7684. Try a cronut

Since I didn't have donuts in Illinois yet, I really want to try to cross that off the list during girls weekend. Donuts make an easy breakfast and should have coffee for Stacy. After a quick Google search, I found Sweet Circle and it checked all the boxes. I mentioned we could get donuts for breakfast and take them to Wilder Park to eat them. Stacy was good with it.

Sweet Circle is downtown Elmhurst. We managed to find street parking not too far away. It is open 6-6 Mon-Wed and 6 AM - 9 PM Thu-Sun. They have several locations around the Chicago area. They claim to best donuts in Illinois and Indiana. I am not sure I'll agree with that statement.

For donuts they have classic donuts ($1.99), specialty donuts ($2.99) and signature donuts ($3.85). After debating between chocolate donut with sprinkles and a cronut, the cronut won out. It seemed like the best value for the money.

A cronut is a cross between croissant and a donut. It has the flaky layers of a croissant with a caramelized crunchy crust. Sweet Circle offered a Cronut Creme Brulee. 

My Cronut was flaky and delicious. It was filled with cream and covered with chocolate icing. Slightly messy but not too bad. I would definitely get another one.

If you are looking for donuts (or conuts) in the Chicagoland, Sweet Circle is a good option. They do have ice cream so if you want a late night treat they can accommodate you as well. 

I'll be honest the rest of the donuts, at least in appearance, didn't impress me much. I'm glad I went with the cronut and probably would have debunked the best donuts in Illinois and Indiana after having Munster Donuts for years. I would though be willing to put that theory to test to see who is better Sweet Circle or Munster Donuts.

I've now had a the trifecta of croissant hybrid pastries -- Cronuts, Croffins, and Croffles, and it's a toss up between cronuts and croffles for my favorite. 

Eating Donuts in Mad Town

 One of the many things I want to do in each county in Wisconsin (and State) is have donuts. Not Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme but local donuts. Last year I noticed a bakery not far from our hotel but we opted for bagels instead. This year I gave the hubby the same choice bagels or donuts. He went with donuts from Greenbush Bakery.

Greenbush Bakery has two Madison locations, one on Regent Street and the other on High Crossing Blvd. Both locations are open 6 AM - 8 PM Mon-Sat and 6 AM to 1 PM on Sundays. There is street parking only for the Regent location. We got lucky and ended up parking right in front. 

We opted for 4 donuts. There were many verities to choose from. The hubby and I both got Bavarian cream. He got a sugar ring and I went with sprinkles. They all looked good so it was hard to choose. 

We actually sat outside to eat our donuts. It was a beautiful morning. Behind us we could watch them make donuts. 

Our Bavarian Cream donuts were scrumptious. Not too much filling and not overly sweet. It was light and airy as well. We saved our others for the next morning (and were still pretty good the following day). 

We definitely will be back the next time we are in Madison. They don't beat Munster donuts but they are sure good (and a bit closer). If you haven't tried donuts from Greenbush Bakery, you definitely should.

6012. Get donuts from Miriam’s bakery in Fredonia

I am a sucker for a good donut. When Mom and Ryan told me about the bakery in Fredonia that had great donuts, I had to check it out. 

Miriams's Bakery is an Amish Made bakery featuring breads, donuts, muffins, bars, cakes, pies cinnamon rolls, and more. There open Tuesday-Sunday 5-2. They do not take credit cards so make sure you have cash. 

I was heading down to my parents and they wanted me to stop and get hot ham for lunch from Miriam's. They said they have the best hot ham. I figured it was a good time to get some donuts.

Miriam's is not a large bakery by any means. It actually makes Simple Simon seem big. They have 2 glass cases and a couple of racks full of baked goods. 

The donuts looked homemade and amazing. Each one a little different so definitely not massed produced. You might say they were imperfect looking but I kind of liked that. I picked up a half dozen. Each donut was $1.50

So far I have not found anything to beat Munster Donuts but these rate right up there. The cake donut was not dense but nice and fluffy. They yeast donuts were light and airy. The icing was not too sweet. I loved the toasted coconut. 

