Local treats put to the test for National Doughnut Day

Sweet!

It’s National Doughnut Day.

What better excuse do you need to indulge in those glazed circles of goodness or sticky slabs of maple-bacon wonder?

Dunkin’ Donuts is giving away free doughnuts on Friday with purchase of a beverage.

Frost Dessert Lounge is having a doughnut eating competition at 6 p.m. at the Mill Creek Town Center shop at 15217 Main St.

Other doughnut masters, such as Henry’s Donuts and Tyler’s Donut House, will carry on doing what they do best: Making delicious delights at affordable prices.

The Herald features department picked up holey treats from Tyler’s in Everett, Henry’s Donuts in Mukilteo, Oosterwyk’s Dutch Bakery in Marysville and the newly opened Frost in downtown Everett.

We put workers in the newsroom to a blind taste test. Full disclosure: The test was so unscientific you might think Homer Simpson was running the show.

Categories were glazed, cake, maple bar and specialty.

National Doughnut Day, the first Friday in June, was started in 1938 to honor Salvation Army workers who delivered doughnuts to soldiers.

The fried dough has gone gourmet and cross-pollinated with other breakfast goodies. Heard of the cronut? Frost has the froissant, which is croissant dough in doughnut form.

And who’d ever thunk bacon would such a popular topping on doughnuts? Of course, bacon is good on everything. D’oh!

The results?

In the Herald taste test, Tyler’s and Henry’s, which also has locations on Broadway in Everett and in Marysville, tied for first place, with each receiving eight votes. Oosterwyk’s and Frost tied for second with four votes each.

Karl’s Bakery &Cafe in downtown Everett also got a vote.

Greg Ruthruff, Herald paginator, scolded us for not including Karl’s in the mix, though it certainly didn’t stop him from partaking.

“I tried four different brands,” Ruthruff said. “Karl’s is still my favorite.”

He even went back for seconds.

Karl’s got a vote in the Herald’s Facebook poll asking readers for their favorite doughnut fix. Henry’s received the majority of votes: a perfect dozen.

Homer would be proud.

Herald newsroom feedback

Glazed: “I ate the glazed, and preferred Tyler’s and secondly Henry’s. Light and sweet, but not overly so.” — Chris Winters, reporter

Specialty: “I chose the Henry’s doughnut. It wasn’t the prettiest on the plate but it had the best flavor … and was covered in bacon.” — Lia Toupin, multimedia sales consultant.

Maple bar: “I truly enjoyed the maple bar from the Tyler’s. It slowly melted in your mouth as you chewed without leaving the fryer oil taste behind.” — Katie Sybouts, marketing assistant/NIE coordinator.

Plain cake: “I don’t like all the extra sugar toppings. So my taste test of the plains was really a baseline examination of the dough. Hands down, the winner was from Henry’s. It wasn’t greasy and not too sweet. With a little spice, the flavor was good. Oosterwyk’s was No. 2 choice. It was a bit sweeter than I prefer, but still had a good flavor. No. 3 went to Frost, which doesn’t have a plain cake, so I peeled off the glaze. Tyler’s, though crunchy, was too greasy.” — Gale Fiege, reporter

Jessi Loerch, web producer, weighed in on all four brands of maple bars:

Oosterwyk’s: “Extremely good. Glaze wasn’t overly sweet. Thick fluffy doughnut.”

Henry’s: “Glaze nice and thick but a smidge too sweet. Doughnut dense and chewy.”

Tyler’s: Good balance of glaze and doughnut.

Frost: “Tasty glaze. Best flavor of all the glazes.”

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