Month: December 2020

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Doughnut Plant – Christmas Donuts

Doughnut Plant Christmas Donuts

As with so much else, holiday traditions looked slightly different this year. Typically, I try to get in the festive mood with seasonal treats from around the city, but that was not an easy task in 2020. Although I am still fortunate enough to have many options near me, paying visits to all of my favorite local shops before Christmas was still a challenge and I did not hit my deadline. However, the wonderful people at Doughnut Plant didn’t cut their festivities short based on calendars this year and I was still able to drop by and pick up some of their excellent Christmas-themed treats a few days after the special day.

Since I was already behind schedule, I did miss out on their Hanukkah treasures this year (one day I will finally try their epic Menorah donut and sufganiyot filled pastries) and I opted out of the Coconut Snowman since I’m generally not a fan of that flavor. Even with these exceptions, I was not disappointed and Doughnut Plant came through with a stellar selection. Every year I look forward to the Mint Christmas Tree donut so that was first on my list. Molded perfectly to shape, it has a mint green (in color and taste) outer shell (lined with little sugar-glazed lightbulbs) and is filled with a dark chocolate pudding much like their outstanding Brooklyn Blackout. Doughtnut Plant are masters of their craft when it comes to the interior of their donuts, and perhaps it’s the fact that it’s only available for a short time each year, but I always think this might be their absolute best in both appearance and taste. The year-long wait did not disappoint. Other seasonable favorites included a Cranberry (again, the inside has bits of actual cranberries in the dough) which has an incredible, vibrant glazed color and a Gingerbread which was the perfect replacement to my lack of cookies this year.

Even when everything about 2020 has felt so abnormal, it was great to still have Doughnut Plant serving up their traditional holiday classics to bring a sense of normalcy to the end of the year.

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Dun-Well Doughnuts – Apple Crumb

Just before the official end of the season and with what seems to be the first winter storm on the horizon, I hit up Dun-Well Doughnuts and tried their Apple Crumb donut for one last taste of Fall.

Now technically, Winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21, so I am still a few days within season to enjoy a lovely Fall themed doughnut here in the North East. As we’ve written about previously, nothing quite captures Autumn like an Apple Cider donut and while that wasn’t on the menu at Dun-Well this past weekend, their Apple Crumb is nothing to shrug off. It doesn’t have the fried crunch and consistency of a cider donut nor is it coated in that lovely cinnamon sugar powder, but the flavor on this guy is just as pure and enticing as our other Fall favorites. With a sugary top, this creation is definitely more like a traditional crumb cake in texture and consistency and that is what, perhaps, makes it so great. It’s still the delicious and chewy texture like you can expect of any treat from these local vegan heroes, but there is a little something extra to it that gives off such subtle notes of your typical crumb cake that you can find all across the city. Once again, this donut is perfectly sweet and optimally flavored to not overpower or seem in any way fake. It’s a great way to add some variety to an already plentiful and abundant assortment of cider donuts one can find in the area and served as the perfect send-off to the season.

Score: 8/10