Celebrate your loved ones with fresh-baked Valentine Cherry Donuts. Easy and delicious right from your own oven!
Want to make something special for your sweet ones this year? How about surprising them with Baked Valentine Cherry Donuts. They are super easy to make and kids as well as adults absolutely love them! Bonus – the whole house smells amazing as these are baking, just like a bakery!
HOW TO MAKE BAKED DONUTS
Besides being a little healthier than fried donuts, baked donuts are perfect for add-ins like chopped cherries, chocolate chips or dried fruit.
INSTRUCTIONS:
To start, reheat the oven to 425. At this temperature, the donuts bake up fast and perfect, in about 10 minutes. *Important -Grease your pan liberally to make it easy for the donuts to release. No special donut pan – no problem. These bake nicely in mini muffin tins too. The baking time will be a little less.
In a medium bowl, add all of the donut ingredients, except the cherries. Once the batter is beaten until smooth, then fold in the cherries. Use a spoon or pour the batter into the donut wells, filling about 3/4 full. I like to use a toothpick to stir the batter in the wells to even it out.
Bake on the center rack of the oven for 10 minutes. The donuts should spring back when you lightly press on them. The tops of the donuts do not brown, they will still be pale when the donuts are fully baked. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing.
Invert the pan over a flat surface and the donuts should fall out. If not, use a fork or knife on the edge to pop them out.
While they are cooling, make the glaze. In a shallow dish, stir the glaze ingredients until smooth. It should be thin enough to dip the doughnuts into and it sticks, like the consistency of maple syrup.
To glaze, dip the pale side of the doughnuts into the glaze, then lay glaze-side up on a tray or wire rack. Sprinkle with decorations while the glaze is still wet. I usually do one at a time, dipping in glaze and then immediately adding sprinkles.
Let glaze harden before serving the donuts. They are delicious served with coffee or milk.
ARE THERE SPECIAL INGREDIENTS REQUIRED TO MAKE OVEN DONUTS?
This recipe is really standard. I use it as a base for all of my oven donuts. You’ll find that it’s very similar to pancake batter. Flour, eggs, butter, sugar, buttermilk or milk. Sometimes I add sour cream to my donut batter for a little extra moisture. Likewise, I prefer to use a combination of granulated and brown sugar instead of just white sugar for moisture and the extra flavor boost. One of my must-have additions to this donut batter is nutmeg. I truly swear by it. It really gives these donuts that “fried donut” smell and flavor.
This recipe can be baked in muffin or mini muffin tins, but to make the unique donut shape, you will need a donut baking tin.
BAKED VALENTINE CHERRY DONUTS
Celebrate your loved ones with fresh-baked Valentine Cherry Donuts. Easy and delicious right from your own oven!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 large large eggs
- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg optional
- 3/4 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup maraschino cherries chopped
FOR THE GLAZE
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 – 2 tbsp milk or hot water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt
- valentine sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°. Spray with non-stick spray or grease donut baking pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine all donut ingredients except chopped cherries. Stir to combine until smooth. Fold in cherries until evenly dispersed in batter.
- Fill donut wells 3/4 full with batter. Stir batter with a toothpick in each well to level.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Donuts are fully baked when they spring back when touched. Top of donuts will be pale. Remove from oven and cool slightly before removing from pan. Invert pan over flat surface and donuts should fall out. If not, pry gently from the side with a sharp knife or fork.
Make the Glaze
- Add all glaze ingredients to a shallow dish and stir until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add teaspoons of milk, one at a time, until glaze is the consistency of maple syrup.
- To glaze, dip donuts, pale side down, into glaze. Remove and place glaze side up on pan or tray. Sprinkle with valentine sprinkles. For best results allow glaze to set before serving, about 30 minutes.
Chef Tips
Nutrition Facts
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Hi Suzanne, I’m so glad you liked them! Using the cherry juice is an awesome idea…I’ll try that next time! Thanks for the tip ?.
My husband and I love cherry donuts so when I came across this recipe I had to try it. We loved it! The only thing I did different than the recipe, I used the maraschino cherry juice rather than milk in the glaze.