San Diego With a Side of Doughnuts

My trip to Los Angeles and San Diego obviously included two stops to epic doughnut detours. 

Sidecar Doughnuts

Legend has it that my friend Rebecca cried when eating a chocolate doughnut from Sidecar Doughnuts. 

Needless to say, I was excited for my trip here in January. 

It was our first stop on our journey from Irvine to San Diego and by the time we arrived there was already a line and the sweet smell of sugar wafting out of the storefront. 

Sidecar was beautiful inside, with a small amount of seating and additional tables and chairs out on the sidewalk. 

I wasn't sure where to start with my order, so I just started pointing when I stepped up to the counter - making my way down the line until I was satisfied with 4 doughnuts and a doughnut hole. 2 Girls, 4.5 Doughnuts - sounds about right. 

Butter + Salt 

To be honest, this doughnut was a little too much for me. So, so rich that I could only stomach a bite of it. 

Rosemary and Honey 

This glaze was very good and full of rosemary and honey flavor, but it was atop a yeast doughnut, which is not usually my favorite. 

Chocolate Budino 

This monstrosity was A chocolate doughnut with a chocolate budino filling, whipped creme fraiche, house made caramel, chocolate sable crumbs and jacobsen sea salt. 

We didn't love this - it was a little bland, and again, a little "much." 

Glazed Doughnut Hole 

Very, very good. The outside was crispy and the inside was moist. The best. 

Huckleberry 

This doughnut single-handedly put Sidecar Donuts back on my good side. And this doughnut landed itself a spot on my top 5 doughnuts EVER (joined by the Tres Leches from Doughnut Plant, London Fog from Glory Hole Doughnuts, Gooey Butter Cake Doughnut from Strange Doughnuts, and the Everything Doughnut from The Doughnut Project).

This was definitely on the FRIED side - which is what gave it it's crispy exterior and deliciously rich, moist-yet-cakey inside. It was like a gloriously warm blueberry muffin encapsulated in sugary muffin-top textured glaze. 

I couldn't stop saying "OMG" as I ate it. 

Sidecar's huckleberries are foraged in Oregon and express shipped to the bakery overnight. I'm not sure if that's what gave this doughnut it's extra special amazingness - but it was absolutely incredible. 

Donut Bar

A place that serves donuts and craft beer? Yeah, I feel you San Diego. 

The doughnuts at this spot are over the top for sure. For one, they're GIANT. Certifiably MASSIVE. Elephantiasis-level doughnuts. and Emily and I chose perhaps the two craziest on the menu. 

Homer's Donut 

An XL pink glazed beauty with sprinkles. The most perfectly-picture ready doughnut you'll ever find. A though simple, it was pretty damn tasty! 

Big Poppa-Tart Donut 

Alright, get ready to judge the HELL out of me - but yes, I did order this donut that is STUFFED with a FULL-SIZED POPTART. A S'more pop-tar to be precise. 

It was worth it for the chance to say I tried it - but honestly, it was underwhelming. The best part of a pop-tart is when the edges are crispy-burnt and the filling is melty and warm. The pop-tart being inside a doughnut meant that it was mostly soggy and sad. 

Blueberry with Myer Lemon 

After our experience with the Huckleberry doughnut at Sidecar, I couldn't pass up a chance to try another berry-based baked good! Plus, this was one of the only cake doughnuts that Donut Bar offered. It was good, but forgettable - nowhere near the doughnut perfection achieved by Sidecar. 

THIS IS THE BIG POPPA TART DONUT CUT IN HALF!!!!

Overall, Donut Bar disappointed. But it had a lot of fun doughnut-decor and was a cool spot to check out! 

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Three Years of Doughnuts: Donut Stop Me Now

Just getting this doughnut list up to date! 

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Posted January 6, 2017

I thought it was time for an update on the doughnut chronicles! In the past year, I've experienced some INSANELY delicious doughnuts - from the London Fog filled doughnut at Glory Hole in Toronto to the Gooey Butter Cake Donut from Strange Donuts in St. Louis - doughnuts continue to be my mission in every city!

