What is the best Donut?

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Minotaur thinks it's Boston Cream.

He is wrong, it is the Strawberry Jelly Filled donut from Tim Horton's.

Discuss.

Old fashioned, glazed. With coffee, naturally.

Strawberry iced from Dunkin.

Apple fritters dipped in chocolate. A friend back in high school used to do those, and I learned to love them, although I haven't had one in many years, as I don't usually go inside donut shops anymore. They have to have apple fritters, soft chocolate ready, and be willing to dip them, and I doubt many modern places would do it.

It might be gross now, after so many years, but wow, did I love those as a youngster.

The last in the box.

It defeats the flavor of your coffee, drives sugar before you, and incites the lamentations of those who missed it.

The humble sugar-glazed donut is king. All other fillings and toppings are but mere extravagances placed upon the one, true donut.

But you know, to each their own.

In general I like cinnamon sugar donuts. The one Federal Donuts in Philly makes is my current favorite.

The apple fritters from Congdon's Doughnuts in Wells, Maine. Get there by 8am because after that there will be a line of cars on both sides of US-1 just waiting to get into the parking lot.

If they're out, pick anything else and you'll still be fine. It's all fresh, huge, and heavenly.

(Donut King down here in FL is a runner-up for family-owned places that have made good on their reputation. They're so good, Universal Studios' Lard Lad Donuts come from them. This also means they're open 24/7 keeping up with demand.)

For "regular everyday donuting", I'd go with the Boston Cream and Chocolate Cruller/Stick from Dunkin' Donuts.

For "special occasion donuting", basically anything from Kane's Donuts... but in particular, the candy bar donuts (Snickers, Turtle, Almond Joy, etc) -- seriously, they just cover the donut in candy bar omg.

Honestly, my favorite donut is the cake kind you get at small bakeries in New England. Cake donuts are usually made with "cake spice", a blend of cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, ginger and cloves (as Penzey's does it, which is good enough for me lol), but in New England I've generally found that they have a heavier hand with it. The donut should be slightly moist inside (like a fresh yellow cake) but not oily on the outside, with a browned exterior and a dense, soft yellow interior. It should have a medium, noticeable spice flavor that carries through the cake itself.

In my area, the now-defunct Montgomery donuts was renowned for this donut style, and it was the only source for them made properly I'd found south of Connecticut. They used the same recipe for over 60 years (and I suspect a lot of small bakeries in New England still use older recipes, which might be part of my regional favoritism.) The recipe for the donuts was purchased by the owner of a small eatery in Crystal City, but that shut down in 2014 and I have not been able to find out whether the recipe was sold on again. Closest I've seen is DC's "Duck Donuts", but I've only had those once, so I need to try more to be sure.

Leonard's Bakery in Honolulu: fresh and hot Malasadas. During my years in in Oahu it became a tradition to get a bunch every Saturday. I've taken to attempting to emulate them from time to time here on the mainland but I can never get it right.

The honey cruller from Tim Hortons is amazing, I do enjoy the strawberry filled from Timmy's as well.

If you're ever in Crested Butte, CO, you simply must stop at Niky's Mini Donuts. They're just ridiculous.

IMAGE(http://nikysminidonuts.com/uploads/3/5/1/2/35120290/page01_1_orig.jpg)IMAGE(http://nikysminidonuts.com/uploads/3/5/1/2/35120290/page02_1_orig.jpg)

But, since they're pretty hard to get, for my more mainstream answer: Nothing really beats a fresh Krispy Kreme!

I am by nature an NE Cake Donut snob.

But the best donuts in the world are the glazed raised donuts at Stan's in Santa Clara, in the middle of Silicon Valley.

Freshly made cider donuts from an apple orchard in the fall.

LouZiffer wrote:

The apple fritters from Congdon's Doughnuts in Wells, Maine. Get there by 8am because after that there will be a line of cars on both sides of US-1 just waiting to get into the parking lot.

Congdon's frigging rules, man!

Nope... anything from Tim Hortons belongs in a dumpster.

Now, the Apple Fritter from Robin's is something I can rarely resist. Just driving past one, I find myself with a large, black, one sugar, and a Fritter in my hands, with no knowledge of how they got there

Booooooooo, Tim's, boo (their coffee is terrible, too)

Yeah, I said it. Search your feelings, you know this to be true.

bnpederson wrote:

Old fashioned, glazed. With coffee, naturally.

