Gallons and gallons of white, sticky glaze spilled out on the side of Highway 99 in Des Moines, Washington, about 20 miles south of Seattle. The driver was only slightly hurt, while thousands of doughnuts somewhere went naked the next morning. [via Katie]
Happy National Doughnut Day! In honor of the big day, the dueling doughnut heavyweights are giving away morning treats. At Dunkin’ Donuts, any drink purchase scores a bonus doughnut. Krispy Kreme is doing a straight giveaway—one freebie per customer.
Breaking with the tradition of signs reading "Warning: Unattended Children Will Be Sold to the Circus" or "Given a Cappuccino and a Free Puppy," we see a sign that implies a profit on the finder of any lost children. Because, while you may get money from selling a child to the circus, money is no match for a few good doughnuts. [via Unique Daily]
Note: Serious Eats does not condone black market trades of children for doughnuts. Or any black market trade, for that matter.
This video has been making the rounds on YouTube and looks like something from the early 1990s, at the latest. But no, the Donut Man is currently traveling the country (including upcoming shows in Philadelphia), teaching children that without Jesus, they are like a doughnut. I would think that being a doughnut would be a good thing, as one would always have a snack ready, but the Donut Man contends that by accepting Jesus, a doughnut hole gets placed the the empty space. What if you were jelly-filled to begin with? So many questions. Watch the video after the jump.
From May 8 to May 12 I visited Seoul for the first time, mostly to eat as much food as I could and learn about a cuisine I knew little about.
I've never been a doughnut lover, which seems odd considering that I have a penchant for fried things, sweet things, and doughy things. Why does the combination of the three fail to fill me with explosive joy? Did I have a traumatic doughnut experience as a child? (Actually, I sort of did; my early doughnut memories involve unappealingly dense, dry cake doughnuts from a local gourmet food shop.) Or maybe it's because I live in New York City, which to me isn't a particularly good doughnut town.
But when I visited Seoul, I found the key to my doughnut happiness: Mister Donut! Although Mister Donut originated in the U.S., it mostly disappeared when it was acquired by Dunkin' Donuts' parent company, Allied-Lyons, in 1990. Japanese company Duskin Co. Ltd. bought the sales and trademark rights for Asia in 1983 and today it is the largest doughnut franchise in Japan. And even though I'm not familiar with every doughnut shop in the world, I think it's easy to say that not one else can beat them in the department of mascot cuteness.
Since I knew I wouldn't be visiting Japan anytime soon, I made it a point to visit Mister Donut in Seoul, a city with chain doughnut shops up the wazoo. Dunkin' Donuts is everywhere, along with Krispy Kreme, and even a Doughnut Plant. But those are all U.S.-based chains. I wanted something Asian.
But when Dunkin’ Donuts starts promoting a new breakfast pastry, it’s probably a safer bet. For a limited time, many DDs are offering icing-topped Cinnamon Twists ($1.39), which can be served toasted. It's slightly funny timing with spring heating up (and iced coffee weather creeping in) but cinnamon never really goes out of season.
About six inches long, the Cinnamon Twist looks like four little cinnamon rolls melded together, sparingly drizzled with sweet icing. If you like any of DD’s twisted pastries, you’ll be a fan—slightly denser doughnut dough, with a few streaks of cinnamon, and not enough icing to get in the way.
Robyn Eckhardt of Kuala Lumpur-based food blog EatingAsia isn't much of a doughnut fan, but she finds the ultimate doughnut in the morning market at OUG. What does the ultimate doughnut taste like?
When it's still hot its skin is crackly-crunchy, with nary a hint of grease. Inside it's yielding, melting even, almost to the point of mimicking a firm custard. As the donut cools it retains some crispiness, while the interior becomes a fluffy pillow that meets the teeth with a bit of resistance. It smells and tastes of baked grain first, and then of some - but not much - sugar.
Unsurprisingly, she and her husband go back for seconds. And thirds. And then go back the next day for more.