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Posted June 3, 2016

What came first, the doughnut or the doughnut hole? 

You would probably be inclined to answer doughnut, but in fact, the term "doughnut" was first used to refer to what we now know as doughnut holes. Doughnuts entered the American lexicon in 1809 in Washington Irving's History of New York: 

An enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks.

If you're anything like me, you've struggled to decide whether or not you should type doughnut or donut. You've probably wondered why the heck there are even two different spellings to begin with. Same. 

I did some research and the spelling "donut" first appeared in the late 1800s as a contraction of the original "doughnut." It wasn't until Dunkin Donuts was founded in 1950 that the alternate "donut" spelling became more popular. 

Still, "doughnut" is the preferred spelling so I suppose I should stop being lazy and opt for all 8 letters when I'm writing about these delicious desserts. 

Why the weird discussion? Because today is NATIONAL DOUGHNUT/DONUT DAY in the US and unlike many of our random food holidays, it turns out that this one has some historic importance. Actually, 75+ years of history! 

National Doughnut Day began in 1938 as a campaign by the Salvation Army to remember those in their ranks who served doughnuts to American soldiers stationed in France during World War 1. Around 250 volunteers traveled to France to provide baked goods to Allied troops - doughnuts were an instant favorite (those Allied soldiers had good taste). These women who volunteered eventually became known as the "Doughnut Dollies."

In honor of this special holiday, go to one of the many chains participating with free donuts and other perks. And read on for a round up of the many doughnut shops I've reviewed. What are you waiting for? Start that doughnut bucket list today! 

Psycho Donuts

San Jose, California 

Doughnut Plant 

New York, New York 

Oh, 2014 pictures...

Dough Loco 

New York, New York - CLOSED 

Flex

New York, New York 

Dough

New York, New York 

Glam Doll Donuts

Minneapolis, Minnesota 

Stan's Donuts

Chicago, Illinois 

Glazed & Infused 

Chicago, Illinois 

Union Square Donuts

Boston, Massachusetts 

Voodoo Doughnut

Austin, Texas 

Gourdough's Donuts

Austin, Texas  

Habit Doughnut Dispensary 

Denver, Colorado 

The Doughnut Project 

New York, New York 

Official review to come, but I. LOVE. THEM. because they are so unique and not overly sweet!

Underwest Donuts

New York, New York 

No official review- but I was a big fan of these guys! They operate out of a CAR WASH but there donuts are cakey and delicious with a good glaze to dough ratio!

Doughology

Lynbrook, New York 

No official review but I love that these are cute and little so you can try lots and lots! And they're customizable too!

The Cinnamon Snail

New York, New York

Paula's Donuts

Buffalo, New York 

Nibble Inc. 

Troy, New York 

The Donut Shop

Old Forge, NY 

The Donut Shop has been around for 50 years! They make old fashioned donuts - offering just plain and cinnamon sugar. Not my favorite, and not exciting, but still addictive-ly sweet and satisfying after a 3 mile run!

Huron Mountain Bakery

Marquette, MI 

I wasn't a huge fan of these donuts - I didn't enjoy the taste of the dough or the fillings and frostings. 

Pharaoh's Donuts 

St. Louis, Missouri 

These weren't anything to write home about by any means. 

Dunwell Doughnuts

New York, NY 

Gotta admit - these vegan donuts are my least favorite of the heavy-hitters in NYC. I'm just not a fan of the dough's flavor! It could be because they're vegan and not what I'm used to. But for people unable to eat a traditional doughnut - these come pretty damn close! 

Strange Donuts

St. Louis, Missouri 

WOW. I was absolutely blown away by how much I loved these donuts and they are hands down some of my favorites EVER. 

