Sweet of the Week: Fall Flavors at Glazed & Infused
The official onset of autumn means aromas of cider and pumpkin and cranberries are wafting through the air. Sure you could go the traditional route and save room for pie and warm beverages, but doughnuts are an apropos medium for fall flavors as well, considering the inherent versatility in dough recipes, glazes and frostings, fillings, and other garnishes. The sky is truly the limit, making doughnuts veritable sponges for seasonal flavors. And so comes the whimsical new fall lineup of flavors from Glazed & Infused, a quirky doughnut shop with an infallible penchant for offbeat seasonal flare.
The most noteworthy thing about Glazed & Infused's new fall lineup is the debut of their first savory doughnut, a ham and cheddar creation glazed with Dijon. I have to admit, I was more than a little dubious about this one, and somewhat frightened. I am emotionally attuned to view doughnuts as innately sweet, just as I would expect all buttercream-frosted cakes to taste like sugar and not, say, blood sausage. But this is some kind of mind f*ckery I can get behind, considering how balanced and subdued the whole thing is. Although the herbed yeast doughnut is infused with Beeler's ham, roasted garlic, and local cheddar, it doesn't wallop you over the head with flavor. Rather, it tastes like the creamy, supple innards of a good, gooey Cubano, especially when the honey mustard glaze goes on top. I don't think I can eat a whole one, but I applaud the effort.
My favorite fall-tastic new flavor is the white chocolate-cranberry, a square filled doughnut brimming with white chocolate and accented with a tangy cranberry glaze. Together, the buttery chocolate plays off the tart fruit quite well, at once mellowing one another out and accentuating their respective flavors. The caramel pumpkin pecan is unabashedly indulgent and blunt, filled to bursting with pumpkin mousse and flecked with sticky caramel glaze and a sprinkling of toasted pecans. The apple cider doughnut is refreshingly restrained, a simple homage to the classic cider doughnuts of farmland lore, in this case a cider cake made with Seedling Orchard apple cider, speckled with cinnamon-sugar coating. Finally, perhaps as a nod to warmer weather and vacation-y imagery, there's a new pineapple-coconut doughnut to remind us of warmer days and sand between our toes. Damn it.
- Matt Kirouac