#donuts

A temptation that I could never resist is the temptation of a perfectly glazed airy donut.

There are donut shops down every two to three streets, with each shop showcasing their one and only creations. From apple pie to lime coconut stuffed d0nuts and munchkins to timbits, these photo worthy delicacies are so worth!

Fried dough aka ‘dough’nuts can be enjoyed breakfast lunch and dinner, like I did during my fall break. Not only did I savor over 10 different types of donuts over 5 days, my journey also happened literally without boundaries: in my dorm, at the airport, on a plane, in a foreign country.

The donut to start my day at 4am, in the airport from Philly to Toronto was Dunkin. Although Dunkin Donuts does not appeal to me most of the time, those freshly baked donuts in the morning with some brewed coffee seemed like just the thing I needed to give me a sugary burst of energy.

Munchkins, the donut holes, tend to be more cakey and soft than regular donuts. A big plus is that you can try out more flavors! Naturally, I went for the 6 for $2 deal to get an assortment of honey glazed, original, and chocolate munchkins. I thought since I already got 3 flavors, might as well try out another, so I also ordered the blueberry donut.

After my plane landed in Toronto, the first shop I spotted was Tim Hortons. What else if not Canada’s most prevalent cafe/ donut chain! Throughout my four days spent in Quebec, I saw a Tim Hortons once every two streets. I couldn’t resist those glazed donuts staring right back at me. The most well known flavors are the Boston stuffed creme donuts and the original glazed crullers. Naturally, I decided to start my Canada donut streak with the local recommendations.

The filling was an extra sweet custard, the chocolate crust was semi melted, and the donut dough was more chewy and stretchy than cakey and crumbly. They had warmed the donut for me, so the sweet flavor combinations were enhanced.

Upon another visit to Tim Hortons I decided to try the Timbits and the maple creme classic. How could I leave Canada without trying a maple donut? To give an honest comparison between dunking munchkins and Hortons Timbits, I would say that Dunkin would be a 7/10 and the Timbits would rate a 4.5/10. Unlike the extremely dense and cakey munchkins the Timbits were slightly hard and dry. (This ratings could be affected by the state of the Timbits at the specific shop I went to)

After exploring Quebec, I discovered a local cafe called Saint-Henri micro-torréfacteur. The place was also famous for their original donuts and rich coffee. So I had to try those creations for myself.

I ordered two donuts, the Chai tea classic donut (on the left) and the apple pie donut (on the right). But after wolfing down both donuts, I decided to go for a third donut and chose the lime and coconut creme donut, recommended to me by the owner of the cafe.

These donuts were cakier than the Tim Hortons dough, but the stuffing was light and airy in comparison to the dense custard Boston creme donut. Furthermore, the chai tea donut’s spiced glazed and nut topic were very complementary with a cup of soy milk latte.

My next destination was Obama’s favorite beavertail fried dough restaurant called Queues de Castor. The restaurant is famous for their oval shaped dough, that looks like the tail of a beaver with a wide selection of toppings available. I chose to try the Nutella banana beavertail.

Since they fry the dough for you immediately, the donut was crispy and hot! The Nutella and the banana were warmed by the crispy fried dough. The inside of the dough was soft and airy.

To finish my donut craze over the fall break, I had to retry another flavor from America’s well-loved donut chain Dunkin Donuts. Celebrating fall, dunlin’s cream cheese apple crumble flavor was very comparable to Tim Horton’s Apple Fritter donut.

The cream cheese apple donut had a chewy and melt in your mouth texture – not much chewing needed for me to gulf down the entire donut. I would say that the cream cheese tasted a bit like icing, and the consistency also resembled more of an icing than a creme.

To end my log of the donuts I had over a course of five days, I would say that my donut journey has just started. Now that I’ve come to appreciate the difference in texture and taste of different donuts, it’s time for me to explore the local donut delicacies in Philly.