After 23 days in St. Louis, I finally had a half dozen Strange Donuts delivered to me (and only me) at the stadium. While I don't know exactly what each of them was, I can give you a pretty good idea of what I sampled. 

I loved Strange Donuts so much because they were cake donuts, incredibly most, with super sweet glazes. The flavors were simple but the dough was incredible! 

Gooey Butter Cake Doughnut  

This was unreal. Tied with the Tres Leches doughnut from Doughnut Plant for all time favorite cake doughnut ever. The powdered sugar on top was the finishing touch on doughy perfection - sweet, but not sickeningly, with a slight citrus hint! 

Glazed, Glazed with Sprinkles 

The vanilla cake paired with the melt in your mouth glaze made me a fan of what I would normally consider "lame" doughnuts. 

Chocolate Glazed 

I think I preferred the vanilla cake, but the chocolate cake had the same moist consistency with good cocoa flavor! 

Butterfinger 

If you're a chocolate fan, this should be your order. Chocolate cake, chocolate glaze, sprinkled with Butterfinger crumbs and injected with some extra frosting in the middle for good measure! 

The Holy Donut

Portland, Maine 

These donuts are made with POTATOES in the dough! I really enjoyed these, and there were TONS of flavor options. I wanted to love them MORE, because there's a SWEET POTATO doughnut, but they didn't break the top 3 for me. 

They are definitely worth a visit if you're in Maine though, and I highly recommend the ginger glazed sweet potato donut!

Sidecar Doughnuts

Costa Mesa, California 

Donut Bar

San Diego, California 

Peace, Love & Little Donuts

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

Rise Biscuits Donuts

Raleigh, North Carolina 

East Main & Main - Port Jefferson, New York

Long Island is finally get involved in the doughnut game!

Dilla's Delights - Detroit, Michigan 

Banana pudding cake donut, HOLLER! 

(*Adorable donut earrings from my coworker!)

Blackbird Doughnuts - Boston, Massachusetts 

Citrus old fashioned! GET IT!!!

Kane's Donuts - Boston, Massachusetts

This was Kayla's introduction to doughnut tasting and I was so happy that she got totally into it with me. We started with one - but that was just a lie we were telling ourselves. 

Dough - Tampa, Florida

More than anything, what I appreciated about Dough was that they gave me the opportunity to have a ridiculous doughnut photo shoot with my friends portrait mode. And the fact that their creme brulee dooughnut was ridic. 

La Donuteria

Barcelona, Spain 

Taking this show internationally!! 

Carlson's Donuts & Thai Kitchen

Annapolis, Maryland 

Crunch Donut Factory 

Las Vegas, Nevada 

Doughnut Vault

Chicago, Illinois 

Glory Hole Donuts

Toronto, Ontario 

The Earl Grey. Incredible.

#BLESSED - and always taking new reccomendations! 

YOUR TURN: 
WHAT DOUGHNUT PLACES DO I NEED TO ADD TO MY BUCKET LIST? 
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DOUGHNUT SHOP? 
DO YOU LIKE YOUR DOUGHNUTS FLUFFY OR CAKEY? 

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Doughnut Diaries: The Doughnut Project

It was ages ago that I visited The Doughnut Project in the West Village to try their Insta-famous “Everything Doughnut” but I never wrote about it!

A)     I think they deserve an official post on Peanut Butter Is My Boyfriend because The Doughnut Project remains one of my favorites and

B)      I took some pictures of their doughnuts on my real camera that I wanted to post.

The Doughnut Project is another small-batch doughnut shop meaning that when their doughnuts are sold out for the day – that’s it. They only make a limited quantity per day.  Their doughnuts are yeast-based, not cake based and they have both filled and non-filled doughnuts.

The “it” thing about The Doughnut Project is how many unique and savory doughnuts flavors they have come up with.

The world of artisanal doughnuts is shockingly jam-packed lately – so new shops need to be creative. The Doughnut Project burst onto the scene with their “Everything Doughnut” – flavored like an Everything Bagel!

