Pumpkin doughnut from Dunkin Donuts
There's a lot of insecurity in writing about food. Every piece is essentially an opinion piece, and every reader judges your opinion with their own. It's an endless cycle of opinions really. You put some food in your mouth, you think about how you're enjoying it, and then you struggle to put it into words. You worry about what other people will think about your taste buds, whether your taste buds are relevant. There's a thought I never had as an third grader. "When I grow up, I want people to see me based on how they relate to my views on food." Yea... I guess dreams about being the leading three point shooter in the NBA fell to the wayside. And a hobby was born from an unsafe level of cynicism with the 9-to-5. I tell you this because I want to say that I love eating doughnuts. Not just your three or four dollar fancy pants donut. I like those things from Entenmanns that come in a box. Who knows how long those boxes sit on grocery store shelves. I don't. I just destroy them. The powdered ones are my favorite because they go down easy. See, you can tell the difference between good chocolate with chocolate flavor, versus faker chocolate that's mostly sweet. But you find me some mofo that can tell between organic powdered sugar and whatever is on a generic powdered donut, and I have some rain making seeds and snake oil to sell to that person. The other thing that changes since I was in third grade (although my love for round fried things have remained), my metabolism certainly has slowed down. So maybe a whole box of donuts isn't the way to go and I settle for one at a time. The most convenient thing for me is Dunkin Donuts. They had a Pumpkin Donut on display and it was $1. It was right in my sweet spot so I gave it a try.
Like all cake donuts, this one wasn't fluffy in texture. You can safely eat the whole thing with minimum number of chews though. Just a couple of chomps and it goes down really easy. It wasn't overly sweet like some pastries can be. I thought the pumpkin note were very muted but you could taste the spices. I'm guessing cinnamon co-starred with the pumpkin. I'm sure to more sophisticated palates, this is merely a meh donut. I'm okay with that though.
I can't say that Dunkin Donuts is my favorite donut place of all time. I think that still belongs to Entenmann's. I liked this Pumpkin Donut though because I missed the boat on those apple cider donuts that some folks love. I wouldn't rush out to the nearest Dunkin to try it out and I might even hesitate to tell you to give it a shot. Just do it if you're desperate for a donut, and then maybe it'll taste good. See this way I don't have to worry about telling you that it's good and have you judge whether my judgment was right.
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
Do you actually worry about what people think about your opinions? My opinion... who cares if someone thinks your taste buds are defective for liking Entemann's donuts, just because someone disagrees with you doesn't make your opinion any more or less relevant. Just keep writing man, it's entertaining, and that's good enough.
We can't all be Kevin Durant :(
Nicholas
November 6, 2010 1:57 am
Come on, we know you don't give two shits what anyone thinks.... That's why we like your site.
Now, you got me on a flashback. I used to like those Hostess box of donuts (I think it was Hostess.) The box had three powdered sugar, three cinammon sugar and three plain, or something like that. I used to tag team the cinammon and powdered sugar and leave the plain until I was totally desperate.
FN
November 6, 2010 11:31 am
Mass-producted pastries serve their purposes - childhood flashbacks and lesser dent on the wallet. It's so funny that when my mom ate the famous Maialino doughnuts, she said it didn't really give her a euphoria experience like some yelpers have claimed. Come to think of it, when was my last euphoric moment...
kim
November 7, 2010 9:24 pm
Gourmet donuts, they make no sense. Entenmann's makes my favorite donut of all time, the chocolate crumb donut, which used to come in an 8-pack all its own, but now you can only get it in the Chocolate Lover's Variety Pack (seen here: http://entenmanns.bimbobakeriesusa.com/op-prod.cfm/prodId/7203001382/catId/5). This is the donut to enjoy if you happen have an ice-cold glass of milk available for dunking.
JJR
November 8, 2010 11:53 am
@Nicholas,
In a way I would call it worrying because aside from entertainment, what (i think) some people read for is to see if they can rely on that particular voice for suggestions on food. If I constantly like something that tastes like shit, who's going to read? Then I have to be mad entertaining EVERY SINGLE TIME and that's just asking for too much. But yea, Kevin Durant is a darling and that dude went for way too much in my auction league! haha
@FN,
A tag team of cinnamon and powdered sugar donuts sound amazing. In fact, I might try that one of these days if I get on a doughnut binge. But yea, on some level I want to be sort of relevant, yet still be irreverent to to mainstream. Is that possible? haha
@kim,
Really, the Maialino donuts are supposed to reproduced some euphoria? I really have to try that next time when I'm short on euphoric experiences. haha. You're right though, mass produced thing serve their purpose wel.
@JJR,
You know, that chocolate crumb donut sounds like it would rock my world. Although, I don't have memories of it from my childhood so it might only just be okay for me. Only one way to find out though!
Danny
November 8, 2010 12:55 pm