196 Fun Facts About Donuts

On which day is National Donut Day, when US doughnut shops give away freebies, observed each year?

The First Friday of June; the lesser-known National Jelly-Filled Donut Day falls on June 8.

Which two Salvation Army volunteers pioneered making donuts for soldiers in World War I?

Helen Purviance and Margaret Sheldon, Salvation Army ensigns serving in France, fried the first doughnuts for the troops in 1917, seven at a time in a small frying pan, in a hut near the front.

What is the most common cooking method for traditional donuts?

Yeast-raised doughnuts absorb about 25% of their weight in oil during the roughly 150 seconds they spend in the fryer.

In which US state was the world's largest jelly-filled donut, over 1.6 metric tons, made in 1993?

The record for the largest filled donut was set in Utica, New York, in 1993, with a jelly-filled donut weighing 1.695 metric tons (3,739 lbs).

Which chain, founded in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1948, is usually credited with popularising the spelling 'donut'?

Dunkin': the Quincy, Massachusetts shop took the name Dunkin' Donuts in 1950, and the chain's growth carried the short spelling into everyday American use.

Which 1988 Interplay adventure game has a Donut World that only policemen may enter?

Neuromancer, Interplay's 1988 adaptation of William Gibson's novel, puts a cops-only Donut World in Chiba City and throws the player out of it, a wink at the police-and-doughnut cliché.

Which belief about the Salvation Army's World War I donuts is a historical misconception?

'Doughboy' for a US infantryman was already in use during the Mexican–American War of 1846–47, decades before anyone fried a donut in a trench helmet.

WWI Salvation Army volunteers cut soldiers' doughnuts with baking-powder cans and which other improvised tool?

A coffee percolator tube: the Salvation Army volunteers stamped the outer ring with a baking-powder can and punched the hole with the percolator's tube while improvising in France in 1917.

Cambodia's nom kong doughnut is named for its shape; kong literally means what?

Wheel: nom kong, Khmer for 'wheel cake', is a ring of jasmine-rice-flour dough that is deep-fried, drizzled with palm-sugar toffee and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Roughly what share of a yeast-raised doughnut's weight is oil absorbed during frying?

25%: a yeast-raised doughnut fries longer than a cake doughnut and soaks up roughly a quarter of its weight in oil; cake doughnuts absorb a little less but carry extra fat in the batter.

In what year did The Salvation Army first establish National Donut Day?

1938: The Salvation Army launched National Donut Day during the Great Depression as a fundraiser honouring the women who had served doughnuts to soldiers in World War I.

Charlie Chaplin's 1914 bakery-set silent short Dough and Dynamite was made by which studio?

Keystone Studios: Dough and Dynamite was one of the dozens of shorts Chaplin made at Mack Sennett's Keystone in 1914, his first year in film; he plays a waiter drafted into the bakery during a strike.

In the United States, the shortened spelling 'donut' remained rare until which decade?

1950s: Dunkin' Donuts adopted the short spelling in 1950 and grew into a national chain, turning 'donut' into everyday shorthand; earlier uses such as a 1929 Los Angeles Times article were scattered.

A recipe for globi, fried dough balls with cheese, honey and poppy seeds, appears in De agri cultura by whom?

Cato the Elder: his De agri cultura, written around 160 BC, gives a recipe for globi, balls of cheese and spelt dough fried in fat and served with honey and poppy seeds.

Which country is famous for 'oliebollen', a fried dough precursor to the modern donut?

Netherlands: oliebollen are Dutch fried dough balls, often studded with raisins and dusted with powdered sugar; Dutch settlers carried the related olykoek to New Amsterdam.

Which country eats the most doughnuts per person and has the most doughnut shops per capita?

Canada: its coffee-and-doughnut habit grew up around chains such as Tim Hortons, founded in 1964, and Canadians buy more doughnuts per person, with more shops per capita, than any other nation.

Which croissant-donut hybrid pastry was created by chef Dominique Ansel?

Dominique Ansel introduced the Cronut at his bakery on May 10, 2013, after two months of testing; it is made from layered viennoiserie dough fried in grapeseed oil and filled with cream.

In which film did Clark Gable teach Claudette Colbert to dunk a doughnut, popularising the habit in the 1930s?

It Happened One Night: in Frank Capra's 1934 comedy, Clark Gable's reporter lectures Claudette Colbert's heiress on the proper way to dunk a doughnut, a scene credited with spreading the habit.

Which twisted doughnut is, in its 'French' form, extruded from choux pastry?

Cruller: the French cruller is piped from choux pastry into a ridged ring that fries up light and airy; in northern Germany the twisted kind is called Hirschhörner, or deer horns.

Sufganiyot got their modern name after Polish Jewish immigrants brought the ponchik to which country?

Israel: Polish Jewish immigrants brought the jam-filled ponchik to Mandatory Palestine, where it was renamed sufganiyah and, fried in oil rather than lard, became the standard Hanukkah treat.

The Dutch olykoek, an ancestor of the doughnut, has a name that literally means what?

Oil cake: olykoek, from Dutch olie (oil) and koek (cake), was a ball of sweetened dough fried in hog fat that Dutch settlers brought to New Amsterdam in the 17th century.

According to culinary historian Linda Civitello, why was the hole in the middle of the doughnut invented?

It let the doughnuts cook faster: Civitello argues the ring shape cured the soggy centre by letting heat reach the dough from both sides; food writer Michael Krondl suspects the ring was borrowed from the jumble cookie.

Which cartoon character's love of doughnuts is a running joke and the focus of several episodes?

Homer Simpson: 'Mmm... doughnuts' is one of his catchphrases, and in the 1993 'Treehouse of Horror IV' segment he sells his soul to the devil for a single doughnut.

How many powdered doughnuts did Kevin 'L.A. Beast' Strahle eat in three minutes for a 2017 Guinness record?

9: Strahle downed nine powdered doughnuts in three minutes at the Guinness World Records office in May 2017 on a Facebook Live broadcast; the sugar dust dries the mouth, which makes them slow to swallow.