And now I must go to Malaysia for doughnut perfection.
Psycho Donuts, a doughnut shop/art gallery in Campbell, California, proclaims to have "taken donuts to the next demented level." This level of doughnut dementia includes doughnut fries, a bipolar doughnut (two flavors side-by-side), and a doughnut topped with Nilla Wafers, among other creations that seem to have been born from the minds of stoners. Do pretzels and Rice Krispies pair well with vanilla and chocolate-glazed doughnuts? In the demented breakfast-friendly world of Psycho Donuts, hell yes. [via cakespy on twitter]
Sooner or later, somebody had to figure out that clean, renewable energy can be made from powdered sugar donuts and tea—Tazo tea, specifically, in the "Passion" flavor, since it contains anthrocyanins, or organic dyes that react well with TiO2 cells. TiO2 sounds kind of poisonous, but it's lurking inside those seemingly harmless powdered sugar donuts. If this hasn't already ruined donuts and tea for you forever, watch the video, after the jump.
Don’t let the blue eyeshadow fool you. Kirsten Anderson, doughnut baker and owner of Chicago’s underground doughnut bakery, Glazed Donuts, can probably kick your ass. She’s a former bodyguard and mixed martial arts style fighter in addition to being a supreme baker. While I recently profiled her for the Chicago Sun Times, I didn’t talk a whole lot about her doughnuts.
They’re as killer as she is. You’d think a town of expanding waistlines like Chicago would be doughnut heaven, but alas, we have no Doughnut Plant like New York City, nor a burgeoning artisanal movement like the Pacific northwest, or a smattering of classic corner coffee parlors like Los Angeles. We do have Old Fashion Donut on the far South Side, but that’s about it.
Anderson’s filling that void with light, albeit deep fried, cake-style donuts in fantastic flavors like bacon maple, pecan pie, Chinese five spice chocolate, and orange spice. She also has a wicked sense of humor and recently whipped up drunken beauties like Irish Car Bomb and Champagne Chambord doughnuts for New Years.
Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon movement, liked a good hot doughnut in the morning, according to the Mormon Times. "I think that the doughnuts would have been the 'wipe-it-up' at the end," said Brock Cheney, a living history enthusiast and blogger behind Mormon Pioneer Foodways, who added that Young would put away two or three courses at breakfast alone.
Cheney found a recipe for "Brigham Young's Buttermilk Doughnuts" but it was printed in 1967, almost a century after Young's death. The modernized version involves baking soda instead of the old-school "soda and buttermilk method," and lots of nutmeg. "If it was a modern recipe it would probably be cinnamon. [via Coldmud]
There are sprinklers that shoot out jets of water, and there are sprinklers that shoot out...sprinkles.Playin' In The Sprinkler is a new t-shirt from Threadless featuring a soft serve cone and a doughnut happily frolicking through a sprinkler of the decorative sort.
Winnie of That's What You Think discovers the deliciousness of grilled doughnuts when she picks up a jelly doughnut and an eclair from Peter Pan Bakery in Brooklyn on the way to a backyard barbecue. How did they turn out?
The exterior becomes a crispy hot shell that gives way to juicy, molten insides and takes on the slightest hint of smoke and maybe just the faintest little happy leavings of whatever sausages (from the Polish butchers up the street) and steaks (from the Greenmarket) had just vacated the grill real estate.
I was hoping that two barriers would be broken though this week—the more important one of course was Barack Obama becoming the first African-American president we've ever had. Watching the election returns with friends Tuesday night, I have to admit I had tears streaming down my face at 11 p.m. Eastern time when CNN and others announced Obama had the requisite 270 electoral votes necessary to become our next president. My son, Will, called from college right then, and though he is just about as cool a customer as president-elect Obama, I thought I even heard a quiver in his voice.
The second barrier I hoped to break this week was seemingly much more mundane: my own personal 240 pound barrier.
