Cherry Chocolate Chip Donuts

What’s great about those miniature donuts above is that you can spend hours and hours arranging and rearranging these adorable little cherry chip morsels into piles and cascades and whimsical shapes.

You can stand at this angle and that angle, overhead and eye level. Move this one to the left, that one to the right a bit. Each time, eat another one. One that looks a little too crooked. This one is a little too flat. The glaze on this one ran a bit.

You need to take them and destroy them, so as to keep them from infecting the others with their imperfection. I can think of any better way than IN MAH BELLEH.

Of course, you’ll need to lay off them eventually, because Valentine’s day is coming and, goodness, but these are just the most perfect little Valentine’s Day dessert, no? Vanilla cake donuts with luscious bites of maraschino cherries and chocolate chip, finished with a maraschino-tinged glaze. Yes and yes.

It’s really all about those maraschino cherries. Their juicy, chewy Love! Love!! Love!!! in contrast to that crispy smooth glaze. And the rich chocolatey chips in between.

That’s happiness right there. And love.

Which just about sums up the whole V-day thing. Happiness and love** – in a little, sugary package.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Donuts

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon oil
1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained (reserve some juice) and chopped
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon milk or half and half

For the donuts: Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, and buttermilk until well blended. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the cherries and chocolate chips

Fill the donut wells until 2/3 full and bake 8 minutes. Allow the donuts to cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze: In a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, cherry juice, and milk until the glaze is well blended.

To finish the donuts, arrange a cooling rack over a sheet pan. Dip the top of the donuts in the glaze and set the donuts, glazed side up, on the cooling rack, allowing the excess glaze to drip down. Allow the glaze to harden before eating.

**Speaking of love, I have to thank The Tasty Fork for sharing the love and passing on to me the Liebster Award, which is an award that can be given to any blog that you’re crushing on that has less than 200 followers. “Liebster” is a german word that translates to “dearest,” which makes me say something like, “Uh, holy shit, someone actually IS reading me and someone actually kinda likes me. Go figure.”

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