Which type of donut often features a distinctive rectangular shape, sometimes topped with maple frosting?

Long John: the oblong yeast doughnut, often iced with maple or chocolate and sometimes filled with custard, is a staple of Midwestern doughnut cases.

With what shipboard object did Hanson Gregory claim to have punched the first doughnut hole in 1847?

A tin pepper box: Gregory, a 16-year-old aboard a lime-trading ship in 1847, said he punched the hole with the ship's tin pepper box to cure the raw, greasy centre of the fried cakes.

The iconic Randy's Donuts sign, a giant donut on a rooftop, is a famous landmark in which US city?

Randy's Donuts, famous for its distinctive giant donut sign on the rooftop, is a well-known landmark in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles.

Which doughnut style fries for only about 90 seconds, hotter than its yeast-raised counterpart?

Batter-based: cake doughnuts, leavened with baking powder rather than yeast, are denser and fry hotter and faster than yeast-raised rings, which spend noticeably longer in the oil.

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), what is the name of the sheriff Sonic nicknames 'Donut Lord'?

Tom Wachowski even got a tie-in comic, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Adventures of Sonic & Donut Lord.

What are the small fried dough balls removed from the centre of ring donuts commonly called?

Donut holes: the centres punched out of ring doughnuts are fried as bite-sized balls and sold by the dozen; Dunkin' and Tim Hortons each gave them their own brand names.

Besides lemon rind and cinnamon, which cargo spice did Elizabeth Gregory reportedly put in her early doughnuts?

Nutmeg: Elizabeth Gregory, mother of sea captain Hanson Gregory, is said to have spiced her fried dough with nutmeg and cinnamon from her son's cargo and put walnuts in the uncooked centre, hence 'dough-nuts'.

Which Cambodian-American built the doughnut empire behind the documentary The Donut King?

Ngoy said the chewy rice-flour nom kong of his childhood sparked his interest; his California shops trained hundreds of fellow refugees who opened their own.

In Iron Man 2, who tells Tony Stark at Randy's Donuts that his new assistant is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?

Stark is sitting inside the shop's giant rooftop doughnut sign in full armour, eating from a box of Randy's, when Fury sits down opposite him.

Churros, sugared sticks of fried choux dough, come from Portuguese cuisine and that of which other country?

Spain: churros are a Spanish breakfast and fairground staple, piped through a star tip and dunked in thick hot chocolate; emigrants carried them to Latin America and the Philippines.

What did Salvation Army volunteers use as improvised rolling pins for WWI donuts?

Short on equipment near the front, the Salvation Army women rolled dough with wine bottles and even artillery shell casings, and cut rings with whatever cans and tubes they could find.

As of 2010, which US metro area had the most doughnut shops per capita, at 25.3 per 100,000 people?

Providence, Rhode Island, out-doughnuts Boston per head, helped by a dense network of Dunkin' shops across New England.

The world record for the largest stack of donuts, 3,198 of them, was set in which country?

The Jewish Life Centre built the 3,198-doughnut tower in Johannesburg on 5 December 2018 to celebrate Hanukkah; it stood 152 cm (about 5 ft) tall.

Which Tim Hortons doughnut, on the menu since 1964, was reported its most popular in 1991?

Fritter: the apple fritter, an irregular glazed cluster of fried dough and apple pieces, has been on the Tim Hortons menu since the chain's first store opened in 1964.

What did WWI soldiers call The Salvation Army women who served them donuts?

Doughnut Lassies: about 250 Salvation Army volunteers went to France in 1917, and the women frying doughnuts in huts near the front became known to the troops as Doughnut Lassies or Doughnut Girls.

A small amount of what is traditionally added to pączki dough so that, as it evaporates during frying, less oil soaks in?

Grain alcohol: a splash of spirytus or rum goes into pączki dough; it evaporates quickly in the fryer so less oil soaks in, and a pale stripe around the middle shows the dough was fried in fresh oil.

Which 1988 sci-fi musical comedy with Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum features the Randy's Donuts sign?

Earth Girls Are Easy: Julien Temple's 1988 musical drops three furry aliens, played by Goldblum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans, into the San Fernando Valley, and the Randy's Donuts rooftop sign is among its Los Angeles locations.

In what year did YouTubers Nick DiGiovanni and Lynja create the world's largest donut cake, at 102.5 kg?

DiGiovanni and Lynn 'Lynja' Davis built the 102.5 kg (225 lb 15 oz) pink-frosted doughnut cake in Boston on 3 April 2023, having already set records for the largest cake pop and chicken nugget.

National Donut Day began in 1938 as a Great Depression fundraiser for The Salvation Army in which US city?

Chicago: The Salvation Army's Chicago branch created National Donut Day in 1938 to honour the women who served doughnuts to soldiers in World War I and to raise money during the Depression.

Fánk, a yeast doughnut served with powdered sugar and lekvar, is a traditional sweet of which country?

Hungary: fánk is the Hungarian carnival doughnut, a yeast dough enriched with butter, egg yolk, milk and a splash of rum, fried and served with powdered sugar and apricot lekvar.

Near the front in World War I, roughly how many donuts could two Salvation Army women cook in a day?

2,500: one Salvation Army account has two women frying 2,500 doughnuts a day near the front, alongside 100 cupcakes, 50 pies, 800 pancakes and 255 gallons of cocoa, while two others served.

Pączki, filled doughnuts eaten in the run-up to Lent, come from which country's cuisine?

Poland: pączki are the Polish pre-Lent doughnut, filled with rose-hip or plum jam and eaten by the million on Tłusty Czwartek, Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent.

In which 1987 comedy does Officer Zed teach recruits how to 'properly' eat doughnuts with coffee?

The scene parodies the cop-and-doughnut cliché that Twin Peaks also played with, keeping its sheriff's station permanently stocked.

Oxford Dictionaries call 'donut' American but name which US chain as a notable exception sticking to 'doughnut'?