At first, I was slightly repulsed at the idea of savory seasonings on top of my sweet, sweet doughnuts. But like food trends – I was willing to give it a try.

I stopped by the West Village shop on my lunch break and was told that they had just gotten a new mural painted by a local artist. It was perfect for Instagram pictures, which we naturally had to take advantage of!

Here’s what we ate:

1.)    Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Obviously, not something I could pass up. It wasn’t a unique or savory flavor – but there’s not much I like more than the combination of peanut butter and jelly. What was interesting was that this wasn’t a filled doughnut stuffed with peanut butter and it wasn’t overly sweet with a fruity glaze. It was like a grown up, refined PB&J doughnut.

2.)    The “Wayney Wonder”

This doughnut is named after one of The Doughnut Project’s (TDP) favorite customers and is also known as the “Constanza.” Salted Chocolate Glaze with buttered pretzel, Ritz & potato chip crumble.

I can’t believe there was a time in my life when I didn’t realize how wonderfully salt pairs with chocolate. I guess the whole “sweet & salty” thing has been around forever, but it’s only very recently that I’m head over heels for the sea salt chocolate combo. This chocolate glazed doughnut paired with the salty Ritz, pretzels and potato chips is TDP’s most classic “dessert” doughnut flavor combination.

3.)    Those Beetz Are Dope

I was most excited to try this doughnut because even though it wasn’t chocolatey or peanut buttery – it was filled and the flavor combination offered a little bit of savory (beet glaze) and sweet (filled with ricotta cheese).

This didn’t disappoint. The glaze really tasted like beets! The first bite was a little odd – biting into a doughnut and not getting that first taste of super-sweet glaze was an adjustment. But once your taste buds and your brain got on the same page – it was really great. The beet glaze really tasted like beets! The ricotta cheese added the perfect amount of sweetness while still keeping the doughnut firmly in the savory camp.

4. The Everything Doughnut

Much like the ricotta filling on Those Beetz Are Dope, the cream-cheese glaze on The Everything Doughnut lends the perfect amount of sweetness without making things seem too dessert-y. The entire time we were sampling The Everything Doughnut we were saying,

“Oh wow, it’s really like – an everything doughnut”

“It’s not really sweet but still, like, sweet?”

“It’s savory but still a doughnut, you know?”

The Everything Doughnut is topped with sesame seeds, sea salt, pepitas, poppy seeds and garlic. I loved the fact that they weren’t too heavy handed with the garlic – which I feel could have made things a little weird. But there was definitely still the full flavor blend of an Everything Bagel.

If you plan on making a trip to The Doughnut Project (which I highly suggest), the savory doughnuts are definitely the way to go.

They’ve recently added a new one to the menu that sounds – interesting –

Bone Marrow Chocolate – bone-marrow infused chocolate and topped with a clementine glaze and chocolate shavings. Though I’m a little hesitant to give this one a try, The Everything Doughnut was a pleasant surprise so go give it a go and report back ;)

The Doughnut Project has got me thinkin’ about savory flavor combos that could work as a doughnut. Maybe a chickpea-flour based doughnut with a tahini glaze?

YOUR TURN:
HAVE YOU TRIED A SAVORY DOUGHNUT?
HAVE ANY SAVORY DOUGHNUT FLAVOR IDEAS?

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Cinnamon Snail Doughnuts Dry & Disappointing

Doughnuts. I love 'em. But you all knew that.

My latest doughnut tasting was from The Cinnamon Snail - a popular, zany and completely vegan food-truck turned brick-and-mortar space that specializes in crazy sandwiches and, you guessed it, doughnuts. 

I stopped by their location inside The Pennsy food hall near Penn Station and picked the 4 most delicious sounding doughnuts. They had a large selection, but it was surprisingly easy to figure out which ones were worth the $ to try.  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough 

Always a sucker for the stuffed doughnuts, it was a tough choice between this and the Norberweiberberweiberhydrafab AKA "That One On The End. I'm Not Even Going To Try Saying That" (yes, that's really the name). The previously mentioned doughnut is one of their most popular - it's white chocolate glazed with a chocolate hazelnut bourbon ganache. But let's be real, Peanut Butter trumps hazelnut bourbon - sorry.  

