The Jelly Donut

Update Reviews, 2025

Another day, another box of donuts from The Jelly Donut, another happy Julie.

Strawberry Old Fashioned.

I've had this one many times before, so I was happy to see it remaining in the box when I arrived to snag my donut.  As always, nicely crisp exterior, soft inside, and remarkably flavorful fruity icing that isn't too sweet or cloying.  Just a really enjoyable donut. 4/5.

Blueberry Raised.

Another one I've had before.  It was again very good - light and fluffy raised donut, very fresh tasting, not greasy, light fruity glaze.  4/5.

Update Reviews, 2023-2024

If you mention The Jelly Donut to someone, chances are, if they have visited, that they'll immediately tell you about how friendly the store owners are, how they always get a few extra donut holes thrown in their bag, and even launch into stories about forgetting to have cash (they don't take cards) and getting their donuts for free, trusted to come back and pay another time.  Everyone seems to have stories of kindness on the owner's parts, and, of adoring the donuts.  The donuts are also ridiculously well priced, regular donuts are still only $1.25, crullers are $1.75, bars or jelly filled are $2, filled bars are $2.25, and fritters or cinnamonr olls are $2.50.  $13 for a dozen.

I didn't have any donuts from The Jelly Donut for 5 years, but rediscovered them when we started back up a donut rotation in my office in 2023, and one member of the rotation brought in their goods several times.

May 2023 

Incredible Donuts.

The Jelly Donut offers all the classic styles of donuts: raised, cake, filled, old fashioned, plus specialities like fritters, cinnamon rolls, and french crullers.  One thing that sets them apart from other donut shops is the variety of toppings they offer, e.g. not just basic sugar/glazed/iced, and variety of fillings for the signature jelly donuts.  They don't go in the trendy direction, or decadent, no ube/taro/pandan, no donuts with candy all over them, etc, but, offer up some unique, generally fruity, options.

My co-worker brought in a box loaded with goodies, of all different styles.  I still can't get over how incredibly good these donuts all were.  And yes, I tried many.  I enjoyed the filled donuts, really liked the fritters, and loved the old fashioned and crullers.

Filled Donuts.

The filled donuts are obviously their namesakes, but don't just expect standard berry goo inside.  Yes, they do have raspberry filled, but they also fill them with custard, lemon, apple pie, pineapple, mango, guava, and more.  Filled donuts are available glazed or sugar coated as well, and all are very, very generously filled, the donuts are sliced in half and filled, rather than just injected, so they are loaded.

I tried a little of the lemon filled one, just to try it as I don't generally care for lemon desserts, and enjoyed it more than most, not too tangy.  ***+.

Apple Pie Filling!

Next I went for the apple pie donut.  

This one was loaded full of apple pie filling, with nicely diced apples, well spiced, a little goo.  The apples still had a bit of bite to them, which I liked.  A great donut for "have your pie and donut too".  Wonderful warmed up with a bit of vanilla ice cream stuffed inside as well.  It was very good, but not as exceptional as some of the others.  ***+.   My 6th overall pick of the day.

Pineapple Filled.

Next I went for another fruity one, that I think was pineapple filled?  Super fruity and sweet, and quality filling.  Light fluffy donut.  Unique, and quite tasty, albeit a sweet choice, particularly with the glaze.  ****.  My 3rd pick of the day.

Boston Cream.

Chocolate glazed and bavarian cream filled was next, known in my world as "Boston Cream", and this was an excellent version.  Very rich, smooth, creamy, vanilla pudding inside, light fluffy donut, quality darker chocolate glaze.  I'm not wild about Boston Cream donuts in general, but this pudding inside was definitely top notch.  ***+.  Fifth pick overall.

Strawberry Glazed Old Fashioned.

Moving on to old fashioned donuts, again, Jelly Donut offers a slew of glazes on them.  I took a hunk of the pink topped one as it looked the most novel, and immediately went back for the rest.  Wow, this was a fantastic donut!

The base was far above average for a old fashioned.  I loved the texture, moist inside, but crisp outside.  Loved it.  Even without the glaze, this would be a **** for me, maybe more.  But that glaze?  What a flavor powerhouse!  It was so intensely fruity.  Truly wonderful.  It took this donut into near perfect ***** territory, but I'll stick with ****+ for now.  But, great texture, fantastic glaze, one of the best old fashioned donuts I've had.  My favorite of the day.

Strawberry Glazed Old Fashioned.

When it was donut day again a few weeks later, I immediately went straight for the raspberry glazed old fashioned again (as there were no filled donuts nor fritters available).  I again loved it.  Such a great crust/slightly crisp edge, very fruity (and very sweet!) generous glaze.  This is the perfect donut to have alongside a black coffee, and even better if you dunk it in.  Love it.  ****+.

Maple Glazed Old Fashioned.

After the success of the strawberry glazed old fashioned, I went back for another, this time, maple glazed.  The base was equally good, and the maple flavor was more standard, very sweet.  A good old fashioned, for sure, but I wasn't as in to the sweet maple glaze.  ***+.  Probably my least favorite of the bunch I tried, but it was still a perfectly good donut.

Vanilla Glazed Cruller.

A slightly rare style of donut around SF, The Jelly Donut specializes in French crullers as well.  Like most of the styles of donuts, The Jelly Donut offers up a variety of glazes for these, such as chocolate, maple, regular, vanilla, etc.  This one was vanilla glazed, rather than just regular glazed.

The donut base was light and airy, slightly eggy, quality pâte à choux.  The glaze was sweet and was somewhat more vanilla-like than the regular glazed donuts.  A really nice lighter offering, and given the plethora of donuts I was sampling, I appreciated the less dense donut.  My forth pick overall. ***+.