Krispy Kreme: founded in 1937, the chain has always used the full 'doughnut' spelling on its boxes and signs, while Dunkin', Winchell's and Shipley went with 'donut'.

Küchenmeisterei, a 1485 Nuremberg cookbook, holds the first known recipe for which fried pastry?

Gefüllte Krapfen: Küchenmeisterei, one of the earliest printed cookbooks, gives the first known recipe for a filled fried doughnut, the ancestor of the jam-filled Berliner.

A 13th-century Arabic cookbook by Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī has a doughnut-like recipe for which pastry?

Sfenj: al-Tujībī's Fudalat al-Khiwan, written in 13th-century al-Andalus, describes isfanj, a semolina dough shaped into a ring with a hole, the ancestor of the Maghrebi sfenj.

Which American author described 'dough-nuts, or oly koeks' in his 1809 History of New York?

Washington Irving: writing as Diedrich Knickerbocker in A History of New York (1809), he described 'balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called dough-nuts, or oly koeks'.

The first known printed use of 'donut' appears in a 1900 book by which humorist?

In Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa, a character says he will just drink a cup of coffee and eat a donut.

Per author John T. Edge, which New York equipment maker coined 'donut' in the 1920s for foreign buyers?

Display Doughnut Machine Corp.: Edge writes that the New York maker of Adolph Levitt's automatic fryers shortened the word so overseas buyers could pronounce it when ordering the equipment.

In which decade did frozen baked doughnuts first go on sale in US supermarkets?

1960s: frozen baked doughnuts reached US supermarket freezers in that decade, when home freezers had become standard and Dunkin' Donuts had been franchising since 1955.

A recipe for fried dough 'nuts' was published in 1750 in England under the name of which county?

William Ellis's The Country Housewife's Family Companion called them Hertfordshire Cakes, Nuts and Pincushions.

By which year had two-circle doughnut cutters begun appearing in home-shopping catalogues?

1870: by that year two-circle cutters for stamping ring doughnuts were being offered in home-shopping catalogues, two decades after Hanson Gregory's claimed 1847 invention of the hole.

Cake doughnuts are fried at roughly what temperature?

190 to 198 °C: cake doughnuts, leavened with baking powder, fry in oil at roughly 190–198 °C for about 90 seconds, turned once, while yeast doughnuts fry slightly cooler for longer.

About how long does a yeast-raised doughnut spend in the fryer?

150 seconds: a yeast-raised doughnut fries for about two and a half minutes at 182–190 °C, a longer and slightly cooler fry than a cake doughnut's, which is why it absorbs more oil.

A finished yeast-raised doughnut averages about what weight?

38 g: a finished yeast-raised doughnut weighs around 38 g, since it rises taller and absorbs more oil, while a cake doughnut comes out at 24 to 28 g.

Cake flour, used in cake doughnuts, has a protein content of roughly what?

7 to 8 percent: cake flour's low protein, about 7 to 8 percent against 12 or more for bread flour, forms little gluten, which gives cake doughnuts their tender, crumbly crumb.

Cake doughnuts first appeared in American cookbooks in which decade?

1830s: cake doughnuts, leavened chemically rather than with yeast, turned up in American cookbooks in the 1830s, once pearlash and other quick leaveners were in home use.

What distinguishes the surface of an old-fashioned doughnut?

It is cracked, with tapered edges: the old-fashioned is a dense cake doughnut whose batter splits as it fries, leaving a craggy surface and tapered edges that hold glaze; they were once called fry cakes.

Basic doughnut glaze is made from confectioner's sugar mixed with what?

Water: the simplest glaze is confectioner's sugar thinned with a little water, sometimes with vanilla or milk, poured over warm doughnuts so it sets into a thin, translucent shell.

The word 'cruller' comes from a Dutch word meaning what?

In northern Germany the pastries are called Hirschhörner, or deer horns.

On the US West Coast, what is a Long John doughnut usually called?

A maple bar is simply a Long John with maple icing, and it may be topped with chopped bacon.

Which Greek fried dough balls are drizzled with honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon?

Loukoumades: bite-sized balls of yeast dough fried crisp, drenched in honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon or crushed walnuts, a street sweet sold across Greece; their Turkish cousin is lokma.

The pastry name 'bear claw' was first attested in a 1914 newspaper ad for a bakery in which city?

In Denmark the pastry is called a kam and in Germany a Kamm.

Within how many days of launching the Cronut did Dominique Ansel file for a trademark?

Nine: Ansel filed to trademark 'Cronut' on May 19, 2013, nine days after the May 10 launch, by which point a line of over 100 people was forming outside his SoHo bakery each morning.

The Cronut is fried in what kind of oil?

Grapeseed oil: Ansel fries the laminated Cronut dough in grapeseed oil, chosen for its neutral flavour and high smoke point, then rolls it in sugar and fills it with flavoured cream.

The Boston cream pie, namesake of the doughnut, is most often credited to a chef at which Boston hotel?

Parker House: the Boston cream pie is credited to French chef Augustine François Anezin at the Parker House hotel, which opened in 1856; Massachusetts made it the official state dessert in 1996.

A Persian, a spiral fried sweet roll with pink icing, is a specialty of which Ontario city?

Thunder Bay: the Persian, a cinnamon-roll-like fried sweet with pink berry icing, is a Thunder Bay institution associated with Bennett's Bakery; lore says it was named for General John 'Blackjack' Pershing.

Spudnuts, potato-flour doughnuts franchised from 1940, were created by the Pelton brothers of where?

Salt Lake City: Al and Bob Pelton developed the potato-flour Spudnut in Salt Lake City in 1940, after eating potato doughnuts in Germany, and franchised it into hundreds of Spudnut Shops.

Under what name did the Quincy, Massachusetts shop that became Dunkin' Donuts trade in 1948?

Open Kettle: the Quincy shop opened under that name in 1948 and was renamed Dunkin' Donuts in May 1950, the new name playing on dunking a doughnut in coffee.

