Mini Gluten-Free Cherry Chip Donuts (w/Cherry Glaze)

Last fall, my daughter was diagnosed with Crohn's, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Although there doesn't seem to be a strict dietary protocol for Crohn's patients, Natalie is discovering that some food items are problematic. Gluten appears to be one of them.

Natalie's favorite cake is cherry chip with cherry icing. Her birthday was approaching, so I set about trying to find a gluten-free alternative to the cake mix I had been using for years. In the meantime, Natalie thought it might be more fun to try making mini-donuts instead. I had recently purchased a gluten-free cookbook which also inspired me to buy the cutest mini donut maker.

This was an interesting challenge. I consider myself to be a decent cook (when I apply myself) and I'm willing to experiment with new recipes, modify recipes, and sometimes dream up new recipes. Having said that, said experimentation does not typically involve baking desserts. When it comes to cakes, cookies, and baked desserts ... I pretty much stick to the book and play by the rules.

I'm happy to report that the challenge DID turn out to be lots of fun. Although I did the basic recipe research, the final product and resulting yumminess was a team effort. Our journey, and the recipe, is below. We hope you enjoy them too!

nom nom nom

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Photographic Journey of our Baking Adventure
(with helpful tips!)

Gather kitchen tools you may want to use. Mince cherries and
prep items that need to warm up or cool down to room temp.

Carefully follow steps 2 thru 5 on how to combine ingredients.
Use cooking spray before cooking each batch.
Carefully wipe clean and reapply between batches.

Fill donut wells (pastry bag was slightly easier). Have someone use
a knife to cut the batter when donut well is full. Use some type of
durable plastic tool to help lift donuts out when they are done.
WARNING: donuts and donut maker are very hot!!

Is best to let donuts cool completely before applying glaze. Cooled
donuts may look a little wrinkly. Is ok. Do not store glazed donuts
in container - they will soak up the glaze and get too gooey.

The finished product! Although they taste yummy right away,
we noticed that a little cooling time significantly improved the texture.
I'm told this is typical with gluten-free baked goods.

 

This journey, and recipe, was inspired by
and adapted from the following sources:

Yeast-Free Glazed Plain Donuts, Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Quick & Easy Book*

Gluten-Free Cherry Chip Cake Recipe, USASillyYaks Blog

Cherry Chip Cupcake Recipe, Fuel Sweat Grow Blog

*Recipe not available online. Please visit the author's blog,
Gluten Free on a Shoestring, to purchase her book.
Her blog is also loaded with lots of other gluten-free recipes
and great advice. Bookmark it.

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Recipe for Mini Gluten-Free Cherry Chip Donuts with Cherry Glaze

Makes 30-36 mini donuts — 6 per batch in a donut maker @ 3 minutes per batch.

Download Printable Recipe (PDF)

Ingredients for Donuts

1 16-ounce jar maraschino cherries (reserve juice, mince cherries, all is divided)
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons reserved maraschino cherry juice
1 ¾ cups high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour
  (I used Pamela’s Artisan Flour Blend because that was the best
  locally available option at the time.)
¾ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons grapeseed (or vegetable) oil
¾ cup plain yogurt, at room temperature
Cooking Spray

Ingredients for Cherry Glaze

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons reserved maraschino cherry juice
1-2 tablespoons milk (I used 1T)

Directions

1. Pour juice from cherries into separate container and reserve. Mince cherries and set aside the result in another small dish (it also creates some juice). I used a Black and Decker mini-chopper to mince my cherries.
2. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and 2T of reserved cherry juice. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and sugar, and whisk well.
4. Add the butter, oil, and egg/flavor mixture and yogurt to the flour mixture above – mixing to combine after each addition. Batter will get very thick. If using a mixer, you will probably have to keep pushing the batter back down into the bowl.
5. Fold in minced maraschino cherries to taste. I used 4 heaping Tablespoons (which also included some juice). You may want to add 1-2T at a time.
6. Warm the donut maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. *See below for instructs on how to bake in the oven.
7. Put batter into a gallon plastic storage bag. Squeeze batter down toward one corner. Snip tip of corner to create a pastry bag (about the size of a dime or penny). Or, use a pastry bag with appropriate sized tip.
8. Spray top/bottom trays of donut maker. Squeeze a ring of batter into the donut wells. Don’t over fill. Close and secure the lid.
9. Allow to bake for 3 minutes. Open the donut maker and remove donuts. (careful! it’s hot!) Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat steps 8 & 9 with remaining batter.
10. After donuts have cooled, make the glaze. In a small bowl, combine the confectioner’s sugar with 2T reserved cherry juice. Add the milk, a little at a time, until it reaches a thick but pourable consistency. I used 1T all at once, and kept stirring (it eventually cooperates).
11. Dip the top of each cooled donut in the glaze, then place on parchment paper so that glaze is facing upward. Although they are quite yummy fresh, they taste even better the next day!!
12. The glaze helps seal in moisture, and the donuts will keep for a few days outside of a container. If you put them in a container, they will “sweat” and the glaze may evaporate or drip off. You can freeze any unglazed donuts.

Oven Baking Instructs: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini donut pan or muffin tin and fill wells about three-quarters of the way full. Place in the center of the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the doonuts are set and just lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. I did not try this method. I used the Babycakes Mini Donut Maker.

Download Printable Recipe (PDF)