Mini Maple-Glazed Doughnut Hole Muffins
Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 2:32PM 
The world seems to be divided into 2 kinds of people… those who like to celebrate their birthday and those who don’t. I definitely fall into the former category and The Husband falls into the latter, which works out pretty well for me as he also falls into a third category of husbands who would rather celebrate their wife’s birthday. Rock on. As I mentioned here, my birthday was last week, and it being a rather significant one, some planning was in order.
This year I was in the mood for a road trip and decided on Chicago. If one must turn 60, (gulp) I can think of worse ways to soothe the pain. Chicago was spectacularly fun… great food, gorgeous architecture, stunning fall color and did I mention really good food? Thank you, Chicago, for staging a most memorable and gloriously beautiful birthday week. We will be back.
But the birthday has come and gone, and reality has sort of grabbed me by the throat and is threatening to choke that vacation euphoria right outta me. But I found out today that one of the best ways to fend off reality’s death grip is to make these very cute little maple-glazed doughnut hole muffins.
It is actually impossible to feel bad about anything when you have a doughnut hole muffin in front of you. My daughter has made these a few times in the last year and I really do love em. I gave up eating doughnuts several years ago because of their huge caloric hit, but these little guys are impossibly innocent while still providing that beloved doughnut fix.
And they couldn’t honestly be any easier to make. Right now you most likely have the necessary 6 ingredients in your cupboard , and 30 minutes from now you could be enjoying one or five of these delectable little “doughnut holes”. I do hope reality is treating you kindly today, but whether it is or isn’t, a doughnut hole muffin could most definitely make it all seem just a little better. Here’s the recipe…
Mini Maple-Glazed Doughnut Hole Muffins
Click here for a printable recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
Maple Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons real maple syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
To make the maple glaze, stir the maple syrup and 1 tablespoon of milk into the powdered sugar until all the lumps disappear. If the glaze seems too thick to drizzle, add a little more milk, one teaspoon at a time until you have achieved a nice consistency. This will make enough glaze for 2 batches of muffins.
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375. Grease 2 mini-muffin pans.
- Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 melted butter and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in the milk, then mix in the baking powder and flour until just combined. Fill the prepared mini muffin cups about half full. (I find these turn out better if you fill the cups 3/4 and only make 18 to 20 of them).
- Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are lightly golden, 15-20 minutes.
- Let cool and drizzle with maple glaze.
Reader Comments (14)
Belated Happy Birthday! =) I want to visit Chicago too. The place seems to be a perfect destination for short vacations. There are a lot of activities to enjoy in the place too.
For your mini doughnut recipe, I'll try that later. These doughnuts look so mouth-watering. Thanks for sharing. =)
YUMMY! These look amazing!
Yummy! Thanks for the recipe & belated happy birthday! :) How was your trip to the windy city?
Thanks so much Halley! Chicago was fantastic. What a beautiful city... it was the perfect place to celebrate my birthday. Enjoy the doughnut hole muffins!
These look fabulous and I'm a sucker for maple anything, but maple glaze is over the top! You have my permission to indulge in 60 of these little babies...happy birthday!
Thanks so much, Renee! I totally love the idea of sitting down to 60 of these! I think I could do it!
These sound awesome.
I just found your blog. I'm "pinning" several of your recipes, including this one. YUM YUM. THank you!!
thanks for this wonderful website! I'm going to make these muffins and your brown sugar pie this weekend. mmmm!
btw, you mention you like old recipes. I recently made a "Democrat Cake" with a recipe from an 1870s Southern cookbook. it's so fun to try out something our grandmothers would have made!
You're right, Ruth. I just this week inherited my husband's grandmother's old recipe box. What a treasure! I hope to be posting some of her recipes soon. She was an amazing cook. Thanks for mentioning that.
i wonder if this recipe would work in my mini donut maker. i think I'll try it out!
Don't know why that wouldn't work, Stephanie. Let me know how they come out!
I just made these today with one major variation: I made them gluten-free. And I have to tell you - they came out AWESOME! I'm in love! They have a lovely crunchy exterior as though they've been fried and these are closer to a donut than any other donut muffin I've tried. They are cute and pop out of the pan easily too. Love them! Will be making these regularly! (FYI - I was a little unsure because they didn't have any egg in them, but these are really hands-down one of my favorite new recipes.) Thank you! Oh, and if someone wants to make them gf: Instead of the all-purpose flour, I used 1/3 cup EACH millet flour, brown rice flour, and cornstarch and added 1 tsp xanthan gum. And because I was out of milk, I substituted water and they were perfect!
Wow!! That's impressive, Michelle! Nice work. These are awesome little muffins on their own, but what a bonus to know they come out really well gluten free too. Thanks for the tip!! Nice to hear from you.