What was the name of the Dunkin' Donuts mascot introduced in 1954?

Dunkie: the Dunkie mascot appeared in 1954, a year after the chain's first logo and a year before franchising began in 1955.

Why did Dunkin' discontinue its handled 'Dunkin' Donut' in 2003?

It was hand-cut and uneconomical: the handled 'Dunkin' Donut', a ring with a tab for gripping while dunking, had to be cut by hand, so the chain dropped it in 2003.

Which actor played Fred the Baker in Dunkin' Donuts ads from 1982 to 1997?

Michael Vale: the character actor played the sleepy Fred the Baker from 1982 until retiring in 1997, when Dunkin' gave him a public send-off with free doughnuts.

In which year did Dunkin' Donuts adopt the slogan 'America Runs on Dunkin''?

2006: Boston agency Hill Holliday launched 'America Runs on Dunkin'' in April 2006 as the chain pushed beyond New England into a national coffee brand.

What fictional language did 2006 Dunkin' Donuts commercials mock Starbucks-style ordering with?

Fritalian: the 2006 spots from Hill Holliday showed customers stumbling over a made-up 'Fritalian' menu language, then ordering Dunkin' lattes plainly in English.

Which private equity-backed company bought Dunkin' Brands for $11.3 billion in December 2020?

Inspire: the Roark Capital-backed owner of Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings closed its $11.3 billion purchase of Dunkin' Brands in December 2020, taking Baskin-Robbins and the Mister Donut trademarks with it.

Dunkin' officially dropped 'Donuts' from its name in which year?

2019: the rebrand to plain 'Dunkin'', announced in September 2018, took effect in January 2019 and reflected the chain's shift to being a 'beverage-led' company.

Which shoe company made a strawberry-frosted doughnut running shoe with Dunkin' for the 2018 Boston Marathon?

Saucony: the Saucony x Dunkin' Kinvara 9, released for the 2018 Boston Marathon, came in a doughnut box with strawberry-frosting pink uppers and rainbow sprinkles on the heel.

Which actor's Dunkin' commercial with Jennifer Lopez first aired during Super Bowl LVII in 2023?

Ben Affleck: the Boston native worked a Dunkin' drive-through window in the Super Bowl LVII spot until Jennifer Lopez pulled up, and returned in 2024 leading the DunKings.

Which colour did Dunkin' Donuts begin using for its branding in 1966?

Bright orange was added to the palette in 1980.

Which British company acquired Dunkin' Donuts in 1990?

Allied Lyons: the British food and drinks group, owner of Baskin-Robbins since 1973, bought Dunkin' Donuts in 1990, and Dunkin' promptly absorbed the Mister Donut chain in the US.

Whose Dunkin' Donuts ad was pulled in 2008 after critics said her scarf resembled a keffiyeh?

Rachael Ray: Dunkin' pulled her 2008 iced-coffee ad after commentator Michelle Malkin said her fringed scarf looked like a keffiyeh, then took criticism for caving.

The Dunkin' founder's autobiography borrowed its title from which advertising catchphrase?

Time to Make the Donuts: the Dunkin' founder's 2001 memoir took its title from Fred the Baker's catchphrase; he got the idea for the chain from selling food at factories and construction sites.

Before founding Dunkin' Donuts, its founder rose to national sales manager of a company distributing what?

Ice cream: having left school in eighth grade and delivered telegrams for Western Union at 14, he rose to national sales manager of an ice-cream distributor before starting Industrial Luncheon Services in 1946.

Mister Donut was founded in 1956 by Harry Winokur, who was the brother-in-law of which rival founder?

William Rosenberg: Winokur had been Rosenberg's partner in Dunkin' Donuts before a falling-out led him to launch Mister Donut in 1956 as a direct rival.

The first Mister Donut in Japan opened in 1971 in which city?

Osaka: Duskin opened Japan's first Mister Donut in Minoh, Osaka Prefecture, in 1971, and the Japanese franchise went on to outlive the brand's US parent.

Mister Donut's chewy Japanese signature doughnut, the Pon de Ring, is made with which starch?

Tapioca: the Pon de Ring, Mister Donut Japan's ring of joined dough balls, gets its chewy, pull-apart texture from tapioca starch, and the mochi-doughnut style spread to the US via Hawaii.

Vernon Rudolph chose Winston-Salem for Krispy Kreme in 1937 partly because it was home to which company?

Camel Cigarettes: Rudolph reasoned that a town supporting R.J. Reynolds' Camel brand could support a doughnut business, rented a building in the Old Salem district and sold mainly to grocery stores.

The first Krispy Kreme shop outside the American South opened in 1939 in which city?

Akron: a Krispy Kreme opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1939, the chain's first shop outside the South, though it did not expand aggressively beyond the Southeast until the 1990s.

Krispy Kreme's yeast doughnut recipe was bought from a chef in which city?

New Orleans: Rudolph's uncle Ishmael Armstrong bought the secret yeast-raised recipe from Joe LeBeau, a New Orleans chef, and Rudolph carried it to Winston-Salem in 1937.

Under what ticker symbol did Krispy Kreme go public on the NASDAQ in April 2000?

It switched to the New York Stock Exchange as KKD in 2001 and peaked at $50 a share in 2003.

Which diet craze did Krispy Kreme's CEO blame for its first loss as a public company in 2004?

Low-carb: in May 2004 CEO Scott Livengood blamed the Atkins-style low-carb craze for Krispy Kreme's first quarterly loss as a public company, a claim analysts doubted since Dunkin' had not suffered.

Which Luxembourg-based investment firm took Krispy Kreme private in 2016?

JAB Holding Company: the Luxembourg-based investment arm of Germany's Reimann family closed its $1.35 billion purchase of Krispy Kreme in July 2016 and relisted the chain on Nasdaq in 2021.

Krispy Kreme's first store outside the United States opened in December 2001 in which Canadian city?

Mississauga: Krispy Kreme's first store outside the United States opened in Mississauga, Ontario, in December 2001, drawing overnight queues.

