Today I was sweating and partially miserable on the subway platform which could only mean one thing - summer-themed Doughnut season is here again. To honor the climbing temp, retro-ish North Carolina Doughnut goliath Krispy Kreme has released a Caribbean Kreme variety (shown above in unintentional dramatic lighting) offering that rare union of Doughnut with tropical flavor. The CK follows Krispy’s basic filled Doughnut model: raised dough covered in white frosting and in this case short-cake crunch which looks and tastes like a better version of the crumbs on those strawberry shortcake Good Humor bars. I had my reservations about the mango, pineapple and passion fruit filling - thoughts of overly sweet, brightly colored beach drinks, etc - but it’s actually pretty good and thankfully doesn’t involve coconut. It kind of tastes like a really creamy tropical smoothie.

And speaking of smoothies - KK’s also created a Caribbean Kreme Chiller drink to pair with the Caribbean Doughnut. It comes either creamy or frozen and stay tuned ’til next week when we’ll be giving away coupons for FREE Chillers and FREE Doughnuts. Now I’m off to Virginny for a few days to see mom and dad and eat Spudnuts.

A PSA from Dunkin’ (I’m serious, they sent me this):

“Your Fix Is In:

A certain upscale, green-logo’d mackaccino chain will be closing its doors on Tuesday night, February 26, for a mass barista training exercise (stop inhaling the retail, kids?).

You can tell your friends most likely to explode into a caffeine-withdrawal freak-fit that Dunkin’ Donuts will be filling in with a 99¢ latte/cappuccino special from 1-10PM. And you know, chocolate-glaze donuts with pink sprinkles, 24-7.”

https://dunkindonuts.com

As many of you probably already know, as of Oct. 15th the largest Donut dealer in the world has gone trans fat-free. Obviously responding to growing public health concern regarding these hydrogenated and delicious little craps - and hopefully at least partially due to genuine concern about the well being of the Donut-eating population - Dunkin’ Donuts has ousted their previous cooking oil in favor of a healthier palm-cottonseed-soybean oil blend. But before we taste, let’s go right to the source for the low-down on the switch. Michelle King, Manager of Communication for Dunkin’ Donuts, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me:

1) I’m curious about how you arrived at the recipe for Dunkin’ Donuts new trans fat free, palm-cottonseed-soybean oil blend. Were other recipes tried, and if so what kinds?

Our R&D team has been working on a trans fat solution for nearly four years, during which time we have tested more than 28 custom blends of oil.

2) Can you comment on the new oil blend in terms of nutritional improvement and its effect on how the donuts taste? Does it affect various donut varieties differently?

The customer response to the new donut has been positive. The new donut meets the quality, flavor and taste profile our customers have come to expect from Dunkin’ Donuts. The total fat content falls within the same range. This has been a seamless transition.

3) Does this switch affect all Dunkin’ Donut domestic and international
store locations?

The zero grams trans fat donut is in all US stores only. (5,400 U.S. restaurants in 34 states)

4) What’s your favorite Dunkin’ Donut?

Jelly Stick

5) Who’s got better coffee, Dunkin’ or Starbucks?

Blognut did not receive response

And I’d have to agree, they’ve done a pretty good job recreating their orginial fatty flavor. The cakes hold up better than the raised. My chocolate glazed was every bit as cakey as it used to be and had the same chocolately flavor. There may have been a slightly askew and oilier aftertaste which wasn’t necessarily bad, just different. I was more concerned for my raised glazed and jelly filled. The yeast dough was definitely denser and breadier than old-school DD and didn’t have quite the lighter-than-air sensation that Dunkin’ used to pull off pretty well. But overall the flavors were there - the yeasty pop, the sugary glaze, and the mild tartness of the raspberry filling. Oh yeah, and I think the raised glazed might be a little bit smaller than it used to be. Or I might be crazy - it’s been a while since I’ve been to Dunkin’.

