A Visit to Parkdale's Glory Hole Doughnuts by Ama Scriver

The sweet tooth tides are changing here in Toronto and the cupcake is no longer reigning supreme.  Right now, people are coming from far and wide to experience inventive and creative doughnuts.  Case in point: Glory Hole Doughnuts (1596 Queen St. W., 647-352-4848, gloryholedoughnuts.com, @GHoleDoughnuts), the lovechild of pastry chef Ashley Jacot De Boinod.

From the minute her doors open in Parkdale, she has people through the doors, demanding their coffee and doughnuts. With doughnut types like Beer Pretzel, Butter and Toast, Cinnamon Sugar, Lemon Ricotta with Olive Oil Glaze and Elvis and Marshmallow (to name a few), it's no wonder the donuts have become so popular.  Each are between $3 and $4.50 depending on the flavour, or you can opt to get a half dozen for $21, or a dozen for $38.

A resident of the Parkdale neighbourhood, Jacot De Boinod admits that she loves being able to set up shop close to home. She begins very early in the mornings, putting together her batches of yeast-based doughnuts for the day.  Sometimes they will have a special for the day (Cinnamon Buns, Cheese Buns, etc.) and she lets me know that they have lots in-store for their customers who visit on a regular basis. She candidly told me that she wanted to keep the menu changing and growing, like she did.

So what do the doughnuts taste like themselves?  First up, we tried the Butter and Toast doughnut, which tastes exactly how it sounds.  It may sound a little odd at first, but trust me its delicious. The sweet butter frosting and toasted bread crumbs give it a sweet but subtle flavor.

Next up, The Elvis with Marshmallow and Bacon (with apparently you can add bacon to any doughnut for $1 extra). You have your peanut butter frosting topped with nuts, an in-house made toasted marshmallow and banana chips. I think I literally thanked Elvis went biting into this doughnut.

After that, the only cake doughnut on the menu: Lemon Ricotta Doughnut Holes with Olive Oil Glaze.  It was still good but I prefer a good yeast doughnut myself.  I loved the light glaze and bite size of this.

Finally we had the Beer Pretzel doughnut with its lovely chocolate icing and crushed up pretzel bits.

Doughnuts are pretty much the most consumed baked good and Glory Hole, under chef Ashley Jacot De Boinod, are ripe in the market to take the crown for some of the most innovative doughnuts.

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Photos by Yuli Scheidt.

Amanda (Ama) Scriver is a foodie and music fiend. She is a food writer for Pink Mafia with her 'Eats' column and works as an event planner full-time. She enjoys random adventures that you can follow each and everyday through Twitter (@amapod) or follow through Instagram (username: amapod).