The fact that The Jelly Donut makes such excellent raised donuts, and old fashioned, AND crullers is really notable, as they are a made with different techniques, and they seem to have mastered them all.

Crumbed Apple Fritter.

Like most donut shops, the fritters are massive - this is less than half of one.  Easily 4x the size of a regular donut.  And like most donut shops, The Jelly Donut offers a glazed version, but also, a sugar coated one, and this, the crumbed fritter.  I've never seen that before.

It was an excellent fritter.  Very moist, doughy, good cinnamon flavor, chunks of apple.  The crumb coating was actually great - it made it not as sweet as a standard glazed fritter, and reminded me a bit of a crumble topped apple pie.  Definitely a winning fritter.  ****.  My second pick of the day.

Glazed Apple Fritter.

I didn't try it originally, but when there were still so many donuts left midway through the day ... I couldn't resist trying the more common glazed fritter too.

It was much like the crumb coated one, moist inside, little bits of apple, good cinnamon flavor, lightly crisp outside, but, coated in lots of glaze, which made it even crispier, and considerably sweeter.  I found that I preferred the crumbed one as it was less sweet, but once I warmed this up and served with vanilla ice cream to tamper the sweetness, I enjoyed it nearly as much.  ***+, tied for 3rd place.

January 2024

A few months later, the Jelly Donut was back on the rotation.

Assorted Donuts.

There were no crullers nor old fashioneds in this mix, but we had plenty of raised and filled, along with some cake donuts.  I of course tried several.

I first tried a bite crumbled cake donut right on top here, after someone else cut into it, and was impressed with how moist it was.  Next time, I'll try more of a cake donut ... ***+.

Strawberry Iced Cake.

And by next time, I mean .... about 4 hours later.  I don't generally go for cake donuts, but I did try a bit of the strawberry iced one, after remembering how much I liked the strawberry iced old fashioned, and seeing these still untouched.  The icing was thick, sweet, fruity and enjoyable.  The cake base was better than most, quite moist, but it did remind me that I just generally don't prefer cake donuts.  ***.

Mango Filled.

For my first donut though, I went right for the filled one that someone else had cut in half.  I remembered how glorious Jelly Donut's filled donuts were before, and this one looked like it was going to have an interesting filling.

This was just as glorious as I wanted it to be.  The donut itself was lofty, light, airy, not too fried nor greasy tasting.  Excellent raised donut, well glazed.  The donut itself was far above average, ****.

But the filling.  <3.  I believe this was the mango filled.  It had plenty of filling (even if it doesn't look that way here).  It was sweet, fruity, and tropical.  Fantastic.  I'd love to just buy this filling to use as a spread on toast even.  So good.  ***** filling.

Overall, one of the best I've had from Jelly Donut, ****+.

Classic Raspberry Jelly Filled Glazed.

After the joy of the mango filled, I went for the more standard jelly donut that you'll find at donut shops everywhere: raspberry jelly filled.

To be honest, it was quite a letdown.  The donut seemed less lofty, although it was still very fresh tasting and well glazed.  The raspberry jelly filling was fairly average.  Sweet, fruity, not totally goo-like, but, not particularly special at all.  If I hadn't just had the previous donut, I'd say it was a very good filled jelly donut, but after the previous, it really was just a downgrade.

***+, because it still was a touch above generic donut shop average.

Blueberry Iced Raised.

Another great fluffy raised donut.  Sweet fruity icing.  I didn't necessarily taste much blueberry, but, it was very good. ****.

Apple Pie Filled.

I was late to the office on this donut day, and thus, the only filled donut left was the apple pie one.  I hadn't loved it before, but, it was still a donut from The Jelly Donut, and it was still a filled one, so I snagged it not too unhappily.

I still wasn't in love with the apple filling - I appreciated that the apples weren't mushy, and the spicing was too aggressive, but, compared to other filled flavors from The Jelly Donut, or compared to actual apple pie with slices or bigger hunks of apple, it just didn't measure up.  Fine, nothing wrong with it, but it certainly didn't shine.

The donut however did.  Again, just so fresh, so lofty, great glaze.  I adore these base donuts!  **** donut, *** filling, ***+ overall.

October 2024

Another week, another round of donuts, and as always I was thrilled to see they came from The Jelly Donut.

Mango Filled.

The first one I grabbed was a raised, glazed, split in half, mango compote filled one.  I remembered this from a previous encounter, and it was my top pick.

The donut itself was wonderful - nicely lofty, soft, very fresh, well glazed, not too sweet.  It was filled with plenty of the mango filling, the technique of cutting it in half to fill it meant great distribution.  And the filling was just as good as I remember, fruity, sweet but not cloying, just really flavorful and unique to have in a donut.  Truly a great donut, and one I'll gladly get again and again.  ****+.

Raspberry Jelly Filled.

Later, when there were more still left, I went for a more classic red jelly filled donut.  This time, a powdered sugar coated raised donut, injected with the jelly rather than cut in half.  I'm not sure why they choose to do some via injection, and others cut in half?  Maybe due to the thickness of the filling?

Anyway, this was also a good donut, the same fresh, lofty, nice base.  I think I do like the light glaze coating more than the powdered sugar, but that might have been a bit too sweet with the sweeter red jelly in this one.  The jelly was a smooth style, no seeds or bits of berries.  Sweeter than the mango filling, very classic jelly taste, I think raspberry?  It was good, but a bit more average of an overall donut.  ***+.

Butterfinger Topped Cake w/ Vanilla Glaze.

And when there were still more donuts left ... time to experiment a bit.  I had no idea which kind this was, but it looked potentially seasonally appropriate, as it was October, and the candy (butterfinger?) topping seemed Halloween inspired perhaps.  I also wondered if there might be any pumpkin spicing going on.

