Even though strawberries are plentiful much of the year, the sweet season for our beloved succulent berry is coming to a close. I wanted to offer these luscious sweet treats while berries are still sweet on their vines. While there is far less fat and reduced sugar in this recipe, please don’t let that scare you away—these ruby gems pack a flavor punch! Since there is no frying, there isn’t much prep work and far less heat in the kitchen. All of the intense flavors are provided by Mother Nature’s berries themselves—filled with natural fresh goodness and sweetness!

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries

3 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries

1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries, finely crushed to powder (place in a Ziploc bag, crush with rolling pin or zip in food processor)

Directions:

Preheat oven 375* Spray pans with Baker’s Joy or good quality baking spray with flour. In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour and all remaining dry ingredients; set aside.  In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, vanilla and eggs; mix in flour mixture just until combined, fold in 2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries.

Spoon 2 1/2 Tbsp batter evenly into each well of the donut pans—I use a small cookie scoop for evenness. Bake in preheated oven 12 – 14 minutes until springy to the touch or toothpick inserted into donut comes out clean. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes in pan then invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, dip top halves into glaze and allow some excess to run off, then return to wire rack, glazed side upward. Transfer donuts to freezer to allow glaze to set, about 5 minutes.

Strawberry Glaze:

Prepare glaze just before dipping cooled donuts. In a mixing bowl, combine the other 2/3 cup of finely chopped strawberries and half of powdered sugar. Stir until mixture starts to become moist, allow to rest 1 minute. Add in remaining powdered sugar and freeze dried strawberry powder, stir until well combined. By now, mixture should have the consistency of a dip able thick glaze, if not allow to rest another minute or two until some of the liquid has been extracted from the strawberries then stir again. Do not thin with water, simply allow to rest if needed until strawberries begin to break down. Use glaze immediately, dip tops 2-3 times to get thicker top coating of glaze. Let sit on wire racks until glaze has slightly hardened. Want more sweetness? After glaze has slightly set, swirl in extra powder sugar, add some sprinkles and top off with whipped cream. Transfer to airtight container, they will keep for 2-3 days if stored in frig.

Makes a Baker’s dozen.