Yep. The only donut. Melts in your mouth, doesn't overpower the taste of your caffeine of choice.

That just right, NE-style, simple cake donut (as mentioned by Robear). Followed by blueberry cake (without any glaze), or a good apple fritter. Pair with a good cup of coffee.

Serengeti's donut pics are downright obscene

imbiginjapan wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:

The apple fritters from Congdon's Doughnuts in Wells, Maine. Get there by 8am because after that there will be a line of cars on both sides of US-1 just waiting to get into the parking lot.

Congdon's frigging rules, man!

Having been all over and tried a lot of places I'd be hard pressed to pick a best bakery overall, but with doughnuts there's no doubt. ('Doughbt'? No, that's awful.)

We need to get back to Maine.

The maple bacon long johns from YoYo donuts in Minnetonka, MN are pretty outstanding as are all of their donuts I have tried.

Anyone else generally dislike "fancy" donuts with crazy amounts of toppings.. I tend to stick with the classics..

Rainsmercy wrote:

The honey cruller from Tim Hortons is amazing...

You sir have the right answer.

Lee's Donuts on Granville Island is my favourite. Any chocolately cake doughnut they have, but I'd happily have any non-chocolate yeast doughnut from there too. Unfortunately my workplace moved from GI and now the closest doughnut shop is Cartems. They're fine, but anyone who charges more than $3 for a doughnut can GTFO. Lucky's ridiculous doughnuts, like what Serengeti posted, are good but man cannot live on stupid doughnuts-as-complete-meal alone.

Tim Horton's makes a reliable doughnut and I'd never turn one down, but I'd never call any of theirs the best. However their special doughnuts (s'mores, Nanaimo bar, etc) are invariably awful.

Cinnamon-sugar mini doughnuts are automatically the best doughnuts if they're being sold at an outdoor summer event.

Krispy Kreme makes the worst doughnuts I've ever had the misfortune to try. Like a blob of congealed chemicals.

LouZiffer wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:

The apple fritters from Congdon's Doughnuts in Wells, Maine. Get there by 8am because after that there will be a line of cars on both sides of US-1 just waiting to get into the parking lot.

Congdon's frigging rules, man!

Having been all over and tried a lot of places I'd be hard pressed to pick a best bakery overall, but with doughnuts there's no doubt. ('Doughbt'? No, that's awful.)

We need to get back to Maine.

Sadly the Catbird Creamery in Westbrook has closed, that place was easily Best Ice Cream.

A good time was to head up 95, stop at Congdon's, roll up to Westbrook for some Catbird, stop for a draught at Allagash Brewery, then find a nice place in Portland for dinner. Then roll over to the CVS for some Tums.

Cake or old fashioned are the only alternatives.

I like a good Sour Cream Glazed donut. It's a classic, no frills kinda donut but had a little crunchy edge to it and an ever so slight tang I like.

Blueberry.

Can't believe I'm only the 2nd person with the right answer.

If I am not in Portland (my waistline thanks me for not living there) it is the Old Fashioned. If I am, Voodoo's Grape Ape is my favorite. It doesn't really taste of grapes, just kind of purple-y.

Maple bacon bar from Rise. Because bacon.

My personal favorite/best is the Valrhona Chocolate Cake from my personal favorite/best shop in Chicago, Do-Rite (Their Cinnamon Raised Crunch is a close second):

IMAGE(http://bucket2.doritedonuts.com/wp-content/uploads/home-slide.jpg)

It's my favorite cake donut, in general. Nice, brown, and crispy on the outside. Soft, yellow, and moist on the inside. Very tasty on its own. But the chocolate is so delicious. It's very smooth and they give you a nice thick layer on top AND THEN add a huge dollop of chocolate on top. Put together and it's my favorite. Thankfully, I don't live or work near one.

Chocolate cake donuts are my standard of judgement for a donut shop. I might like other donuts you make, but if I find this basic donut lacking, I'm going to like you less. Stan's has been mentioned in this thread already. There are a ton of them in Chicago now. I like it and for many people I know, it's their favorite. But regardless of what donut it's on, their chocolate is off and weird to me. So, it's lower on my list of faves, let alone that I don't think their raised or glazed is anything special, anyway.

Demyx wrote:

Freshly made cider donuts from an apple orchard in the fall.

If there has to be a definitive answer to this question, this is probably it.

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