I think it was just a regular cake donut base, and I was again pleased with how good of a cake donut it was, as cake donuts aren't usually what I go for.  It was very soft and moist, and had a nice flavor to it, just some light spicing of some kind.  It was well coated in white (vanilla?) glaze that wasn't too sweet, a thicker style than what is used on regular raised glazed donuts.  Yay for bits of candy on top, although they really weren't needed.

Overall, a very nice cake donut, although I think I would have preferred it without the butterfinger.  ***+ ... maybe ****.

Peanut Topped Cake with Vanilla Glaze.

And finally, a took a hunk of a similar cake donut with the same vanilla glaze, this time covered with bits of chopped peanut.  I liked the crunch, and the peanut flavor was strong, but I actually again thought I'd probably prefer it without the topping.  ***.

Original Review, May 2017

Donuts are a big part of my life.  I have them at least once a week, usually more often.  It isn't that I seek out donuts though, donuts just seem to find me.  Particularly on Fridays.  When my office has donuts all over the place, and I can't help but have one.  Or two.  Or bring one home to waffle the next day.  It is a hard life.

Like one Friday, when I already had a full breakfast, and a co-worker sent out a message to our group chat: "Donuts on my desk!"  She called me out by name, knowing I'm a donut girl, which prompted a popup on my computer and my phone.  "They are from The Jelly Donut on 24th street," she continued.

I was delighted and sad at the same time.  I had never had a donut from The Jelly Donut before, but, it has certainly been on my radar for quite a while.  My understanding, not from visiting myself, is that The Jelly Donut is a total hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop, cash only, no-frills place.  They are known for throwing in some free donuts if you get a dozen, or free donut holes if you just get a donut or two.  Generally well regarded, and I was eager to try the donuts.  Except I was just not hungry at all.

Box-O Donuts.

I took my time making my way over to the box of donuts, sorta hoping that they'd all be gone, sorta hoping that I'd magically gain an appetite.  And by took my time, I mean that I finished the meeting I was in, and then arrived at the box of donuts about 6 minutes after the initial donut message went out.  For me, this is restraint.

Three of the donuts had been cut in half, and maybe one or two were missing, but, the box was still mostly full, with an assortment of donuts, including two large filled, glazed bars (one maple, one chocolate), two glazed old fashioned (again, one maple, one chocolate), a couple cake donuts (crumb, maple glazed with sprinkles), raised (chocolate glazed), a glazed buttermilk bar, and, a namesake jelly donut.

I had no choice but to try something.

Glazed Buttermilk Bar (half).

I opted for the glazed buttermilk bar, which had already been cut in half.  The chunk was still the size of a regular full size donut (which you can see better in the above photo), so it must have been quite massive in its full form.

I tried a few bites then, but saved the rest for after lunch.  It held up fine*.

It was a good buttermilk bar.  The glaze was thick and sweet, and I liked how it soaked into the donut.  The exterior was crispy just like I like, and inside it was nicely moist.  It didn't taste too fried or oily.

There was nothing earth shattering about this donut, but, it was a well executed classic.  I did wish for more buttermilk tang however.  ***+.

*Note: buttermilk bars, and cake donuts in general, don't tend to hold up well past a few hours.  These really need to be consumed fresh.

Boston Cream Bar.

I walked by the donut box a while later, and there were still donuts remaining, including the massive Boston Cream bar, Ojan's favorite.  I had to get it for him, and, of course, try a bite myself on my way to deliver it.

The donut was a raised fluffy donut, light and airy.  The filling was vanilla custard, quite creamy, and it was well filled.  Good chocolate coating on top, although some of it broke off where the donut made contact with the maple sprinkle donut in the box.

Again, nothing earth shattering, but, well made and obviously fresh.  ***.

Maple Glazed Bar. 

I have one co-worker, who really loves donuts, but was not coming in to the office until lunch time.  He was sad to be missing out, so  I suggested that I save one for him, and picked the maple glazed for him.

It had lost nearly all its glaze though, from being against the edge of the box.  The Jelly Donut really could work on their boxing skills so as not to have all the donuts touching each other/the box and losing their toppings!  I used a knife to scoop all the glaze off the box and back onto the donut.  It didn't look very pretty, but hey, he got his glaze.

I didn't try this donut, but, he said it was great.

Jelly Donut.

I walked by the donut box again, after lunch.  (Hmm, maybe I do seek out donuts?)  There were still 3 full donuts left, including the jelly donut.  I don't understand how this was possible.  My co-workers clearly have more restraint than I.  There weren't that many donuts to begin with!

I still had most of my chunk of buttermilk bar waiting at my desk.  And I had carrot cake and a fun Filipino dessert at lunch already.  I surely didn't need more sweets.  But ... I knew that it would waffle great in the morning, so if I didn't manage to eat it during the day, I could save it for waffling purposes.  (Seriously, try waffling your leftover donuts, I promise, it is transformational!  My favorite waffled donut to date was a waffled jelly donut, so I knew this would work well.)

But of course I tried it fresh, for evaluation purposes.

Like the Boston Cream Bar, it was a fluffy, light, airy, raised donut.  It was not too fried.  The glaze on top was sweet and good, but it only covered the very top.

The best part was the filling though.  Sweet raspberry jelly.  Lots of it.  It was gooey and very flavorful.  I really liked the jelly.

Overall, a very good donut, but I actually prefer sugar coated jelly donuts over glazed.  ***+.

Leftover Jelly Donut Panini!

I did save the rest of the donut until the next morning.  I took a bite of it then, day old, and, as expected it had gotten a bit stale.  So I turned on my handy Cuisinart Griller to waffle it ...