The PB Choco Chip Cookie Dough doughnut was really well filled - but I was a little disappointed in the chocolate to PB ratio. The ganache was super chocolatey and decadent, but I had been hoping for a little more peanut butter. 

Roasted Blackberry Fig 

I had high hopes for this simple, glazed looking doughnut - with it's purple-y pink hue and promise of fig flavor. Unfortunately, the glaze was bland.

Coconut Thai Basil 

I was very intrigued by this flavor combination. Ever since trying The Doughnut Project, I've been all aboard the savory doughnut flavor train. But this doughnut didn't have very much Thai/basil flavor - it was pretty much just coconut to me - and dry to boot. 

Toasted Pistachio Cardamom 

Saving the best for last, this doughnut alone saved The Cinnamon Snail's doughnut cred for me. The pistachio cake doughnut was moist and flavorful and the cardamom glaze was perfectly sweet without being overpowering. 

Bottom Line: 

If you're vegan - by all means, go get yourself some doughnuts from The Cinnamon Snail. If you're not vegan - you can find better elsewhere, in my opinion!

That being said - I'm still very eager to try their sandwiches!  

YOUR TURN: 
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED A VEGAN DOUGHNUT? 
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DOUGHNUT SHOP? 

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Moonlight Brunch Potluck

Sometimes, my event planning college memories come rushing back, and I do things like plan Moonlight Brunch Potlucks with coworkers for a Monday night. The idea came from an event that Quinnipiac University After Dark would put on during finals week every semester- we would serve a HUGE free breakfast buffet at midnight, and people went nuts. Free hashbrowns when you’re up studying at midnight for a final? Pretty great.

(Here's a picture from this year's QUAD Moonlight Breakfast. Good job keeping the tradition going, guys!)

Much to my delight, when I suggested the real-life grown-up version of the event, instead of looking at me like a weirdo, there were about 15 girls who were totally on board with me. Maybe it had to do with the promise of alcohol on a Monday night.

I found a great website, Sign Up Genius, where I could have everyone decide what they wanted to bring. The categories were Sweet (think donuts, pancakes, French toast, etc.) Savory (think eggs, bacon hashbrowns), Bubbly (dranks) and Yogurt Bar! The yogurt bar was my way of making froyo a breakfast thing- Greek yogurt with all different toppings including granola, fruits and different chocolate candies.  

When we showed up at my coworker’s apartment, after she graciously offered to host, she had bought us each the CUTEST little Mason jar with a crazy straw for us to drink our mimosas, screwdrivers, champagne and Bloody Marys out of.

(Most important station, obviously)

Soon, the food spread starting growing, and I started drooling. Everything looked soo damn tasty. First of all, my friend had brought Dougnut Plant donuts. One bite of the tres leche- and I was launched into a love affair with donuts that is still going strong (more on that to come).

(And with that, the donut addiction began!)

There was also a French toast casserole with blueberry preserve sauce/topping that was homemade and out of this world. Someone else made a cheesy potato and bacon casserole, there were pop-tarts, quiche, cannoli, cookies, and my contribution: peanut butter banana oatmeal casserole with blueberries and strawberries.

I slaved away on this masterpiece, and I think it came out pretty good! I unfortunately did it so long ago, that I can’t remember which recipe I used. It was something verysimilar to this though, if you want to give it a try! I also baked in some blueberries and strawberries, and then decorate the top with fruit since it’s all about presentation!

It was such a fun night with fun people and a gorgeous view of this beautiful city! I’m so happy everyone liked the idea, and thinking back on it now, it’s making me want to plan another potluck soon! Any good potluck theme ideas?