Parlor Doughnuts

Where: 3920 Florida A1A, St. Augustine FL
When: 1/18/24
What: Maple Pecan, PB Cup, Sandy Beach
Website: Parlor Doughnuts

Our second donut stop in St. Augustine and I sort of found this one on accident. We had to go to the bank across the street so when I was checking on Google maps where the bank was, the donut shop just popped out at me! So we had to check them out.

This is a chain, mainly in the east and heavily along the I-75 corridor, but this was my first visit to them. From the car I could see an a-frame sign that said at this time of the day they glaze the donuts fresh (around 1pm). So when they run out of the standard set-up in the morning, they glaze them on demand in the afternoon! Kind of nice that you get a fresh donut in that sense, but the glaze was very messy and definitely not car food if you are getting them in the afternoon.

I ordered my two selections based on the a-frame, but while she was making those I saw that on the display they had written that "Sandy beach" tastes like a cinnamon roll so I figured I had to try that one as well. The three donuts cost about $11 dollars, but were quite fancy. They also had a sign about how they were the layered donut. Again, no idea what that meant. Maybe I should do some research before trying out these donut places? Turns out, the layered donut was kind of like what other places may call a "cronut" or "dossaint" but basically a mix between a croissant and a donut. Very light and airy.

On to the donuts!

1. Maple Pecan: I chose this for the hubby as I am not a pecan person. Sorry. I did get a little bit of an edge so I could try the maple glaze and it was a-maze-ing. Great flavor without being sugary and artificial. Spot on. There were not quite as many pecans on the doughnut as in the photo, but I think my husband enjoyed the crunch regardless.

2. PB Cup: this one had a chocolate glaze with a peanut butter drizzle. Good ratio of chocolate to peanut butter and the peanut butter was the right consistency for a frosting/glaze. Sometimes you get peanut butter frostings that you have to chew, which would have made the doughnut too much, but this one was light enough to blend in with the chocolate glaze.

3. Sandy Beach: this one was the most interesting, it was a layered doughnut, with a heavy glaze, and then some cinnamon dusting on top. At first I didn't even realize that it had glaze underneath the cinnamon because the color all blended together. It was definitely better with the glaze than just being a cinnamon sugar doughnut. I did not think it tasted just like a cinnamon roll, but I liked the uniqueness of the flavors as something I haven't seen at other doughnut places (I'm trying to spell doughnut like Parlor does in this post, but I keep spelling it like I normally default to so there is a lot of editing while I type going on here!).

I would say these donuts were 3.5/5, good and interesting to try, but not something I would go back for regularly and very messy to eat because of the fresh glaze.

Island Donuts

Where: 400 A1A Beach Blvs, St Augustin FL
When: 1/14/24    
What: Strawberry Chocolate raised, Key Lime Filled, Boston Creme, Maple Bacon, etc etc
Website: Island Donuts

You all, it has been awhile. I'm sorry! Don't worry though, I've still been eating donuts! I was recently inspired to write up some reviews because I went to two really good donut places recently. So the first one, Island Donuts!

There are two locations for this local donut place and I went to the one in St. Augustine on a Sunday morning. They are open early until 1pm, or sell out. I've realized I like donut places with these types of hours. It's nice that their sell out regularly enough that they have to let people know that it is a possibility of them closing early. You know the donuts are fresh! In fact, but the time I got there around 10am, they had already sold out of various flavors, including their island fritter which is a pineapple fritter instead of the traditional apple fritter. I was not the only one looking for that.

I got 26 random donuts (we had friends coming over, don't worry about me eating too many!). 24 were for later and two in a bag for us to eat right away. However, by the time everyone got to the house I forgot what half the donuts were that I chose! We got out the trusty butter knife and started cutting them in half so multiple people could try different ones. I heard the orange creamsicle was really good. The maple bacon barely had any bacon on it, so maybe the woman misheard me and just gave us a standard maple.

The chocolate strawberry and the key lime were my favorite. So let me tell you about those!

1. Chocolate Strawberry: raised donut with strawberry frosting and a chocolate drizzle. First of all, the strawberry frosting had little red bits of strawberries in it. You know it's going to be good and real when you can see actual evidence of fruit in the frosting! The chocolate was subtle and the perfect complement to the strawberry. The frosting also had a nice skin to it, not too thick like it's old but just enough to make it a finished donut. Amazing, 5/5.

2. Key Lime: this donut was a filled raised donut. The key lime was the filling inside, which a nice vanilla frosting dusted with graham cracker crumbs. I am not normally a vanilla frosting fan at a donut place, but this frosting worked great with the key lime filing. The filling was evenly distributed throughout the donut and while sweet, was not overwhelming. Again, the fruit flavor tasted so authentic and not artificial. Another 5/5.

Hopefully I'll have a review for the pineapple fritter sometime soon!

Donuts to Go

What: Mint Oreo, Maple Frosted, Glazed, Key Lime

Where: West 1st St, Sanford FL

When: January or February 2018? I'm bad at dates sometimes

Website

One of the days hubby and I were running errands in Florida, I took him to Donuts to Go. I had been once a pretty long time ago, so it was nice to go again. They were pretty busy but we got some nice looking donuts. Even looking at them know makes me want more!

