Now that doughnuts are finally having their moment in the spotlight, I’m making sure to cram in as many as possible whether at home or away. High on my list of Charleston haunts to hit was Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts, the premier purveyor of fancy doughnuts in town.

Allison Smith, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of Charleston, opened the shop in 2011 and makes twelve different varieties daily using as many local ingredients as possible. In fact, many of the herbs and berries found in her doughnuts are grown in the garden right behind the shop.

The Astronomer and I made sure to set our alarm clocks this morning because these babies have been known to sell out well before the shop’s advertised closing time of 3 PM.

The first doughnut we sampled, a classic raised ring with a spot-on raspberry glaze ($1.99), made us smile from ear to ear. The texture of the dough was definitely good, but it was the tart and bright glaze that made this doughnut one to remember.

We also really liked the sweet potato cake doughnut ($1.99), which was made from a spice-inflected sweet potato purée batter and topped with a brown-butter glaze and chopped candied pecans. It represented everything that is great about southern desserts in doughnut form.

The hits kept coming with the apricot cobbler ($2.50), a yeast-raised doughnut filled with an apricot compote and sprinkled with streusel. The Astronomer and I are suckers for fruity doughnuts executed well.

And finally, an apple bacon fritter ($2.99). Missing the irresistible crags and nubs that make a fritter a fritter, this one’s texture was more like that of a raised doughnut. We liked how every bite contained a little bit of Granny Smith apple, but couldn’t detect too much bacon action.

Glazed is good, really good!

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Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts
481 King Street
Charleston, SC 29403
Phone: 843-577-5557

You could say that I have a thing for doughnuts…

• & a Doughnut at Umamicatessen
• Blue Star Donuts
• Diaz’s Bakery
• Donut Bar
• Dough
• Doughnut Hut
• Doughnut Plant
• Doughnuttery
• Dynamo Donuts
• Earl’s Donuts
• Fresh Donuts
• Frost Doughnuts
• ICDC (Ice Cream, Doughnuts and Coffee)
• Lozzi Donuts & Coffee
• Mary’s Donuts
• Mighty-O Donuts
• Nickel Diner
• Primo’s Westdale Donuts
• Randy’s Donuts
• Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee
• St. John Bakery
• Stan’s Donuts
• Street Donuts
• Texas Donuts
• The Donut Man
• The Doughnut Vault
• Top Pot Doughnuts