I love doughnuts (or donuts, as they are more commonly spelled these days). I love them so much, my friends threw me a doughnut-themed bachelorette party, complete with punny shirts and extravagant confections. And I don't limit my doughnut consumption to the best doughnut spots in every state, though I am slowly making my way through the list. I'm just as happy with a fresh-out-of-the-oven Fruity Pebble doughnut (you can find this at PVDonuts in Providence, Rhode Island, and it's divine) as I am with a pre-packaged doughnut that I can grab at the grocery store.
The brands we tried were:
ADVERTISEMENT
We bought all three brands at a grocery store in New York City. For consistency's sake, we sampled each brand and judged it based on three main criteria: flavor, freshness, and resemblance to a classic: the powdered Dunkin' Donut munchkin.
Just by looking at the doughnuts I could tell we were in for a sweet treat. Rather than a light, or even medium, dusting of powdered sugar, the Hostess Donettes were covered in white, sans a few cracks where you could see a golden cake.
This worried my husband, who is not a fan of overly sugared doughnuts.
"A lot of times, with powdered doughnuts, the sugar sticks to the roof of my mouth," he told me before hesitantly biting into the donette. But much to his surprise, the sugar stayed on the doughnut and went down without a problem.
ADVERTISEMENT
An even bigger surprise, however, was the aftertaste of the Hostess doughnut. We were expecting an abundance of sweetness but tasted a subtle spice. We debated over the source of the surprise flavor — I thought nutmeg while he assumed cinnamon, and the ingredient label didn't settle the debate — but we agreed that it added to the doughnut's appeal.
As flavorful as it was, however, the Hostess brand fell short in the freshness department. The doughnuts tasted as though they had been left out of the bag for a few hours. Still edible, of course, but the doughnut lacked the light, fluffy texture you expect from a fresh doughnut (and want from a doughnut in general).
The dry texture paired the unique flavor, while not bad, also made the Hostess variety very different from that of Dunkin' Donuts.
We moved on to Entenmanns Popettes, which were surprisingly fresh
The Entenmann's Po'ettes seemed to have significantly less sugar than Hostess and Little Debbie. Understandably, we worried how this would affect the flavor of the treat. Would the lack of sugar make them a bland baked good? Or would it allow the flavor of the doughnut to shine through?
ADVERTISEMENT
It turns out, neither.
The Entenmann's doughnuts were the right amount of sweet — but that's all they were. They didn't have any spice or extra flavor to make them a little more special. It was a perfectly OK tasting doughnut.
But what it lacked in flavor, it made up for in freshness. It felt like a cake that had been baked earlier and given just the right amount of time to cool. It wasn't as dense as your average cake doughnut, but I didn't find that to be a bad thing.
The texture made Entenmann's more comparable to a powdered munchkin, but not an exact replica.
Last we tried Little Debbies Mini Powdered Donuts, which has a subtle lemon flavor
ADVERTISEMENT
Not entirely full from our doughnut taste test, we moved on to the final competitor: Little Debbie's Mini Powdered Donuts.
We had high expectations for the flavor, as they were covered in the sweet stuff. Seriously, it looked like the baker painted several coats of sugar onto them.
When we bit into the tiny treats, we immediately tasted the sugar as well as a hint of lemon. As fans of citrus confections, we were pleasantly surprised by this additional flavor. It gave the doughnut a little something special that was missing from the Entenmann's brand, but was slightly more palatable than the spice of the Hostess brand.
So Little Debbie had won over our stomach when it came to flavor. But what about freshness?
Perhaps it's because lemon makes everything seem "just made," but these doughnuts tasted the freshest of the bunch. Like a typical yeast doughnut, it was light and soft to the point that it melted in your mouth but still had a slight chew to it so it wasn't complete mush.
ADVERTISEMENT
Though it tasted fresh, it wasn't as fresh as a munchkin. Additionally, the hint of lemon is not something you would find in the munchkin.
It was clear to us that Little Debbies Mini Powdered Donuts were the best of the bunch
Unlike when we taste tested , my husband and I had an easy time naming Little Debbie the winner of the packaged doughnut taste test.
Although it was not identical to the munchkin (though, to be fair, no store-bought doughnut can be, as the munchkins are more of a yeast doughnut, which is impossible to pre-pack), we agreed that Little Debbie's Mini Powdered Donuts were the next best thing. They tasted the freshest of the pre-packaged bunch, and had the best flavor.
In addition to flavor and freshness, the Little Debbie doughnuts were the best deal: $1.99 for a pack of about 20 mini doughnuts.
ADVERTISEMENT
That said, not everyone likes lemon baked goods. My sister, for example, prefers her baked goods to be tart-less. In this case, you may be better off with (what I believe to be) the subtle cinnamon flavor of the Hostess Donettes or the just-enough-sweet Entenmann's Pop'ettes.
But the biggest take away from this taste test is that a doughnut doesn't have to be fresh out of the oven or decorated in edible mermaid tails to be delicious. If you're in a pinch, a bag of packaged powdered doughnuts can easily satisfy your craving.
And I should know — I'm basically a doughnut expert.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7scHLrJxnppdkr6p7y6Kdnqukrrmme8uinZ6rpK65pnnWnmStqpmasW5%2FjJupmqaUqHqwsoypmJyjkZyypXnPqK6dnaKasW6wzq6eoaalqcBurc2dZKimlWKwsLnErGScpJ%2Bosm7AzmhrpJ2VbbS1