The donuts themselves were good, but the frosting on both of the frosted ones were very hard and flaked off as soon as we cut (or bit) into them. They still tasted good, but were quite messy to eat. Does anyone else cut donuts up into a bunch of different bites so that everyone can share and try all the different donuts? That isn't weird, right?

I'd give them 3.5/5 for good taste, poor functioning. 

Smoke and Donuts

What: Brisket slider, vanilla glazed, maple glazed

Where: Food truck in the Orlando area

When: Saturday, February 24th, 2018
Website

I can't even remember where I heard about Smoke and Donuts, but I immediately looked them up so that I could go check them out! And it was amazing. The donuts are cooked to order and come out warm. They are cake donuts with different glazes and toppings available. Also, available as the bun on a slider because the food trucks other specialty is bbq. Just writing this makes me want to look up when they'll be close by again.

The slider was amazing, nice warm donuts and good bbq. The glazed donuts were also amazing, but I couldn't really tell the differences between the flavorings in the glaze. You could also get it with brisket as a topping which one of my friends did. 5/5, you have to try them!

Donnie's Donuts

What: maple bacon, coconut chocolate, peanut butter, apple something or other, etc etc

Where: 200 E Granada Blvd, Ormand Beach FL

When: Friday, March 2nd, 2018

Website

My uncle graciously brought a whole dozen donuts to share when we all went up to South Carolina recently. My bff, who works near their store, has also been bugging me to try them, so try I did! 

They were all cake donuts, and not ginormous (which, aforementioned bff means you can eat a whole one without feeling like you stuffed yourself!). My favorite was surprisingly not the maple bacon one but the coconut chocolate one on the left in the photo below. 

The unfrosted ones on the right were also a nice break from toppings overload. I'd give them a 4/5 as a bakery. If you prefer cake donuts to raised, you'd probably give them a 5/5 so make sure you try some if you're ever on the Florida coast!

The Shoe Bakery

Sorry for the long hiatus, I would like to say I gave up donuts for my weight, but I just got lazy about updating. I definitely have still been eating donuts...

But this isn't one you eat! This is for wearing only! Check out their website and then droll over some lovely footwear. 

Photo from shoebakery.com

Long Distance donut run

My mom and her brother came up to Omaha recently, any my motorcycle riding, slightly anti social uncle brought me a donut from Daytona Beach! It was a boston creme pie and they kept it in the cooler for the two day drive. It was delicious! The frosting was not the typical semi-hardened frosting you see on most chocolate donuts but more of a hot fudge sauce consistency. Sadly, I forgot to ask him where it was from! May just have to visit this winter and go get some more!

Making Donuts, part 1

First recipe: Fried Cake Donuts

My sister (the baker) actually made these pretty much on her own. She followed the recipe in the cookbook and made the dough the night before. I didn't bring any of my circle cookie cutters, so she just cut them into squares using the pizza cutter.

Here she is frying some:

And I totally forgot to take any pictures of the finished products...the square shape turned out a little funky but the cake fluffed up considerably more than I would have thought it would making them much closer to spheres than I thought they would be.

We dipped them in glaze right out of the pan and then they got eaten basically immediately. We frosted a couple with some left over fudge frosting from the night before, but I preferred them simply frosted.

My rating may be clouded by the raised donuts we made the next day (and you can read about in two weeks) but I'd give these a 3/5. I might not try them again, but you never know.

The cookbook

Disney donuts

What: Chocolate Eclair

Where: France in EPCOT (Disney)

When: Monday, January 18th, 2016


Went to Florida. Still didn't get to any reviews of actual donut places in Florida. I should really get on that. I was too busy playing chickenfoot (stop right now and look it up, then order some dominoes). But we did get some free passes to EPCOT (thanks to my brother-in-law) so I'm counting this as my Florida donut review.

If you've never been to Disney, you can go if you want. But you don't have to. It's nice when it's free. The food still isn't though. And since you only have Disney options for food while you're at the park, they aren't striving to really be that great. Maybe the $30/plate sit down restaurants are, but we ain't got time for that.

In France (wait, have you ever been to EPCOT? I should explain, they have some ride and theme park stuff at the front, but then there is a lake at the back with a ton of country themed exhibits/areas around it, one of them being France. There is also Canada and Germany and Mexico and Japan and China and some other's I'm probably forgetting. Italy). Anyways, back in France we got a bunch of desserts and coffee and it was probably the best food of the day. Except the eclair. The eclair was just eh. Kind of dry. Not a lot of flavor in the chocolate filling. I'd say 2/5 and would get something else next time. The chocolate pudding and creme brule on the other hand were both quite yummy.

Tailgating and Donuts

I meant to post this yesterday, sorry it's belated!
For all those confused, this is one of my very best friends, with his box of $1 Krispy Kreme donuts from the promotion a couple weeks ago, tailgating with his brothers at an Orlando City soccer game. And I meant to post it yesterday, because it was his 30th birthday! And he spent it flying back from China where he came in 3rd place in the World Monopoly Tournament, but that's another store for another time. He has promised me a guest review in soon, got the pictures for it today and the donuts all look delicious! Can't wait to read about it!