I know in the larger scheme of things, breaking this barrier is not very important to many people. But it does really matter to me and the people in my life who would like me to be around long after Obama has served his two terms in office.
Here's the problem with these two barriers breaking at the same time. The election was both stressful and celebratory (at least for me), and those two conditions are not usually conducive to weight loss. Consider the week I had, after the jump.
About six months ago we decided that it would be fun to produce more original video segments for Serious Eats. When I made a list of interesting people I wanted to interview on camera for a series called Chewing the Fat,Alton Brown was at the top of the list. Why? Because whenever I have watched him on the Food Network or chatted with him (ever so briefly) when I was an Iron Chef judge, I have always found Alton to be interesting, provocative, smart, and funny.
So one day Alton came over to Serious Eats World Headquarters and sat down for an hour and a half, one-on-one interview, which was shot, directed, and edited by none other than Hamburger America director and author George Motz.. Nominally the subject was Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Run, Alton's Food Network series and its companion book. Alton and I ended up chatting about everything from the pleasure derived from feeding people to the art of the doughnut, the subject of the webisode we're posting here. The series may have run its course on the Food Network, but the subjects we discussed are timeless.
So pull up a chair and watch as Serious Eats chews the fat (and the doughnuts) with Alton Brown. If you want to buy the DVD of Feasting on Asphalt 2 you may do so at amazon.com
Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 24, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Atkins is a misleading name for a farm that makes fried rings of dough, covered in sugar and cinnamon. Located in Amherst, Massachusetts, part of the idyllic motherland of apple orchards, Atkins Farms makes the classic cider doughnut. The kind you want in your mouth now, and for every autumn forever.
When my friend sent me a three-dozen box of them for my birthday this week (she was a Smithie, and has fond memories visiting the nearby farm), I couldn't be happier. "That's a lot of doughnuts," Serious Eaters said as they walked by, already weighed down by pumpkin cakes, pumpkin cookies, pastries, and chocolates (we had two birthdays in the office this week).
Though a surplus of cider doughnuts is never a bad problem to have, especially when they're still moist after the postal trek, it's a problem no less. We've made a huge dent in the supply so far, and continue to stay on the case. Atkins Farm: 1150 West Street,
Amherst MA 01002 (map); 413-253-9528; Order donuts
See these awesome maple-bacon doughnuts I made? I actually can’t take any credit for them. The idea came from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, Oregon, where they serve a maple bar with bacon strips on top. The idea of doing it at my house, with bacon sprinkles, came from Dana Cree, the talented pastry chef at Poppy in Seattle.
The raised doughnut recipe is from Baking Illustrated, which comes from the editors at Cooks Illustrated. Making raised doughnuts at home sounds like a major undertaking, but it’s not. All you need is a lot of hungry people to eat them, because one batch of dough makes a lot of doughnuts, and you don’t want to waste your precious frying oil—especially if it’s organic lard, like I used.
Watching a giant human-sized doughnut skateboard is funny; watching a giant human-sized doughnut wipe out is funnier. Señor Donut is a character in the recently released movie Sex Drive, a tale of boy-meets-girl, except the boy has to dress up in a clunky doughnut outfit for his job at a pastry shop in the mall.
Food blog Blondie and Brownie discovered a Halloween doughnut at the new Krispy Kreme in New York City's Penn Station: this cute pumpkin-shaped Jack-o'-Lantern doughnut (or as we prefer to call it, the Jack-o'-Doughnut)! Blondie says the icing was incredibly sweet and turned her mouth orange. Halloween lovers can grab these doughnuts at participating Krispy Kremes until October 31. Krispy Kreme is also offering pumpkin spice cake doughnuts until November 30.
If you watched last night's town hall debate and thought, both campaigns could use a morale-booster, might I suggest newcomer Donuts Bacon '08? While they may be polarizing factors (vegetarians ain't behind this one), for many Americans, it's a Taste We Can Believe In (starting at $23.80). If you eat a piece of bacon and think, yes, this is who I can trust for four more years. Or get frosting all over yourself and think, my investments will be safe with this—then, this is the ticket for you, my friends.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 9, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I want these doughnuts.
