The fastest way to get back to Seattle from BBQland is to go up through Montana. But there is time to get one last Top-33 doughnut stop into this particular road trip. Kansas is a doughnut wasteland, and I don’t quite have time to run back over to California – but Denver has a spot on the top list, and that spot is named Glazed & Confused.
Glazed & Confused is themed in a manner I would describe as “groovy.” Their logo stickers have a multicolored tie-dye backdrop, and they have strange green bulbs dripping from their interesting ceiling of cut-outs. Whoa, trippy.
The doughnuts do not, however, lean on Psycho-/Voodoo-Donut type zaniness in order to stand out. Certainly, there is a maple doughnut with a stick of bacon protruding from it. There are a few prominent topping elements perched on an otherwise ordinary looking doughnut. But Glazed & Confused is a serious doughnut place with a wacky doughnut place’s name.
When I walked in, they were empty. Blasting AC/DC on the overhead speakers, and a full case of larger-than-average doughzeroes. Looking at their case, they have a wide variety you might see at one of the other spots, in the fancy and extra-fancy tier.
In honor of Marianne’s part in this trip, I chose the Jack Blackberry, as a proxy for the holy blueberry doughnut grail. I got the Confuzed Samoa, since I was never able to get the Samoa from Gibson’s Donuts in Memphis. I got the Banana Bread because I’d never seen a banana bread doughnut before. And I got the vanilla bean glazed, because they didn’t even have a regular glazed ring. Not their style, you see.
The density, cream, and bright purpleness of the Jack Blackberry made for a super-sweet treat that I loved. The Samoa was just what I wanted from a Samoa Doughnut. A giant girl-scout-cookie that I’d say, “Talofa!” to anyday. The banana bread was true to it’s bananal namesake, but a little dry-seeming. This might be because I’m used to banana bread being almost pudding-like in moisture content. Finally, the vanilla glazed was the most interesting plain glazed donut I’ve had the whole trip.
Geography once again rears its often-ignored head to offer a relevant fact: Denver is more than 5000 feet above sea level. What does this have to do with doughnuts? Baking at altitudes above 3500 feet is different than baking at sea level. Gases expand and liquids evaporate more quickly, but with less air pressure things take longer to bake. The effects on fried dough, if not taken into account, are an over-risen, overcooked-outside-undercooked-inside mess.
G&C seems to have this completely dialed in. Their cake is very dense, to the point where I found the doughnuts very filling. Things were cooked all the way through. Maybe I just found them filling because I didn’t have Marianne helping me sample them. In any case, if you need high-altitude doughnuts, this is the place.