Last month, Rachael Cholak and PVDonuts made me a donut lover again, I decided I would make the trek back to PVDonuts to try out their March Menu. March’s theme was ’90s inspired, which got me ready to bring back out my chokers and butterfly clips. Even though I was only an infant in the ’90s, I still like to consider myself a ’90s kid. The ’90s was a period of unprecedented commercialism, statement fashion trends, a boy band boom, and economic success. But to me, what really defines the ’90s is its childlike fervor. It was a time of unapologetic loudness and an overwhelming sense of youth. Everything was bright, especially the food. With things like colored ketchup, Trix yogurt, Wonderballs, and Dunkaroos, our lunch boxes looked like they just finished a Color Run.
The donuts of this month are inspired by all of those wonderful, sugar-filled ’90s foods that still hold a special place in our hearts. But sadly, there are only three vegan options: Nutter Butter, French Toast Crunch, and Wild! Berry Poptart. All donut ratings are out of 5 🍩s.
Nutter Butter
As I talked about in my last donut review, I love peanut butter and peanut butter flavored things. From kindergarten through 5th grade, I ate an Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day from my Lizzie McGuire lunchbox. So obviously, Nutter Butters are my favorite cookie; they are the perfect love child between creamy peanut butter and Snackwell’s Vanilla Creme Cookies.
The Vegan Nutter Butter donut is a brioche-like donut dipped in peanut butter glaze and rolled in crushed Nutter Butter cookies. The donut itself was very airy, light, and moist, but it did feel a tad bit greasier than the donuts from last month. Unlike the peanut butter glaze from last month’s PB&J donut, this glaze was perfect! The glaze was not too sweet and tasted exactly the inside of a Nutter Butter. But what totally ruined this donut for me was the cookie pieces on top of the glaze. The cookie pieces were soggy and tasted old. The softness of the cookies really overpowered the softness of the donut itself and ruined the whole texture profile of the donut, and I didn’t want more than a bite. If the cookie pieces were fresher, I definitely would want to try this donut again.
Rating: 🍩
French Toast Crunch
The French Toast Crunch Donut is a vegan donut base dipped in maple glaze and topped with French Toast Crunch pieces. The base was exactly the same as the Nutter Butter’s: airy, light, and moist. The maple glaze was spot on and tasted exactly like fresh French toast. But again, like the Nutter Butter donut, the toppings were not fresh. The French Toast Crunch cereal was stale and tasted old. The stale texture left me with a bad taste in my mouth so I didn’t take more than one bite. If the cereal were fresher on this doughnut and maybe if the doughnut were filled, like the non-Vegan French Toast Crunch donuts were, I would have enjoyed this more.
Rating: 🍩
Wild! Berry Poptart
The Wild! Berry Poptart donut is a vegan donut base dipped in a vanilla glaze and filled with a homemade berry jam. The base of this donut was a little bit denser than the previous two, but nonetheless was still very good. Unlike the lackluster jam from February’s menu, this jam was amazing and was my favorite part of the donut. It was tangy but sweet and definitely made of fresh fruit, as there were seeds sprinkled throughout. The glaze tasted and smelled like artificial vanilla flavoring, though, which was not super appetizing. This is just like a plain jelly donut with a very mediocre glaze. Without the glaze, I would definitely buy this again (and maybe even ask to buy a jar of the jam).
Rating:🍩🍩
After such a great experience last month at PVDonuts, I was expecting amazing things from March’s new menu. I am sad to say that this menu did not deliver and did not serve the ’90s justice. Or maybe this is just a reminder that not everything is as good as we remember; maybe these donuts were a calling to stop romanticizing the ’90s for something they were not.
Hungry For More Donuts?
– All of PVDonuts’ Vegan Donuts This February, Ranked
–How to Make the Most Insane Chocolate Vegan Latte Without Added Sugar