Perhaps the most exciting facet of the Pop-Nut Donut chain is their limited-edition seasonal and holiday offerings. And while Krispy Kreme certainly expresses the most creativity in temporally-relevant Donuts (see their shamrock-shaped St. Patty’s, heart-shaped V-day, and pumpkin-like Halloween frosted-varieties), I find Dunkin’s half-hearted attempt at seasonality far more amusing. As if simply taking their standard yeast-raised frosted and coating it with overly food-dyed ceremonious frosting colors and sprinkles for a few days actually tricks patrons into feeling festive. The fact that my “Christmas Donut” is drenched in red and green goo doesn’t make me forget that it’s half stale and owned by a group of money-grubbing equity firms with names like Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

That said, this past Saturday, the moment that rack of radioactive green distracts me from my stroll down Lexington Avenue, my Irish spirit takes over and I soon find myself at the DD counter ordering their St. Patrick’s Day special. Essentially Dunkin’s newly-released Berry Berry Donut topped with bright green and pink frosting (not sure what pink has to do with St. Patty?) instead of strawberry candy crunch, this Emerald Donut is a big let down. Partly due to it’s lack of originality, but also to the fact that it got stuffed in a paper bag for 3 hours before being eaten and all the frosting came off. Flavor-wise, just think standard DD yeast dough filled with slightly artificial tasting raspberry jelly.

Just for fun I also purchase the actual Berry Berry which was far more pleasing, both in aesthetic and taste. The faux-jelly is accented by an even phonier tasting strawberry candy crunch, reminiscent of many KK Donuts-of-the-Month, which often come topped with gravel-y candy bits. It’s exactly what I look for in a Pop Donut – brightly-colored, sugary, and full of All-American artificially-flavored satisfaction.

Earlier this year Blognut ran a post summarizing a donut-centric article in Saveur by food writer John T. Edge. The piece coincided with the release of Mr. Edge’s book, Donuts: An American Passion, and reviewed seven of the scribe’s favorite US doughnut shops. I was surprised to see that Edge included Shipley Do-Nuts in Oxford, Mississippi on his list. I thought for sure all seven Doughnut shops would be independent Mom-and-Pop establishments, whereas Shipley’s is a Houston-based Pop-Nut chain with over 190 franchises sprinkled throughout Texas and the deep south.

But you can’t pull one over on Blognut. I soon remembered that Edge is the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford (well actually, all I remembered was that Edge was somehow affiliated with Ole Miss, I looked up his official association after the fact). So there was obviously some hometown allegiance at work here. Which is fine, because as any respectable food critic will tell you, so much of taste is contextual. No restaurant can match the flavor of Dad’s homemade pulled pork BBQ, or Mom’s near-addictive cinnamon rolls. That’s just the way it is.

Prior to my trip to Mississippi last month, Blognut had tried only a single Shipley’s Donut, back in 05’ on a trip to San Antonio. I remember it being delicious and having something to do with cherries. But given the vast array of memorable Donuts I’ve tried in the last year thanks to this stupid blog, and having no geographical or emotional ties to the region, expectations for my visit to the Oxford franchise were set low. How could a mass-produced Donut match the texture and complexity of, say, a Doughnut Plant offering? But now having adequately evaluated what the Texan chain has to offer, I dare say that Shipley Do-Nut’s plain glazed is one of my all-time favorite Donuts. And Shipley’s certainly has replaced Dunkin’ as Blognut’s favorite Pop-Nut chain.

Mr. Edge compares the consistency of Shipley’s dough to that of Wonder Bread. And I would have to agree. As I bite into the glazed it gently collapses between my teeth and before I know it has disappeared, leaving only a vestige of sugary flavor. It’s unbelievably satisfying in a processed American kind of way and is a near match to my favorite of all Donuts, the plain glazed from Spudnuts (which happens to be in my former hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia…there seems to be a pattern here…hmmm?).

