The quest

It all started with this article in the Star Tribune one Saturday morning....

...an article on the top 11 donut places in the twin cities. Matt and the kids have a long history of frequenting donut places. It all started when we were in residency and Sadie was a baby. I was up much of the night with our sweet little girl who wanted to be held nonstop, resulting in an exhausted Mommy when 5am rolled around and Wyatt was waking up. Matt started getting up with Wyatt, despite being quite sleep-deprived himself from residency, at 5am and they'd quietly slip out of the house and head to our local grocery store. Matt said they often got to the bakery section at the same time the ladies would be putting out the donuts and the first few times they were there, the ladies would ask Matt, "What are you doing here so early?" but after a few weeks, they started to expect to see Matt and a bright-eyed 2-year old by his side. Sadie eventually slept better and Wyatt started sleeping until almost 6am, but the Saturday morning donut tradition continued into our year in Columbus when Matt and the kids would hit up Tim Horton's. And although donuts are clearly not a healthy option, they have provided some great memories between Matt and the kids and some fun places they have discovered over the years. So this article seemed to be written just for our family! 

Stop #1--MoJo Monkey in St. Paul

(I should actually have Matt next to me as I write this post because I have never been to some of these places, but I'll do my best to sum up what I heard about each of them. MoJo Monkey is a mix of traditional as well as trendy donuts....bacon donut, fruit tart donut, french fry donut but also your usual cake, glazed, etc.

Stop #2: Glam Doll in Minneapolis--for the true foodie

My parents happened to be in town this weekend, so my Dad joined the boys on their outing. 

It was also Wyatt's week with the 'cup' from their hockey tournament and they were given the task of taking pictures with the cup, so Wyatt wanted to bring it to get donuts!

The loot that came home--they are known for their peanut butter siracha donut as well as the apple bourbon fritter with bacon.....even their regular glaze donut is actually orange, cinnamon and ginger-infused glaze

This was probably one of Matt's favs but the kids' least favorite---a serious foodie donut place! The kids were searching for the 'regular' donuts! 

(Even the employees dress like they are straight out of the 1920's--hence the name Glam Doll--complete with bright red lipstick, vintage clothing, and a bit of attitude!

Stop #3: Mel-O-Glaze

This was a family outing for all of us and I have to say that although it was in Minneapolis near Minnehaha Parkway, it was still in the middle of nowhere. It was literally in the middle of a neighborhood of homes! And to say that this place makes it's money purely on the taste of their donut would be more than accurate--they don't have a website, the seating looks like it was all purchased from random garage sales and when we asked for water, they had us walk back into the kitchen and get some from the tap ourselves. But they are known for their glazers---and for good reason!!

Check out those donuts! (Blake looks thrilled, doesn't he?!)

This donut was absolutely huge and SO good!! It had a bit of crunch on the outside but was so gooey and soft on the inside--the perfect combination. At this point in the search, Wyatt placed Mel-O-Glaze in the top spot (doesn't hurt that Wyatt's favorite donut is the original glaze so he rates each place based on how good their glazers are).

Stop #4: the Lynn in Minneapolis

We were really excited about trying this place and their sugar donut was rated as their reason for getting a spot on the top 11 of donut places in the cities. (My parents were also in town for this one, but for some reason I don't have a picture of them with us.) It looked beautiful on the outside and we were all pretty excited to get inside.

And then we walked in to see this.....a beautiful modern cafe with Pellegrino at each table and people quietly enjoying a nice breakfast. WHat?? This isn't a donut place! I mean, I'd love to go to breakfast with Matt at a place like this, but clearly we got something wrong.....

...we went to the register to ask if they had donuts and they pointed us to this small pastry section they had....and of course, just behind the register, I saw the article listing them as one of the top 11 donut places! See those little donut holes in a bowl?

Apparently they usually have full-size donuts but they had already run out, so we bought out all the donut holes and shared those instead.

"WHere are the DonUts?"

Surprisingly, they were quite good and I'm sure the full-size version would have been even better!

Stop #5: YoYo donuts in Minnetonka

This one was a serious hike for us--almost an hour away! But it was well worth it--YoYo definitely holds the #1 spot FOR SURE!!

(I was so thankful no one got these donuts!)

And yes, YoYo definitely had the best donuts, but having Matt's buddies stop by with their kids made it that much more fun!! (Matt called his good friend (Erik) Kucher and (Aaron) Merritt on our way over, since they both live near YoYo and they happily loaded up their kids and met us there!)

Sadie reading to the kids

The guys!

Our take-home

We still have a few places to hit--although two places on the list are local grocery stores (which the kids have already tried in the past). It was such a fun thing to do this summer and although not the healthiest 'goal' to work towards, it was fun to cross places off the list and rank them all!