Krispy Kreme's first UK store opened in 2003 inside which London department store?

Harrods: Krispy Kreme's first British outlet opened inside Harrods in Knightsbridge in October 2003 and closed in June 2011 as the chain spread to high streets and Tesco counters.

Which cookie chain did Krispy Kreme acquire in 2018?

Insomnia Cookies: Krispy Kreme bought a majority stake in the late-night cookie-delivery chain in 2018, then sold most of it in 2024 at a $350 million enterprise value.

Which fast-food giant agreed in 2024 to sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts nationwide, then cancelled the deal in 2025?

McDonald's ended it over 'unsustainable operating costs' after a Kentucky test and a partial rollout.

Krispy Kreme's 2010 grocery-store doughnut in the Carolinas was flavoured with which regional soft drink?

Cheerwine: the Cheerwine Kreme, filled with cream flavoured with the cherry soda, sold in Carolina grocery stores in summer 2010 and then only at the Salisbury, North Carolina store, where the drink is made.

Krispy Kreme's $1,685 charity doughnut of 2014, covered in gold and edible diamonds, was filled with jelly made from what?

Dom Pérignon champagne jelly, under 24-karat gold, raised money for The Children's Trust.

In 2021, Krispy Kreme offered US customers a free Original Glazed doughnut every day for showing proof of what?

COVID-19 vaccination cards earned a daily doughnut for the rest of the year; some doctors objected, and the company called it an occasional indulgence.

Which singer inspired Krispy Kreme's first celebrity-themed doughnut collection in 2024?

Dolly Parton: Krispy Kreme's January 2024 Dolly Southern Sweets collection, its first celebrity-themed line, included Peachy Keen Cobbler and Banana Puddin' Pie doughnuts.

Krispy Kreme's early recipe is thought to trace to an Ohio River barge cook whose doughnuts contained what?

Joseph LeBeouf's light and fluffy doughnuts inspired Rudolph's uncle Ishmael Armstrong.

Students at which university started the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a run with a dozen doughnuts eaten midway?

NC State: the Krispy Kreme Challenge began as a dare among North Carolina State students in 2004, a five-mile run with a dozen doughnuts eaten at the Raleigh store, raising money for the state's children's hospital.

The first Tim Horton restaurant, in North Bay, Ontario, sold what rather than doughnuts?

Hamburgers: Tim Horton's first venture was a hamburger restaurant in North Bay, Ontario, which flopped before he and Jim Charade turned to coffee and doughnuts in 1964.

What was Ron Joyce's job before he took over the fledgling Tim Horton Donut Shop in 1965?

Police constable: Joyce was a city police officer who had bought a Dairy Queen franchise, and when the city refused him a second location he took over Tim Horton's struggling doughnut shop in 1965.

Tim Horton won how many Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Four: Horton's Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967; he played 24 NHL seasons and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in 2017.

Why did Tim Hortons remove the apostrophe from its name?

Quebec language sign laws: Quebec's Charter of the French Language barred the English possessive apostrophe, so dropping it let the chain use one 'Tim Hortons' sign design across all of Canada.

Which American burger chain merged with Tim Hortons in 1995?

Wendy's: Dave Thomas's Wendy's International bought Tim Hortons in 1995 after the two chairmen met through a combined store in Montague, Prince Edward Island; Wendy's spun it off again in 2006.

The 2014 merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons created a parent company known by which initials?

RBI: the 2014 deal, worth about US$11.4 billion, folded Burger King and Tim Hortons into Restaurant Brands International, a new parent headquartered in Canada.

When Tim Hortons first ran Roll Up the Rim to Win in 1986, what was the biggest prize?

A snack box of Timbits: the 1986 launch offered modest prizes topped by a Timbits snack box, since the promotion was designed to lift coffee sales in the slow spring period.

Tim Hortons' Timbits take their name from founder Tim Horton and which English word?

Tidbit, a delicate morsel; Timbits arrived in April 1976, and French-speaking Canadians call them trous de beigne.

Which Canadian chain was the leading coffee-and-donut business in 1974, before Tim Hortons passed it?

Country Style: founded in Toronto in 1963, it had about 50 outlets by 1974 and led the Canadian coffee-and-doughnut trade until Tim Hortons' franchise push overtook it.

Winchell's Donut House was founded in 1948 in which California town?

Temple City: Verne Winchell opened the first Winchell's Donut House in Temple City, in the San Gabriel Valley, in 1948, and the chain spread across the western United States.

How many doughnuts make up the 'dozen' Winchell's Donut House became known for selling?

14: Winchell's countered Krispy Kreme's arrival in California with a 14-doughnut 'dozen', paired with its 'Home of the Warm 'n Fresh Donut' slogan.

Voodoo Doughnut, founded in Oregon in 2003, features which Haitian Vodou figure in its logo?

Its slogan 'Good things come in pink boxes' came after a co-founder saw pink doughnut boxes in California.

Which Voodoo Doughnut creation was named an 'Official City Doughnut' by a 2008 council resolution?

Portland Crème: the Bavarian-cream-filled, chocolate-topped Portland Crème was declared Portland's 'Official City Doughnut' in 2008 by a resolution Mayor Tom Potter introduced and the City Council passed.

Until 2006, when was Voodoo Doughnut's original shop open?

Only at night: the original Old Town shop opened in the evening and served the bar crowd until dawn before switching to round-the-clock hours in 2006; it also hosted legal weddings, complete with a 'Doughnut of Love'.

Top Pot Doughnuts, whose recipes once supplied thousands of Starbucks stores, began in which city?

Seattle: Top Pot opened on Capitol Hill in 2002; its name came from a salvaged 'Topspot' neon sign that lost its S in transit, and Starbucks adopted its recipes nationwide in 2005.

The Randy's Donuts building began in 1952 as a location of which drive-in chain?