I realized once it was already heated up that I had the panini plates rather than the waffle iron plates in my Griddler.  Whoops.  I rarely use the panini plates, so I didn't even think to check.

Never one to back down from a crazy experiment, I just panini'ed it instead, and it was great too.  You'll be able to read all about that too, soon ...

Read More...

Waffling Leftovers: Donuts, aka, Waffluts.

Update Review:  Maple Glazed Raised Donut, October 2017

Another day, another (two) day old donut to waffle.  I know donuts waffle well, as I've raved about before, now, I'm just perfecting my technique.

Waffled Maple Glazed Donut Transformed.

I don't mean to brag, but, I think I just get better and better at this.

This was one of the most enjoyable waffle donut creations I've made so far!

The Original: Maple Glazed Raised Donut.

The original was a raised maple donut, from Bob's Donuts.  A classic, very good, raised donut.  I always enjoy these fresh.

Leftover Maple Glazed Raised Donut.

But sometimes, we don't finish the whole box of donuts.  And unlike everyone else who considers them trash, I've discovered the secret to leftover donut glory, so I save them.

This one was not only one day old, it was two days old.   It didn't look good.  It was seriously worse for the wear.  Of course I tried a bite, and it was slimy, and stale.  Normal people would throw this out.

Stale Glazed Donut: Ready to Go!

I of course, threw it right into the waffle iron, maple glaze side down.

350 degrees, closed the lid, walked away.

Perfectly Waffled Maple Glazed Donut.

Several minutes later, I had a beautiful waffle donut.

It cooked perfectly.  The maple glaze caramelized on one side, the other side crisped up nicely too.  I finally got the timing perfect, it wasn't too hard or crispy, still moist inside, just absolutely nailed it.

Really a thing of beauty.

I could have eaten it just like this, but, I didn't stop here.  Of course not.

Waffled Maple Glazed Donut with Vanilla Ice Cream, Bourbon Whipped Cream, Rum Caramel.

I turned it into a "masterpiece".

I drizzled it with rum caramel, and added little scoops of my favorite vanilla ice cream (Three Twins) and, uh, dollops of bourbon whipped cream (because I couldn't decide between whipped cream or ice cream, and just went for both).

It. Was. Wonderful.

The maple glazed wafflut was already great, and didn't *require* additional caramel, but, I certainly loved the extra sweetness, and the gooeyness, it added.

I was glad I opted for both whipped cream and ice cream, as they each offered something a bit different.  The ice cream gave a cold contrast to the hot wafflut, and melted in, softening those areas.  The whipped cream was fluffier and fun to dunk into.

I didn't actually add that much ice cream or whipped cream to start, and assumed I'd add a bunch more once I picked which I liked better, but actually, I found that this amount was perfect.  Just enough to accent the creation, but not take it over.

I really truly enjoyed this one, even though it wasn't particularly fancy, it just came out perfectly.

Original Reviews, Published June 2016

Today's story combines two of my favorite things: donuts and waffling.

It begins with leftover donuts.  When this crazy "problem" happens, most people throw them out.  Day old donuts are always stale and sad.  Sometimes a fritter can make it a second day, particularly if you warm it up, but, in general, donuts just don't keep.  We've all learned that.

I usually try to stash extra donuts in the freezer before they get to the stale state, or, I turn them into donut bread pudding.  But the other day, I had a day old donut.  I didn't have the motivation to make bread pudding, or donut french toast (another common answer to the "what do I do with stale donuts?" question).  So I waffled it.

I'm surprised it took me this long to think of waffling my leftover donuts, honestly.  I've put everything else in my waffle iron, as you've been reading about for months now.  Plus, these days, donut hybrids are all the rage.  Why haven't we heard more about donut waffles?  Wonuts? Doffles?  Waffluts?

Waffled Leftover Donut a la Mode!

Anyway, rambling story short: Leftover Donuts?  Will they waffle?  ZOMG yes.

I've previously declared waffled leftover pizza to be my biggest success, but I think these go in the same category of game changing discovery.  I can have one biggest savory and one biggest sweet success right?

Just like I haven't ever looked at leftover pizza the same way since discovering waffling, I'll never look at leftover donuts the same way.  My freezer stash is going to stop growing.  And, just like with pizza, I think I actually prefer the waffled version over the original, no matter how good the original is.

I'm ridiculously excited about continuing my waffluts adventures, as I think many varieties of donuts would work great.  And cinnamon rolls.  And fritters.  So. Many. Possibilities.

Oh, and in case you think donuts and waffles are just breakfast food, they don't just need to be waffled for breakfast.  Add a scope of ice cream or whipped cream, and they make for an amazing dessert too.  (Heck, add those things at breakfast time if you want, you know I did!).

Trial #1: Glazed and Jelly Donuts

The first variety I tried was a simple glazed donut, day old.

Sad Day Old Glazed Donut: Before.

Yes, this looked pretty unappealing.  It was kinda mushed.

I tried a few bites of it, but, well, it was a day old donut.  It was kinda stale, and tasted oily.

Glazed Donut: Almost there!

Into the waffle iron it went.

No extra steps here.  Insert donut, close iron, walk away.

So simple.

Glazed Donut-Waffle Success.

After a few minutes, I pulled it out.

Extraction was simple too.  It released easily, and left very minimal mess behind.

And ... it was magic.  Not only did it transform the sad, stale, flat donut into something I liked, I actually liked it more than the original, even when fresh (and this was a very good donut, from Bob's, to start!)

All the contact points where the donut touched the waffle iron became crispy and caramelized, like a Liège waffle or kouign amann.  Inside stayed moist, fluffy, and doughy.  It was the best of both worlds.

