Since Boston cream pie doughnuts are my 5th-grade son’s favorites, for the latest quarterly round-up of Bend’s best doughnuts, nepotism led me to use his friends as judges and jury the morning after his birthday sleepover-party. I assure you, dear readers, they executed with Gordon Ramsey-like brutal honesty. So much so one of the owners got up in the comments of this one (for the first time that I know of).
When presented perfectly, the glazed craggy ring is one of the most perfect doughnuts.The fact that one of Bend’s four brick’n’mortar doughnut shops only makes them intermittently makes me realize that such a bakery without old-fashioneds would be like a brewery without an old-school classic pale ale. Given that I’ve awakened to the simple, ecumenical beauty of old-fashioneds, I collected both the quintessential glazed version as well as chocolate-frosted, and even a few others such as cinnamon-sugar, maple-iced and true O.G. plain (like an unglazed cake doughnut, these are only intended for dunking in coffee or hot cocoa), If you’re jonesing for any sort of old-fashioned in Bend, heed our grueling research.
I hate listticles, but do love doughnuts and getting paid. So when I was asked to write a list of the best doughnuts, I got to work on a list so air-tight, it could be be impeached, reproached, are in any way argued against. Take a look at my suggestions for the best baker’s dozen, found in The Takeout, and realize I’m 100% right.
Look, it’s a matter of fortuitousness that I became both a beer writer and a doughnut writer. But if I’m being honest, I think Canada’s antiheroes, the McKenzie Bros. had something to do with it. Which is also why I can’t even THINK the words “jelly douhnut” without hearing Rick Moranis sheepishly offer, “It’s a jelly.”
So I was elated to drive all over Bend and Sisters in search of Bend’s best jellies!
I instinctively knew there weren’t enough doughnut shops in Bend and Central Oregon. What I discovered is that a few enterprising young women have done something about it! Thanks to Oregon laws about cottage catering, I wrote up the places you can order and pick-up custom-made doughnuts. Who knows, they may be right next door!
Of all the trips I’ve taken or will take in my self-appointed role as a doughnut ethnographer, Detroit may not be the most touristy destination or have the most exotic-sounding treats, but I’d say visiting Hamtramck to explore the larger-than-life world of Polish pączki (“poonch-key”) had me drooling the most. For one, I love jelly doughnuts. For two, pączki are unlike typical jelly doughnuts and they can even be enjoyed spiked with a shot on what others call Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras but in the Upper Midwest everyone knows it as Pączki Day, which I got to write about for TheTakeout. Take that, other immigrant doughnut styles.
One’s a one-off, two’s a series! The next installment of my doughnut round-ups, where I spend an early morning driving all over Bend (and even out to Sisters) to score a sample of a particular variety lands on the Yaeger Family Favorite: the mighty apple fritter. Who makes the best around? Sink your teeth in here to find out.
When you’re a freelance writer, it helps to carve out a niche. For a decent run, I was exclusively a beer writer. Great timing as it was during the era when craft beer was ascending to the mainstream. Bad timing as it was during the era when print media publications were decimated. Along the way, I folded another topic into my repertoire: doughnuts. It was more than a natural fit as I’d launched what I believe to be the world’s first beer-and-doughnut festival, Baker’s Dozen, in 2015. It’s still my flagship event. I even publicly announced that I’m writing a book about doughnuts (that, like “Red, White, and Brew” which was a beer book not about beer but about people, is a doughnut book that’s about people, specifically immigrant bakers.)
All that to say, I hoodwinked my editor at Bend Source Weekly to grant me a quarterly round-up of doughnuts found in Bend. I kick it off with a deep dive into a favorite classic, the maple-glazed. Have fun sinking your teeth into this.
It gives me massive delight that my final story for my local alt-weekly wasn’t on a brewery, but on a doughnuttery. Well, Bossie’s Kitchen is really more of a take-out dinner cafe that just so happens to have a kick-ass bakery that’s quietly one of the best in a town dotted with Francophile sugar shacks. This is my interview with Lauren Herman, the woman behind the doughnuts.
“Tommy” Chang was born and raised in Santa Barbara, but often visited his family in South Korea, where rice cakes are a traditional staple. Whether here or there, “with each visit and gathering, there would always be rice cakes and mochi for everyone to snack on,” explained Chang. “And during the holidays, my mom would typically make mochi squares laced with seasonal fruits and nuts.” Inspired by those experiences, Chang threw himself headlong into making his own mochi treats for the greater Santa Barbara community. His Mōr Donuts weren’t the first mochi doughnuts I’d had, but in short order they grew to be the best, though the name has since been changed to Kin Bakeshop.
Brian Yaeger: Beer Writer 