Nothing quite satisfies my appetite like a donut on Fat Tuesday.
Growing up in central Pennsylvania, my family always started the day with fasnachts, a risen donut sometimes covered in sugar.
Each year, I would wake up to a box of those Pennsylvania-Dutch classics, tempting me to bite my smile into the dense dough. While unhealthy, donuts lift the spirits before the 40-day Lenten fast.
Unfortunately, New York fasnachts don’t do it for me.
Determined to continue my Fat Tuesday tradition, I had to consider other options. What better replacement could there be but my personal favorite: the Boston cream.
A true German-American classic, the Boston cream donut surpasses all others in taste and ingenuity. With the doughy consistency of a Berliner, it offers something new to the pastry world. After all, who could refuse a donut version of an already delicious treat: Boston cream pie.
Many donuts, covered with frosting and sprinkled toppings, lack originality. Glancing through a viewing case at a bakery, one is bound to see countless donuts indistinguishable from one another.
That’s not the case with Boston cream. Its blend of flavors and textures, from the icing to the cream, surprise every one of the senses.
While a typical donut lacks a center, Boston creams do not skimp on filling. They do not fall flat and dry out like a cake, but rise like a doughy cloud.
Inside this cloud holds the secret to the Boston cream’s excellence: its pudding center. Each bite forces the cream to ooze out in lava-like fashion, coating the cheeks with sugary goodness.
The only possible downside: the Boston cream donut always leaves you yearning for more.
Tyler Grudi is an associate editor at The Bona Venture. His email is gruditj15@bonaventure.edu