It was fine as finger food, but even better when I added whipped cream and ate it with a fork and knife.  Think french toast or decadent waffles.  I'm sure it would have been great with a scoop of ice cream too.

It reminded me of the crazy crueller french toast served at Lou's in Hanover, NH.  This is a signature item there, made with their glazed cruellers turned into french toast, served with syrup and whipped cream.  When I had it at Lou's, I discovered that I really liked it with their homemade jam on it.  Which of course made me think ... jelly donuts!

Waffled Jelly Donut.

The next time I had a glazed leftover jelly donut, you know what I did.  It went into the waffle iron the next morning without hesitation.  Spoiler: it was everything I wanted it to be.

I've made leftover jelly donuts several times, and somehow always failed to take a photo.  I blame this on just how ridiculous good they are.  I can't wait to eat them, hot off the grill, jelly spilling out everywhere.  These really are my favorites of the waffled variety, and the molten hot jelly is a thing of wonder, no matter how lackluster the jelly is to begin with.

I finally remembered to take a photo of a chunk, so, you finally have evidence.

The exterior result is the same as the glazed donut.  Crispy, caramelized, awesome.  And then inside ... molten jam.  Once I got past the shock of burning the inside of my mouth from hot jam, I loved it.  The glazed donut was a success, no question, but the jelly donut?  Even better.

Trial #2: Glazed Crumb Donut

Glazed Crumb Donut: Before.

Ojan had a glazed crumb donut, and I convinced him to let me waffle half (half was the compromise, he's sick of me waffling everything, and really just wanted his normal).

Glazed Cake Donut: Waffled!

It waffled just like the others.  The cake crumbs on the outside were pretty lost though, it became indistinguishable from the plain glazed.  Which wasn't a bad thing.

Ojan of course preferred it unwaffled.  Sigh.

Trial #3: Maple Glazed Bar

Maple Glazed Raised Bar (half).

I didn't take a photo of the full size bar, but, it was massive.  I ate a big chunk of it the first day I got it, gave Ojan a big chunk, and still had this much left.

The next morning, I ate another chunk, but it was certainly worse for the wear.  The outside was crusty in a way it wasn't originally (both the glaze and the donut itself) and although it wasn't oily originally, it seemed more oily and stale tasting on the second day.

I saved the final chunk for later that day, with plans to waffle it of course.

Maple Glazed Bar: Waffled.

It looked pretty much like all the other glazed donuts when waffled.  It got a fantastic crispy exterior from the glaze, although much of the glaze did run out into the waffle iron (creating a maple candy that I was thrilled to extract before it cooled too much!)

Maple Glazed Wafflut Sundae?

Since it wasn't breakfast, I decided it was totally acceptable to turn it into a sundae, topping it with whipped cream, sprinkles, and little chocolate balls.  I loved it.

Trial #4 Another Glazed Raised Crumb Donut

Day Old Glazed Raised Crumb Donut.

Another day, another leftover donut.

This was the same kind as trial #2, just even more worse for the wear.

Waffling ...

Same process as all the others, except ... I let it go too long.  It wound up crispier than I actually wanted.

As before, the crumbs were pretty lost once waffled.

A la Mode.

I salvaged it by adding ice cream on top.  This was not enough, don't worry, more scoops were soon added.

Read More...

Bob's Donuts

Update Review, 2025

The glory days of people in my office getting Bob's 1-2x a week are long gone, but, we do still get them from time to time, and I'm always happy to see their signature branded pink box.

Heart Shaped Glazed
(Valentines Special, Feb 2025).

Wow, this was great!

Sorta like an old fashioned on the bottom with a little grid pattern that gave it a bit of texture, but it was otherwise a fluffy raised donut.  Great depth of flavor to the dough.   Not greasy at all.  Just really shockingly good.  Tasty glaze on top too.   4/5.

Assorted Donuts.

Another day, another box of donuts ...

Cinnamon Roll:

"A morning classic but you can have it whenever you want. Cinnamon and frosting with that instantly recognizable spiral shape will always grab the attention of hungry wandering eyes. "

I realized when I went to write this post that I've never actually tried the cinnamon roll from Bob's!  Not sure how that is possible, perhaps I haven't encountered them before?  

It was a fairly average Pershing style donut.  Lofty decent dough base with standard glaze like Bob's regular raised glazed, just styled into a swirl, with some cinnamon between the spiral.  It was slightly more interesting than a simple raised glazed, but not remarkable or noteworthy in any way. 3/5.

Blueberry Cake.

I admit that I mostly grabbed this for novelty - I had never seen a blueberry cake donut from Bob's before, so I kinda overlooked the fact that I've never been particularly into their cake donuts in the past (which, is generally true for me, I tend to prefer raised over cake, unless the batter has unique flavor or something).  It was smothered in sugar coating as well.

It was ... average.  A cake donut, moist enough inside, crisp enough outside. Studded with itty bitty blueberries, that I could see more than actually taste.  Blindfolded, I don't think I would have known it was anything other than a sugar coated cake donut.  The sugar coating definitely dominated, tons and tons of sugar.  

It was what it was.  Low 3/5 and not one I'd get again.

Update Review, 2024

It had been a while since I had a Bob's donut (7 years since my last review!).  I went from having them several times a month, to several times a year.  (Don't worry, we still have donuts weekly, but now we rotate through many vendors).

Box of Joy.

I was happy to see the familiar pink box with the Bob's logo on top, and even more happy to find it full of a great variety of raised, cake, old fashioned, and new speciality donuts.

Raised Glaze. $2.

I did try a hunk of the basic raised glazed, just as the basic "test".  These are fine, fluffy, well glazed.  ***.  Not magical like Stan's, which are still the best raised glazed donuts I've ever had.

Croissant Donuts. $4.50.

