Every culture – ancient or modern, all around the globe – has a tradition of fried dough. The donut, a uniquely American cultural icon, is at the apex of this world-wide indulgence. Cake or raised, filled or glazed, flavored or not, a good donut is a culinary triumph and a thing of fleeting beauty.

There’s no lack of donuts in our area. National chains, local brands, and individual bakers all fry up their own version. When asked, almost everyone can name a favorite donut source, but across the board, the quality is surprisingly high. Each store offers the basics and has a few of their own specialities.

Speedy Donuts on Connecticut Ave.A local institution that everyone seems to know about but no one seems to talk about, Speedy Donuts at 116 Connecticut Ave., sells a slew of fresh made donuts every day. We dropped in late one Friday morning after breakfast and before lunch and couldn’t get a place to park. The donut racks had been stripped of their bounty with just a sprinkling remaining, leaving just enough of our favorites to sample. The old-fashioned cake was light and not greasy; the tender blueberry cake had a generous glaze and excellent berry flavor; the raised donuts, a glazed and a blueberry jelly, were light and slightly yeasty with an airy texture – among the best we’ve had.

 

Donuts with a smile at the Lakeside Diner

Donuts with a smile at the Lakeside Diner

The Lakeside Diner in Stamford, Merritt Parkway Exit 34 at 1050 Long Ridge Road, makes just one donut, dressed two ways. Their cake donuts, plain or shaken in sugar, are made from scratch every day. With a nice cakey texture, great flavor, and a light crispy crust they have a cult following. When I mentioned my current interest in donuts, lots of people asked, “Have you been to Lakeside?”

Uncle Leo Spinelli

Uncle Leo Spinelli

Uncle Leo’s, in Georgetown, is the latest outpost of the famous Spinelli family of bakers and a pilgrimage destination for donut lovers. Late in the day, they were pretty much sold out, as it should be. Donuts must be eaten the day they’re made – the earlier the better. We tried plain, apple cider, jelly, and glazed – each delicious. Marsha’s sister makes the trip from Wilton for a sugar-dusted raised donut whenever the craving hits.

Jelly donuts seem to be out of favor these days. Maybe they’re too messy. As a kid, the choices were strawberry, raspberry and jelly. (I always wondered what flavor just plain “jelly”was aiming for. Maybe red and tooth-achingly sweet was enough.) Jelly donuts can be pretty messy. I always started eating from the end where the jelly is injected, but sometimes the jelly would squirt out the back anyway. Leo Spinelli says he can’t keep up with the demand for his Black Raspberry jelly donuts.

Cider donuts piled high at Stew Leonard's

Cider donuts piled high at Stew Leonard’s

Apple cider donuts are a New England tradition and Stew Leonard’s bakery makes a mean one. Like most things at Stew’s, they make a lot and stack them high. Tender, moist, and crumbly, with a generous sugar coating, you definitely wouldn’t want to risk the mess by eating one while driving. I bumped into Stew over by the seafood section. He saw my cider donuts and said, “You know, Bobby Flay just loves those. He can’t stop eating them.” Neither can I.

Donut Delight in NorwalkDonuts Delight is a five unit local chain with the mothership on High Ridge Road in Stamford and a Norwalk location at 707 Connecticut Ave. They have a good selection of tasty donuts and an avid local following. They’re a pretty small outfit in the world of donut marketing but a good example of how a local brand can thrive on quality.

Dunkin Donuts, ubiquitous and very good, are found across the nation. Not a destination donut, they are convenient and very serviceable on an everyday basis for a sugar, flour, fat fix. I’ll confess that the blueberry cake is my weakness, even though I’m pretty sure it’s loaded with artificial flavor and those little bits of “blueberry” were never on a bush. Dunkin Donuts started in New England and has spread across the country. Our son, living in Los Angeles, gave us an excited call last year when the first DD opened in the LA area.

Cake and raised, sugared and glazed from Speedy Donuts

Cake and raised, sugared and glazed from Speedy Donuts

The donut world is divided into partisans of cake or raised. Like the name implies, cake donuts are made from a batter, usually have a hole in the middle, can be flavored (blueberry, for instance), and are dusted with sugar, coated in glaze, or offered plain. The exterior can be a little crispy from the fryer. The inside has a substantial but airy, cake texture with more body than a muffin, and is tender, not tough. They should break apart, not tear apart.

Raised donuts, on the other hand, are made with a yeast dough, not a batter. They proof up with the action of the yeast and then are fried. The texture is lighter and more open, but a little tougher. These tear rather than break apart. I don’t recall ever seeing a flavored raised donut. They’re usually glazed with a sticky, crumbly, sugary coating sometimes with added flavor. Raised donuts can also be iced and given a colorful shower of sprinkles.

Ranging in price from 75 cents to a buck and a quarter, donuts are an affordable everyday indulgence. Every donut on the rack is ready to be adopted by someone who will savor it as a regular habit or a seldom enjoyed extravagance. Millions are consumed every day!

Just for the record, dear reader, I want you to understand the sacrifice I’ve made on your behalf, sampling donuts every day for a week as a capstone to a lifetime of donut consumption. No task is too demanding or too risky to my already generous waistline in exploring the world of baked goods on your behalf. You can thank me later when you bring the donuts.

My picks at Donut Delight