limited time donut – Marie's Donut Diaries

Paczki Polish Doughnuts – Zabawa Polish Heritage Festival – Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Erie, PA

August 25, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

I had some unexpected, very limited edition donuts this afternoon at the 25th Annual Zabawa Polish Heritage Festival. For pretty much the first time in a month I decided to leave my house for a social outing with my husband ❤ ❤ ❤ following the lure of handmade pierogis. We navigated to the east side for the weekend festival and stood in lines and blah blah, ate the pierogis, and saw only people I liked so overall it was a success. Since my pregnant body only lets me out of the house for an hour or so, we were in and out and stopped to get pie before exiting the festival. But it wasn’t pie time – there were donuts! Paczki Polish Doughnuts to be specific. We got eight more food tickets and I was then the proud owner of three of these powdered sugar concoctions.

The Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church where the 25th Annual Zabawa Festival is being held in Erie, PA

I was already in festival/fair/amusement park mode just from the energy of the crowd – some rude people, some drunk people, families, and so on – and then add the food and I was ready for Paczki Polish Doughnuts to finish off the day. They are basically (or essentially…I guess exactly?) fried dough covered with powdered sugar. What set them apart from regular funnel cakes and fried food fare was the denseness of the dough. They were similar to NOLA style beignet thickness, but were soft and not crunchy. I also enjoyed that there was minimal grease residue that often can ruin a funnel cake. To top it off they were served hot, which enhances many donuts and I believe is the case here as well. Overall these donuts were sweet, doughy, fried to perfection, and a good once a year treat. Try them yourself at the festival tonight until 10PM or tomorrow from noon to 6PM or forever hold your peace (or piece I guess) until next year (which is probably the only time most Erie area residents traverse to this neighborhood).

Bringing these beauties home

THE BREAKDOWN: Paczki Polish Doughnut

Store: 25th Annual Zabawa Polish Heritage Festival at Holy Trinity Parish

Address: 2220 Reed St, Erie, PA 16503

Cost: 3 donuts for $4 (8 tickets)

What they want to highlight: Raising money for Holy Trinity Parish while showcasing Polish heritage

What I thought was the highlight: Foood food and more fooooood

Rating out of 5 stars: 2.6

Would I buy it again?: Honestly, probably not. It was good for fried dough but the Cherry Pie looked super good that was selling alongside the donuts.

What could make it better?: Really nothing that seems feasible…maybe adding an amazing filling or a dipping sauce? But would that be traditional? Is this donut even traditional now? I guess I didn’t learn a lot about being Polish.

The sign that lured me

For fair-fried dough it was top notch. For a donut…it was a sweet dough with sugar so I’ll eat it.

Leave a comment about your love for fried dough or being Polish or festivals or really anything you want to talk about 🙂 Please and thanks.

Donut Reviews

Chocolate Coconutty Donut – Dunkin’ Donuts – Erie, PA 12th Street Location

August 21, 2018August 21, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

Despite avoiding caffeine in general, I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts in Erie, PA before heading on my road trip in July to get a delicious Cookie Dough Iced Latte and added on a Chocolate Coconutty Donut. I love coconut and chocolate…so needless to say I knew this would be good. After pulling out of the drive-thru, I checked my bag and my Everything Bagel was included but no donut 😦 I parked and entered the store and the girl at the counter gave me two Chocolate Coconutty Donuts. Even though DD makes their share of mistakes, they always make up for it. Even better, I used a free donut coupon so I got 2 donuts for the price of none!

She looks goooooood!

The taste overall I give an A+, especially compared to other Dunkin’ Donuts donuts. If you love Mounds candy bars you will enjoy this donut because that is exactly what it tastes like but morphed into donut form. The chocolate topping was typical DD chocolate. The cake was the run-of-the-mill DD cake, which I do thoroughly enjoy because it is light and fluffy and sweet. If you get fresh dough it is even more lovely. But what sets this donut apart is the coconut filling – the rich frosting isn’t too thick or too whipped. It has the perfect frosting filling consistency with coconut flecks are so thinly sliced you don’t know if they are grains of sugar or some heart of coconut. Personally, I prefer not to be chomping on mush coconut shreds so I thought this (possibly toasted?) mini coconut flakes worked great with the white frosting filling. Buuuuuut it is DD, so there has to be a letdown. Again the letdown is not enough filling 😦 It looked majorly promising when I looked at the filling entrance that appeared to be overflowing with sweet goodness but working through the donut proved otherwise.

That dollop just isn’t enough. :( :( I guess if this was a Twix the “left side factory” would win :/

THE BREAKDOWN: Chocolate Coconutty Donut

Store: Dunkin’ Donuts

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

Cost: Free for me with a coupon + 1

What they want to highlight: I’m not even sure anymore.

