If there’s one donut I’d tell you to track down during Vermont maple season, it’s the maple cream donut at Madeleine’s Bakery of Vermont Local favorite: Madeleine’s Bakery of Vermont in Milton.
And you should probably go early.
The maple cream donut has a habit of selling out, which isn’t particularly surprising once you’ve had one. The donut itself has that soft, substantial doughiness I want in a filled donut, but the maple cream inside is what makes this one worth seeking out. It’s smooth, unmistakably maple and just sweet enough without turning the whole thing into a sugar bomb.
I’ve eaten a lot of Vermont donuts. This is one I keep going back for.
What to Order at Madeleine’s Bakery
Start with the maple cream.
Madeleine’s fills a soft donut with maple cream, and what I like most is that neither part gets lost. There’s enough filling to make maple the point of the donut, but you can still taste and appreciate the dough itself.
That’s important.
I’ve had plenty of filled donuts where the pastry is basically just a delivery mechanism for an enormous amount of sugar. This isn’t that.
The maple flavor also makes it particularly appropriate during sugaring season, when Vermont is already in full maple mode. If you’re visiting in late winter or early spring and spending the weekend touring sugarhouses, eating sugar on snow and stocking up on syrup, consider this another maple stop for the itinerary.
Just one involving considerably more dough.
Don’t Ignore the Other Filled Donuts
I know I just told you the maple cream is the assignment, but Madeleine’s doesn’t make this easy.
You’ll also find vanilla cream and jelly-filled options, along with a much larger selection of donuts and pastries depending on the day.
This is one of those bakeries where I’d recommend making your first decision immediately, securing the maple cream donut, and then looking around to see what else is calling to you.
Because there is one other thing you should be watching for.
If You See an Apple Fritter, Buy It
Madeleine’s apple fritter is one of my favorite bites anywhere in Vermont.
Not favorite donuts.
Favorite bites.
They’re typically a weekend offering, and the texture is what makes them so good. You get those crispier fried edges on the outside, softer dough inside and pieces of apple running through it.
I’ve already included Madeleine’s among my favorite places for apple fritters in Vermont, and I’m repeating the advice here for a reason.
If you walk in for a maple cream donut and there’s an apple fritter available, get both.
You can make whatever justification you need afterward.
Go Early for the Best Selection
This is not the bakery where I’d casually wander in at the end of the day expecting every donut you saw online to still be waiting for you.
Popular items sell out.
Madeleine’s opens in the morning, and if you’re making the drive specifically for a maple cream donut or hoping to score an apple fritter, I’d make it an early stop and check the bakery’s current hours before leaving home.
The upside is that Milton is easy to work into a northern Vermont day trip. It’s north of Burlington and along the Route 7 corridor, so you can stop for donuts before continuing toward the Champlain Islands or farther north.
Personally, I think starting a road trip with a box of donuts dramatically improves the itinerary.
Add Madeleine’s to Your Vermont Maple Season Food List
Vermont maple season gives us plenty of obvious foods to chase.
There’s sugar on snow at the sugarhouses, maple syrup that’s barely had time to cool before you’re bringing it home, maple candy and, of course, maple creemees.
The maple cream donut at Madeleine’s belongs on that list too.
It’s not complicated or trying particularly hard to reinvent a donut. It’s just very good dough filled with very good maple cream, made by a local Vermont bakery that knows what it’s doing.
Get there early. Order the maple cream donut. And if it’s the weekend and you spot an apple fritter? Enjoy one for me!
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