The Wisdom of 100 Donuts

Anyone remember The Best Dozen series I took on a while back for All Over Albany?

Over a year ago I embarked on a perilous journey. It was one where I decided to eat a dozen donuts from eleven local donut places. The original goal was to update an old survey AOA had conducted of the local donut landscape. But I foolishly told AOA Greg that the only way of finding the best donuts was by eating them all. And surprisingly, he agreed.

I regretted the project pretty much after the third bite on the first day. Oh. Dear. God. What did I get myself into? Completing the assignment was a sheer test of my willpower and resolve.

In the end, I made it to all the donut shops in the immediate vicinity, but there were still other places an easy drive away that weren’t included within the evaluation. It’s taken a long, long time until I could even consider looking at a donut again, and I’m glad to say that I’m now in the clear.

But let me tell you something. Old habits die hard.

Last week, I went to the Donut Dip in West Springfield, Mass. Twice. Once on Wednesday returning from Rhode Island. Once on Sunday returning from Connecticut. It’s mighty convenient to be near the crossroads of 90 and 91.

The Donut Dip was one of the shops that came up in conversation when people heard about The Best Dozen. The implication was that the Capital Region had some fine places, but this old-fashioned outpost was really a cut above.

And I totally get it. The place is wonderful. The rich elastic crumb of the yeast raised shells is magnificent. But the cake donuts are excellent too with a fantastic exterior crunch and a tender crumb.

On the whole, it may out perform any of our donut places, I’d have to run the numbers. But on a donut by donut basis, we’ve actually got a handful of better specimens locally.

The Cookie Factory makes a better chocolate iced donut, hands down.
Bella Napoli makes a better Boston creme.
I’m still enchanted by the crackle of the glaze at Market Bistro.
Cider Belly makes a better apple cider donut.
Schuyler makes a better old fashioned.

And that’s actually why on my first visit to Donut Dip I wasn’t all that impressed. So it took a second visit to triangulate on the things that this Massachusetts spot does well: filled yeast donuts, unique cake based donuts, and donuts without chocolate.

The sour cream donuts have no equal.
Lemon filled rounds dusted with powdered sugar are fantastic.
Blueberry and strawberry are the jelly flavors to remember.
Toasted coconut is golden, crispy, and not too sweet.
(Powdered) sugar raised is better than glazed here.
Vanilla creme is more like a mousse, and totally works.

Which isn’t to say Donut Dip isn’t without its misses either.

The chocolate creme really could benefit from more cocoa.
The pumpkin donut tastes like a deep fried muffin, and isn’t my thing.
That black raspberry jelly is just unfortunate, filled with fake gummy pieces of “fruit”.
Despite some serious praise, the apple cider donut just can’t compete with the real deal.

Egads. What have I become? I have to say, the upside of writing a series like The Best Dozen is very similar to the benefit of going on one of the Fussy Little Tours. By eating a lot of one kind of thing in succession, it becomes much much easier to put other versions of the form into a hierarchy.

But even though I seem to be well on the path to becoming an expert donut eater, it’s still easy for me to pick out a not-that-great dozen donuts from a new shop. Sometimes it takes a couple of trips to figure out what a place does better than everyone else.

Now, I really have to get to King Bakery and give their donuts a whirl. Maybe I can get lucky and discover the cart’s glory in my first dozen.