Every culture has their version of fried dough. Hush-puppies, churros, beignets, zeppoli, malasadas, pirozhki, funnel cake, so on and so forth. But it's the ubiquitous doughnut that, at least in this country, takes the cake. So much creativity, so much inspiration. It's hard to find a doughnut that hasn't been tried at least once. (On a side note, I have heard of a Portland doughnut eatery happily named VooDoo that makes a maple bar topped with bacon and NyQuil & Pepto Bismol concoction. Former, yay! Latter, blech!)
A fellow AOL'er and foodie comrade hipped me to the most unfortunate named doughnut establishment smashed between campus and the airport. Named for a spunky Baltimore octogenarian (well, close... she was in her 70's) who gave the men of the late 1800's a run for their sporting money, all while breaking a few bones along the way. Her God given name was Prunella and soon was dubbed "Fractured Prunella". Inspired by her gumption, The Fractured Prune was born.
The same night as his glowing endorsement, my fiance and I hightailed it to the middle of nowhere for a sampling. The verdict?
Since we arrived 20 minutes before closing, the effervescent blond working the counter was kind enough to give us a dozen for the price of half (but don't tell anyone). We spent the better part of the 20 minutes deciding only for her to volunteer to give us a hearty sampling of flavors. Fresh out of the fryer, my fiance and I split an O.C. Sand (honey glaze, cinnamon and sugar).
It was the single most best doughnut I have ever had in my life.
Seriously. I never give that kind of glowing review. And I'm a die hard pull-over-at-the-sight-of-the-Krispy-Kreme-Hot-Now-sign-and-run-in-for-a-free-hot-glazed-doughnut kind of gal. (At least until they stopped doing that a couple of years ago.) This doughnut was simply amazing. It was like a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut, but topped with cinnamon and sugar. The dough edged more towards cake-like rather than airy. It melted the second it hit your mouth, but left a long love letter of cinnamon sugar for you to remember him by. It was absolute heaven.
The runner up was the Rolo, caramel glaze topped with itsy bitsy chocolate chips which lived up to it's name. Coming in at a solid third place was a tribute to French Toast; a lovely melange of maple glaze and cinnamon sugar aptly named French Toast. I also enjoyed the Death By Chocolate, which was chocolate chips, crushed Oreos and chocolate glaze.
But, don't get me wrong, not everything in that box 'o 12 was great.The lemonade was obnoxious and I had a hard time removing the flavor from my mouth, strawberry shortcake was eh and everything else was just ok. The O.C. Sand, however, simply changed me as a person.
Don't like fancy-schmancy topped doughnuts? Can't let go of the consummately stale standards being slung at Dunkin? The Fractured Prune will change your ways. Out of 5 forks, I'll give The Fractured Prune 4.5. If everything in the box was bomb (which simply isn't possible... you can't please everyone), they would have got a 5. This place The O.C. Sand is a DO NOT MISS on my list.
(Much love to Pat for the tip!)
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