Now.
I can already imagine what they taste like—and can almost feel the welcome grittiness of the cinnamon-sugar coating I'd end up getting all over my fingers and desk here at work.
Stephan of This Engineer Can Bakemade these buttermilk beauties and, true to his vocation, gives plenty of tips on oils and oil smoke points to help you engineer a batch. Luckily "you can have them in the oil in 15 minutes without much trouble," he says.
If only we had a deep-fryer in the office or even, as Stephan recommends, a good pot with a candy thermometer. [via Photograzing]
Morning, serious eaters. It's Friday, so we say treat yourself to a fried dough tire. Pastry chef and blogger Shuna Fish Lydon of the blog Eggbeaterrecently did at San Francisco's Dynamo Doughnuts, which just opened Tuesday. Lydon is a lover of all walks of doughnut life—"even if they were the wallflower kind or still wore high-waters in college."
Have you ever met fried dough you didn't like? Dynamo Doughnuts: 2760 24th Street, San Francisco CA 94110 (map); 415-920-1978
Want doughnuts topped with bacon or frosted and dipped in Cap'n Crunch? Then make your way to Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon. Anthony Bourdain visits the famed doughnut shop to to try their unconventional "non-conformist doughnuts" ("I kind of wish I was drunk before eating this," he says about the chocolate and peanut butter doughnut), and learn about their failed doughnut flavors, including Jägermeister and NyQuil. Watch the video, after the jump.
It's that time again—the time to celebrate the sweet, deep-fried joy brought upon by doughnuts.
In honor of today's National Doughnut Day, here are some of our favorite doughnut posts over the past year. We've got recommendations, a glossary, videos, recipes, and more dedicated to this blessed ring of wheat-based heaven. Unfortunately, we can't share real doughnuts with you, but you're best off buying a dozen (or more) fresh doughnuts at your local doughnut shop anyway.
The Serious Eats National Doughnut Honor Roll: We stuffed ourselves with doughnuts so you didn't have to. Here's a list of recommendations for doughnut shops around the country compiled by the Serious Eats office, John T. Edge, Jane and Michael Stern, and Jonathan Gold.
The Serious Eats Doughnut Glossary: Doughnuts come in all shapes are forms. Read our glossary to brush up on your doughnut terminology.
Paula Deen Is Trying to Kill Us, Part 4: Bacon, Doughnut, Egg Burger: Oh, that Paula Deen; is she ever not trying to kill us? Check out her recipe for the Lady's Brunch Burger, a bacon and egg-topped hamburger that uses doughnuts for buns.
Photo of the Day: Doughnut Sandwich: Doughnut burger not doing it for you? In a similar but less deathly vein, here's a cute doughnut sandwich filled with frosting.
Do you like running? And eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts? At the same time? Then make sure you enter this year's Iowa Sate University Doughnut Run taking place on April 13th. You won't actually stuff your face with doughnuts while on the run, but you will have the opportunity to eat donuts at the aid stations for the chance of shaving seconds off your final running time. (Eating doughnuts isn't required to run the race; then again, why else would you enter it?) Time will only be subtracted for doughnuts you keep in your stomach though; digested doughnuts upchucked before crossing the finish line don't count. [via neatorama]
North Carolina State University's Krispy Kreme Challenge is another doughnut-themed marathon with a different set of guidelines: run two miles, eat a dozen doughnuts, then run another two miles, all in under an hour. And try not to puke.This year's race is over, but you can always prepare for next year's!
I must thank Lori of Dessert Comes First for introducing me to doughnut muffins, or muffins that (kind of) taste like doughnuts. I'm also wondering why I've never heard of them or seen them before—does anyone sell doughnut muffins? Sure, I could follow this recipe, but then I'd probably eat them all. Thus is the hazard of baking. I'll just admire Lori's baking prowess for now.