Bob's began carrying their version of croissant donuts somewhere around late 2021/2022 the best I can tell.  Even now, several years later, they don't actually list them on the online menu.  They seem to be available in several basic flavors, or special filled versions.  These are more than twice the price of the regular donuts, at $4.50 each, which makes some sense given the extra labor involved.

Chocolate Glazed Croissant Donut.

This was my first time trying a croissant donut from Bob's.  We had two varieties, sugared or chocolate glazed.

I tried the sugar coated (not pictured).  It was good - nicely laminated layers.  It wasn’t particularly crispy or flaky as some are, and I do prefer filled ones, but, the layers were nice, and it was perfectly sweet due to the sugar coating . Yay sugar.  There are better croissant donuts out there, but this was good enough.  High ***+.

Malasadas. $4.75.

I recently learned that Bob’s on Baker (not sure about the other location) also makes malasadas (the Hawaiian style).  Given how much I adore the jelly donut from Bob's, I was pretty excited to try these given that I know Bob’s does great fillings, and I’ve really only had a few malasadas in my life.  In case you aren’t familiar, they have more eggs and a bit of milk, so they are a slightly yellow color and more akin to brioche, compared to a regular donut.  Bob’s has them with blueberry, guava, or pineapple filling.

Interestingly, these donuts come at quite the premium: $4.75 each, where even the jelly filled regular donuts are only $3.25 (and standard donuts are $2).

Blueberry.

The first one I tried was the blueberry filled, selected for me by a co-worker.  The base malasada was totally and completely coated in sugar.  So. Much. Sugar.  It was good, and worked, but yeah.  Sugar.

The dough itself was ok.  I didn't find it to have a particularly interesting flavor, and although it was enriched, it was not as fluffy as I expected, and didn't really have that brioche-like nature I wanted.  It was nicely fried though, not greasy, and did go well with the sugar coating.   *** base.

Poorly Filled.

I opened mine up to see how well filled it was.  Alas, this was not very well filled, with the blueberry filling only going halfway in, and there really was only a smear on either half here.  This is in sharp contrast to the jelly donuts from Bob's that I partially love because of how much filling they have (granted, they do slice those in half in order to achieve it).

Anyway, the blueberry filling was fantastic.  It was thick, not cloying sweet, and had real berries in it.  You could put it into a pie crust and I'd be very happy with it.  Definitely not run of the mill goo or jam style filling.  I really liked the filling, **** for taste and consistency, but alas, only partially filled.

Overall, this really was only a ***+ for me.  The base dough wasn't really special, and that filling not enough.  It only gets that extra half star because the filling was so good.

Guava.

I also got to try the guava filled version, which was great.  Super fruity.  **** filling.

Original Review, 2017

OMG, donuts.  Yes, I have a label on my blog for donuts.  Yes, I eat donuts at least once a week.  I really like donuts.

I'm willing to try donuts from pretty much anywhere, they don't need to be high-end, fancy flavor, artisan donuts (a la the much hyped Dynamo Donuts, or my favorite Johnny donuts).  I even like fast food ones like from Super Duper Burger ... although, sorry, I'm not a lover of Krispy Kreme, and I can't stand some donuts, like the awful ones my office used to get from Posh Bakery.

I'd wanted to try Bob's Donuts for years, literally.  Located on Polk Street in Nob Hill, open 24 hours.  A very simple, classic, donut shop.

Bob's is known for their ridiculous massive donut that could feed an army, but also, for just having really, really good donuts.  These aren't fancy donuts, no bacon, miso, or other fusion ingredients here.  The only gimicky thing they do is the single huge glazed donut.

The Big Donut: Chocolate Glazed with Sprinkles.  $8.

"The Big Kahuna, the Belly Buster, the Scale Breaker, whatever you want to call it, it's the BIG ONE. This bad boy is what our Challenge contenders are faced against and it's always ready for battle. You have a choice for any traditional ring toppings; chocolate frosting, crumbs, sprinkles, maple, or just plain ole glazed. "

This is not a photo where perspective is out to deceive.  This donut is indeed just that much bigger than those on the bottom shelf.

This is the famous Bob's Big Donut.  Bob's donuts are so good that they don't need a gimmick like a big donut to get hype and draw crowds.  But they have it anyway.  This donut is the object of the Donut Challenge.  The goal is simple: one person tries to consume the entire thing in 2 minutes.  If you succeed, you get your $8 back (and a T-Shirt, and your name put on their wall of fame).  3 minutes gets you the shirt and fame, but, you still have to pay.

I don't actually want to do that challenge, but, it would be fun to share one of these sometime, and carve it up like a cake.  Or ... waffle it?

Signature Pink Box!

One day I was at my desk at work, and an e-mail popped up: "Extra Bob's Donuts, 3rd floor".  I literally stopped everything I was doing an ran downstairs.  Finally!

Logo.

They come in classic pink donut boxes with the Bob's logo, so you never need to guess where htey are from..

Storefront.

Since then, I've made it a point to visit the shop myself, with large windows facing the sidewalk where you can admire the freshest items, still cooling on trays.

And, because I work somewhere awesome, e-mails like that first one show up fairly regularly, so I've now had a large assortment of Bob's donuts.  And, I endorse them, particularly the jelly donut, and any of the raised varieties.

Bars

Bob's makes all the standard styles of donuts: cake and raised ring donuts, and also giant bars.

Maple Glazed Buttermilk Bar (cake).

I loved this one, which surprised me, since I don't tend to prefer cake style donuts.  The maple glaze was sweet and crunchy, and I really liked the texture of the donut itself.  One of the best cake donuts I have ever had.

