friday – Marie's Donut Diaries

Happy FriYAY! Like I took my month-long summer vacation through July/August, consider my absence for the past 10 weeks a maternity leave. Life of a donut blogger is a life of luxury.

As of yesterday, I lost just over half of the weight I gained while pregnant so what better way to celebrate than with a gigantic box of donuts?

I decided to start with the raspberry fritter on the left side of the photo. Because I know my baby is going to wake up any minute, I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Any issues that the Doughdrop Inn had when they first opened seem to be reconciled as far as donut availability. There were tons of options – cakes, glazed, and filled donuts. I went around 9:15AM on a Friday so I’d say you are safe to go any time they are open and have a variety of delicious choices. Second, I want to highlight that the fritters are part of Fritter Fridays – they are buy one get one free! And they had a ton on hand in various flavors. Third, this is the best fritter I have had in Erie and possibly the best elsewhere? I mean it has everything you could want in a fritter. Crisp edges outside, soft dough inside, and actual detection of the fruit flavor.

Look at all that gorgeous raspberry.

(Baby is crying.) So this is the best less than $2 you will spend today. Go buy one and get one free. I would tell you about the blueberry fritter too but this donut is gigantic and I really only could eat one. My gut instincts are telling me the blueberry fritter will be just as good a day old 🙂 WIN-WIN. (And WIN – it’s about to be the freakin weekend.)

THE BREAKDOWN: Raspberry Fritter

Store: The Doughdrop Inn lives here

Address: 1529 W 38th St, Erie, PA 16508

Cost: About $1

What they want to highlight: Fritter Fridays are buy one get one free fritters!

What I thought was the highlight: Not only is it a BOGO but a totally worthwhile BOGO!

Rating out of 5 stars: 4.5

Would I buy it again?: Yes, for sure.

What could make it better?: If they delivered because it started snowing 😦

Snow 😦

Full cases!

I photograph almost all the donuts on the same size plate. I think they are 4-inch plates? My point is – these fritters are huge.

I finally can enjoy coffee in my custom Marie’s Donut Diaries mug made by an adoring fan. Good morning. I left the breadcrumbs on the counter in the photo to stay relatable.

Leave a comment PLEASE and tell me about all the donuts you’ve consumed while I’ve been baking, delivering, and caring for our new baby ❤ Are you going to give Doughdrop Inn a try? What is your favorite donut from there?

P.S. My adoring fan is my only fan who likes all my blog posts and is married to me and made that baby with me.

Donut Reviews, Erie Reader Articles by ME

Chocolate and Vanilla Glazed Donut – The Doughdrop Inn – Erie, PA

July 8, 2018December 5, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

The past week is historically significant for many reasons – I was born on July 2nd, the United States’ birthday was July 4th, and a new donut shop emerged in Erie, PA. The Doughdrop Inn caters to the upper west side of Erie. Although there are many great donut options in Erie, (such as Mighty Fine, H & K Do Nut Shop, and Jack Frost) I think the more the merrier. Since opening on July 5th, the Doughdrop Inn can’t keep their donuts on the racks. They sold out Thursday and when I arrived Friday around 8:30AM they were almost sold out again, despite making more donuts than they had the day before. This made my heart happy but made the brains of many Erie residents visiting the donut shop basically implode today. They couldn’t grasp the idea of not getting exactly what they wanted (a full selection) when they wanted it (any time from opening to the shop’s 2PM closing time). They talked back to the nearly empty shelves. One man remarked, “This is no Barbatos,” referring to the restaurant that once resided in the same space and has been out of business for who knows how long. Basically, what I’m getting at is the people of Erie were showing their ass and it wasn’t cute. However, the staff of the Doughdrop Inn was professional, kind, and their smiles did not waiver. Instead of giving a lecture on how to handle your mouth in public and respect people trying to make your city better and offering a SERVICE you that you CHOSE to employ, I’ll stick to reviewing a donut.

I will certainly visit again to try out more of the many from scratch donut varieties that they offer but this review is about the Chocolate Vanilla Glazed Donut. They don’t have official names for the donuts so I’m hoping they change this one to Marble Cake or something. Anyway, names don’t mean anything. The cake cake cake cake is all anyone cares about and this is the best cake you can get. I am still thinking about it and when I will get to have another one. It’s like a bundt cake or a sweet bread but like the best one you have ever had. The cake has a real chocolate taste that is rich and not overwhelming but definitely will give any chocolate lover their fix. The vanilla is a nice balance to the chocolate. The cake is soft and the texture is not spongy or dry. It is perfect. You can tell that it is made from scratch. The glaze isn’t too sweet or thick or thin. It perfectly covers each bite.

