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MAD Donuts grand opening – White Plains, NY

MAD Donuts

I was lucky enough to stop by the grand opening of MAD Donuts in Westchester Mall yesterday, and I was so happy for owner Matt and his family. While NYC is flush with gourmet and specialty donut shops, we are desperately thin where I live in the northern suburbs, so it’s exciting to have MAD open and changing that.

Matt and team did a great job on the aesthetics of the shop – it’s bright white inside and welcoming. The location is also prime, near a corner on the Retail 3 level across from the few chain eateries remaining now that the 4th floor “Savor” food court is open.

I knew I had to try the apple fritter, which is so big that it gets its own display case. I decided to stick with the Fall flavors theme and pair that with the caramel apple cider.

Apple fritter and caramel apple cider from MAD Donuts in White Plains, NY

Other flavor options on opening day included pumpkin pie, cranberry iced, vanilla bean glazed, chocolate iced, PB&J, lemon meringue and brown sugar custard.

The apple fritter deserves the attention and press it’s been getting – the flavor balance and texture are awesome. You get a crunchy exterior, a touch of sweet with the vanilla and cinnamon icing, then a fun interior with soft apple bits and the classic yeast donut dough. The caramel apple cider also was great – not too sweet, which I really appreciate, with great apple flavor. The two together were a great pairing.

Scores: Apple fritter – 10/10; Apple cider caramel – 9/10

I am so pumped that MAD is open, and so happy to support a local small business owner where I live. You can follow MAD Donuts on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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Dun-Well Doughnuts: Apple Pecan

Temperatures may be plunging outside, but Fall flavors are still in full effect on donut shop shelves around the city. Brooklyn’s vegan staple Dun-Well Doughnuts recently had an Apple Pecan on the menu , a bit of a different twist on the autumn standard, but one that still embodied the full tastes of the season.

Despite it feeling more like Winter than Fall these days, this treat from Dun-Well was perfectly balanced and with eyes closed hard enough, it was easy to picture a tree perfectly bursting with color. Dun-Well’s donuts are wonderfully soft, chewy, and just a bit sticky, not at all dense or overpoweringly sweet. For this one, it tasted almost as if you were biting into a real apple, the flavor perfectly spot-on, I almost checked to see if the skin was in the dough. A pure apple taste matched with a perfect pecan crunch, the textures were lovely compliments to one another and the nutty flavor added some new innovation to the mix. A bit late to the game, this was a bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one at that and nice alternative to so many apple cider / cinnamon donuts conquering menus around town.

Score: 8.5/10

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Morningstar Donuts

Wylie Dufresne’s Du’s Donuts hosted Houston’s Morningstar Donuts on Saturday for a pop-up event with Texan charm and creativity.

The Houston sensation brought their local flavors and specialties to Brooklyn and treated patrons to creative concoctions that matched the vibes of their hometown with classic donut flavors. Blood Orange White Chocolate, Black and White Mochi, Cinnamon Sugar, Pineapple Chili Lime Fritter, Cheesecake and Candied Almond twist, Olive Oil Lemon with Sea Salt (and a BBQ Brisket Kolaches). The variety was impressive and it was too much to resist walking up to the counter and saying “I’ll have one of everything, please.”

Morningstar mastermind David Buehrer was present behind the counter and chatted away as the donuts were served, giving us the background of his buzzing food empire in Houston and how their wonderful donuts came to be. Taking a lot of inspiration from the Cambodian population in his hometown, Buehrer has built Morningstar into a local favorite and was thrilled to be able to give his already stellar donuts a New York twist. Fusing a classic mochi with a New York black and white cookie, taking the southern flavors of pineapple and chili lime and mixing it with an apple fritter, the pastries were wild and fun, with crazy flavors exploding with each bite. The yeast and textures were remarkably fresh, the glazes perfectly sticky, and the fritter was wonderfully crunchy. For a pop-up, Morningstar did a fantastic job bringing a sample of cake, yeast, mochi, fritter, and old fashioned style to prove their skills can cover all forms of donuts. In fact, for such a diverse range of flavors and styles, the consistency was excellent beyond compare.

