Daddy's Donuts & Bake Shop in Middletown, NY

With the holidays comes a need for baked goods, whether home-made cookies by the dozens or specialty items from a beloved bakery, people seem to crave specific combinations of sugar, dough or batter.  Whether we want sprinkles, frosting, chocolate topping with or withot fillings of cream or jelly, we know we want a sweet treat after our holiday meals.  At Daddy's Donuts & Bake Shop in Middletown, NY customers can also add a touch of whimsy from childhood by creating confections topped with favorite cereals or based on flavors from popular candy bars.

I checked the website before my visit and was surprised to see they had baked goods ranging from fresh bread and bagels to cannoli, pie, cake, danish and yes, of course, donuts.

When I entered the shop, I could not resist inhaling deeply when I first detected a variety of smells associated with pastries including the powerful aroma of sugar. Everything outside of Daddy's Donuts simply ceased to exist.  All thoughts revolved around selecting just the right items while the rest of my senses tried to remain rational and coherent.  I struggled to concentrate long enough to read the menu board, but my eyes were scanning the room, the displays, the racks, the shelves and fresh items filled the surfaces.  How would I decide?

Even now, as I compose this blog, I find myself carefully looking through the photos to see if I missed anything I may want to try next time.

I decided to try to make things simple by asking for a dozen donuts including an assortment of popular and cereal donuts as well as two maple bacon donuts.  The next two photos are what I received:

Smores, Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Loops and M & M candy - oh my

Captain Crunch Berry & Maple Bacon are among the choices

The donuts are a light, yeasty cake and did not feel oily, greasy or heavy.  Nicely done.

I then placed an email order to be ready for pick up on Christmas Eve morning. Thought the line was a bit lengthy (to me this shows how popular and in demand the business is as they had plenty of staff working), my order was ready and accurate. Also included in the donut order was a struffoli which I brought to my son's house for Christmas brunch.

Crispy dough balls placed in a circular ring and festively topped with sprinkles made for a pretty and delicious alternative to cookies or cake.

The two donuts I tried were the Almond Joy and Maple Bacon.The Almond Joy was filled with a delicious vanilla cream, topped with dark chocolate, shaved coconut, slivered almonds and very nicely conveyed all of the flavors one would associate with the candy bar.

The Maple Bacon was a stick donut which I had to break in half for a smaller serving size. The frosting was easily identified as maple without being cloyingly sweet. Crispy bacon bits were the perfect balance in texture, salt and, well, bacony goodness! Among the other flavors we tried were the Nutella, Boston Cream and we also gave some cannoli's as gifts which were well received by a discriminating friend.

Welcome to the neighborhood Daddy's Donuts & Bake Shop. I indulged in and shared your products with family and friends who were all Fed Well this festive holiday season.  Wishing you and yours a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!