I’d highly recommend any of their cake donuts and can’t wait to get back and try their sandwiches. Specifically, I want the Donut Monte Christo breakfast sandwich that is described as a savory, sweet grilled donut with ham, turkey, and Swiss served with a side of homemade raspberry preserves for only $3.29. My fat mouth is watering.

THE BREAKDOWN: Chocolate Vanilla Glazed

Store: The Doughdrop Inn lives here

Address: 1529 W 38th St, Erie, PA 16508

Cost: About $1

What they want to highlight: They make donuts from scratch.

What I thought was the highlight: They make donuts from scratch.

Rating out of 5 stars: 4.2

Would I buy it again?: Yes, for sure.

What could make it better?: If Erie residents would have more chill.

LEAVE A COMMENT about your Doughdrop Inn experience. What’s the best chocolate glazed donut you’ve had? LIKE this post if you like it – it’s basically the easiest thing you can do today.

Outside

Happy customers 🙂

Seating area

There it is. One of the best cake donuts you’ll have with super chocolate taste and a perfectly balanced vanilla cake offset.

Donut Reviews

Mighty Fine Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tim Hortons, Papa John’s – National Donut Day – Erie, PA

June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

So it’s been a donutful day and I think I’m done consuming, for now, so here’s the rundown of how I celebrated National Donut Day in 2018. There are FIVE STOPS so keep reading 🙂 Comment below and tell me how you celebrated.

First stop this morning was Mighty Fine donuts. There was nowhere to park on the street side near the shop. Good sign. The place was packed with frantic customers. Everyone seemed happy to be celebrating National Donut Day. I ordered a chocolate cream filled donut, which is pretty much my all-time favorite donut ever, and I have some disappointing news. It’s not the donuts fault 😦 But for some reason that I’ve decided can only be explained by reasoning that some higher power is punishing me….my favorite donut has not been appealing since I got pregnant. It really is tragedy at its finest. I could give the excuse that I need one every day because the baby likes chocolate cream filled donuts from Mighty Fine, but written like a Shakespearian Play, tragedy has struck my house and the baby DOESN’T like them. BUT I still loved the fritter I had the other day from Mighty Fine and I know it’s just my pregnant body being picky so I’m excited for when I can pick back up where I left off worshipping these donuts after I give birth to a better set of taste buds.

Lots of traffic at 26th and Parade today.

The less photographed Mighty Fine sign. Couldn’t get a better pic cause too much traffic.

Again my weak photo skills don’t capture the bustle of the donut shop but It was full of donut lovers and people being rude 🙂 Thankfully the servers were nice and pleasant. Thank you for everything you do for me Mighty Fine 🙂 ❤

The Chocolate Cream Filled Donut from Mighty Fine. A fan favorite. Crowd pleaser. My baby hates it 😦 I’m crying.

Next, I headed up to Krispy Kreme. They offered a totally free donut so I figured, why not? Plus I haven’t had one in a millennium and I’ve heard so much hate spewed about them since I had one last so I had to see if they weren’t as good as I remember.

UM IT WAS BETTER THAN I REMEMBER. I think the baby has a thing for glazed donuts because every one I have had she has loved. They had a ton of variety in their display cases but I wanted the hot glazed. (Is that still free every time the hot light is on?) Oh, it was hot. It was better than I remember. Sinful. I wanted to go back in, buy a whole dozen, go home and finish them off. It was amazing. Most worthwhile stop of the day. So when you see that hot light bling you best get yourself a hot glazed donut.

This is the sign to look for. The HOT NOW sign ❤ ❤ ❤ Lit up like me before I was pregnant.

Felt like home. Those are all hot donuts. My fat mouth is watering.

I ruined the perfection with my thumb. GO GET ONE OF THESE TODAY 🙂 FREE

I didn’t want to eat another donut and especially not one I had to pay for from Tim Horton’s. BUT I wanted to see if they had the “Gold Timbits” in Erie. So I asked the girl at the counter for Gold Timbits. She was like “Whhhhaaa….I don’t think so.” That’s what her face said. She was a little less talkative than that. How did I know this was going to be embarrassing?

Next, I went to Dunkin’ ’cause I woke up extra early and wanted an iced latte. I got the cookie dough iced latte and it was v delicious. Love their ice cream flavor drinks in the summer ❤ Since I got a free donut I decided to try their glazed. No comparison to Krispy Kreme but despite the minimal glaze and my general indifference towards their donuts it was better than expected. A win. And it was FREE (with my purchase). *Side note – THE APP WOULDN’T LET ME ORDER. Usual DD Dramatics. Please get your sh!t together.

