Chocolate Doughnuts with Cherry Cheesecake Glaze

It's Friday! Paleo chocolate doughnuts with naturally-colored magenta glaze, anyone?

I, for one, am super pumped about the color here. It's all about eating the rainbow, and aside from red cabbage, those purple hues can be kind of hard to find!

You may be surprised that this vibrant shade is all thanks to a mere handful of SIX frozen cherries (and, full disclosure, a tiiiiny bit of post-processing in Lightroom).

When I came up with the idea of a cherry cheesecake glaze for doughnuts, I was excited for it be pink. I was really surprised, though, when I ended up with this lovely shade of fuschia! The color may depend on the kind of cherries you use--I always buy frozen dark sweet cherries at Whole Foods (even though they're called sweet cherries, there's no sugar added) because I love to put them in smoothies, but my new favorite use for them is this delicious glaze.

Cherry Blondies & Homemade Almond Butter (Paleo, Gluten free)

These are so good!  Elana of Elana's Pantry is a total genius, because she figured out that almond butter, eggs, and honey will magically bake up into BLONDIES.  Yes!  Fudgy, delicious blondies.  When you read the recipe, you'll think there must be a mistake.  I am here to tell you there isn't!  Almonds prove themselves here once again as a miracle food.  I promise you will love these.  You don't even have to add cherries; you can just make them without for regular blondies.  And don't worry about the almond extract.  I was trying to play up the almond flavor a little, but it didn't really come through.  So you could leave it out, leave it in, or even try a full teaspoon if you want that little hint of marzipan flavor.

Crepes with Cherry Orange Syrup (Paleo, Gluten free)

On weekend mornings, I like to start the day with something a little bit special.  Eggs are great, but what I really want on a lazy Saturday morning is something sweet.  As you may have noticed, I have already made lots of paleo and gluten free pancakes.  So, I decided to give gluten free crepes a try.

Cherry (Chocolate) Almond No-Churn Ice Cream

I am SO excited about this post.  This ice cream is ridiculously good, ridiculously healthy, and ridiculously simple, and I have made it three times since I invented it two days ago.  There are five ingredients, and you don't need an ice cream maker.  There are also NO sweeteners.  This is the stuff dreams are made of.  Well, my kind-of cheating whole30 dreams, at least.

Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt

When I was a kid and we were getting ice cream, my mom ALWAYS wanted Cherry Garcia.  And I was always like, well, we could get that, OR WE COULD GET OREO!!  I wasn't really a fruit-in-your-ice-cream kind of kid.

Times have changed!  As evidenced by the strawberry ice cream I made last week, I now willingly put fruit into my own ice cream.

So, I've been brainstorming all things chocolate and cherry to get ready for this month's chocolate party.  I wanted to make something fancy.  I was thinking about making a chocolate panna cotta and topping it with a layer of cherry curd and some whipped cream.

But, it's too hot!  I can't even heat up a pot of cream.  Instead I whipped up this super delicious frozen yogurt, which has the benefit of being sort of guilt-free since there's no sugar added.  I'll have to save some for my mom!  I think it's even better than the original.

Ingredients (makes about a quart):

3 cups Greek yogurt (I used Fage Total, but you could try lowfat, too)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cream (or use more milk)
4 tablespoons Agave nectar, or to taste
2 teaspoons stevia, or to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and chopped
3.5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Mix the milk and cream in a large bowl, and stir in the stevia until dissolved.  Add the yogurt and vanilla.  Check to see how sweet it is and add agave nectar until it's sweetened to your liking (you could try all agave or all stevia, but stevia sometimes has a funny aftertaste if you use too much of it).

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker.  When it's almost done, add the chocolate and cherries and let the machine swirl them in.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for 2 hours before serving.

Want to participate in this month's chocolate party by sharing a treat with chocolate and cherries?  Here's how to participate:

1.) Blog about your chocolate treat. Your recipe must include the two ingredients we choose (chocolate and cherries for June). It can be a simple no bake treat or a sophisticated layer cake, the complexity level of the recipe is totally up to you.

2.) Include a link back to a monthly round-up or the Chocolate party page. Optional, add the Chocolate Party logo in your blog post or on your sidebar. 

3.) Your recipe must be published during the current month. Please do not link old recipes, they will be deleted.

4.)  Add your link below!