Every family has a special treat that is intertwined in many of their most precious memories. For us it is the delicious and trusty, donut.
I have such a long and meaningful relationship with donuts. Donuts are not something we get often, but when we do get them it is sure to be a special and memorable occasion.
When I was growing up my family had many traditions, one of my favorites was going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee each autumn. We would spend a long weekend in the Smoky Mountains perusing stores and visiting pancake houses. The “must do” stop on our list every year was to a place called, “The Donut Friar.”
The smell of the place alone has enough nostalgia to take me back to being a chubby, happy ten year old munching on my donut and sipping hot chocolate next to my grandpa. I remember it all so fondly. The donut: cake (the kind that is fried so perfectly that the edges are crispy), white buttercream frosting, and a million sprinkles.
This is still THE donut for all of us, everyone in my family has a special fondness for this donut.
We still take the long way around from every trip to stop at this little spot and get a dozen or two to freeze for a rainy day. Freezing these special donuts is like curating the past and ensuring there are more special memories to be made in the future.
Freezing sprinkle donuts is not an idea I came up with on my own, this practice was taught to me by my sweet grandmother. She had a bakery in her town (which was about an hour away from where I lived) that also made a perfect cake sprinkle donut. She would buy them by the dozens and freeze them for my sisters, cousins, and I. Every time we came to her house to visit we were met with warm smiles and donuts thawing on the kitchen counter.
Donuts themselves are a treat, yes, but so much more to me and everyone I love.
See, you can not just “whip up” a donut or run out and get one anytime. They are generally made in the wee hours on the morning and sell out by 10 or 11 in the morning. I am saying all that to really say, if someone brings you a donut they thought about you, you were on their heart. If I bring you a donut I most certainly love you.
Maybe that is why there is a hole in the middle, so we have room to fit our love inside.