Would you look at that? A glazed donut….

So I didn’t know if I would get hungry again after all that consumption, but so strange – I DID! So I ordered a Hawaiian “low fat” pizza or something online from Papa John’s to get their free donuts they made especially for National Donut Day. I thought they were going to be just plain dough with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them. They were bite-sized little guys so if you eat the whole box it’s like totes no big deal. So I popped one and it was filled! I think it was apple. So I tried another! It was filled! I think with apple? So I tried another! I think it was filled but this time I thought it might be caramel??? I don’t know but I like it. So I dissected one. And two and three and decided it is some sort of super sweet syrupy thing that could be either apple and/or caramel but I didn’t see any additional filling that distinctively had fruit so I’m saying they are caramel filled. AND THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE FOR DINNER TONIGHT! I love their pizza, really I do, and so does the baby apparently. And this one time only donut was more than just hype – it was probably the best donut hole I’ve had since I was little and donut holes were really actually donut holes. Not these bs overcharged wads of dough not holed from a donut for sale nowadays.

“That’s a really great photo.” – Me

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The dawning of a new donut. 2. Lobsta donut. 3. What is that? 4. Another one?

If you have brains you will get Papa John’s tonight. Please, someone, tell me what that filling is. LIKE THIS POST! Comment below too!!

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Get Your Line Up for National Donut Day – June 1st, 2018

May 31, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

Untitled design (1) If you haven’t subscribed to donut-diaries.com CLICK HERE to sign up for my guide to National Donut Day. If you don’t see the popup, click follow at the bottom right of the screen. The list includes a super healthy donut option that is nationwide, one-day-only donut treats you can eat with your dinner, and FREE donuts from some of your favorite shops. If you’re having trouble signing up you can email me at mariesdonutdiaries@gmail.com

Make sure you’re following Marie’s Donut Diaries on Facebook and Instagram for all of my National Donut Day info and my trip on the Butler County Donut Trail this weekend 🙂

Donut Reviews

Strawberry Fritter – Mighty Fine Donuts Review – Erie, PA

May 25, 2018May 24, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

I started writing and rewriting this post 10 times because, how do you start talking about the love of your life? Mighty Fine Donuts was the reason I went to confirmation classes, a place to smoke cigarettes and play lottery any time of the day or night, and my all-time favorite donut shop. I’ve been lucky to have a close relationship to the donut store for many years and will never turn down an invitation to go there. Sometimes when I’m alone, I have to stay away because the force of my love is so great I could self-destruct. So after fighting with myself back and forth deciding to go or not to go today – I rationalized to buy their fancy donuts that don’t come in the regular dozen pricing so I wouldn’t go nuts and eat a dozen donuts as soon as I got home.

Mighty Fine’s Fritters are delicious. They contain the balance of crispy outsides and sticky insides that all glazed confections should encompass. I chose the Strawberry Fritter this morning and was served by a friendly lady who shared some of her baby stories with me ❤ I left feeling happy and ready to EAT. I had the shakes when I finally got home and opened the bag. The fritter had the taste of what I was craving in my head. The outside had the fried crunch and glaze that was fresh and flavorful. The dough was fluffy inside with cinnamon (?) swirl throughout so it was not short on taste and never was a flat one-note donut. There was a pink tinge but overall I didn’t detect a lot of strawberry flavor. I didn’t care. It was so good.

THE BREAKDOWN: Strawberry Fritter

Store: Mighty Fine Donuts – Here’s their Facebook

Address: 2612 Parade St, Erie, PA 16504

Cost: $1.35 (I think :*)

What they want to highlight: They make good donuts.

What I thought was the highlight: Their display. ***GLORIOUS***

Rating out of 5 stars: 4.0 – It was exactly what I wanted, but didn’t really feel the strawberry connection, but also did not care.

Would I buy it again?: Yes, definitely when I need to buy a one-off donut and I’m not hoarding a whole dozen.

What could make it better?: To change the name to just fritter?

Leave a comment about Mighty Fine the Mighty Finest BELOW. Please 🙂 Ask me anything about them. If I don’t know I’ll try to find out. Hope you get some Mighty Fine soon!

Pre donut glory. My Presque Isle walk and Lighthouse visit got me HYPED!

I’ve seen better pictures of this storefront taken by accident. Still needed to show the Mighty Fine sign despite my poor skills.

Man, my photography was on point this morning! lol But really, the donuts still look amazing. A testament to their perfection.

The Strawberry Fritter ❤ Mighty Fine Goodness.