Big Donut: Russell Wendell, a doughnut-machine salesman, opened the Inglewood shop in 1952 as one of his Big Donut Drive-In locations; Robert Eskow later renamed it Randy's after his son.

What name did Ted Ngoy give all the doughnut shops in his California empire?

He bought the first Christy's in La Habra in 1977 and kept the name for uniformity.

Who directed the 2020 documentary The Donut King?

Alice Gu: the cinematographer made The Donut King, her first feature as director, and it was selected for the 2020 South by Southwest festival before a theatrical and streaming release.

Shipley Do-Nuts was founded in 1936 in which Texas city?

Houston: Lawrence Shipley Sr. opened the first Shipley Do-Nuts in Houston in 1936, selling hand-cut doughnuts for five cents a dozen, and the chain stayed rooted in Texas.

Daylight Donuts, founded in 1954 by Tommy and Lucille Day, is headquartered in which city?

Tulsa: Tommy and Lucille Day began selling their doughnut mix from the trunk of their car in 1954, and the Daylight Donut Flour Company grew from Tulsa, Oklahoma into a franchise of hundreds of shops.

LaMar's Donuts opened its first shop in a converted gas station in which Missouri metro?

Kansas City: Ray Lamar, who began frying doughnuts in 1933 at age 17, opened the first LaMar's in a converted gas station in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1960; the company later moved its base to Denver.

Duck Donuts takes its name from a town in which US state?

North Carolina: the chain is named for Duck, a town on North Carolina's Outer Banks, where founder Russ DiGilio opened the first shop after finding the beach town had no doughnut shop.

Philadelphia's Federal Donuts pairs doughnuts and coffee with which third 'comfort'?

Fried chicken: Federal Donuts, opened in 2011 by Michael Solomonov and partners, sells Korean-style fried chicken alongside doughnuts and coffee, a pairing inspired by the Korean restaurant Cafe Soho.

Honey Dew Donuts opened its first restaurant in 1973 in which Massachusetts town?

Mansfield: Dick Bowen, who had learned the trade at 12 in his father's doughnut shop, opened the first Honey Dew Donuts in Mansfield, Massachusetts, in 1973 and grew it into a New England chain.

Doughnut Plant founder Mark Isreal first delivered his doughnuts to New York shops by what means?

Bicycle: Isreal fried doughnuts in his building's basement boiler room for five years and pedalled them to New York cafés by bicycle before opening his Lower East Side store in 2000.

A beignet, the fried pastry beloved in Louisiana, takes its name from a French word meaning what?

Bump: beignet comes from Old French buignet, a little bump or swelling, and French settlers brought the fried squares to Louisiana in the 18th century, where Café du Monde has served them since 1862.

What is a jam-filled Berliner called in the city of Berlin itself?

Pfannkuchen: in Berlin and much of eastern Germany the jam-filled doughnut is a Pfannkuchen, the word that means 'pancake' in the rest of the country, so Berliners never call it a Berliner.

The Italian bombolone takes its name from a word meaning what?

Tuscan bomboloni are filled from the top, so the filling is often visible.

Zeppole are traditionally eaten to celebrate which Catholic feast day?

Saint Joseph's Day: zeppole di San Giuseppe are eaten on March 19, the feast of Saint Joseph, patron of fathers; in Rome they are called bignè di San Giuseppe.

Venetian frittelle are served only during which season?

Carnival: frìtole veneziane appear in Venice's pastry shops only for Carnevale, the weeks before Lent; the classic version is unfilled, with pine nuts and raisins in the dough.

The Portuguese malassada gets its name from words meaning what?

Badly roasted: malassada comes from Portuguese mal assada, 'badly baked' or roasted, for a dough that is fried rather than baked; emigrants from Madeira and the Azores carried it to Hawaii.

Brazil's ball-shaped filled doughnuts are called sonhos, a word meaning what?

Dreams: sonho is Portuguese for 'dream'; Brazilian sonhos are fried yeast balls split and filled with cream or goiabada, a guava jelly.

Peruvian picarones are doughnut-shaped fritters made from squash and what other ingredient?

Sweet potato: picarones blend squash and sweet potato into a yeasted batter, fried in rings and served with chancaca syrup; colonial cooks devised them as a cheaper stand-in for buñuelos.

In Latin America, buñuelos are seen as a symbol of what?

They are traditionally prepared at Christmas, Easter and Hanukkah.

Lokma were described in 13th-century Arabic cookbooks under a name meaning what?

Judge's morsels: luqmat al-qadi, 'the judge's morsel', appears in 13th-century Arabic cookbooks such as al-Baghdadi's and even in One Thousand and One Nights.

The syrup-soaked tulumba takes its name from an Ottoman Turkish word meaning what?

Pump: tulumba is the Turkish word for a pump, a nod to the way the dough is forced through a star nozzle before frying; in Egypt and the Levant the same sweet is balah ash-Sham, 'Levantine dates'.

The earliest known jalebi recipe appears in a 10th-century cookbook by which author?

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq: his 10th-century Kitab al-Tabikh, the earliest surviving Arabic cookbook, describes zalabiya, latticed fritters dipped in honey perfumed with rose water, musk and camphor.

Gulab jamun is traditionally made mainly from which ingredient?

Khoya (reduced milk): gulab jamun dough is khoya, milk simmered down to solids, bound with a little flour, fried and soaked in syrup flavoured with cardamom, rose water, kewra or saffron.

The savoury Indian vada, sometimes called the Indian doughnut, is made from what rather than wheat flour?

Lentil or potato flours: the medu vada is a ring of ground urad-dal (black gram) batter, fried and eaten in South India with sambar and coconut chutney.

Sfenj, the Maghrebi ring doughnut, takes its name from an Arabic word meaning what?

According to legend it was invented in Al-Andalus when a baker dropped dough into hot oil by mistake.

Sata andagi, the Okinawan doughnut ball, is native to which region before it reached Okinawa?

Southern China: the deep-fried sugar ball is thought to have reached the Ryukyu Kingdom through its trade with southern China; in Okinawan the name is sātā (sugar) plus andāgī (deep-fried).

