Dunk 'em

From NPR, I read about a man on a noble mission: His name is Alex Schwartz, and he has set a goal to "taste and review every fresh apple cider doughnut" he can find.

He's on Instagram with pictures and locations where these delicacies can be found. He calls himself the "Cider Donuteur." 

And he has a map that shows where to take your cider donut craving, but it doesn't include local Baltimore places. Here in the 410, we go to Weber's Farm in Cub Hill, and Richardson's Farm in Middle River/Cowenton. I've had Weber's, and nothing says autumn like a visit there to stock up on donuts and apples.

If you're wondering, here's why apple cider donuts are so good: they contain apple cider. That sounds simple, but stop and consider how people get so happy about "Pumpkin Spice" everything, none of which contains pumpkin. I've said it a million times: if you want your coffee to taste like pumpkin spice, get a can of pie-ready pumpkin and stir a teaspoonful of it into your java.  I say this, and people act as if I recommended stirring some cyanide in with your Chase & Sanborn. But apple cider makes a plain donut so tasty, I might even add some to my tea one day!

Of course, as with any commodity, there are cider donuts, and there are cider donuts. When Schwartz talks about one of the 32,945 donuts he has had, he judges them by freshness, crumb texture, sugar level and, of course, taste.

You have to hand it to Mr Schwartz, because his goal of tasting one from every farm stand is lofty. He once ate six apple cider doughnuts from six different places in a single day. "My stomach was not super jazzed about that," Schwartz said. "But, you know, I was doing it for the cause."

He goes on to say you should try to get them hot and fresh (uh, yeah!) and look for sweetness, airiness, moistness, crispy fry-ness, and sponginess.

Just don't look for Eliot Ness.

Seriously, it's the best part of the year, and cider donuts are the best part of the best part of the year. Eat them slowly or gobble them, chase them with milk, tea, coffee, whatever. 

Better hurry, though. The next thing you know, all the stores will be full of heavily-iced Thanksgiving cookies in the shape of a turkey, and then Christmas cookies, in the shape of Santa Claus.

And you'll wish you had stocked up on cider donuts and frozen some!