Pi day? Pfft, more like donut day!
March 14, 2021
Today’s stop on my 2021 donut tour is Half and Half (HnH) Doughnut Company in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Only one word properly describes their work: artisan. Donuts here are made with love - the kind of love that results in two donuts never looking the same. Here you choose from a collection of old fashioned, filled raised, and cronut style donuts. HnH produces the most uniquely flavored old fashioned donuts I have had. Tasting them is always a great experience… even if it costs me some embarrassment stuck at the case debating what to get.
I grabbed a bunch of old fashioned donuts: “black and white” with chocolate base and vanilla frosting + chocolate swirls, “Guinness” with chocolate base topped with, you guessed it, Guinness frosting, and finally a “Pike Place Market Spice” with a black tea base along with a spiced orange frosting. I also grabbed a “Marocchino Bismark” filled raised donut. The best part about this collection? This was my first time trying each of these flavors.
I grabbed an outdoor table with my donut buddy and cut up the old fashioned donuts to try a bit of each of them. HnH’s donuts look substantial and that tricks your mind when you pick one up and realize how deceptively light they are. Brittle frosting and a crispy exterior hide a crumbly yet dense cake donut. Eating them consist of a satisfying crunch followed by a punch of flavor. I avoided cutting in to the filled donut for fear of it falling apart on the way home. Wrong. When I cut in to it later in the day, the whipped filling stood firm and tall. This donut was wonderful: a chewy but not crispy exterior contained a filling that balanced the espresso’s bitterness against the caramel’s sweetness.
The only hiccup today was the weather. Seattle’s usual mist was replaced with legit rain drops that made today’s experience a little more wet and cold than I would have liked.
