Nothing chases a mouthful of donuts like a toasty, warm cup of coffee. But donuts don’t discriminate; almost any beverage can be married with your favorite oily cake. However; to give your palette the most flavorful experience, you must choose the right drink pairing. Here is a guide to pairing popular donuts with your favorite drinks:
1. Classic Plain Donuts
Next to coffee, hot chocolate is a toasty addition to any donut feast. When you’re indulging in a classic old fashioned or honey glazed, dunking your nuts in a steaming cup of hot chocolate allows them to absorb all the delicious flavors of the drink until your donut is moistened enough that it melts in your mouth. If you’d rather have something cold to dunk with, a glass of milk will do just the trick. If it’s good enough for Santa, it’s good enough for me. Use different types of flavored milk to satisfy your palette, or even better, add a little bit of Baileys to the milk to give it a kick.
2. Chocolate Donuts
We all know how well chocolate goes with strawberries and most fruits. So consider pairing a chocolate-infused donut with your favorite fruit smoothie or fruit juice. Even fruit-flavored beer with a cherry or blueberry taste is a great choice, especially when you’re having a late night donut craving. And for the winos, you can never go wrong with a fruity red Cabernet to wash down that smooth, chocolaty icing.
3. Cream Filled Donuts
When it comes to rich, cream-filled donuts, a sparkling dessert wine is always a safe bet. But, if you’re worried about the sweetness overload, consider matching the filling flavor to complimentary ingredients in the drink. For example, a ricotta filling tastes heavenly with a Tripel Belgian style beer which has a slight bitterness that lends itself nicely to the tanginess from the ricotta; and a jelly-filled donut goes great with a sweet blush wine or Pink Moscato.
4. Coconut Donuts
This nut from the tropics is worthy of a fruity umbrella drink that tastes like paradise. Chase your coconut donut with a passion fruit juice, Piña Colada, or a tangy lemonade. If you’re in a celebratory mood, pop a bottle of bubbly and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how perfectly it goes with the coconut.
5. All Fixings
Donuts that are dipped, dunked and stuffed with every sugary topping imaginable are already enough to send your taste buds into overdrive. So keep your beverage of choice simple, like a flavored bottle of water or a glass of milk. If that’s child’s play for you, beer offers a lot of varieties to help bring out the different toppings of the donut. To complement a caramel drizzle go with a brown ale; for donuts that are more on the nutty side, the crispy taste of a dark lager is a great addition; and there are an abundance of chocolate flavored stouts that offer just the right amount of sweetness to match any chocolate-drenched donut.
