Maple Dessert Recipes
Maple syrup does more than sit on pancakes. In these desserts it is the sweetener and the flavor at once, with a toasty, caramel-edged depth that brown sugar only hints at. Thirty maple dessert recipes, from snickerdoodles and cream pie to fudge, cinnamon rolls and pots de crème.
Six to Bake First
One from every section, starting with the cookie that takes a full cup of syrup.
Maple Cookies
One full cup of pure maple syrup and no extract, so every bit of the maple flavor is real. Soft centers, a sugar-rolled crackle, and White Sparkling Sugar in the roll adds extra crunch.
Maple Bundt Cake with Maple Cinnamon Glaze
Maple goes into the batter, the glaze and the candied pecans on top, so nothing about this bundt is shy. Royal Cinnamon in the glaze gives it a warm finish.
Maple Cream Pie
Stovetop maple custard goes into a graham crust under a maple-sweetened whipped cream cheese topping. It needs a night in the fridge, so it is the pie to finish a day ahead.
Maple Walnut Fudge
Two and a half cups of pure maple syrup and no other sugar, cooked with cream and butter until it sets into creamy walnut fudge. Finish each square with a pinch of Flake Spring Salt.
Make-Ahead Maple Cinnamon Rolls
The swirl holds three tablespoons of cinnamon and the glaze holds a cup of maple syrup. Shape them the night before, and use Royal Cinnamon so the swirl stands up to all that maple.
Maple Pots de Crème
Dark maple syrup is the only sweetener in these silky little custards of cream, yolks and vanilla. They finish with whipped cream and coarse salt, which is a job for Flake Spring Salt.
Maple Cookies
Soft drops, chewy oatmeal, snickerdoodles and two kinds of maple leaves, each with real syrup in the dough.
Maple Cookies
One full cup of pure maple syrup and no extract, so every bit of the maple flavor is real. Soft centers, a sugar-rolled crackle, and White Sparkling Sugar in the roll adds extra crunch.
Maple Snickerdoodles
Cinnamon sugar on the outside and maple syrup in the dough, which is the whole maple-and-cinnamon argument in one chewy cookie. Royal Cinnamon in the roll makes it louder.
Maple Oatmeal Cookies with Maple Glaze
Chewy oatmeal cookies with maple in the dough and a maple butter glaze over the top. The flour is KAMUT instead of plain all-purpose, which gives every bite a nutty, buttery edge.
Maple Leaf Sandwich Cookies
Tender cake-flour cookies cut into maple leaves and sandwiched around a maple buttercream. They look like an afternoon of work, and mostly they just need a leaf cutter.
Glazed Maple Leaf Cut-Out Cookies
Roll-and-cut leaf cookies with maple in the dough, a whisper of ginger and cinnamon, and a maple glaze brushed on top. Leave the glaze amber or tint it like the trees outside.
Maple Sugar Cookies with Maple Frosting
Thick, soft sugar cookies with maple in the dough and again in the frosting. A spoonful and a half of vanilla rounds them out, which is a fine job for Pure Vanilla Extract.
Maple Cakes & Cupcakes
A bundt, a walnut cake, two layer cakes and two kinds of cupcakes, with maple in the batter and usually in the frosting too.
Maple Bundt Cake with Maple Cinnamon Glaze
Maple goes into the batter, the glaze and the candied pecans on top, so nothing about this bundt is shy. Royal Cinnamon in the glaze gives it a warm finish.
Maple Cake with Maple Buttercream
A tall layer cake with dark brown sugar and maple in the crumb and more maple whipped into the buttercream. A teaspoon of cinnamon keeps it tasting like October.
Maple Layer Cake with Maple Caramel
More maple than anything else on the page: a cup in the cake, a cup in the caramel, more in the buttercream. Flake Spring Salt over the caramel keeps the sweetness in line.
Maple Walnut Cake
Pure maple syrup, a full cup of it, sweetens this walnut cake before a maple glaze goes on top. It is the homey maple cake for letting the syrup do the talking.
