Okay, so these aren't actually donuts.. But they are equally (if not more) delicious!!! I based this recipe off of an old rice crispy treats recipe that my grandma and I used to make together. Instead of rice crispy treats, I picked out the cheerios with berries (because I love fruit) and added raisins for even more fruit.

The recipe we used to make called for 1 cup corn syrup, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup peanut butter. In this recipe, I replaced the cup of sugar with coconut shavings, because I didn't want so much sugar in the treats. The texture came out a little different, but the flavor was not compromised.

Also, I was out of corn syrup, so I made a sugar syrup instead. This is included in the second step. Please skip step number two if you have corn syrup on hand. It's a tricky step, so if you're not familiar with candy making, then I would just head up to the store and buy a bottle of corn syrup. They're pretty cheap.

This recipe calls for:

5 cups of Cherrios with berries
1 cup raisins
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup light corn syrup
chocolate chips (about a cup)

Step 1: If You're Out of Corn Syrup

If you're out of corn syrup, you can do what I did... Make a substitution. If you have light corn syrup, please skip this step. It's kind of tricky, so for some it is probably easier to just run up to the store to buy a bottle of light corn syrup. They're pretty cheap.

You will need:
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp lemon juice
dash of salt

Mix the sugar and the water in a pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover for 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice and dash of salt. Let that cook for about five minutes until it "soft balls". This is when you can drop a drop into cold water and it will form a ball. Pour back into measuring cup and set aside.

Step 2: Mix Together the Cherrios

Mix together the cheerios and the raisins so that when your peanut butter mixture is ready, your "dry" part will be ready, too. This part moves pretty fast.

Step 3: Make the Binder

In a sauce pan over medium-low heat, melt together the peanut butter, corn syrup and coconut shavings.

Tip: spray measuring cups with cooking spray so that the ingredients will slip right out. The doesn't really matter for the coconut but works wonders for the peanut butter and corn syrup!

Step 4: Combine

Combine the peanut butter binder with the cheerio mixture, and mix so that the cherrios and raisins are coated evenly with the binder. Lay out tinfoil and then, start shaping them into donut shapes, log shapes, or just put in a rimmed pan to cut up into squares.

You will need to work very quickly during this step. I recommend using gloves because the mixture will be hot. Sorry for the lack of documentation! I couldn't very well take pictures with my dirty hands!!!

Step 5: Melt the Chocolate

Put some water in a sauce pan to boil. Fill a baggie with chocolate chips and soak in the boiling water. Cut the tip off and drizzle onto your treats.

Use a higher quality, thicker plastic baggie so that the pot doesn't melt the bags. This has only happened to me one time, and I was using a pretty thin, poor quality sandwich bag.

ENJOY