Blognut also tries the Maple Glazed. While no match for its predecessor, it garners considerable style points for actually having a maple-infused glaze rather than a too-sweet sludgy maple frosting like most maple Donuts. For a moment I thought I was in the presence of Mark Israel, proprietor of The Doughnut Plant and master of glaze infusion. The dough is sturdy without being overly-filling, leaving me with room for dessert. I go with the Bull’s Eye.

The Bull’s Eye is a light, yeast-raised Donut filled with smooth and creamy white cream (I think I just described a noun using the adjective form of itself. This probably goes against some sort of grammatical and philosophical tenets but I think I’ll leave it). The top surface is smeared with rich, chocolate frosting accented by a large, ill-defined blob of white frosting, which I assume is the so-called “Bull’s Eye.” Now Blognut is not a huge fan of cream-filled Donuts (I guess Boston Crème are OK) but I’ve had enough to know a good one when I taste it. I would rank Shipley’s Bull’s Eye along side of Dunkin’s cream-filled variety – decent, but not life-changing.

Mrs. Blognut and I were the only ones there.

Shipley’s carries a total of 63 varieties, including a handful of kolaches, a Czechoslovakian pastry popular in Texas, and other parts of the country, thanks to the slews of Czech immigrants who came to the region in the 1900s. The chain is gradually expanding, vowing never to compromise quality ingredients and excellent service in exchange for revenue. And while I definitely had good service and even better Donuts at the Oxford Shipley, I thought it was funny when the Donut-Man revealed they were out of both coffee and napkins, essentially the only two accessories you need to properly eat a Donut. But I didn’t mind; the apologetic counterperson went in the back and got me a roll of enormous brown paper towels to compensate. So whether you’re from Oxford, Mississippi or not, Shipley’s Donuts are worthy of even the most snooty Donut-Palate.

Donut Scores:

Plain Glazed -

Maple Glazed -

Bull’s Eye -

This morning I stopped by Dunkin Donuts in hopes of getting a box of the new Halloween-themed seasonal Munchkins. “We haven’t gotten those yet,” said the DD employee, “but check back tomorrow.” At this point I got embarrassed that I’d made a special trip to Dunkin for their Halloween line, and without thinking said, “I’m getting these for a bunch of kids. I guess they’ll be OK with regular Munchkins.”

So instead of the post I had originally intended, I’ll show a montage of the regular Munchkins I bought out of guilt when I learned they didn’t have any seasonals.

Yeast-raised Glazed Munchkin.

Plain-cake Glazed Munchkin with a blurry Friends in the background (this was the one where Joey and Ross get locked on the roof).

Munchkin closeup.

While devoid of any All Hallows Munchkins, Dunkin was able to offer this full-sized Halloween Doughnut.

The only thing that qualifies this Nut as seasonal, is the tiny black-sugar bats, and I guess the purple and green sprinkles. Standard DD yeast-raised issue with tired chocolate frosting, plus a barely noticable attempt at Halloween imagery just doesn’t constitute an acceptable Nut. However, the Munchkins were of the consistently great quality we’ve come to expect from our favorite of all Pop-Nuts. But I think I’ll hold off on reviewing them until I score a box of season-appropriate Nut-holes.

And now a final thought on Munchkins:

Donut Score:

Seasonal Halloween Bat Donut -

On days when Blognut is unable to enjoy the slurp of our favorite morning pick-me-up, Gorilla Coffee, we often turn happily to Dunkin Donuts. Their medium-bodied roast has consistently good flavor and is always perfectly satisfying (plus, if we must support such a powerful corporate juggernaut, why not at least pick one that makes great donuts?).

And now a confession: As regular readers know, with the exception of the aforementioned Dunkin coffee, Blognut’s stomach is generally in favor of the mom and pop establishment. This said, we would like to reveal that in those instances when neither Gorilla nor DD are available, we sometimes must resort to – yes – STARBUCKS! Many of you probably thought you would never see such words on the pages of Blognut, and we assure you that said occurrences are, at most, merely occasional. But one morning last month, during one such visit to the dreaded Seattle-based roastery, our eyes were met with a colorful and summery looking little ring labeled “Pina Colada Doughnut.” We ordered a small iced coffee (fine, Tall!) and, full from the morning’s bagel, knew we must return once more.