Hole in One Donuts

What: Maple raised
Where: Wildwood, FL
When: Monday, December 23rd, 2013

Sometimes it isn't about the donut. It's about the experience. And the conversation.

This Christmas some pretty awesome stars aligned, and two of my best friends from middle school were both in Florida at the same time as me and the same time as each other. I couldn't tell you the last time this happened. Possibly when we were all still in high school.

It wasn't the easiest to get together, as I had no car and one of the friends was about two hours north of us. But we worked it out for the one closest to me to come pick me up from the airport, and then we would drive to Wildwood, FL to meet the other on her way to Tampa with her sister.

There isn't a lot in Wildwood. Basically it's where the Florida Turnpike and I-75 intersect. So it's full of travel plazas and convenience stores and cheap restaurants for truckers. After all the hoopla with my bag and late flight, we probably got there at least an hour and a half late. We met at the Steak and Shake. Connected to the Hess Station. That had Hole in One Donuts inside.

 From the sign it looks like a pretty legit donut bakery. The case was fairly empty by this time, but they had maple. I couldn't resist. They also had some other interestingly named donuts...let me just leave this picture of the case here for you...

After our lovely linner at Steak and Shake we still had some random hanging out to do, so I got my donut and we sat outside the gas station in Wildwood, FL and caught up on life. Then we walked across the street (which in and of itself is an adventure in Florida as pedistrians are not the norm but 7-8 lane massive streets are). We were looking for cigarettes. Not for me. We found them in the second gas station (so the third that I was in of the day) and then continued to walk around. We may have hung out behind another gas station for awhile looking for air ferns. We may have loitered outside a gas station. We may have been those people.

It was a great way to start my Florida vacation and so exciting to see such old friends all together again and tell funny stories and catch everyone up and talk about jobs and friends and life. And realize that we still had a lot in common after over 15 years of friendship.

Oh yeah, and the donut was ok. For a gas station donut in Florida. Nothing like Casey's. I'd say 1.5/5. But 5/5 for experience.

Wawa

Where: 6500 S. Semaron Blvd, Orlando
What: Pumpkin Spice
When: Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Wawas have recently been popping up in Central Florida and it's kind of exciting. Since my sister moved to Philly, I began to understand the obsession my college roommates from New Jersey had with Wawa. The sandwiches are great and the stores are always well lit and super clean for gas station convenience stores. This particular Wawa is just north of Orlando International Airport and for the first couple weeks they were open they kept their gas at 2.99/gallon. Even more amazing when you compare that to the two other stations between them and the airport who regularly charge over $5/gallon to get all those tourists returning their rental cars. Such crap.

Anyways, DONUT REVIEW. Duh. I had the pumpkin spice on the way to the airport leaving Florida. I am so in love with fall and anything pumpkin flavored (or baked goods pumpkin flavored, pumpkin beer is not my favorite). However, the "spice" part of this donut was just too much. I felt like I was eating out of the jar of pumpkin pie spice. I couldn't finish it. The donut was moist and the glaze was nice, but just not a good flavor for me. 2/5. I hope fall has some better pumpkin donuts in store for me.

Publix Bakery

Where: 10615 Narcoossee Rd, Orlando FL
What: Mixed package
When: Saturday, August 31st, 2013

Sometimes I use donuts as a treat for myself. I know you aren't supposed to use food as a reward, but sometimes it makes crappy situations more bearable. I tried to find an actual donut place, but the one listed on Google Maps was no longer there. So Publix had to do.

Publix is the main grocery store chain in Florida, especially the Orlando area. We barely have any other stores. It kind of sucks for competition. Their subs are really good though. People rave about their bakery. I'm not the biggest fan. Probably because my mom really bakes. And my sister. I know what the good stuff tastes like. But I had to try them anyways. Mostly because I was already in the parking lot and I wanted a donut.

The selection was pretty slim. Nothing maple in the display case or the preboxed ones. They had boxes of a half dozen glazed or half dozen chocolate frosted for $2.99 but I went with the box of mixed fancies. Or fancy for a grocery store. There was an apple fritter, a cinnamon long john, a boston creme long john, and a cinnamon roll.

The boston creme was obviously my favorite and the rest were just eh. My family helped me eat them so they went pretty quickly, but I probably wouldn't go back. Florida, you have disappointed me again.

Donuts to Go

Where: 1400 W. 1st St, Sanford FL
What: I'm not quite sure...coconut was involved for sure. And a square donut...
When: Tuesday, June 4th, 2013

This is actually a guest review, sort of. My best friend decided to start her birthday celebrations by going to Donuts to Go for breakfast (there might be a reason we're best friends), and then posting this picture on facebook.

So obviously I asked for a review. I've been there, but only once and I wasn't that impressed. I got a maple raised, but more on that later. I may given them a second chance next time I'm in Florida.

Here is her review, and I am quoting here: "Delicious. The end."

This is why I'm the one with a donut blog and not her.