Grilled Donuts

[Andrew Fenton]

On a visit to Maine this weekend, I was introduced to an unexpected and wholly sybaritic delight: the grilled donut. I was told about them, and was told that they're a New England thing (though none of my ME or RI friends had heard of them). We spent some time working with the grilled donut concept and concluded that it's something that absolutely deserves to be better known.

Grilled donut mark 1 was based on the big ol' glazed donuts from a local bakery in Gray, ME. Since these donuts are exemplary in their natural state, we were faced with a difficult question: could they be improved? We decided they could, and set to rigorous scientific experimentation. (By "rigorous" and "scientific" I of course mean "drunken" and "debauched".)

Our preparation was very simple, just grilling for a couple of minutes on either side until the glaze remelted and hardened:

The lighting isn't so great on this photo, but you can see that some caramelization has occurred. But this donut was a little too soft to maintain its shape on the grill.

Grilled donut mark 2 is based on a day-old jelly donut. This was an improvement on the original: after a day, it'd dried out enough to maintain its shape, but was still fresh enough to be tasty:

Here you can really see the caramelization. This is a donut with something that all donuts-- donuts as I have known them-- have lacked: a sugary caramel shell. This is, in other words, donut brulée, and it's fantastic: crunchy, flaky, oozy, all at once.

How to improve? Well, using a kitchen torch would help, letting you use really fresh donuts (and letting you use the kitchen torch-- an end in itself). And I think that ice cream could be involved somehow... but some things are perhaps better dreamed than dared.

[chefpeon]

I think I see the seal of "Homer Simpson" on this!

"MMMMMMMMMM Grilled Donuts......."

[cotovelo]

Someone told me about frying a Krispy Kreme glazed donut in clarified butter until it got a caramelized crispy crust.....I must say, that I love trying weird things like this so I gave it a shot. Not that I would eat this everyday (or ever really), but it wasn't that bad.

[...tm...]

Unfortunately, I learned a long time ago that cake donut donut holes are even better when split in half, grilled or griddled and buttered. Some things you just can't unlearn.

[Jujubee]

For those days you aren't already lighting a grill, this is a great place to use a panini maker. The doughnuts get kind of flat and squished, but crispy and evenly marked.

[rlibkind]

Hmmmm. This concept is not unlike a Philadelphia classic: a sticky bun split and heated on a steel griddle.

[M. Lucia]

Even better: put a donut in a panini press.

Use one of those light glazed donuts like your basic krispy kreme. Press between grill. They wil be very thin, the outside of the donut will caramalize into yummy sugary goodness and they'll still have a bit of chewiness in the center.

Nice clear grill marks too.

[Misa]

Oh my. That sounds very tasty!

[Ninjai Fanatic]

definitely a must try! :0

[jcho]

So glad to see I am not alone, although my treat is slightly different. My mom taught me years ago to slice a glazed doughnut in half, toast in the toaster oven, and butter it!!! YUM!

[etalanian]

We've heated our doughnuts in the toaster oven, but never til they caramelize. OMG, sounds excellent. I can't wait to make this for my kids. And, for anyone in the Philly area, there is a very small chain of YumYum Donut stores that make the best doughnuts in the area. They're up around Horsham and Hatboro. Much better than the air doughnuts made by Krispy Kreme.

Eileen

[SaltySnack]

My mother always toasted powdered donuts and then buttered them. We used to call them something and of course now i can't remember it. But the powdered sugar would melt and turn crispy. Plus, they were little so they were just a little something extra sweet and tasty.