we don’t have any similar substitutes here. Thank you!
Michelle says
Yes! You can substitute the maple spread with 4 ounces (1 stick) of melted unsalted butter instead.
Florence says
Wonderful explanation, however I did this recipe and wasn’t very fond of it. I live in Spain and unfortunately don’t have the Maple me crazy ingredient and maple sugar, which as you said is very important and had to improvise by making myself, as well as buttermilk which I used the yogurt substitute instead. Therefore the result wasn’t as wonderful as expected.
But thanks Michelle for your wonderful recipes.