As the most discreet member of Starbucks’ current summer line of tropical food and drink, the Pina Colada Doughnut has not enjoyed the heavy promotional push the other offerings have received. Unphased by the many wall hangings advertising the Pomegranate Frappacino, or the decadent Banana Passion Coffee Cake, this beautiful baked good sits quietly in a glass case, listening happily to Jimmy Buffet on its IPod and swigging Bacardi 151 straight from the bottle.

Monday morning: Blognut guiltily enters our neighborhood Starbucks – we order a Pina Colada Nut ($.95) and a cup of water. Though not a huge fan of the Colada itself (both rum and coconut must be delivered in small amounts for us to enjoy them), we are pleasantly surprised with the doughnut. Basically a glazed-cake topped with toasted coconut and pineapple drizzle, the fruit flavors have just the right intensity and are perfectly balanced by the thick, moist dough. And kudos to the Starbucks marketing team, as one bite has us sitting ocean-side sipping a frozen Colada by the light of a tiki torch. Our only knock is against the bartender, for we cannot taste any rum.

With expectations shattered, and psyche racked with guilt over so thoroughly enjoying a Starbucks Nut, like so many others we concede victory to the evil empire (at least for today). We order a Vente iced coffee and leave with our head down and our coffee in hand.

Doughnut Score: 8.4

A Brooklyn Life reports today on their suspicion that a new Dunkin Donuts may be opening soon on the corner of Bergen and Smith in Boerum Hill.

Blognut is fairly certain that this may be the next step in Donut-Entrepreneur Peter Ungaro’s quest to eliminate what little mom-and-pop donut influence Brooklyn has left.

Saturday morning – Blognut arrives in Toronto, and, after a long discussion with our cab driver about the Buffalo Sabres and the future of hockey in America, we arrive at our hotel. We immediately hit the streets looking for a donut.

While the Toronto metropolitan area has over 500 donut shops to choose from (see previous post), the downtown location where we’re staying is dominated by Tim Horton’s – there were 6 within a few blocks of our hotel, further proving my theory that Canadians love donuts.

We stop in the first Tim Horton’s we see and order their newly-released Carrot Cake Donut and a small black coffee. The Canadian Donut Man looks at my $20 bill graced with an oversized Andrew Jackson head and says “Where do you think you are, America?!” – then he turns to his fellow Donut-Man and they both laugh hysterically. We leave to look for an ATM, all the while questioning our cab driver’s assertion that every place in downtown Toronto takes American dollars. Luckily this Horton’s is attached to a bank – we withdraw $40 Canadian and return for our donut.With our order in hand, we hit the streets looking for another donut shop – all we can find is another Tim Horton’s. This time we order a Canadian Maple frosted and sit down to enjoy our purchase. We pull out the Carrot Cake donut from our first stop and set it next to the Canadian maple. The Canadian Donut Man at this Horton’s then comes over and says “Didn’t you only order one donut?” “Yes,” we respond – “This one is from the Tim Horton’s down the street.” He looks perplexed but returns to his station behind the counter. We eat.

The Canadian Maple was the perfect welcome to Canada – not only a great tasting donut, but a symbolic representation of the nation’s most widely recognized icon, the maple leaf. It was filled with a Boston-esque crème and frosted with Maple Intensity – far more potent than its Dunkin Donuts counter part here in America. The Carrot Cake tasted almost exactly like its namesake, but due to its fried exterior and the inherit perfect-ness of the donut’s ring shape, it was much more suited to be eaten with hands than its wedged cousin. While Tim Horton’s may be a major chain, it was a nice diversion from the Pop-Nut monotony here in the States.

While going through US customs prior to our flight home, we were asked to declare any purchases we made while in Canada – we declared two donuts at a total cost of $1.50.

Donut Scores:

Carrot Cake - 7.5
Canadian Maple - 8.8