What does the Cantonese name for youtiao, yàuhjagwái, literally mean?

Ghosts fried in oil: yàuhjagwái, 油炸鬼, is 'oil-fried ghost', a folk jab at the traitor Qin Hui and his wife, whom the twinned dough sticks represent; they are eaten with congee or soy milk at breakfast.

Malaysia's kuih keria is a ring doughnut made from what?

The hot rings are rolled in granulated sugar for a crusted skin.

The Japanese an-doughnut resembles a Berliner but is filled with what?

Red azuki bean paste: the an-doughnut is a sugared fried bun filled with anko, the sweet azuki paste also found in anpan, and is a bakery and convenience-store staple in Japan.

The Cantonese pastry ngàuhleisōu is named for its resemblance to what?

An ox tongue: ngàuhleisōu, 牛脷酥, is 'ox-tongue pastry', an oval of sweetened fried dough sold at Cantonese breakfast stalls alongside youtiao.

Sel roti, a ring-shaped rice doughnut, is prepared during Tihar and Dashain in which country?

Nepal: sel roti is the Nepali festival bread, a ring of fermented rice-flour batter with sugar, ghee and spices, fried for Tihar and Dashain and shared with relatives.

Puff-puff, a fried dough ball eaten across West Africa, takes that name from which country?

Nigeria's name stuck; in Ghana it is bofrot, in Togo botokoin and in the Congo mikate.

Mandazi, an East African fried bread, is typically what shape?

Triangular: mandazi dough is rolled and cut into triangles before frying, their usual shape across Kenya and Tanzania; with coconut milk they become mahamri.

The South African vetkoek's name literally means what in Afrikaans?

Fat cake: vetkoek is literally 'fat cake' in Afrikaans, a ball of bread dough fried in oil; it is thought to date from the Voortrekkers of the 1830s and is often stuffed with curried mince.

A koeksister monument in the Afrikaner town of Orania honours the tradition of baking them to fund what?

Churches and schools: Orania's koeksister monument honours Afrikaner women who baked the syrup-soaked plaited pastries to raise money for churches and schools; the fried strips are plunged into ice-cold syrup.

Polish faworki, thin fried ribbons of dough eaten before Lent, are known in English as what?

Angel wings: faworki, also called chruściki, are strips of egg dough twisted through a slit, fried crisp and dusted with powdered sugar for Fat Thursday before Lent.

Slovenia's most famous jam-filled krofi come from which village?

Trojane: the roadside inn at Trojane, on the old Ljubljana–Celje road, made its apricot-jam krofi famous across Slovenia.

Romanian gogoși are filled with chocolate, jam, cream cheese or which surprising cheese?

Feta: gogoși, the Romanian fried doughnut, can be filled with sweetened white cheese such as feta as well as chocolate or jam; they are pancove in Transylvania and crofne in Banat.

Finland's munkki doughnuts are traditionally eaten with sima mead on which holiday?

May Day: on Vappu, Finland's May Day carnival, munkki doughnuts and lacy tippaleipä funnel cakes are washed down with sima, a lightly fermented lemon mead.

In Northern Ireland, ring doughnuts are known by what name?

Gravy rings: in Northern Ireland a ring doughnut is a gravy ring, 'gravy' being an old term for the hot cooking fat it is fried in.

What are glazed, twisted rope-shaped doughnuts called in the United Kingdom?

Yum-yums: the UK's twisted, glazed strips of croissant-style dough are sold as yum-yums in supermarkets and bakeries; in parts of Scotland ring doughnuts are called doughrings.

Norway's traditional bakery doughnut is called what?

Smultring: Norway's bakery doughnut is the smultring, a cake-style ring fried in smult (lard) and a Christmas staple; the jam-filled Berliner is also more common there than the US-style doughnut.

Ukrainian pampushky differ from most doughnuts because traditionally they are what?

Baked, not fried: pampushky are small yeast buns that are traditionally baked rather than fried, the savoury ones brushed with garlic oil for borscht; William Pokhlyobkin traced the technique to German colonists in Ukraine.

Spain's traditional rosquillas were purportedly introduced by which people?

The Romans: rosquillas, the ring-shaped Spanish doughnuts, are said to go back to Roman Hispania; in some regions they are an Easter pastry, while Madrid eats rosquillas for San Isidro in May.

Melbourne's hot jam doughnuts are a tradition at which venue?

Queen Victoria Market: the American Doughnut Kitchen van has fried hot jam doughnuts at the Queen Victoria Market since 1950; the jam goes in before frying, so eager customers burn their tongues.

In South Australia, a jam doughnut may be called a Berliner or by what other name?

Kitchener: South Australians renamed the Berliner the Kitchener bun during World War I, after Lord Kitchener, when German names fell from favour; custard and Nutella-filled versions followed.

Chile's Berlin doughnut is often filled with manjar, the local version of what?

Dulce de leche: manjar is Chile's caramelised-milk spread, the local dulce de leche, piped into the berlín, a doughnut made popular by Chile's large German community.

BeaverTails, the fried-dough pastry chain, opened its first permanent store in 1980 in which city?

Ottawa: Grant and Pam Hooker sold their whole-wheat fried-dough 'beaver tails' at the Killaloe fair in 1978 and opened the first permanent BeaverTails stand in Ottawa's ByWard Market in 1980.

Iran's syrup-coated fritters are called zoolbia and what?

Bamiyeh is named after the Persian word for okra, because of its shape.

Tunisia's traditional doughnut-like pastries are known by what name?

Yo-yos: Tunisian yoyos are rings or balls of orange-scented dough, deep-fried and dipped in honey syrup, sold from street stalls and bakeries.

A kurma, a small cube-shaped fried doughnut sold in Trinidad and Tobago, originated where?

Eastern India: kurma came to Trinidad with indentured labourers from the Bhojpuri belt of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh; the sweet dough is cut into cubes, fried and coated in sugar syrup.

