We've seen a lot of trendy sweets these past few years. Once the bogus no-carbs, low-sugar diet fad started to fade, we wanted our sweets back. If you've so much stepped out your front door in the past five years, you know that cupcakes are in. Gelato is the new ice cream. And last year The New York Times told us about a growing demand for gourmet shaved-ice (really?).
So it may come as no surprise that there is a blossoming demand for donuts as well. These classic American tasty treats aren't coming out of nowhere. At least not in Boston (where I'm currently at home for a few weeks), where Dunkin' Donuts is something of a birthright. In Brooklyn, new donut shops are popping up on every street corner.
I know that being a donut-fan is nothing new, but I like to think I was singing their praises well before the citizenry decided that donuts might be the new cupcakes, trading the baked and often dry mini-cakes (yeah, they're not my favorite) for their fried, hole-in-the-center cousin.
When I was little, sometimes after school my mom would take me to Ohlin's Bakery in Belmont, Massachusetts where they serve up some of the best glazed donuts around. I recently found out that the Boston Globe said Ohlin's donuts were "the unanimous favorite among our taste testers." Hearing this, I headed straight there, and picked up some glazed donuts to go.
These donuts really are delicious. They're sweet - really sweet - so be prepared for a sugar rush. But they're light and fluffy, with a soft cake-like texture when you bite into them that somehow instantly dissolves in your mouth. They were the perfect after-school treat when I was younger, and I still love them today. And now eating them makes me trendy.
