It’s time to celebrate the unassuming doughnut, the stalwart companion of countless cups of fresh-brewed coffee, the humble fried hoop that is everyman’s golden cake. Why now, you might ask? Because January marks the opening of a long stretch of winter contemplation; also, there has yet to be a holiday misgiving that can’t be quietly and sweetly wiped away by that first bite of sticky, warm, sugary dough. The doughnut is the perfect, simple reward for making it through another year and pushing onward into the next.
Deeply embedded in American culture, the doughnut is believed to have arrived with the Pilgrims. Before they journeyed across the Atlantic, they spent time in Holland, where they partook of the northern European confection called oly koeks—literally, oily cakes of deep-fried dough that were usually associated with the celebrations of saint’s days and town festivals. On these shores, little nuggets or nuts of deep-fried sweet dough—more like today’s doughnut holes than doughnuts—were first mentioned in Washington Irving’s 1809 A History of New-York: “The table … was always sure to boast an enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called dough nuts, or oly koeks.”
In fact, doughnuts didn’t acquire their ring shape until almost fifty years later. Legend gives a craggy Maine sea captain named Hanson Crockett Gregory credit for the innovation. Apparently, Gregory sailed off in 1847 with a stash of his mother’s delicious fried cakes. While navigating some particularly rough seas, he poked out the cakes’ centers in order to slip them over the spokes of the ship’s wheel. The setup allowed hands-free snacking without sacrificing an even keel. Another, perhaps more likely story has the Pennsylvania Dutch pioneering the shape for a less fanciful reason: more surface area led to a faster cooking time, a crispier crust, and a less gummy inside. By 1897, the common acceptance of the ring was evidenced by the Sears Roebuck catalog’s offering of a doughnut cutter.
Of course, doughnuts have gone far beyond that original design. There are bear claws and braided twists, fritters and long johns, jelly-filled eights and bismarcks. These variations—and, in some cases, complete overhauls—come thanks to cultures from all over the world. Germans fill disc-shaped Berliner Pfannkuchen with custard or jelly. The olliebollen of the Netherlands, filled with dried fruits and nuts, are a traditional New Year’s treat. The Spanish dunk stick-shaped churros into morning chocolate drinks. Italians shake bomboloni cakes in paper bags with citrus zest and spices, while the French enjoy simple beignets with dark coffee.
Just when it seemed that Americans’ love for doughnuts had waned, Krispy Kreme came along and reminded us that the best and truest time to enjoy a glazed doughnut is when it’s fresh and hot. When the first Minnesota outlet opened, traffic cops had to stem the tides of those eager to sink their teeth into these melty delights, which seem to magically disintegrate upon the first bite. Sure, Krispy Kreme has been perfecting its methods since 1937, but is that enough to create a national obsession?
Apparently so, as the newfound fervor for doughnuts has escalated into gourmet territory. Innovative chefs have concocted individual doughnut bread puddings, topped grilled doughnut halves with sweetened mascarpone, and filled organic pastries with cabernet jelly. One of the hottest spots in town, Five Restaurant and Street Lounge, offers a dark-chocolate filled beignet accompanied by a black cardamom dipping sauce. Café Lurcat has long served a warm, dense, and crumbly cinnamon-sugar doughnut that beats a flourless chocolate torte any day.
Of all the restaurants, cafes, and shops that serve doughnuts in the area, a few stand out. Tobies in Hinckley serves mammoth doughnuts with all the traditional toppings—if eating one on the way to a cabin up north isn’t a Minnesota tradition, it should be. If you keep driving north for several hours, you’ll reach World’s Best Donuts in Grand Marais, where you’ll encounter the most delicious moist and spicy cake doughnuts, along with amazingly beautiful surroundings in which to enjoy them. Back here in the city, you’ll want to try the warm, puffy rings of heaven at Valley Pastries in Golden Valley, whose raised doughnuts taste like bakery doughnuts instead of doughnut-shop doughnuts, meaning there’s no greasy tang that nags you for the rest of your day. The best time to get these, and most other doughnuts, is fresh out of the oven, at around 5:30 a.m. Hey, no one said you didn’t have to make an effort. Besides, there is no better reward for rousting yourself early on a dark January morning.
Krispy Kreme Eight locations in Minnesota
(plus Fargo, North Dakota and Onalaska, Wisconsin); www.krispykreme.com
Five Restaurant and Street Lounge
2917 Bryant Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-827-5555
Café Lurcat 1624 Harmon Place, Minneapolis;
612-486-5500
Tobies Interstate 35 and Highway 48, Hinckley;
320-384-6174
World’s Best Donuts 4 E. Wisconsin St.,
Grand Marais; 218-387-1345
Valley Pastries 2570 Hillsboro Ave. N.,
Golden Valley; 763-541-1535
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