During my Christmas vacation 2017, I managed to stuff my face at three different donut locations in just ten short days. I am truly my own biggest inspiration.

I was in California for less than twenty four hours when, while last minute gift shopping in Mission Viejo, I saw a Krispy Kreme sign calling to me from high up in the sky, it’s pole mounted right next to the Bed Bath and Beyond I was headed to. Sitting in the backseat, I looked into the rear-view mirror and made eye contact with my boyfriend who was driving. Without even having to ask, he turned into the parking lot to get me a donut or four. Snaps for Connor for being so (begrudgingly) supportive of this blog.

I’ve been telling Connor I want to go to a Krispy Kreme for well over a year. There’s one in Penn Station that I pass all the time, but I know if I go there once I will have to go there always. My Krispy Kreme post had to be somewhere on a trip where I would never be able to make a habit out of it.

Part of my yearning for a simple donut amidst all the glamorous, drool-inducing doughnuts of New York is the nostalgia that comes with a classic glazed Krispy Kreme. In middle school, a Krispy Kreme truck would stop by on Fridays for fundraising, or maybe just easy sales but fundraising feels better to say. It was $10 for a dozen and happening to have $10 on those days was the greatest joy to a 5th grader. Anyone who bought a box was instantly popular until they had all been given away.

You really can’t go wrong with a Krispy Kreme glazed. The recipe is perfection; fluffy yeast dough with a sweet, subtle icing, not too overpowering like frosted donuts can sometimes be. Delicious when fresh as well as stale and chewy.

Before it was replaced by the twenty-somethingth pizza shop in my hometown, there used to be a Krispy Kreme right by my school where you could watch the donuts come out of the fryer, glistening after their transformational bath, and be conveyed seductively slow into their honeyed shower. Then it closed and my world became darkness.

I used to go to a Krispy Kreme in Middleburg Heights, Ohio after every report card. They awarded (I think they still do, actually) one donut for every A to encourage good grades and also obesity in America’s brightest. I usually walked away with a donut on every finger, just sayin’.

Enough about glazed, I don’t want people to start thinking I’m dull! Krispy Kreme offers other flavors that are good too, and in my opinion always better than Dunkin’ Donuts. Go ahead and roast me in the comments for saying that, I don’t care.

I got a second strawberry sprinkles donut because I thought it was pretty and wasn’t in the mood for anything cream filled. Connor got the glazed chocolate cake, which he reported was similar to an old fashioned donut- nice and crispy on the bottom and drizzled with more chocolate. His older brother, Shawn, got the chocolate eclair donut and he ate it so fast I never even saw it disappear, so I’m assuming he enjoyed it.

Here I am modeling my haul with my famous left hand. Notice the palm trees in the background. Notice the sunny blue skies in late December. Notice my fabulous, donut laden fingers. Life was A+ in this picture.

The only downside is that the glazed donuts are so light and fluffy I eat them in three bites and then I’m sad because I don’t have any more donut.

This cup is full of water, not coffee, so I can’t accurately rate their drinks. Based on the aroma of the coffee in the store, I give them a 10/10 for classic American donut shop smell.

My Rankings

Flavor: 9/10 – Grade raised because of the glazed donut I droned on about for over half of the post. Other than that, the other donuts have a nice fluffy texture, but nothing crazy about the flavors. Also, bonus points for the having a fresh light to turn on.

Bang for Buck: 10/10 – Prices vary per donut per location, but typically glazed are $1.25 and specialty are around $1.50. Considering artisanal doughnuts are $3-5 elsewhere, I just about went hog wild here.

Aesthetics: 7/10 – Okay, this picture with ample sunlight and lush palm trees is great, but there isn’t much of the signage that millenials love for backgrounds. I did a photo shoot on a metal table, which was better than the fluorescent lighting inside. Pretty average, the shot is what you make of it.

The Krispy Kreme Instagram is pretty rad, too!