DONUTS TO DOUGHNUTS -- Stop #3: Peter Pan's

Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop
727 Manhattan Avenue
Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Finally down to the last contender.  This donut shop came to me as a young, sugar-hungry child in Brooklyn, NY.  As far back as I can remember, Peter Pan's donuts were a staple at every family get-together, birthdays, holidays, and plain old Sunday dinner.  From the first bite of their Sugar-Raised Donut, I was hooked.  Let's face it as a kid anything with sugar on it was going to wind up in your mouth, but there was something about these donuts.  I could eat butter cookies and Italian pastries without force don't get me wrong, but I would always find myself along with my twin sister waiting for the plate of donuts to hit the kitchen table to make sure we grabbed our favorite donuts.  So without question, I had to include one of my favorite childhood memories in the competition.

My sister and I (who would not let me do this competition without her) made our way to Peter Pan's one morning to get our generous box of donuts for a "proper tasting" (well that's how we put it).  We hadn't been inside the bakery in a while and almost forgot how long the line always is especially in the morning.  The bakery offers tons of different donuts from the traditional yeast-raised donuts like Blueberry Jelly, Chocolate Glazed, and Sugar Twist, to cake donuts like Red Velvet, Old-Fashioned, and Whole-Wheat Glazed, all reasonably priced around $1.00.  Aside from the donuts a vast selection of breakfast breads and pastries is also offered consisting of Danishes, Black-and-White Cookies (the best one I've had in my lifetime), and other must-tries such as the Pistachio Muffin (also one of my favorites).  So naturally, the donut shop was packed with fellow dough-hungry fanatics, but we didn't grow the least bit impatient because we knew the wait was going to be worth it.

Tables during the morning rush!

Stepping inside you walk into a retro, old-fashioned donut shop with the bakery selections on one side and high-top table seating on the other.  Already at 9 AM, each table was filled with what looked like the bakery regulars (which includes my grandmother, to whom I thank for the introduction to this bakery).  The girls behind the counter have the same uniform as that from my childhood; a 1960's diner-esque green and pink dress.  I happen to think that they are adorable.  A great quality this donut shop has is that they have not changed throughout the years.  It's a good feeling going back to somewhere you grew up loving and seeing that like your love for their food, they haven't changed.

After waiting a bit, we put in our order for a small box of our favorites mixing it up to get a proper taste of everything they had to offer.  We had no complaints about the service, it was quick and painless.  We decided on the Sugar-Raised Donut, French Crueller (my sister's favorite), Whole Wheat Glazed, and although we never sprang for them as kids a Whipped-Cream topped yeast-raised doughnut.  The smell of the doughnuts made us nearly run to the car to get home quicker.  Then, along with our usual apple with breakfast, we sat to savor our doughnuts and relived our childhood, with more of a sophisticated palate of course.

The donuts were fresh as the shelves are regularly filled throughout the day and let off an intoxicating scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cream.  We started with the never disappointing Sugar-Raised (pictured left).  The texture of the fried dough was perfectly light and airy, one of the most gentle donuts I've ever bit into.  However, I think what sets these yeast-raised donuts apart from others is the taste of the dough.  Looking at the dough you can see the little specks of spice and flavor, to me what tastes like a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon and possibly a bit of lemon zest.  The combination of the texture and taste of the dough which is vaguely sweet with the crunch of the sugar on the outside makes for an absolutely satisfying bite, and a quick one at that; it should take at least three minutes give or take to finish this donut and I did it in less than 60 seconds.  You wouldn't blame me.

Interior of French Crueller

Moving on to the French Crueller I let my sister have the first bite as I could see it in her face she couldn't wait much longer as I took it out of the box.  The French Crueller  is made with Pate a Choux which I had experience with making in pastry class; an eggy dough which has great height when baked or fried.  The donut is fried then simply topped with a sugar glaze.  This donut makes for more of a "bite" as the exterior of the dough is thicker and although wonderfully airy inside, it is wetter and denser in consistency (refer to picture right).  This dough as well had a "nutmegy" taste but much less noticeable than the other.  I think what makes this donut so likable is the texture of the Pate a Choux dough with the delicate sugar glaze.  The dough is the least bit sweet making it impossible to overload on sugar but also making it impossible not to want another one as it jump-starts your sugar craving.  Although delicious, it can seem a bit collapsed at times and taste like it has been sitting for a while, and still has not surpassed the Sugar-Raised for me.

Whole-Wheat Glazed

The Whole-Wheat Glazed (pictured left) came out of the box next and tasted better than I remembered. It happens to be my Aunt Jenny's favorite and I would always see her slowly eating it with her coffee after dinner.  OKAY, first of all I don't know how she could eat it so slow, and second of all I applaud her for making such a good choice.  I can imagine people choose this donut because they think it's the healthier choice, and yes that went through my mind as well, but let's face it a donut is a donut and it's going to get fried so my picking was solely based on taste.  The dough is what attracts me to this doughnut the most.  As a cake doughnut of course it does not have that fluffy quality the yeast-raised has and is much more like a coffee cake but it packs so much flavor.  With this donut you get a bigger kick of cinnamon and nutmeg but you also get kind of a gentle "burnt" flavor from the exterior of the donut which makes for a great combination.  The sugar glaze on top adds a perfect balance to the donut making it one of my new favorites.

The last lonely donut in the box was the Whipped Cream*.  We left it for last because I'm not going to lie it kinda of intimidated us a bit.  It is a much more obnoxious donut than the rest as it is topped with a generous mound of fluffy cream.  Although this has always been my mom's absolute favorite, we were always afraid it would be too sweet and would tell her she was crazy as she would sit down to enjoy her donut and roll her eyes at the two of us.  Nevertheless, we decided "Hey, why not?" and went for it.  Bracing ourselves for the first bite we were pleasantly surprised that the cream was not overpoweringly sweet at all.  It was actually very tasty.  It is a thicker whipped cream verging on the consistency of a frosting, but is very delicately sweetened so you don't get half-way through the donut and get sick of it.  Yes, it is a lot of cream and maybe too much for my liking as I am more attracted to the simplicity in the donut, but it proved me wrong and is still one worth trying if you are a cream-lover.  I give my mom credit for this one, but shh! let's keep that between us.

As we finished our tasting we were overly stuffed but completely satisfied.  Although we loved the donuts for bringing us back to our childhood, we judged the taste of the doughnuts solely on the present.  Going into the tasting I told myself that these donuts were going to be hard to beat and after I was proven correctly bringing my rating of Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop to:

4.5 out of 5 STARS, and a command to go try it!


*I apologize for lack of pic for the Whipped Cream donut, we finished it off before we could stop for a picture!  But don't worry let your imagination run with it, it will only be better in person =)