Hannah Kaminsky of BitterSweet didn't intend to make doughnut sandwiches filled with maple frosting, but when her homemade baked doughnuts came out flat-topped, it was the only way to salvage the fat doughnut bottoms. Some of the best ideas come out of mistakes! [via tastespotting]
There's no lack of good food in Paris, but after prolonged gorging on all those buttery. flaky pastries and crusty baguettes you might just to crawl back into the sweet, deep-fried ring of a good ol' American-style doughnut. The answer to your Parisian doughnut woes may be found at Coffee Union, which currently offers 13 types of doughnuts. At €14.90 for a dozen doughnuts (or $1.80 per doughnut), those doughnuts ought to be pretty damn tasty, or you better have an intense doughnut craving. Coffee Union also sells sandwiches, bagels, smoothies, and cheesecake, and offers free wifi. [via Girl and the City]
Coffee Union
Address: 11 Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, 75003 Paris, France (map) Phone: 01 42 77 51 99 Website:coffeeunion.fr
I've had some great moments at Cafe du Monde, the legendary beignet stand in New Orleans. That said, most of those moments are rooted in nostalgia for the Big Easy, rather than for the stand's doughnuts and coffee. Occasionally you'll score some beignets fresh out of the deep fryer, where the confectioners' sugar melts into a gooey glaze, but sometimes they're just lukewarm and flat. Likewise the much-lauded chicory coffee, which is brewed in big commercial urns, tends to run bitter.
That being said, last week while dining at Powerhouse (215 N. Clinton St.), one of Chicago's newest restaurants, I found a set of doughnuts that I wish Cafe du Monde served. Tater tot–size fluffy sweet potato dough nuggets glazed in brown butter sauced with a creamy pool of cinnamon sabayon studded with arrop (candied glazed aged pumpkin bits) and toasted pepitos. While it's primarily a sweet dish, the saltiness of the toasted pumpkin seeds melds with the heady fragrance of cinnamon and the sweet sugar and satisfies every kind of taste receptor on your tongue. If you close your eyes, the pumpkin and sweet potato perfume from the dish transforms your banquette into a fall farmhouse hayride.
Posted by Ed Levine, September 14, 2007 at 10:55 AM
Today is National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day, and to honor college students' commitment to doughnut consumption, the Kansas State University student newspaper created a doughnut quiz. Go take theirs and see how you do. And if you don't know the answers to the K-State–specific questions, try your hand at our substitute questions below.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 6, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Speaking of food films, a couple cute food-related documentaries came across my desk recently, and I figured I'd pass word of them on to you.
Donut Day, produced by Amy Levine and Dhera Strauss, follows the staff of Sweetwater's Donut Mill over a 24-hour period. You're treated to a behind-the-scenes look at a beloved local doughnut shop as it bakes five- to six-thousand doughnuts a day for its customers, many of whom keep their own coffee mugs there, a testamanent to the shop's quirkiness and hominess. I especially liked seeing the doughnut-filler machine in action and learning the term "cosmetic icing"—a glazing applied to blemished yet still edible specimens. 52 minutes. Available on DVD for $15 (includes shipping), at donutdaydoc.com
Dishes, written, directed, and produced by Levine, is an earlier documentary that takes the viewer into the world of Fiesta Ware collectors. If you have one in your life—and who doesn't?—this doc will make you smile (knowingly), as it drags you along to a Fiesta Ware collectors' conference, a warehouse sale, and into the homes of individual Fiesta fiends. 46 minutes. Available on DVD for $20 (includes shipping), at fiestadocumentary.com
Editor's note: Jenni Ferrari-Adler is guest-blogging on Serious Eats this week about her vacation in East Hampton, New York. Follow along: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
After the movie, still feeling a little burned by our meal at Wei Fun, J. and I head to Sam's Restaurant. Sam's is one of the few places that's been in the town of East Hampton for as long as I've been coming out, circa 1985, which is exactly what it looks like, and, better yet, sounds like. We go 12-inch, half-pepperoni, half-eggplant, garlic, and green olives. The eggplant ends up being breaded and fried, as in eggplant Parmesan, making me the fool who tried to be healthy and skip pepperoni only to eat a hefty quantity of fried food.