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Peter Pan: Apple Cider

It’s hard to beat a classic and not only is Peter Pan one of the best classic donut shops in the city, but serving up a Fall classic flavor like Apple Cider is one of the most perfect pairings.

The outer surface is covered in a hard sugary glaze, a perfect protection for the inner deliciousness that is filled with a rich flavor. The dough is soft and chewy, a perfect setting for the delectable taste that comes with every bite. Slightly over-fried, there is a small crunch from the sugary coating giving a nice, contrasting texture to the softness inside which holds the real flavor of the donut. This is about as classic as it gets and for a New Yorker, it can save a trip to a farm stand where you might be able to snag a warm, fresh version one of these guys, but from a city standpoint, it doesn’t get much better than this. Peter Pan isn’t doing this “for the ‘gram” and their donuts aren’t always the most attractive visually, but their imperfections are what make them so wonderful. These are hand crafted and made with love, not churned out via machine in mass quantities and the old-school vibes add a certain something that makes them so special. It’s a perfect glazed donut that unveils itself with each bite, never overpowering and always perfectly subtle.

Score: 9.5/10

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Du’s: Caramel Apple

With a new season comes a new menu from Brooklyn’s Du’s Doughnuts and like so many other shops around the city, they’re embracing Autumn with apple goodness.

While so many others are serving up their best version of some kind of Apple Cider / Cinnamon / Sugar concoction, Du’s has also rolled out their take on Caramel Apple. It’s an immediate attention grabber on looks alone. Covered in an almost neon green glaze with a caramel drizzle, this one is hard to miss upon first glance and is a cool, creative take on the farm stand staple. The vanilla cake is a subtle base for this treat, but the real flavor lies in that vibrant green frosting. The incredibly sweet shell knocks out any other taste that comes along, as an almost pure, candied sensation rushes over your tastebuds. The green apple taste is similar to hard candy and an extra tang sticks around for a bit of an aftertaste. There’s a little crunch sprinkled on top as well for some extra texture. Overall it’s a tad aggressive and while it will certainly satisfy the most extreme sweet-tooth it may be a bit much for the average consumer.

Score: 7/10

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Dough: Apple Glaze

These days, Pumpkin has become the ubiquitous flavor of Fall to (in my opinion), an unhealthy degree. Whether it’s beer, bread, or the spiced latte, the festive gourd seems to be the official flavor for any food this time of year. However, the dudes from Donut Club are firm believers that if you’re in the North East, Apple is still the apex of Autumn and with that, we’re presenting the best in the region starting with Dough’s Apple Glaze.

Properly displayed as Apple Glaze with wildflower honey and almond streusel, this is of course another one of Dough’s monstrous creations. As is typical, the donut is a very heavy yeast variety, massive in size, but not necessarily in taste. The apple glaze is sweet and refreshing, a perfect fall pick-me-up, and the almond streusel gives it a bit of a cream cheese-y taste which is complemented nicely by the wildflower honey. While the gooey frosting really carries the entire flavor of the donut, the sheer volume of the treat is still a bit over-powering. Eating one whole donut from Dough still feels like an accomplishment and their seasonal offerings never veer from their classics. The taste of the Apple Glaze screams “perfect fall dessert” and while I still think it’s not to be missed, the overall result feels like a traditional Dough donut: big on texture and freshness, but just a bit short in flavor.

Score: 8/10

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Dunkin’ Apple Cider donuts

DD apple cider

If you can find these, they are fine. Oddly, they were sold out where I live for most of the past few months, and now Dunkin’ has pivoted to their Halloween specialty donuts, which I expect sell much better than apple cider. I was able to find the donut (not hole) version a few times, and they are a traditional cinnamon sugar donut with a light apple flavor. Interestingly, the cinnamon donut from the normal Dunkin’ menu is more of a cinnamon powder style, so this apple cider take is a nice variation. Pretty good and definitely worth buying if they have them, but not worth hunting for.