Karachi's 'Navaz Sharif' doughnut, named after a politician, is covered in chocolate and filled with what?

It is similar to a Boston cream doughnut.

Which chain, founded in Sydney in 1981, grew into Australia's largest doughnut retailer?

Donut King: founded in Sydney in 1981 and later part of Retail Food Group, Donut King grew to hundreds of outlets across Australia, far more than any rival doughnut chain.

A record 'largest doughnut' of 90,000 individual doughnuts was built in Sydney in 2007 to promote which film?

The Simpsons Movie tie-in was obvious given Homer's appetite; 7-Elevens were also rebranded as Kwik-E-Marts that summer.

Which state hosts the Tour de Donut, a bike race with doughnut stops, in the town of Staunton?

Illinois: the Tour de Donut in Staunton, Illinois, knocks five minutes off a rider's time for every doughnut eaten at its stops; a documentary about it was titled Gluttons for Punishment.

Salvation Army volunteer Margaret Sheldon recorded making 22 pies, 700 cups of coffee and how many doughnuts in one day?

300: Sheldon's diary entry for one day in France read '22 pies, 300 doughnuts, 700 cups of coffee', a tally that shows how fast the treats caught on with the troops.

In Robert McCloskey's Homer Price, whose lunchroom has the runaway doughnut machine?

Uncle Ulysses: in 'The Doughnuts', the 1943 book's best-known chapter, Homer minds Uncle Ulysses' Centerburg lunchroom while the automatic doughnut machine refuses to stop.

Which Oxford economist created the doughnut-shaped model of 'Doughnut Economics'?

Kate Raworth: the Oxford economist's 2017 book Doughnut Economics drew the model as a ring whose hole marks people short of essentials and whose outer crust marks planetary boundaries.

During the 2013 lockdown after the Boston Marathon bombing, some Dunkin' Donuts shops stayed open to serve whom?

Police and first responders: at the authorities' request, a handful of Dunkin' shops stayed open during the April 19, 2013 lockdown to serve police and first responders while nearly every other business was ordered shut.

Sufganiyot, the jam doughnuts eaten at Hanukkah, are cooked in what, recalling the Temple miracle?

Oil: sufganiyot are fried in oil to recall the single day's supply of Temple oil that burned for eight days, which is also why latkes are fried for the holiday.

Oliebollen are traditionally eaten in the Netherlands on which occasion?

New Year's Eve: oliebollen are sold from street stalls through December and eaten on Oudejaarsavond, New Year's Eve, usually studded with raisins or currants and dusted with powdered sugar.

Belgium's smoutebollen and croustillons are typical snacks at what kind of event?

Carnivals and fairs: smoutebollen in Flanders and croustillons in Wallonia are fried to order at kermis fairs and Christmas markets; unlike Dutch oliebollen they usually contain no fruit, except sometimes apple chunks.

Austria's Bauernkrapfen are distinctive for what shape?

A thick ring, thin in the middle: Bauernkrapfen are stretched by hand so the rim stays puffy while the centre is thin, and the hollow is filled with jam or cranberry sauce; ordinary Krapfen are solid, usually with apricot jam.

Tim Hortons' first doughnut store opened on May 17, 1964, in which Ontario city?

Hamilton: the first Tim Hortons doughnut shop opened at 65 Ottawa Street North in Hamilton on May 17, 1964, co-founded by the Maple Leafs defenceman with Jim Charade.

How much did Ron Joyce pay the Horton family for their shares after Tim Horton's 1974 death?

$1 million: in 1975 Joyce bought out Tim Horton's widow Lori for $1 million; she later sued unsuccessfully to undo the sale as the chain grew into a multibillion-dollar business.

In which Afghan city did Tim Hortons open an outlet for Canadian troops on July 1, 2006?

Kandahar: the Tim Hortons at Kandahar Airfield opened on Canada Day 2006 at the request of Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier and served troops until 2011.

Tim Hortons' first US stores opened in 1981 in which state, where they proved unsuccessful?

Florida: Tim Hortons' first US shops opened in Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1981 and failed; lasting growth came later across the border in Buffalo and Maine.

When Tim Hortons opened in Madison Square Garden in 2009, it echoed Horton's stint with which NHL team?

He played for the Rangers from 1969 to 1971; the New York stores took over former Dunkin' Donuts sites.

Which Canadian doughnut variety was popularised by the Tim Hortons chain?

The dutchie: the square, raisin-studded, glazed yeast doughnut was one of Tim Hortons' two original offerings in 1964 and became a Canadian byword for a doughnut.

How many Tim Hortons stores were operating in China by the end of 2024?

The chain announced plans for 1,500 Chinese stores in 2018 and opened the first in Shanghai's Huangpu District in February 2019.

In which Kentucky town did teenage Vernon Rudolph first sell doughnuts at his uncle's store?

Paducah: Rudolph's uncle Ishmael Armstrong ran a general store in Paducah, Kentucky, where the teenager sold the doughnuts door to door; the pair moved to Nashville in 1934 before Rudolph set up in Winston-Salem in 1937.

Which Chicago food conglomerate made Krispy Kreme a wholly owned subsidiary in 1976?

Beatrice Foods: the Chicago conglomerate made Krispy Kreme a wholly owned subsidiary in 1976 and tinkered with the recipe and menu until franchisees bought the chain back in 1982.

Krispy Kreme's first store outside North America opened in Penrith, a suburb of which city?

Sydney: Krispy Kreme's first store outside North America opened in Penrith, in Sydney's west, in June 2003, and the opening drew queues that became a local news story.

What packaging innovation did the Entenmann family introduce in 1959?

The see-through cake box let shoppers see the goods; the Brooklyn bakery, founded in 1898, once delivered weekly to Frank Sinatra's home.

Which pharmaceutical company bought Entenmann's in 1978?

Warner-Lambert: the pharmaceutical group bought Entenmann's in 1978 and sold it to General Foods in 1982; after several further owners the brand ended up with Mexico's Grupo Bimbo.