During the years I’ve been gluten-free, I’ve noticed that what many of us miss most (or at least a lot) are donuts. Specifically, yeast donuts. Gluten-free cake donuts have been on the market for awhile, and occasionally if you’re lucky, you’ll happen across a GF bakery that knows how to make yeast donuts, but those are few and far between.
I grew up on Dunkin Donuts. I discovered Krispy Kreme in high school. I adored both. I miss both, especially DD since I have many good memories associated with DD. I miss the chocolate frosted, the strawberry frosted with sprinkles, the jelly donuts (any kind), the cream-filled, and so forth.
I was never really a cake donut person. If I want cake, I’m going to have cake; not cake masquerading as donuts!
But for years, cake donuts were pretty much all there was.
I had one yeast donut out in Phoenix, AZ, and it was amazing. For 7 years, I’ve been hoping to find GF yeast donuts for sale somewhere else, and for 7 years I have been disappointed.
And then I was offered to review some donuts for Kinnikinnick (which I’ve done before, and they’ve been cake), but this offer had a difference. I’d get to try the Pumpkin Spice donuts (again) and a new soft donut. Soft like yeast? Sure, I was definitely up for that!
The pumpkin donuts have been vastly improved. They were good the first time I tried them several years ago. They are light-years better now. Delightful little pumpkiny donuts in a yummy glaze. They’re not yeast, but if you like pumpkin, you won’t care. So good! I shared them with T as well, and she thought it was delicious! (She does not need to be gluten-free, so I always like to have her try samples I receive since she still knows what gluten-full foods taste like.)
I also was sent a box of vanilla donuts + icing. If you’ve been missing the little icing packets that come with Pillsbury Toaster Strudels, you’ll squeal with joy when you see and taste the icing that comes with these donuts!
This donut is small and light. It can go right from freezer to microwave to your mouth without any thaw time. 15-20 seconds works well (if you do 2 at a time, maybe 30 seconds, depending on the strength of your microwave).
Then you get to ice it with as much or little icing as you like. For my first donut, I did half-and-half, so I could get a fair taste of the plain donut. I love icing. LOVE. But I could easily eat these donuts plain. They are amazing. This is how I remember yeast donuts. THESE are the donuts I have been looking for!
T thought these were amazing too.
These donuts are GLUTEN-free, DAIRY-free, and NUT-free. You can read more about them here. This is a PDF sheet that will give you nutritional information on both products, as well as providing the UPC code, which may be helpful if you are trying to get your local grocery store to carry the soft donuts. The Pumpkin Spice donuts are seasonal and may not be something stores can carry.
The only problem I had with either of these donuts was the packaging. Although the boxes close (if you open them carefully), there is no way to reseal the inner plastic packaging, and it rips easily. On the other hand, there is very little chance that these donuts will stick around in your freezer long enough after opening to get freezer burn!
I also recommend cutting the icing packets a part instead of tearing across the dotted line which separates each packet (the plastic rips easily).
Each package also comes with instructions on how long to microwave them, which is a huge plus! (More companies need to follow suit!)
Anxious to try these donuts out yourself? Check out my Facebook page and see if you can win an awesome donut prize pack! Five lucky winners (must be in North America) can try to win 4 boxes (3 of cake donuts: pumpkin, chocolate, and cinnamon, and 1 of the new soft vanilla) each!