We at Reminder Publishing love a good food review – see our “Best Damn Sandwich” column on the Dining & Entertainment page for proof. Last year a few members of the reporting staff did an ice cream feature where we traveled to six local ice cream shops and taste tested a “normal” and “fun” flavor, determining our favorite flavors and shops in the area. We also traveled to numerous coffee shops for a feature on the best cup of regular coffee, and to local chicken wing eateries to find the most mouth wateringly delicious “hot” and “mild” wings. So when our editor, G. Michael Dobbs, pitched the idea to the news staff of featuring six donut shops, comparing flavors, scents, textures, uniqueness and of course overall taste, we instantly all jumped on board.

Here’s the rundown – we picked six locations in the area to buy donuts: Bob’s Bakery and Bernardino’s Bakery, both of Chicopee, Chmura’s Bakery of Indian Orchard, Donut Dip of East Longmeadow, Pride, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Typically, we stick to non–chain locations for our reviews, however Mike mentioned he was impressed with the quality of Pride’s donuts, and we felt we had to include Dunkin’ in on our test out of New England loyalty. Once we selected our locations, we all opted to buy one glazed donut from each location as our “standard” donut, and then purchased a surprise, unique donut to bring to the table. We brought the donuts into the office on a Friday morning, photographed them all, and dug in to our reviews.

Bob’s Bakery

At Bob’s Bakery, we not only taste tested the shop’s traditional, glazed donut, but also their chocolate glazed. Each member of the news team was given a rating sheet to determine the donuts rankings on one to 10 scales on flavor, scent, texture, dough quality, uniqueness, sweetness and taste.

Across the board, Bob’s glazed donut was given high rankings for their dough quality, texture, flavor and overall taste. The glazed donut was thicker and cakier in texture. The strong scent of delicious baked goods wafted off the donuts – in fact – one reporter wrote on her sheet that the taste and smell of the donut reminded her of walking into a bakery.

Insofar as Bob’s chocolate glazed donut goes, this donut was the highest ranked pastry of all the donuts tested. The donut was almost slightly undercooked, which gave it a deliciously soft texture. The staff agreed that at times, chocolate glazed donuts can be too sweet, however Bob’s had a solid chocolate taste without overwhelming sweetness.

As previously mentioned, Bob’s chocolate glazed was the highest–ranking donut out of the 12 tested, and their glazed donut was a close second.

Pride

While most people find themselves filling up their gas tanks at Pride, their convenience store has numerous offerings for nourishment – including an array of donuts. In this reporters personal opinion, Pride had the most appealing looking donuts of all the shops we tested. They both had a fluffy look – the glazed donut was evenly covered in glaze and the apple filled donut (our unique option) was lightly covered in a powdered sugar that was generous, but not overly sugared.

Pride’s apple filled donut came in at third place in the great donut competition. There was an ample amount of filling that was reminiscent of apple pie. There was a good balance between the filling and dough, and the apple tasted real – not processed.

While many of the reporters enjoyed the large, raised look of the Pride glazed donut and its light texture, we agreed that the donut could’ve been sweeter.

Chmura’s Bakery

Chmura’s glazed donut was the largest of all of the donuts we purchased. We split each donut into six portions, one piece for each of us, and this donut afforded us each a few bites. This donut was melt–in–your–mouth delicious, light and fluffy. One reporter mentioned this donut reminded her of the donuts she has purchased in the past at the Big E. In addition – on the sweetness scale – the donut was described as sweet, but not too sweet.

The unique donut that we ate from Chmura’s was their blueberry cake donut. This donut is reminiscent of a blueberry muffin, however we all agreed there could’ve been more blueberries added to the donut. This donut was thick, cakey and large in size. Of all the donut shops, Chmura’s offered the largest donuts in size, a trend they carry throughout all their donut varieties.

Bernardino’s Bakery

Bernardino’s glazed donut was given a solid overall score by our reporters, noting that the dough was quite sweet and thicker than some of the competition. The texture was light, and was described as a “quality, raised donut.” The glaze was sticky, yet crumbly – a perfect mix of the two.

For our “fun” donut, we gave their Boston Cream donut a whirl. The cream was deliciously smooth and thick, however we had wished there was a bit more chocolate on top. Nonetheless, this Boston Cream was a solid option.

Donut Dip

“Melty,” “light,” “airy,” and “thick” were adjectives used to describe Donut Dip’s glazed donut, which was notably a bit smaller than the other donuts, however thicker than some. The donut was not overly sweet, and reminded one of our reporters of the Big E’s funnel cake.

The red velvet donut was next up in our round of tastings. We all agreed this was a unique option that we hadn’t seen before on donut shelves. This was an interesting spin on a chocolate glazed donut, however we had hoped for a bit more flavor. With that said, the donut was light, and had a gorgeous, rich, red coloring.

Dunkin’ Donuts

Dunkin’ Donuts’ glazed donut was a doughy, heavy in texture treat that was quite sweet. This was the smallest donut of the bunch – it was not thick what–so–ever. Dunkin’ has been going through changes of dropping the ‘donut’ from its name, and Mike aptly stated after eating their glazed donut, “What do you expect from a company that took Donuts from its name?”

Last but not least from our donut tasting test was Dunkin’s mint chocolate brownie donut. This donut is filled with chocolate, covered in a mint glaze with brownie crumbles atop. This is a seasonal donut and was around in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. We all agreed that this donut isn’t one we would ever purchase – it’s just too sweet. Bearing this in mind, the donut smelt like mint chocolate chip ice cream, reminded the staff of an Andes mint, and tasted strongly of brownie batter.

All in all, we agreed that Bob’s Bakery was the frontrunner. As we all walked out of Mike’s office – also known as the tasting room – we rushed off to the Big Y down the street to purchase salads, juices and fruit. We were all crashing from sugar overload and were in need of anything that was green and resembled a vegetable. A word to the wise: if you’re attempting a similar taste test, perhaps try less than 12 donuts spread amongst six people, give yourself a few hours to digest, and wear stretchy pants.