Do you love salty sweet? If the answer is yes, these maple bacon banana baked donuts may be for you!
Maple Bacon Banana Donuts!
The name is a bit of a mouth-full!
These baked donuts are inspired by my favourite Five Guys milkshake combination - banana and bacon. They combine a super easy one bowl banana donut recipe, which is loaded with bacon before being topped off with maple cream cheese glaze and a mix of crushed banana chips and maple bacon.
Making Maple Bacon
Maple bacon is a quick method of adding a bit of sticky sweet maple to grilled bacon. It is a quicker and simpler process than candying bacon, but produces a similar effect.
Quick Note on Bacon in Britain:
In the UK, bacon is usually sold in thicker rashers than in the USA - more like Canadian bacon. For this recipe, I'd recommend using streaky bacon, which is a thinner strip, more similar to traditional American bacon.
Grilling Maple Bacon
You can make maple bacon in all manner of ways, but the easiest is to cook the bacon under the broiler (grill) in your oven.
- Place the bacon in a single layer on a wire rack and cook under the grill for about 10 minutes.
- Flip and cook for about 3 minutes more.
- Remove and brush with maple syrup.
- Return to the grill for a further few minutes, until you've reached a level of crispiness that you're happy with.
It is important to grill the bacon first before adding the maple syrup in order to render the fat. This means that when you do add the maple syrup it is more likely to cook into the bacon rather than melting off with the fat.
The timings noted above were for cooking my bacon, which was a bit on the thicker side of streaky bacon. I would recommend watching yours to ensure it does not burn, especially if your strips are particularly thin!
You are looking to produce nice crispy strips of bacon that you will be able to break up into smaller bits.
Once grilled to your desired level of doneness, remove from the rack and place on paper towels to cool. The paper towels will help soak up any excess fat and liquid, leaving more crisp bacon.
Banana Bacon Baked Donuts
Ingredients
For these baked donuts, you will need:
- Plain or all-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Unsalted butter, softened
- Sugar - I use a mix of plain caster (super fine granulated) sugar and light brown muscovado sugar in order to bring a bit of a molassesy richness to the donuts.
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract and maple syrup
- Buttermilk or soured milk
- Ripe banana
- Crispy bacon, broken into small bits - I call for about ¼ cup, which was roughly 2 strips of my bacon.
Making Banana Bacon Baked Donuts
The process for these baked donuts is very straightforward and easily accomplished in one bowl:
- First beat the butter and sugars together.
- Add the eggs, maple syrup and vanilla, beating together to incorporate.
- Break the ripe banana into the mix and blend into the batter.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt, beating until just combined.
- Finally, slowly incorporate the buttermilk.
Once the banana baked donut batter is made, fold in the bacon bits and fill your baked donut moulds.
The quickest and cleanest way for filling your mould will be to pipe the mixture around, either with a dedicated piping bag or a ziploc bag. Simply cut the tip off for about a 2cm opening (large enough for the bacon bits to pipe through).
When ready, bake the donuts in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.
I've suggested some tips for baking donuts in silicone pans with my Lemon Raspberry Baked Donuts. The key thing to remember is to allow the donuts to cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before unmoulding. This helps prevent sticking.
Topping for Bacon Banana Donuts
Ingredients
- Cream cheese - I use the spreadable soft cheese, which means you don't need to wait for this to reach room temperature and can just whisk it straight from the fridge.
- Maple syrup
- Dried banana chips
- Maple bacon
Making Maple Cream Cheese Donut Glaze
Maple Cream Cheese donut glaze is a quick and easy two ingredient recipe:
- Maple syrup
- Spreadable cream cheese
The ratios of the mixture can depend on how you are using the glaze. In this recipe, I use two parts cream cheese to one part maple syrup for a thick and dip-able donut frosting.
Crushed Bacon and Banana Chips
Along with the glaze, these donuts have a bacon and banana topping, easily made by pulsing banana chips and a couple slices of maple bacon in a food processor.
If you don't have a food processor, simply break up the bacon into bits as you did for the donut batter. You can then chop the banana chips or use these whole as decoration on top.
Process for Coating Banana Bacon Donuts
Its best to set up a bit of a donut coating station. You will want one bowl for the maple cream cheese glaze and a second small bowl (or plate) for the crushed bacon and banana chips.
- Work one donut at a time.
- Hold the base of the donut and dunk the top into the cream cheese mixture.
- Immediately afterwards, dip into the crushed bacon mixture.
- Set on a piece of parchment paper or plate.
FAQs for Maple Bacon and Banana Baked Donuts
These donuts are best eaten fresh on the day. The banana in the donut as well as the glaze make these quite moist and leftovers may become a bit sticky on the second or third day.
I tend to find smoked or unsmoked bacon to be entirely personal preference. I always opt for smoked bacon and made my maple bacon with it in this recipe.
Want to try some more baked donuts:
Banana Bacon Baked Donuts
Ingredients
Ingredients for Banana Baked Donuts with Bacon Bits
- 1⅔ cup plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup light brown muscovado sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ cup buttermilk or soured milk See this how to guide
- 1 small ripe banana, mashed
- ¼ cup cooked crispy maple bacon, broken into small bits
Ingredients for Maple Cream Cheese Glaze with Banana Bacon Topping
- 2 tablespoon spreadable cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¼ cup crushed banana chips
- ¼ cup cooked crispy maple bacon, ground in food processor or broken into small bits
Instructions
Instructions for Banana Baked Donuts with Bacon Bits
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and prepare donut trays.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars.
- Next, add the eggs, maple syrup and vanilla, whisking together to incorporate.
- Add in the ripe banana. Break this into pieces and blend into the batter.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients - the flour, baking soda and salt, beating until just combined.
- Slowly add the buttermilk, mixing until just combined to form the batter.
- Lastly add in the bacon bits and fold to distribute.
- Pipe the batter into 12 prepared donut moulds and bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes, checking for the donuts to be risen and lightly golden. You can also test with a toothpick - inserted in one of the middle donuts. Once this comes out clean, your donuts are done.
- Remove from the oven. If using silicone trays, allow the donuts to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before unmoulding carefully. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Instructions for Maple Cream Cheese Glaze with Banana Bacon Topping
- Place the banana chips and bacon in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to break up into small chunks. Pour this into a small bowl or onto a plate and set aside.
- Whisk together maple syrup and softened cream cheese in a small bowl.
- Once the donuts are cool, working one at a time, hold a donut by the base and dip the top in the cream cheese glaze. Then dip into the crushed banana chips and bacon. Repeat until you've coated each donut.
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