At home we are freaked out in the particular way of urban dwellers alone in a country house after a tense movie. We are used to the noises of sirens, crazy people, fighting drunks, and airplanes, but not these night noises of frogs and bugs. It wasn't Bourne—whose set-up is so specific, far-fetched, and not remotely about a couple being murdered in a country house—as much as the ten-plus previews we sat through before the movie, each one more terrifying than the last. The scenarios included: your husband is jailed in a foreign country (Rendition); your son is killed, forcing you into a life of crime (Death Sentence); and the disappearance of your little girl (Gone Baby Gone). Despite the pizza interlude, our adrenaline is high. It kind of sounds like someone is walking in the yard, or on the roof, or creaking quietly along the halls of the house itself.
How does one determine the winner in a battle between doughnuts versus celery? Taste? Texture? Color? No way; those factors are too open ended. Comedy duo Smosh knows there are better ways to test the merits of food. Does it make a good pogo stick? Is it an effective oven mitt? Can it be used to rob a defenseless person? Find out who the champion is in the video, Food Battle 2007.
[Caution: This video may not be safe to watch if you're offended by idiocy. Otherwise, it's kind of awesome.]
At Serious Eats we take doughnuts, well, seriously. So seriously we are dedicating the site to fresh, hot, and delicious doughnut content all day today, National Doughnut Day. That means original doughnut video; a doughnut glossary; doughnut blog posts, quotes, and photos; a doughnut honor roll that will become your essential guide to doughnuts in the U.S.; doughnut recipes from perhaps the nation's greatest pastry chef, Nancy Silverton; and more. It's all doughnuts, all day here at Serious Eats. So take a bite. The only thing we can't supply is a glass of milk or a cup of coffee for dunking.
To: everydamnbody@seriouseats.com From: copydesk@seriouseats.com Subject: Style Bites: "doughnut" vs. "donut"
Dear Serious Eats Team,
The difference between "doughnut" and "donut" is UGH. And you're gonna hear a lot of "UGH" if I continue to catch you spelling it "donut" under my watch.
There's nothing particularly special about someone eating a doughnut in the office. But what if the doughnut is five times the size of a regular doughnut? Now that's special, in a mildly nauseating but somewhat commendable way. Congratulations to Josh for taking on Voodoo Doughnut's Tex-Ass doughnut and winning! ("Winning" meaning that the deliciousness and caloric density of the doughnut didn't kill him right away.)
I'm sure the programmers at the Food Network would've loved to have scheduled next Friday's Good Eats rerun for tonight, but Grill Week must be strictly observed. Still, if you think a week from now you might be jonesing for a half-hour on the food science of glazed, raised, and chocolate-bathed doughnuts, tune your personal recording device to the Food Net June 8 at 11 p.m., when Alton's 2004 opus, Circle of Life, is slated to air.
385 dph ("donuts per hour") is how fast the Belshaw Donut Robot 42 churns out donuts. Derrick bought one of these bad babies on eBay and documented the robotic donut making process for the rest of the world to behold.
This section is best described as the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, as long as 'D' stands for Doughnuts, like in 'Doughnut Day'. The doughnuts climb this ramp relentlessly, pulled along by the doughnut chains. Now, you could be the German defense forces preventing the doughnuts from making a beach head, but no matter how big your belly is, 6.5 donuts per minute are going to eventually overwhelm your defenses. The ones that come after the initial assault pile up in whatever doughnut collection device you have to collect them. I used my turkey roasting pan.