Maple Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting
Sour cream keeps these maple cupcakes tender, and a brown butter frosting brings the toasty note maple loves. A last drizzle of syrup goes on just before serving.
Maple Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream
For maple purists: half a cup of syrup in the batter and another half cup beaten into the buttercream, with no other flavor competing. Pipe the frosting high.
Maple Pies & Tarts
A maple cream pie, a pumpkin pie sweetened only with syrup, and Quebec's sugar-shack pie for the purists.
Maple Cream Pie
Stovetop maple custard goes into a graham crust under a maple-sweetened whipped cream cheese topping. It needs a night in the fridge, so it is the pie to finish a day ahead.
Maple Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie with maple syrup as the only sweetener, which gives the filling a darker, caramel edge. Royal Cinnamon in the spice blend is worth it here.
Traditional Quebec Maple Syrup Pie
Quebec's sugar-shack classic from a Montreal baker, with maple syrup and maple sugar cooked into a smooth, rich filling. Cut the slices thin, because this one is all maple.
Maple Bars, Fudge & Candy
Blondies for the bake sale, fudge and candy for the gift tin, and a brittle to break over ice cream.
Maple Walnut Fudge
Two and a half cups of pure maple syrup and no other sugar, cooked with cream and butter until it sets into creamy walnut fudge. Finish each square with a pinch of Flake Spring Salt.
Chewy Maple Blondies
Brown sugar and maple syrup give these blondies chewy edges and a soft middle, and a maple glaze sets over the top. One pan cuts into enough squares for a crowd.
Maple White Chocolate Blondies with Maple Glaze
Where the blondies above stay simple, these add white chocolate and walnuts under a maple glaze. A scatter of flaky salt on top keeps them from tipping into too sweet.
3-Ingredient Maple Fudge
Three ingredients make the whole list: maple syrup, cream and butter. Where the walnut fudge has crunch, these are smooth, plain squares that pack well in a paper-lined tin.
Creamy Maple Candy
Soft little maple candies, cooked from syrup, sugar and cream and beaten until creamy, the kind every sugarhouse sells by the box. They make a cookie tin look fancy.
Maple-Cinnamon Pepita Brittle
Pepitas and a cup of maple syrup, with no other sweetener, cook into a snappy brittle warmed with cinnamon and finished with coarse salt. Break it over ice cream or into gift bags.
Maple Breakfast Bakes
Scones, donuts, muffins, a loaf and the cinnamon rolls that make the case for cinnamon and maple.
Make-Ahead Maple Cinnamon Rolls
The swirl holds three tablespoons of cinnamon and the glaze holds a cup of maple syrup. Shape them the night before, and use Royal Cinnamon so the swirl stands up to all that maple.
Glazed Maple Walnut Scones
Grade A dark maple goes in the dough and the glaze, with walnuts folded through and a crunchy sugar top. White Sparkling Sugar holds its sparkle right through the oven.
Baked Maple Glazed Donuts
These donuts bake in a donut pan with maple in the buttermilk batter and the glaze, plus a crunchy pecan and waffle-cookie topping. Cinnamon and nutmeg make them taste like a cider-mill morning.
Maple Oat Muffins with Walnuts
Oats soak in milk before they go into the batter, which keeps these maple muffins tender. Half a cup of dark maple and a maple glaze carry the flavor.
No-Knead Maple Oat Bread
This no-knead yeasted loaf mixes oats, maple syrup and a cup of whole wheat flour, and that cup is a good place to try KAMUT flour. Toast a thick slice and butter it warm.
Frosted Maple Oat Scones
Whole wheat pastry flour and oats make these scones hearty, and maple does nearly all the sweetening, in the dough and the frosting. The coffee-shop favorite, baked at home.
