Doughnut Plant, NYC

Donuts.  One of my favorite subjects.  I truly do find great satisfaction in an excellent donut.  You can read all my reviews on the subject obviously, but, to sum it up, I am not one who requires Instagram worthy, crazy topped, decadent donuts.  A simple, well executed, classic (hello, Stan's glazed raised!) will do just fine.  But of course, I do enjoy fun flavors and innovative concepts.

Enter Doughnut Plant, now a NYC chain.  I remember being introduced to Doughnut Plant by some locals during one of my first visits to New York.  I'm pretty sure only one location existed at the time, and it was a trek.  That I remember.  I remember my hosts being so excited to share this donut shop with me.  But ... I honestly don't really remember the donuts. 

Flash forward a few years.  Doughnut Plant has expanded, with several Manhattan locations, one in Brooklyn, one in Queens, and a partnership in Tokyo.   The focus of the shop remains strong on quality and uniqueness.

"Our passion is providing our customers with the best doughnuts in the world, handcrafted every day using the finest ingredients available. Our doughnuts are made fresh throughout the day at our bakery in New York City. All of our jams, fillings and glazes are made in house and our dough is rolled and cut by hand. We never use eggs, preservatives or anything artificial and our doughnuts contain no trans fat."

Ok, so good sourcing, house made jams/creams, this all sounds good, and isn't really "normal" for a donut shop.

The other thing that sets Doughnut Plant aside is the innovations they have made in the donut space.  They say they invented the world’s first Crème Brûlée doughnut.  They say they were the first to use seasonal fresh fruit and nuts in doughnut glazes ... a claim I find rather ridiculous (how would they verify it? And really, they didn't start until the 2000s, I don't believe that no one had ever used seasonal fresh fruit in a donut glaze before then ...).  They also invented a square-shaped jelly doughnut, "so you get jam with every bite".  They have seasonal donuts, beyond just "pumpkin spice".  These innovations, as unverified as they may be, don't sound all for show, and really are about delivering a quality donut eating experience.  And that is something I can get behind.

So now, 2018, I tried Doughnut Plant again.  At an event, where we got boxes of assorted doughnuts.

Not a Pink Box.

Doughnut Plant doughnuts come in a decorative box, nothing like a standard "pink box" shop.

Dozen Donuts. $58.05.

Inside we had a dozen assorted doughnuts, all with paper sorta separating them.

They are not cheap donuts.  A box of a dozen was $58, with prices ranging from $3.50-$4.25.

I tried ... most of them, some from nearly every category on the menu.

Cake Doughnuts

"Near the intersection of a classic birthday cake and a buttery pound cake. No eggs!"

Cake doughnuts are rarely my thing, but the event had so many left over, and people cut them up, so I was able to take just little chunks and not waste.  I'm glad I gave them a chance.

Spoiler: I ended up loving one!

Wild Blueberry. $3.75.

"Full of imported wild blueberries, in the dough and the glaze."

This one was delicious.  I'm not generally excited for cake donuts, but I loved the intense blueberry flavor, with bits of berries inside, and a strong blueberry glaze on top.  Very, very "blueberry forward!"

My second favorite overall, and I'd gladly have another.

Filled Cake Doughnuts

"Filled with housemade creams."

Filled cake doughnuts aren't something I've ever seen before (usually filled doughnuts are yeast donuts), but Doughnut Plant offers a slew of filled cake doughnuts.  I tried several.  They left me just wanting real cake.

Carrot Cake. $3.95.

"Traditional carrot cake with lots of fresh carrots, raisins, walnuts & spices in the dough and a cream cheese filling and glaze and sprinkled with carrots and walnuts." 

After the success of the blueberry cake, I tried a filled cake: carrot cake.  It was ... carrot cake, just not as moist and tasty as a slice of regular carrot cake, and, although filled with cream cheese filling, not nearly as much as you'd get on a real slice of carrot cake.

So, yes, it was carrot cake in doughnut form, but, why?  Have a slice of carrot cake.  My 5th pick.

Brroklyn Blackout. $3.95.

"Rich chocolate cake doughnut dipped in Valrhona chocolate, with a chocolate pudding filling and then sprinkled with chocolate cake crumbs. Doughnut Plant's tribute to Brooklyn's Ebinger's bakery."

I felt similarly about the Brooklyn Blackout.  It was just a chocolate cake that wasn't as moist as a real slice, without enough frosting.  Eh.  Last place pick.

Filled Square Donuts

"Filled with housemade jams & creams—"Filling in every bite." The world's first square-filled doughnut."

I didn't try any basic yeast donuts, but moved straight into the filled yeast donuts, available in several formats, including square - another fairly non-standard offering, that they claim to have invented.

Coconut Cream Square. $4.25.

"Square doughnut filled with fresh coconut milk cream and a fresh coconut glaze. We break open fresh coconuts daily." 


The most expensive doughnut we got, the filled coconut cream square.

A large, lofty yeast doughnut, with plenty of coconut cream filling, glaze, and coconut on top.  Which is all fine, but, for some reason, it didn't come together into anything magical for me.  Eh.  4th place, I wouldn't want another.

Doughseeds

"Our mini, round filled doughnuts, including the world's first Créme Brûlée doughnut."

Next, round filled yeast doughnuts, dubbed "doughseeds".  I appreciated their smaller size, particularly as I was having multiple donuts.

Creme Brulee $4.

"Our signature doughnut: filled with our own vanilla bean custard and individually torched to caramelize the sugar topping for a true brulee crunch."

Ok, I obviously had to try the creme brulee doughnut, not just because it is their "signature", but because I love creme brulee, and was very curious to see it in doughnut form.

The result was another decent yeast doughnut, with a kinda bruleed top.  Now, it was 80 degrees out, and our doughnuts were delivered, so it is possible that this just suffered in transit, as it certainly did not have a "true brulee crunch".  It had a kinda caramelized torched flavor, that I enjoyed, but, certainly no crunch.  The custard filling was good.

A decent doughnut, but not more special than any other custard filled doughnut.  My third pick.

Seasonal: Concord Grape and Peanut Butter. $3.50

"Limited edition pop-up flavor: Housemade Concord Grape Jam filled doughseeds— dipped in a Peanut Butter glaze. Made with fresh Concord grapes from the Greenmarket."

I saved the best for last.  This was awesome.

Peanut butter glaze.  Chopped peanuts.  So much peanut butter flavor.  Great crunch.

Concord Grape & Peanut Butter: Inside.

And inside?  Tons of grape jelly.  Not the jelly I'd normally pick, but it was fruity and sweet and delicious.

First pick.  No question.  PB & J is a classic for a reason.