As part of National Doughnut Day, we hit the streets (er, the doughnut shop, really), stuck our microphone in people's faces, and found out what doughnuts meant to them.
Have you ever wished that you could hug a doughnut without the fear of smearing glaze/sugar/oil on yourself? I never did until I set my eyes on the adorable plush doughnut that craftsters have created in an attempt to encapsulate the visual essence of doughnut in an emblem of donut-ness that—albeit inedible—leave no sticky residue.
"Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!" —McLandburgh Wilson
"You mean this stuff feeds on bad vibes!"
" Yeah, like a cop in donut factory." —From a scene in Ghostbusters II
"Mr. Scorpio says productivity is up 2%, and it's all because of my motivational techniques, like donuts and the possibility of more donuts to come." —Homer Simpson
"Anyhow, the hole in the doughnut is at least digestible." —H. L. Mencken
"When Krispy Kremes are hot, they are to other doughnuts what angels are to people." —Roy Blount, Jr.
"A bagel is a doughnut with the sin removed." —George Rosenbaum
We all love doughnuts, and why not. They’re sweet, they’re doughy, they’re fried, they’re cheap, and they are the ultimate good-bad food. That is, even when they’re bad, they’re still pretty good. And even when they’re not cheap, they are not expensive. The nation’s best and most expensive fancy-pants doughnuts, from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery (with locations in Napa Valley, California; Las Vegas; and New York City), are only $3.50. That, my friends, is an affordable indulgence.
In celebration of National Doughnut Day today, participating Krispy Kreme stores in the U.S. are offering customers a free doughnut of their choice. Find a Krispy Kreme near you.
What's been unexpectedly interesting to me in all the doughnut reading and tasting we've been doing in preparation for National Doughnut Day (June 1) has been all the attendant terminology. So when Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine suggested I compile a doughnut glossary, I jumped in. With all the geographical differences and regional nomenclature, the task was almost as difficult as picking a perfect dozen. But here is a doughnut glossary of sorts. Consider it a work in progress, to be amended with suggestions from readers of all regions.
doughnut: First things first, a doughnut is a sweet deep-fried piece of ring-shape dough or batter. Though technically not doughnuts, those that are flattened spheres injected with jam, jelly, or custard are known as filled doughnuts. After frying, doughnuts may be embellished with any number of toppings, including glazed icing, powdered or granulated sugar, sprinkles, sugar and cinnamon, etc. Note: The variant spelling of donut appeared in the 1920s, according to doughnut scholar John T. Edge in his book Donuts, when "the New York–based Doughnut Machine Corporation set its eyes upon foreign markets." To help foster proper pronunciation in different languages, the company introduced this spelling.
"I love makin' doughnuts. People love 'em, no matter what they say. Every culture fries dough for some purpose, sweet or savoury. This last weekend's donut gathering was a local affair. I invited everyone I knew who lived within 20 miles of my house. I opened cupboards and invited others to concoct sugars of their wildest imaginings." Shuna threw a doughnut party and so can you, with her pate a choux recipe.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 27, 2007 at 6:37 PM
Krispy Kreme introduced their newest doughnuts yesterday: they're glazed, caramel flavored... and made of whole wheat: "The company called the new doughnut an alternative for health-conscious consumers, with 180 calories. The original glazed has 200 calories, according to the company's Web site."
Seriously, a saving of just 20 calories? Sorry, but that's the same vein of ridiculous as people who order gallon-size Diet Cokes along with their buttered popcorn at the movie theater because they think it's going to help them lose weight. Have the real thing occasionally as a treat—you won't feel deprived, and perhaps even more important, you won't be fooling yourself about your nutrition.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 19, 2007 at 3:33 PM
Bea of La Tartine Gourmand has a beautiful recipe for buckwheat herb galettes and mixed salad and a story about a festival that sounds right up my alley: "Earlier this month, I was reminded, once more too late, that on February 2nd, we celebrated la chandeleur. I wonder how comes that I simply can forget since it happens every year. In France, this originally Catholic festivity calls for cooks to prepare crêpes and beignets (doughnuts). Indeed, on the day of la chandeleur, the customs is to eat crêpes !"