Maple's favorite spice
Cinnamon is maple's oldest friend in the kitchen, and it adds warmth without stacking more sugar on top of the syrup. Royal Cinnamon is single-origin Saigon, high in oils and noticeably sweeter than grocery cinnamon, so start with a little less than the recipe calls for.
Maple Custards & Cold Desserts
Spoon desserts for after the pie: a custard, a cheesecake and an egg-free ice cream.
Maple Pots de Crème
Dark maple syrup is the only sweetener in these silky little custards of cream, yolks and vanilla. They finish with whipped cream and coarse salt, which is a job for Flake Spring Salt.
Maple Cheesecake with Maple Pecan Topping
Sticky maple-pecan topping, with three-quarters of a cup of syrup in it, sits over a maple filling and a pecan-coconut crust. Bake it a day ahead, since cold cheesecake slices cleaner.
Maple Syrup Ice Cream
An egg-free ice cream sweetened only with maple syrup, so there is no custard to cook and nothing between you and the maple. Scoop it next to any pie on this page.
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Single-origin Saigon cinnamon - bold, sweet, and high in oils, so it's the cinnamon you'll actually notice in cinnamon rolls, spice cookies, and warm fruit desserts. Bought straight from the farmers who grow it in the mountains of central Vietnam.
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We've Got Answers
What kind of maple syrup is best for baking?
The darkest pure maple syrup you can find. Grade A Dark, the syrup that used to be sold as Grade B, keeps the most flavor through the oven. Golden and amber syrups are lovely on a pancake, but their gentler flavor fades in a cake or cookie. Any pure maple syrup works in these recipes; dark just tastes more like maple once it is baked.
Can I use maple syrup instead of sugar in a recipe?
Yes, with two adjustments. Use about 3/4 cup of maple syrup for each cup of white sugar, and cut the other liquid in the recipe by about 3 tablespoons. Drop the oven 25°F, since maple browns faster than sugar. Cakes, quick breads and custards convert easily. Cookies that depend on creaming butter with sugar are harder, so start from a recipe written for maple.
Why does maple flavor disappear when you bake with it?
Heat drives off some of maple's aroma, and butter, spice and flour crowd out the rest. Start with dark syrup, and simmer it down by about a third before it goes in to concentrate the flavor. Maple sugar in the dough helps, and a maple glaze helps even more, because the glaze never sees the oven. A pinch of flaky salt on top makes maple taste more like itself.
What is maple sugar and how do I bake with it?
Maple sugar is pure maple syrup boiled until the water is gone, then stirred into dry granules. It swaps 1:1 for granulated sugar, so it is the easiest way to get maple into a cookie dough, shortbread or crumb topping without adding liquid. It costs more than syrup, so plenty of bakers save it for doughs and toppings and use syrup everywhere else.
Can I use pancake syrup instead of pure maple syrup?
Not in these. Pancake syrup is mostly corn syrup with maple flavoring, and it bakes up sweet but flat, without the toasted caramel depth that makes a maple dessert worth baking. It is also thicker, so the liquid in the recipe stops adding up. These recipes call for pure maple syrup, the kind with one ingredient on the label.
How should I store maple syrup and maple desserts?
Once it is opened, keep pure maple syrup in the fridge, where it lasts about a year, or freeze it, since it stays pourable. Maple desserts keep like their plain versions: cookies, bars and fudge in an airtight tin for about five days, and custards, cream pies and cheesecake in the fridge for three or four. Glazed bakes are best the day they are glazed.
More Baking Adventures
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The other toasty flavor of fall, from blondies to a brown butter pie.
Fall Cookie Recipes
The rest of the season's cookie tin, from soft pumpkin drops to iced leaves.
Best Pumpkin Dessert Recipes
Bars, breads and cheesecakes for the other flavor of October.
Best Apple Dessert Recipes for Fall
Pies and galettes for everything that comes home from the orchard.
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More muffins and coffee cakes for slow weekend mornings.
Fall Cupcake Ideas
Pumpkin spice, apple and caramel cupcakes, frosted for the season.