Fonuts

[sadie1263]

Deliciously addictive doughnuts would be perfect, if they weren’t so bad for you. Enter Fonuts, a Los Angeles shop that makes baked versions of the fried treat.

“We had a lightbulb moment and thought, ‘What a great idea!’ said Waylynn Lucas, a pastry chef who teamed up with her business partner Nancy Truman to develop the concept. The idea came after Truman, a voice actor, started selling her popular cakes in the shape of doughnuts at the farmers market. “We wanted to take it to the next level, baking yeast-raised doughnuts. We were basically re-inventing the doughnut, and it took a couple months of testing recipes and fussing with the cooking temperature to evolve it into what it’s become today.”

And what it’s become is a sensation; the shop, which opened on August 24 in West Hollywood, sold out its wares well before closing time almost every day in the first two weeks.

“It’s beyond our wildest dreams how well it’s been received so soon,” said Lucas. “It’s a new concept that no one else has done – we knew it would either be a great hit or a big flop.”

Part of the Fonuts draw is the vegan and gluten-free options; Truman is gluten intolerant.

“The gluten-free and vegan stuff has really gotten people up in arms in the best way,” Lucas explained. Of the eight staple flavors and rotating specials, maple bacon, lemon and strawberry buttermilk are the most popular. Truman and Lucas are experimenting with an ooey gooey but not-too-messy salted caramel flavor.

“Maybe you don’t always want something sweet with your coffee, so here you’ll find something that satisfies you,” say Lucas, who adds that chorizo cheddar and rosemary olive oil are favorites.

Could this be a more perfect doughnut? Lucas thinks so. She says spent more than two months driving around L.A. taste-testing her competition. While many of us can only dream of executing such a task in the name of work, Lucas says the experience taught her that, “wow, doughnuts are not really that good. All the flavor comes from the topping, and the dough basically just tastes like bread. With Fonuts, we actually fold ingredients into the batter.”

She does concede that there’s something to the greasy goodness of a traditionally fried doughnut.

“One of the great things about a doughnut is that first bite of greasy, fluffy goodness. You don’t get that from a fonut -- it’s a little more dense. But you get the full flavor of what you’re eating.” What you also don’t get, Lucas says, is “feeling like crap 30 minutes later.” And for that she credits fresh ingredients.

The bad news, if you don't live in L.A.: Lucas tells us that there aren't plans to open shop in the near future, and their first delivery attempt was so disastrous that they won’t be trying it again anytime soon. "We’d love to get there, but first we just want to keep our store on its feet,” she said.

bites.today.com/_news/2011/09/26/7974227-baked-not-fried-a-more-perfect-doughnut

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I've never felt crap after eating a doughnut. They are my pastry of choice along with croissants but croissants are the worst of the pastries - they have the most saturated fat by far, sometimes double the fat of a doughnut! And I think of that fact when I eat a doughnut. I consider it to be a healthy option.