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 5, 2007 at 3:55 PM
If you enjoyed Roadfood Roundup: Doughnuts and have the means to deep-fry at home, you might want to try making Nordljus' Wafu Beignets—oh how I love the idea of twenty small freshly-made cream-filled sesame-coated doughnuts, made just for me. Keiko also makes them with azuki red bean paste inside or with raspberry jam filling and a cinnamon sugar coating for her boyfriend, so tweak the recipe as you will.
We asked our friends Jane and Michael Stern over at Roadfood.com to name some of their favorite doughnut spots. Grab your coffee—these doughnuts are hot!
Posted by Lia Bulaong, January 29, 2007 at 12:45 PM
If just thinking about a cinnamon roll makes your mouth water, perhaps you should consider buying yourself this lovely cinnamon roll necklace from Pancake Meow, purveyor of scented miniature dessert jewelry. (Her cupcake and donut necklaces are equally adorable but currently out of stock, as is the waffle necklace I've got on right now.)
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 18, 2006 at 5:50 PM
And it seems pretty big there, too, according to website Japan Probe:
A huge line of interested people quickly formed, obviously happy to get their hands on a free box of thickly-glazed doughnuts. The newscasters seemed to have bought into the hype by basically endorsing the new product by gorging down on them in the studio.
Gallons and gallons of white, sticky glaze 
I've never been a doughnut lover, which seems odd considering that I have a penchant for fried things, sweet things, and doughy things. Why does the combination of the three fail to fill me with explosive joy? Did I have a traumatic doughnut experience as a child? (Actually, I sort of did; my early doughnut memories involve unappealingly dense, dry cake doughnuts from a local gourmet food shop.) Or maybe it's because I live in New York City, which to me 
I was hoping that two barriers would be broken though this week—the more important one of course was Barack Obama becoming the first African-American president we've ever had. Watching the election returns with friends Tuesday night, I have to admit I had tears streaming down my face at 11 p.m. Eastern time when CNN and others announced Obama had the requisite 270 electoral votes necessary to become our next president. My son, Will, called from college right then, and though he is just about as cool a customer as president-elect Obama, I thought I even heard a quiver in his voice. 
If you watched last night's town hall debate and thought, both campaigns could use a morale-booster, might I suggest newcomer Donuts Bacon '08? While they may be polarizing factors (vegetarians ain't behind this one), for many Americans, it's a 
Morning, serious eaters. It's Friday, so we say treat yourself to a fried dough tire. Pastry chef and blogger Shuna Fish Lydon of the blog 
This is what happens when two dudes get married and (sorta) plan their reception: no worries about catering costs, seating arrangements, or DJs. 
It's that time again—the time to celebrate the sweet, deep-fried joy brought upon by doughnuts.
Do you like running? And eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts? At the same time? Then make sure you enter this year's 
I've had some great moments at Cafe du Monde, the legendary beignet stand in New Orleans. That said, most of those moments are rooted in nostalgia for the Big Easy, rather than for the stand's doughnuts and coffee. Occasionally you'll score some beignets fresh out of the deep fryer, where the confectioners' sugar melts into a gooey glaze, but sometimes they're just lukewarm and flat. Likewise the much-lauded chicory coffee, which is brewed in big commercial urns, tends to run bitter.
Speaking of food films, a couple cute food-related documentaries came across my desk recently, and I figured I'd pass word of them on to you.
After the movie, still feeling a little burned by our meal at Wei Fun, J. and I head to 
At Serious Eats we take doughnuts, well, seriously. So seriously we are dedicating the site to fresh, hot, and delicious doughnut content all day today, National Doughnut Day. That means 
If just thinking about a cinnamon roll makes your mouth water, perhaps you should consider buying yourself 
