Rant: The "Best" Cider Donuts

Cider Donuts! To me, they are a pleasure year-round, although some feel they are best during the fall. They can be found at supermarkets, small food shops, and even restaurants, although it's difficult to surpass buying them at a local farm, where they have their own apple orchards. And this past Friday, I stopped at one such farm, and purchased what I consider to be the "best" cider donuts. 

Whenever I'm in the Ipswich area, I stop at Russell Orchards to pick up a dozen or so cider donuts. Sometimes, when I'm lucky, they are fresh off the line, still warm. Pure gustatory bliss. At Russell Orchards, they make their donuts from scratch, using their own special recipe as well as their own apples. During this time, you often can see their staff making the donuts, dropping the dough into the fryer and then seeing the fried donuts moving down a conveyor belt where they will be bagged. It's said that Russell Orchards sells approximately 200,000 cider donuts each year and it's easy to understand why.

For me, their donuts are the best: soft and moist, with a slightly crusty exterior, and the right balance of apple and spice flavors. Each bite is pure pleasure. And when they are warm or even hot, it's hard not to eat several on your way from the cash register to your car. I'm glad that I don't live closer or I'd stop by more frequently and devour far too many cider donuts.

However, not all cider donuts are like that. There are basically two types of cider donuts, the soft ones like at Russell, and heavier, more cakey cider donuts that you can find at plenty of other places. To me, the softer. lighter donuts at Russell Orchard easily defeat the more cakey ones. It's not even a real contest to me. However, there are some people who prefer the cakier donuts though I don't understand why.

I think that the heavier style tend to be more dry, less moist, and you need to have a drink with them to help wash down each bite of the dry donut. They also feel heavier in your stomach so that you rarely want more than one. Even warm, they still feel heavy and dry, and just don't satisfy like the lighter style. Why would anyone prefer the heavier style?

If you prefer the heavier, more cakey cider donuts, please tell me why. Try to persuade me as to the allure of that style of cider donut.

The cider donuts are Russell Orchards are also plain, without a dusting of cinnamon & sugar. Though I do enjoy those sweeter donuts at times, I still prefer the Russell's plain ones. There is a more subtle sweetness to their donuts, from the apples themselves, and the taste doesn't need to be enhanced by the addition of cinnamon and sugar. 

If you want more sweetness to their cider donuts, you could always order one of their Cider Donut Sundaes! 

What's your favorite place to obtain cider donuts?