Donut Reviews

Royal Love Donut – Dunkin Donuts – Erie, PA 12th Street Location

May 18, 2018May 18, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

I was musing with my friend yesterday about Dunkin Donuts sponsoring me and she sent me an image of what could be me 🙂

I would have gladly posed with a dozen of Dunkin Donuts’ Royal Love donuts, but unfortunately, I am not a real-life princess like this lady. The carriage looks pretty sweet. WTF IS ON HER HEAD?

I did the next best thing to posing with donuts in Central Park and used my free donut coupon from before – last week? – and got me a free Royal Love donut. It was a hard buy because DD had a wide display this morning including vanilla cream that I love and seasonal Spring Fling and Comet Candy donuts that I neeeeeed to try. And Royal Love….is….jelly filled 😦 The donut always left after meetings in the conference room, on the tray at church, or in your cupboard getting mold on it. And for everyone out there saying, “I like the jelly filled – they’re my favorite.” You are probably the same type of liar as those who told me they “loved being pregnant.” A people pleaser liar, which is fine – we need you people so women will still enter pregnancy optimistically and someone will eat the jelly donuts.

Regardless of my personal bias, I tried to intake the Royal Love optimistically for the sake of Megan Markle. She won the lottery, she looks AMAZING – as does anyone who used to open cases on that game show – and she’s getting married tomorrow so YAY. Sadly, I can’t feign as much enthusiasm for the donut. It was typical DD dough, so average. It was typical DD chocolate frosting, so a little below average, but the fruit icing swirl (strawberry but tasted like fake raspberry?) was not a good compliment to the chocolate. The jelly was chunky 😦 I never want to think of chunky while eating something that I KNOW is making me chunky. At first I thought it was pieces of real fruit – gross but acceptable – but no it was like some old Smuckers that expired from the back of the cupboard 😦 So actually, I didn’t let any of my bias out of this review. If you like jelly donuts, I recommend.

THE BREAKDOWN: Royal Love Donut

Store: Dunkin Donuts lives here online

Address: 2545 W 12th St, Erie, PA 16505

Cost: FREE with my coupon

What they want to highlight: According to Dunkin’ Brands Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Nigel Travis, a dual U.S. and British citizen born and raised in Woodford, Essex, “As the U.S. donut leader, we love helping our guests make special occasions both big and small even sweeter with fun donut designs and flavors. The Royal Wedding represents optimism, happiness and joy, and thus is a perfect opportunity for our brand to celebrate. We hope all donut lovers, royalty or not, will enjoy the new Royal Love Donut…” Read more about it here.

What I thought was the highlight: The cute heart shape! And yes, I totally felt the optimism. Like, there’s a royal wedding, the bride’s from the United States, we are the best country in the world, and now Dunkin Donuts is gonna sell more jelly donuts than any other fiscal quarter in donut shop history.

Rating out of 5 stars: 1 – maybe less but I still love DD. Be a real princess and look at the donut, don’t eat it.

Would I buy it again?: No! But you should buy into their marketing and get it before it’s gone.

What could make it better?: Maybe a Boston Cream filling? To show we are still rebels? A lemon filling? I heard the royal wedding cake might be lemon? Something relating to a krumpet? Idk anything but jelly filled 😦

Are you going to try the Royal Love donut? Did you try it and LOVE IT? DO YOU LOVE JELLY DONUTS AND WANT TO FIGHT ABOUT IT? Leave a comment below 🙂 Or if you’re sane just like this post.

Cute shape ❤

Pretty, clean display as always. I heard DD was minimizing donuts offered and maximizing drinks. Good strategy cause their beves are BOMB! Truly why I love DD and the main reason I go.

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In case you didn’t know…useful information from Erie, PA donut blog

May 11, 2018May 11, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

I recently learned that to have a successful blog you need to provide readers with more than opinions and stories. You need to provide something useful to readers. Here is some useful information ≈ CLICK ↓ CLICK ↓ CLICK ≈
https://giphy.com/embed/ksKzKBIlV7GDCCPY77

via GIPHY
Thanks for making this picture Joe. It’s all the hearts ❤

Tag: friday

Raspberry Fritter – The Doughdrop Inn – Erie, PA

Chocolate and Vanilla Glazed Donut – The Doughdrop Inn – Erie, PA

Mighty Fine Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tim Hortons, Papa John’s – National Donut Day – Erie, PA

Get Your Line Up for National Donut Day – June 1st, 2018

Strawberry Fritter – Mighty Fine Donuts Review – Erie, PA

Royal Love Donut – Dunkin Donuts – Erie, PA 12th Street Location

In case you didn’t know…useful information from Erie, PA donut blog