Forget cupcakes - designer doughnuts make an impression
Pomegranate, thyme and bing cherry balsamic may sound like salad dressings, and lemon chamomile creme custard may evoke thoughts of fancy teas, but they are actually cutting-edge flavours in the latest fad to hit the US baking scene: doughnuts.
So much for cinnamon and jam.
Fresh off the nation's fascination with cupcakes, bakers across the country are experimenting with gourmet flavour combinations and unorthodox ingredients in doughnuts - everything from meats to breakfast cereal.
At Glazed Donuts Chicago, mint leaves spring from the holes of iced mint mojito doughnuts.
Baker Kirsten Anderson also adds grape jam to the dough of her peanut butter and jam doughnuts.
"You're taking a relatively inexpensive item and you're turning it into a luxury item," said Ms Anderson, whose seasonal offerings have included butternut squash and white chocolate blueberry doughnuts.
"So maybe people can't afford the best house or the best car, but they can go out and buy a piece of indulgence at a price they can afford."
Paul Mullins, author of Glazed America: A History of the Doughnut, calls them "designer doughnuts" and says the trend defies the stereotype of doughnut shops as smoke-filled havens for labourers lingering over burnt coffee and bad doughnuts.
Fancy doughnuts are increasingly common.
Designer doughnut shops, bakeries and related businesses have proved popular with young urbanites.
"The chefs, they're really skilled, they are really creative," Mr Mullins said.
"These designer doughnuts by regular Krispy Kreme-standards are pricey, but by haute cuisine standards, $US5 ($5.45) or $US6, that's not that much."
The doughnut-makers were playing with consumers' notions of creativity and curiosity, Mr Mullins said.
"What in the world does a chamomile doughnut taste like? I don't know if I'd want it on an every-week basis, but I'd give it a shot."
Michelle Vazquez, owner of Mandarin Gourmet Donut Shoppe in Miami, Florida (home to the chamomile creation, as well as a guava and cheese variety), said her doughnuts were attractive to health-conscious customers who wanted something "a little bit higher-class than a regular doughnut".
She uses organic ingredients, trans fat-free oil, seasonal fresh fruits, Ghirardelli chocolates and cheeses such as savoury French fromage blanc and creamy Italian mascarpone.
Mark Isreal, owner of Doughnut Plant in New York City, sees doughnuts as palettes for creativity and experimentation.
He created a square doughnut filled with homemade jam. Other recent flavours have included peanut butter, roasted chestnuts, cranberries and coconut.
"The bakery is my artist's studio in a way, where I create," Mr Isreal said.
"You're going to have a flavour and a texture that is totally new for a doughnut, and that's exciting."
Designer doughnuts were not as popular as cupcakes, which spawned a craze of cafes and bakeries, but the groundwork was there, said Sarah Levy, a pastry chef who owns two dessert shops.
"It's an item where you can put a unique twist to it to kind of freshen it and make it exciting again.
"It's kind of a cool blank slate that you can doctor up and make them festive with different ingredients."
At Voodoo Doughnuts in Oregon, owner Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson said the bakery put a signature stamp on doughnuts by using sugar cereals such as Fruit Loops and bacon strips as ingredients.
The shop's bacon maple bar doughnut came to be after a discussion about mixing savoury and sweet flavours.
"I walked in with some bacon one day and boom, there it was," Mr Pogson said. "Two strips of bacon."
