This post was originally published in 2014. We’re republishing it today because donuts never go out of style.

Donuts are a bit sweet for my taste, so I rarely make them, but when I do I’m reminded of how quick, simple, and delicious they are. They’re so much fun that I almost want to make them faster than I can eat them, which is perfect if you have my sweet tooth of a boyfriend.  I only ate two from the chocolate-cherry batch and he kindly took care of the rest.  I can’t say the same for the little fried rings; we both scarfed those down at record speed. By record speed, I mean less than three minutes.  They’re best when they’re hot, we all know that, and in this case, I almost didn’t get a chance to dip them in icing.

First is a delicious baked chocolate donut with cherry frosting and second comes the easiest fried donut of all time.  I learned about the latter in YMCA when I was eight, yeah, it’s that easy.  So cruise through these recipes with me, but I’m warning you, you’ll want to head immediately to the store to grab the ingredients.

Cherry Glazed Chocolate Donuts – Ingredients:

• 1 c flour
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 6 Tbsp sour cream
•  1/4 c milk
• 1/4 c vegetable oil
• spritz of cooking spray

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp + 100% cherry juice or marchino cherry juice

Equipment:

• medium sized mixing bowl
• whisk
• wooden spoon
• rubber spatula
• donut pan or muffin tins
• small sauce pot

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 375°
• Spritz your donut pan (or muffin tins-that’s what I used) with whatever cooking spray you have on hand.
• In a medium sized mixing bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking soda.  Whisk to integrate.
• In a separate smaller bowl combine the egg, vanilla extract, sour cream and vegetable oil.  Whisk to combine.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the larger bowl with the dry ingredients.  Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.  It doesn’t take too much stirring, save that arm of yours.
• Use a soup spoon to plop a glob of dough (my recipes sound like poetry, I know) into each muffin or donut section.  If you want larger donuts you could go for two spoonfuls in each muffin space.
• Pop the donuts in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  Lightly press your fingertip into one, it should spring right back.
• Let the donuts cool in the pan before you glaze them.  This is an important step, one I realized I was missing until the third try with these donuts.  If they don’t cool than the glaze won’t full harden and it will stick to your teeth-not cool.

Preparing the glaze:

• In a small sauce pot whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of pure cherry juice over medium low heat.  You may need to add a couple drops more.  Stir the glaze slowly until it bubbles then turn it down to low.
• Dip and twirl your donuts in the glaze and place them on a rack to cool.  You could get fancy with it and completely glaze them or stripe them up if you wanted.

If you’re using muffin tins, with one heaping scoop of batter in each, the recipe will make 12 donuts.  I slightly adapted the recipe for the chocolate donuts, but the cherry glaze is all me.

How easy was that? Well, be prepared to have your mind blown because this next recipe is even easier.  Usually we won’t post recipes with processed foods, but let’s keep this next one our little secret, shall we?  Introducing the easiest donut recipe of all time.  The first time I made these I was eight. I remember eating them all before they had time to cool.  Please be careful, these donuts are yummy, fried and not the healthiest. BUT THEY’RE SO GOOD. So go on and live a little. Don’t beat yourself up too much if you don’t have a chance to frost them that almost happened to me, but I really wanted to share this chocolate frosting recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 tube of pre-made biscuits
• oil (for frying)

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring
• 1 Tbsp slivered almonds (optional)

Equipment:

• deep pot for frying
• paper towels
• slotted spoon or tongs
• small sauce pot
• whisk

Instructions:

• Put 2 cups of frying oil into a deep pot and turn onto medium high (you may need more or less oil depending on the size of your pot).
• Pop open your tube of biscuits (makes me shrink back in fear every time!) and lay them out on a clean cutting board.
• Find a random cap in your cupboards to make the holes in the donuts.  Press the cap into the center of the dough and turn it back and forth. Remove the donut hole and repeat until finished.
• By this time your oil should be hot enough.  Unlike Kate, I don’t have a food thermometer, it’s something I’ve been meaning to buy, but haven’t yet.  Fortunately these donuts are really thin so you shouldn’t run into the problem of cooking the outside, but leaving the inside raw.  It is important to make sure the oil is hot enough though or else the dough will absorb the oil instead of being cooked by it and that’s no bueno.  I test oil one of two ways: run two fingers under the faucet so they’re wet and stand back and flick a droplet or two of water into the oil, if it bubbles up and really reacts to the water, it’s hot enough.  Or you could drop an unlit match into the oil, if it’s hot enough it will quickly ignite and then settle to the bottom.  Retrieve it with tongs before you begin to fry.  I learned that while cooking in Brazil and have been intrigued by it ever since.
• Drop the donuts into the hot oil, three or four at a time.  They should sink to the bottom and then quickly rise up as they fry.  Once they float, flip them over to brown the other side.  Since they’re thin they cook really fast, once they’re golden brown remove them from the pot and onto a stack of paper towels.  Each donut should only take 30 seconds to a minute to fry.  Don’t forget to fry up the little donut holes too.
• Next prepare the frosting.  Add all the ingredients to a small sauce pot and turn on to medium heat while whisking everything together.  Once the frosting begins to bubble, turn it down to low and drop in the donuts to coat them. Remove the donuts from the frosting and if adding almonds, do this now while the frosting is still wet.  Place the donuts on a rack to cool or eat them immediately.

 

If you never knew you could make donuts from canned biscuits, welcome to the club and be safe friends.  You’ve been warned.  Oh, and if you’re like me and ate half the donuts before you made the frosting then simply halve the frosting recipe so you don’t have too much extra.

That’s that, brush the powdered sugar from your apron and go take a break, I’ll be in the kitchen cleaning the mountain of dishes that have piled up over the last few days while I was sick in bed.  It’s times like these when I realize I was a real ass when I’d groan at my mom when she would ask me to dry and put away the dishes.  If only I knew that I had the easy job!  Two thumbs up for dishwashers, I think that’s all that my apartment is lacking, oh, and a hot tub.  Happy Donut Day friends!