Between Cedar Valley Cheese and Miriam's my trips home are going to start getting costly. I love the little local shops though. I have plans on checking out a couple more this year. 

If you haven't checked out Miriam's yet, go grab some donuts. You will thank me.

Eating Donuts in Sheboygan

 One of my many bucket list goals is to have donuts in every state in the US and every county in WI among other things. Lofty goals I know. I mentioned this to Andrea and she was like you need to have a donut from the super secret donut place that you need to be a subscriber to obtain said donut. Lucky for me she was a subscriber. 

The super secret donut place is no longer super secret as it has a store front. Sunday Dough started as a home business and has moved to a store front. Andrea says you still need to be a subscriber to be able to pre-order. You can also take your chances of walking in and picking up some donuts but they are can run out. Sunday Dough is only open Friday-Sunday 9-2 or until sold out.

Sunday Dough has 6 core flavors: Lemon Cheesecake, Strawberry Shortcake, Maple French Toast, S'more, and Vanilla Sprinkle. There are also 2 flavors of the month. February's flavors are Cookie Butter and Hot Chocolate. Each donut is $4. To be honest there was literally 2 flavors I would have eaten -- S'mores and Hot Chocolate. I'm glad I didn't have to move outside of my comfort zone and try a "weird" flavored donut.

Because Andrea is a subscriber and we wanted to have ice cream for breakfast, she pre-ordered our donuts and picked them up. We both got Hot Chocolate which brioche dough filled with Hot Chocolate Ganache covered with more ganache and topped with mini marshmallows and whipped frosting. 

The donut was good. Was it $4 good? Not quite $4 good. Don't get me wrong it was delicious but I'm frugal. A $4 donut should wow me. It didn't Wow me. The brioche dough was very good and had an amazing texture. The ganache was a bit on the dark side.. even a bit dark for me. It could have used either more sugar or a slightly sweet chocolate (Less Cocoa percentage). 

Dollop of ice cream not included

There was not a donut from that list the hubby would enjoy. He is a basic donut kind of guy and even the vanilla sprinkle was too sprinkly for him. 

Would I eat them again. Heck yes.. as long as there is a flavor I would enjoy. I would definitely recommend if you are in the mood for an unordinary donut.

So far I've had donuts in 7 states and 6 counties. I wonder where my next donut adventure will be. 

Celebrating National Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

 The first Saturday in February is informally known as "National Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day". I always wanted an excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast. This day usually lands on the same day as my niece's birthday party so it's hard to partake. This year I was determined especially when Sweet Lair kept teasing me with their ice cream for breakfast specials.

I decided to meet Andrea for breakfast. For what we could find, there was no place in Sheboygan that was having any sort of ice cream for breakfast special. So we decided to create our own. Donuts and ice cream.

Andrea ordered Sunday Donuts for us. I was in charge of the ice cream. I stopped at Walmart on my way and debated what kind of Ben and Jerry's to get. I never actually bought myself a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Remember I'm frugal. It was a good day to splurge. Besides I had an Ibotta rebate for it. Oh so many choices

I finally decided on The Tonight Dough

We went all out. We broke out the good dishes and fancy glasses. We had mimosas. Our donuts were hot chocolate donuts.

To fully partake, I decided to put a scoop of ice cream on top of my donut. This worked well until I got to the end of my donut. Then it became difficult to eat since ice cream is not ice bit into. It finally fell back on my plate where I finished it with a spoon. 

It was a fun morning. Next year though I'm kidnapping Heather and we are going to Sweet Lair. My family will just have to wait for me to get to the birthday party.

5238. Go to Pink Bakery in Egg Harbor

 Looking through my Door County Bucket List, I saw that Pink Bakery was on the list. They were open later in the day so it would be a good stop on the way through Egg Harbor after stopping at the library. 

Pink Bakery is located off of Main Street in Egg Harbor. It is open 8-8 Tuesday-Saturday in the summer.

There is parking in front which we didn't know. We ended up parking in the public parking lot and decided it to walk since it was less than a half mile. Until we headed in the wrong direction and ended up walking more than we wanted.  It finally dawned on me when we were headed out of town. Glad we got our exercise.