Dunkin’ Fall lineup blog post

Score: 7/10

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Doughnut Plant: Dark Chocolate Sourdough

Doughnut Plant has spent 2019 celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary with monthly specials ranging from Black Sesame and Yuzu to Pumpkin Seed and Apple Cinnamon. In addition to these seasonal surprises, the local legend has introduced a brand new creation: the sourdough doughnut, aka the sourdoughnut, a six year in the making creation and a cool new addition to their cake and standard yeast offerings.

Flavors of the sourdoughnut range from Orange to Pistachio to Cacio de Pepe to Dark Chocolate, the later being the one I opted for on my first tasting. The sourdough brings to the table a light, airy option that doesn’t carry the intensity of their impeccable cake masterpieces and provides a nice alternative to the standard yeast donuts. The fried, crispy exterior is wonderfully flakey and the natural yeast provides a noice moisture and richness that takes over every bite. There is a subtle taste that is just, well, sour enough to make the flavor linger just a bit longer than your typical donut giving it a unique, fresh finish, perhaps best washed down with some strong coffee. Covered in a bold glaze frosting, the dark chocolate is a bit overpowering and while it’s large in size, it’s not too heavy and a rather satisfying serving. In a scene dominated by two major varieties, it’s cool to see a new direction for donuts and obviously pleasing to see it done from true masters of their craft. While it doesn’t outrank its predecessor and isn’t going to become my new go-to, it’s a fun new addition to some of the best in the game.

Score: 8/10

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Federal Donuts: Mississippi Mud

Yes, the blog is Donut Club NYC, but the tagline reads “two dudes on a quest for every donut in NYC (and beyond)” so I’m happy to be writing our first ever non-NYC entry. Federal Donuts is a Philadelphia joint that specializes in Fried Chicken and Donuts (a killer combo) and has a few locations across the city.

On the donut side, they specialize in two things: “Hot Fresh” and “Fancy.” Your “Hot Fresh” donuts are flash fried and then covered in an assortment of sugar. They’re, as you’d expect, hot and incredibly delicious as they’re made to order. The “Fancy” variety is more of your traditional cake donuts with intriguing flavors. On my first visit, I opted for a few, but the Mississippi Mud is the one that will be featured here. It’s a dense cake donut that make your mouth immediately swell with saliva on first bite and it’s covered it rich cookie and peanut crumble giving it even more flavor. The chocolate here is over powering and each bite seems to become more and more sensational, the flavor somehow heightening with each mouthful. There’s an added dark chocolate drizzle underneath the cookie crumble so the chocolate overload on this one is no joke and certainly not for someone looking for a light treat. Still, despite the intensity of the donut, it’s fresh and moist which really helps the texture and is what stops the donut from becoming too much of a good thing.

Score: 8/10

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Dun-Well Doughnuts: Salted Caramel Pecan

The Salted Caramel Pecan is a wonderful vegan donut from the masters of Dun-Well Doughnuts in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Falling below the radar of the monstrous Dough donut, Dun-Well has become a low-key player in the yeast donut scene with a second location on St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan as well as distributing to Whole Foods in Williamsburg and other various locations. Their donuts are made up of light, fluffy consistency and they’re not nearly as overwhelming as some of their larger counterparts. So what truly separates them from the rest? Not only are their donuts some of my personal favorites in the city, but they’re vegan too. The Salted Caramel Pecan is a regular on the store’s rotation and it’s an underrated gem on the menu. Covered in a sticky frosted glaze, the caramel is buttery and sweet, melting right into your mouth and it’s topped off perfectly with pecan crumbs that give the treat an added crunch. These are sweet and mighty concoctions, but they’re perfectly sized to be filling, not stuffing. The light, airy dough is wonderfully flakey, chewy, an incredible consistency that still feels small batched and not overproduced. It has a classic-style taste, fresh and delicious and fits the old-school vibes of the shop’s interior and vintage charm.

Score: 9.5/10