What I thought was the highlight: Specialty donuts that knock it out of the park like the Chocolate Coconutty Donut 🙂 (Another win was the Vanilla Cake Batter – A MAJOR fail was the Royal Love Donut)

Rating out of 5 stars: 3.4

Would I buy it again?: Yes, but who knows when it will come and go?

What could make it better?: MORE FILLING ALWAYS!

Comment and Like this post 🙂 Share it with your Dunkin’ Donuts loving friends. Tell us about your DD experiences 🙂

Idk what that sprinkle was on top but it was sweet and good. Was it coconut? Was it sugar? Does it matter? No.

Happy Donut Hunting ❤

Donut Reviews

Vanilla Cake Batter Donut – Dunkin’ Donuts – Erie, PA 12th Street Location

May 30, 2018 mariesdonutdiaries

Lovers of super sweet coffee drinks that don’t taste like coffee can start praising the angels that Dunkin’ Donuts’ ice cream flavored drinks are back. I got my medium Butter Pecan Iced Latte with Fat-Free Milk today and was over the moon with excitement. Plus, I had my free donut coupon that I couldn’t use last time I went because their system was down. I ordered my drink from the Order-On-The-Go DD app feature, which is nice because it gives you free drinks! So the bad news is you can’t use any free donut coupons if you order your donut on the app. I learned this the hard way. Also, if you order the donut at the drive-thru and the cashier adds the donut to your order then you get charged and they told me in the past there was “nothing they could do.” So I pulled up to the drive-thru, explained I ordered via app and that I have a free donut coupon I want to use at the window. I thought we were on the the same page…and when I pulled up like every other time, they charged me for the donut automatically. Between their system being down and the glitches in their app – Dunkin’ Donuts has SO MUCH DRAMA. If they were to fall in to a person category they would be a cougar – established, shiny and pretty attracting millennials daily but kind of a hot mess underneath and you might not want to get tooooo close. Luckily, this cashier asked her manager to help refund me and was very kind and apologetic. The manager seemed annoyed – I realize it is only $.99 but um the chances of me paying for a DD donut are slim. Anyway, that’s my gripe. Beware free donut lovers. Don’t get fooled.

Now on June 1, National Donut Day, you will get a free donut with the purchase of a beverage so go live it up and get yo-self a free treat. Like “treat yourself.” That’s a thing people say now to excuse bad behavior like buying $45 lipstick when they can’t pay their rent or eating…a donut.

So onto the donut – Vanilla Cake Batter. I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone that I love to eat dough and batter and anything else sickeningly sweet. One of my favorite delicacies as a child was scooping out some butter flavored Crisco and then coating the Crisco with brown sugar. I still like that and I’m terribly disappointed there is so much negativity around cookie dough and cake batter eating because of the raw egg. Idk what happens? Salmonella? Whatdoesthatevenmean? But to make sure me and the baby stay salmonella free, I have avoided raw dough. 😦 So the good part of this donut is the vanilla cake batter filling **************************AMAZING******************************** It’s sugar shock sweet and textural like a batter or dough might be and I hearted it v much. The bad part is it’s a smaller dollop of filling than a cheap restaurant gives you of a side of guac 😦 Maybe I am a filling fiend but still fiending nonetheless. The dough was DD standard – sweet and light and tasted fresh so all stars there. The frosting was OK tasting but more pretty than anything with the sprinkles that were also OK. I’ll definitely try the chocolate cake batter donut next.

THE BREAKDOWN: Vanilla Cake Batter Donut

Store: Dunkin’ Donuts lives here online

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

Cost: FREE with my coupon after some drama

What they want to highlight: Supposedly not their donuts anymore. I heard they will be called just Dunkin’ and will reduce their donut selection to focus on their drinks. Honestly, as sad as that makes me because I love donuts – they definitely have the right idea. I just wish they would make their donuts BETTER and then the drinks and donuts could live in harmony.

What I thought was the highlight: The Butter Pecan Iced Latte is ALWAYS the highlight. But the filling of the donut was the best part of the confection.

Rating out of 5 stars: 3.5 – if you never find yourself saying “this is too rich” you might give this donut a 4+. It just needed more richness for me lol

Would I buy it again?: Yes! I would “buy it” for free again.

What could make it better?: More filling!

What is your favorite raw dough? Do you think Dunkin’ Donuts’ drinks are better than their donuts? Can you call it just Dunkin’? COMMENT BELOW! And sign up for the mailing list if you haven’t already.

Some glamour shots of the Vanilla Cake Batter Donut from DD.

Official portrait of my breakfast. Looks more regal than the Royal Love Donut, don’t you think?

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.