The bakery had a wide variety of items including donuts, cakes, cookies. pies, and giant cinnamon rolls. I picked up a M&M cookie for me, a couple frosted sugar cookies for the hubby, and each of us a donut. Everything got put in the same bag. 

The cookies from the Elegant Farmer were better. All the giant cookies looked over-baked. I was expecting a hard, crunchy cookie but it was surprisingly soft. 

The hubby said the sugar cookie was disgusting. The frosting was gross. It was not a rich buttercream that he liked nor was it Royal icing. We will definitely not be getting them again.

The donuts were not anything special. They were just your average donut. Maybe I am becoming a donut snob. They were good but had no wow factor. They were your basic long Johns and cake donuts. No specialty donuts. I guess their specialty is cakes and cupcakes. After having the cookies and donuts, I'm not in any hurry to try the cupcakes.

Pink Bakery is not one I would rule out completely for a return visit but there are definitely better bakeries/cafes that I'd go back to first. There are also a handful of other bakeries and cafes I want to try also. 

6736. Go to Voodoo Doughnut

 When I was trying to figure out what we can see on Colfax Ave, I saw that had a Voodoo Doughnut on Colfax Ave. I've heard good things about Voodoo Doughnut and decided we were getting donuts for breakfast the next morning.

When I tell the hubby that we are stopping at Voodoo Doughnut after the baseball game, our conversation goes like this

Me; "We are going to drive down Colfax Ave and stop at Voodoo Doughnuts." 

The hubby: "Is this like a 24 hour doughnut place?"

Me: "No but pretty close. They close at 2 am and re-open at like 4. They have foo-foo doughnuts."

I didn't expect that parking down by the capitol on Labor Day to be a problem but it was. We parked on a side street and walked about two blocks to get to Voodoo Doughnuts.

Then we had to figure out which of the fifty different varieties of donuts to get. Lucky for they have a rotating display case with all their donuts in them plus picture menus. 

The hubby surprised me with going with Portland Cream (Bavarian Cream) and a Chocolate Ring. I went with Chuckles (chocolate frosting, peanuts, and caramel drizzle) and Chocolate Coconut Cake. They lived up to my expectations. We will definitely go back if we come across another one.

If you find one, check them out and definitely try one of their more exotic donuts.

#482 Make Homemade Donuts

Today I attempted "real" homemade donuts meaning from scratch and without a donut maker. In the past I have made donut holes and mini donuts using my donut maker.

I asked for full size donut pans for Christmas and did not get them. I picked up 2 of them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond earlier in the week. I was excited to try my go to chocolate donut recipe from Something Swanky in them but the hubs doesn't really care for chocolate. I mentioned that I might just make funfetti donuts using a cake mix. He didn't want a donut that tasted like cake. He wanted a light, airy sugary donut. Back to pinterest I went and found these from Krissy's Creations. They looked pretty good and didn't seem too complicated.

After procrastinating some this morning, I decided to give them a try. I knew they were going to be a bit of a time consuming project with letting the dough rise twice but I had all day to get them done.

After mixing everything together and kneading it, I let it rise for an hour. Luckily the hubs, is more observant than I am and knew that it truly doubled in size.

Then I rolled it out and cut it out. I do not have a donut cutter yet so I ended up using 2 of my biscuit cutters. The large one to for the actual donut and the small one for the middle. I did not use a lot of pressure so at first I had to tear some of the donuts from the dough.

I used the middles to make donut holes. Both the donuts and the donut holes had to rise again for 45 minutes before they could be baked. I used this time wisely and went for a quick walk around the neighborhood.

Fresh out of the oven donuts. They did not rise as much as I thought they would. 

All covered in cinnamon and sugar.

Truthfully, I was quite disappointed on how these turned out. They were not light and airy at all. I believe I over baked them as I did not think they were slightly golden brown and let them bake longer. The donut holes are better since they only baked for about 7 minutes instead of 9. I will probably give these another shot and see if I can figure out what went wrong. I also look forward to using my new donut pans in the near future.