****.

Update (Jan 2020): I continue to genuinely really enjoy this bar. Lovely sweetness from the maple glaze, nice buttermilk tang, great texture.  Always pleased to snag one of these.  ****.

Old Fashioned Bar.

I tried a small chunk of the old fashioned bar, just for completeness, but it was the least interesting of the donuts that I tried.

A standard cake donut, nice glaze, slight tang.  ***.

Maple Glaze Custard Filled Bar.

I moved on to a raised bar, with a maple glaze.  It was light, soft, fluffy, classic raised donut.  The maple glaze was well distributed, sweet, and tasty.  But what I didn't realize is that this wasn't just a glazed bar ... it was a filled glazed bar! 

Cream Filling.

Inside was thick bavarian cream custard.  Well filled, nicely distributed throughout the bar.  A co-worker of mine loves filled donuts, so I handed this one off to him.  He took one bite and declared "that is a really good donut!"  He doesn't usually get very excited about food, so, this was saying something.

I wasn't that into it, the bavarian cream in particular just seemed heavy and not very flavorful.  **+.

I also tried a chocolate topped cream filled bar, and liked it even less, although I know that classic ream and chocolate "boston cream" is a style many enjoy.

Raised

Bob's makes excellent raised donuts.  They are always light, fluffy, and airy.  My absolute favorites.

Raised Glazed.

"A fluffy ring with a glazed frosting coating. Basically, the vanilla of donuts. It's not wild or creative. It's as simple as it gets. But sometimes, simple is all you want. "

Their description really sums this up well.  It is just a glazed donut.  Nothing more.  Except, well, its a really, really good glazed donut.  No Stan's donut, don't get me wrong, but, good.

The raised dough is light and fluffy, not too greasy.  It is drenched in glaze, which is sweet and sticky, and coats the entire thing.  One of the best glazed donuts I've ever had, and, I might even pick this over a more decadent fritter in the future.

I've had these many times, and they continue to impress.  Light and airy, not too fried, always perfectly glazed. ***+.

Raised Chocolate.

"If the glazed ring is the vanilla, then the chocolate covered ring is the... well, chocolate. Ok, lame comparison, but come on, it's a fluffy ring with chocolate on it. What more could you want?"

One day, I shared a raised chocolate with a co-worker.  Again, same good base raised donut, with delicious chocolate ganache glaze.  It made me instantly want a Boston cream donut (which they do make, in the same style as the jelly - a raised chocolate glazed, sliced in half, and stuffed with cream.  OMG.  Someday.)

I've since had several of these, and I'm always impressed with the depth of flavor to the chocolate glaze. Above average. ***+.

Cake Crumb.

"We're not sure who came up with the idea of putting crumbs on a donut, but it's undoubtably a winner! Soft sweet crumbs on top of a cake ring is about as good as it gets. "

For a friend, I got the cake crumb, which is the classic glazed with bits of cake on the outside.  Of course I snuck a bite.

The donut itself was still good, fluffy, soft raised dough, nice glaze, but, I actually didn't care for the cake crumbs on the outside.  Not my style.  ***.

Update: Many months later, the crumb donuts looked different.  They had a ton more crumbles on them, bigger chunks, more like a streusel.  So I tried again.  The base donut was again great, fluffy, sweet, not oily.  And I again liked the sweet glaze.  The crunchier, larger style cake crumbs were more successful, but I still wasn't a big fan.  I'm all about textures and that texture just doesn't do it for me.  ***.

Maple Glazed.

"Think maple can only be for pancakes? Think again! This is the kind of sweet goodness only the overly friendly neighbors up north could come up with. "

This was my favorite of the raised donuts.  Light and fluffy, not too fried.  Everything I liked about the classic raised was true here, but then it had a maple glaze, sweet, and more depth of flavor than standard glaze.  I'd gladly get another. ***+.

Update: I did get another.  And this time ... I didn't like the maple glaze.  It was ... too sweet, too maple-y.  I know, I know, I said it.  The base donut was still great, but, the maple glaze was just too much.  ***.

Cake

Bob's also makes a wide assortment of cake donuts.  Cake donuts in general are never my favorite, and the same applies to Bob's.

Cake Donuts in all varieties

One notable aspect of Bob's cake donuts is that they are smaller than most.  The raised donuts might even be considered a bit large, but the cake, definitely on the petite side.

Cake donuts are available plain, with sugar coating, with cinnamon and sugar, with cake crumbs, with regular, maple, or chocolate glaze, with sprinkles ...

Maple Glazed Cake Donut.

I finally tried a cake donut.  It is very hard for me to resist just going for a fritter, or jelly filled, or even a raised donut, since Bob's does those so well.  But eventually, curiosity got the better of me.

I selected a maple glaze, since, well, maple!

It was a petite donut, like all their cake donuts.  Very dense.  A tad bit oily.  Well coated in maple glaze.

Not my style of donut, and I wished it had a buttermilk tang or something more to it.  Curiosity satisfied, but, I'll be going back to the raised.  Strange that the bar and ring style differed so much.  **+.

Glazed Cake Donut.

Eventually, eventually, I even tried the plain cake donut.

The texture was good, moist inside, crispy outside.  It wasn't too oily.  The glaze was evenly distributed and added to the crisp exterior.  

But it had a lemon tang to it.  I really dislike lemon flavors in general.  A fine donut, but, just not the one for me. **.

Maple Glazed Sprinkle Coated Cake Donut.

I did say I was done with cake donuts, but, I actually visited Bob's in person one Sunday, and I had heard that you should always just get whatever is fresh.  So, instead of picking something I knew I'd like, or the very tempting looking bread pudding, I asked what was freshest, and the person taking my order pointed at a tray.  "Still hot" she said.  The tray had assorted cake donuts, which were the least interesting to me, but, who resists a hot donut?

