Doughnuts are Mankind’s perfect non-food. Non-food because dieticians call it empty calories. As you can probably tell, next to chocolate, the dark kind, I love doughnuts.

Americans have their Krispy Kremes, but Canadians have Tim Horton’s or “Timmy’s” as the locals call it. It’s the Canadian go-to store for doughnuts of all types. Timmy’s does make nourishing soups, healthy muffins, sandwiches and blender drinks, but I go for the doughnuts. There are the traditional round doughnuts with the hole in the middle that has about a thousand and one different kinds of toppings such as sprinkles, coconut, mini-smarties, a simple glaze and always, one with chocolate.

My favourite is a cruller, lightly drizzled with a glaze on a fluffy, airy doughnut blob that simply melts in your mouth. There is also the traditional Bismarck, the plump doughnut without the hole and filled with raspberry jelly–sometimes a lemon filling or blueberry or cherry jam. Most people know this as a jelly doughnut. There is also an apple fritter which is a little more solid with chopped apples and cinnamon studded throughout. And, then there’s  the deliciously decadent Long John’s, sometimes filled with a light custard filling or not–with a topcoat of dark chocolate along its length. Lately, I’ve been doing research on Long John’s at any place that makes fresh doughnuts on the premises. I discovered my closest supermarket, a Save-On, that is a mere 3-blocks walk from where I live–makes Long John’s early in the morning and if I time my morning walk right,  I can purchase warm, custard-free Long John’s with its topcoat of melted dark chocolate. I always buy 2 so I can share with my Hubby. Of course, he knows that I know that he doesn’t eat doughnuts, so I get to enjoy both. His loss, my gain, in more ways than one!  Safeway, another supermarket that use to be on the Save-On site, also had a big bakery and made doughnuts too. At that time, the Safeway baker also made “Orange Twisties,” a decadent piece of twisted doughnut drizzled with tiny bits of grated orange peel in a light orange-flavoured glaze–sweet, satisfying and so not-good for you! Safeway disappeared and so did their Orange Twisties.

At the annual Classic Car Show, the Rotary Club sells mini-doughnuts. I love these too as they roll off the conveyer belt and scooped into paper bags–still warm and lightly dusted with cinnamon sugar. Timmy’s has the larger version of Cinnamon-Sugar Old-Fashions” and if you’re really worried about the sugar, you can also get them plain.

Thinking about doughnuts does have its pitfalls. It’s late at night and your mouth and tummy is more than ready for a doughnut  and all you have are healthy wheat-thin crackers. . . . Bummer!