My choices for a hot one were plain, chocolate coated, maple coated, or any of the above with sprinkles.  I like maple the best, and adore sprinkles and had never had a sprinkle donut from Bob's, so, that made my decision easy.

It was fine.  The warm donut was a nice touch of course.  But it was still just a cake donut.  The maple glaze was soft and sweet, it was interesting to see how the glaze changes as it gets cooler and harder.  The sprinkles were generic rainbow sprinkles, but more sweet.

Overall, fine, but I certainly wouldn't get another. **+.

Chocolate Glazed Cake.

I don't know why I grabbed this, as I don't like chocolate glaze on donuts and I don't like cake donuts.  I like chocolate, but, I find it detracts from the donut.  Which is exactly how I felt about this.  The donut itself was crispy, fried, good enough cake donut, but, the chocolate overwhelmed.  Would not get again. **.

Cinnamon Cake.

"It's like the cinnamon roll in donut form except without getting your fingers all sticky. Using a good ole cake ring, we powder sugar and cinnamon to give the perfect balance between sugar and spice. "

I didn't really care for this.  A dense cake donut, I'm just not one for cake donuts.  Good cinnamon and sugar coating though. **.

Specialty

And the last category I dub "specialty", basically, everything else that didn't fit above.

Apple Fritter.

"This isn't for the timid eaters. This is the heavy duty, apple filled, frosted coated hunk of a donut that will scare away anyone who isn't ready for some serious eating. "

I had my eyes on the king of donuts: the apple fritter.

Completely crusted in glaze, crispy and fried exterior, soft and moist interior.  The outside was a bit too fried for my taste, but I loved the interior.  It was soft and doughy, with moist pockets of apple.  There was lots of cinnamon between the layers, in fact, it is  one of the most cinnamon-y fritters I've encountered.

Overall, a very solid apple fritter, but, I wouldn't say it was mind-blowingly better than any other. ***.

Update: I've since had many more of these. Turns out, there is a team that gets Bob's Donuts every Friday in my office, and sometimes they have extra, or I run into the guy who brings in the donuts and he offers me one on his way in (shh, don't tell his team he gives me one!), and I usually go for the fritter.  My opinion of it is always the same though.  I'm glad to have one, since I love fritters, but this one is always just a bit too oily for me.  The glaze is also not very impressive.  While I dislike pretty much all the other donuts from California Smart Foods, they actually do a better fritter. ***.

Update (Jan 2020): I continue to try these, always drawn in, "ZOMG, fritter! I love fritters!", but, I just never enjoy this one as much as I want to.  It is a fine donut, but I've had much better fritters, and Bob's just excels at other styles. ***.

Raspberry Jelly Filled Powdered Donut.

"You know this one, this is for those who like it messy. A choice of Raspberry or Lemon jelly and covered with a light glazed or powdered sugar, this is great for when you're looking for that punch of fruit flavor."

This turned out to be my absolute favorite.  Their jelly filled donuts are available in several varieties, with raspberry or lemon jelly, and glaze or powdered sugar.

This was the most unique jelly donut I've ever seen.  It wasn't a donut with jelly injected in the center as is standard, rather, it was a sliced in half, with jelly between the layers.  Like ... a bagel with cream cheese, except, it was a donut with jelly!  The jelly was really good, oozy, and had some seeds in it, not just goo.  The donut was a classic raised donut, hard to go wrong.  The whole thing was sweet and just totally satisfying. ****.

Update (Jan 2020):  Again, a stunner.  Light and fluffy donut, slight sweetness from the powdered sugar on top, and that fabulous jelly filling.  Absolute favorite, and I can scarf one of these giant donuts in no time. ****.

Glazed Raspberry Jelly Filled Donut.

A few weeks later, I was able to snag another, this time, the glazed version. The glazed version uses a regular glazed donut, with a hole in the middle and everything, and, again is sliced in half and filled with jelly between the layers.

And, I again loved it.  The donut itself is so light and fluffy, and does not taste weighed down with oil, at all. The glaze is perfect.

The filling looks like generic jelly, but, it is oh-so-tasty and sweet.  Although I don't normally like seeds, the raspberry seeds in it didn't displease me.

A stunning donut.  I like the glazed version even more than the powdered sugar.  ****+.

Update (January 2021): I. Adore. These.  'nuff said? ****+.

Raspberry Jelly Filled Chocolate Glazed Donut.

When I saw this donut, I thought I had finally, finally found the elusive Boston Cream.  It was clearly chocolate glazed.  It was sliced in half, just like the previous jelly donut, so I was sure it had filling.

And it did have filling.  It just ... wasn't custard.  Instead, it was filled with the same raspberry jam as the previous donut.

Once I got over the surprise of a jelly filled chocolate glazed donut, I settled in to enjoy it.  And enjoy it I did.

The chocolate glaze was a bit dried out and crunchy, but, not in a bad way.  It tasted really chocolately, and I loved it.  It also made me instantly wish they had chocolate pudding filled donuts too.  ZOMG.

The donut was a raised donut,  light and fluffy, but, also it seemed kinda fried on the bottom.  Oily, but, again, in a good way, like state fair fried dough.

And then, the raspberry jelly, seeds and all.  Sweet, fruity.

I wasn't a huge fan of the raspberry and chocolate combination, so I ate this open faced, easy to do since it was fully cut in half.

The top, a chocolate glazed fluffy donut with higher percentage of chocolate to donut than usually because it was only the top half, was super successful.

The bottom, a very fried oily dough with flavorful jam slathered on top, also successful.

I actually ended up loving this, as separates.  I'd get it again, just to tear it apart, but, really, I'm still on the lookout for one filled with custard ... ***+.

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