Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Breakfast / Eat Arkansas Dale's Donuts makes a morning bright

Posted By Daniel Walker on Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 9:35 AM

Every city and town needs a reliably good local donut shop. A place where the bustling townsfolk can stop by on their way to the office and grab a box of warm glazed to win the affection of their fellow coworkers, or a place to rustle up a few chocolate coated Long-Johns and Bavarian-cream-stuffed donuts before setting out on a family road trip for the weekend. Often the greatest donut shops are not flashy or particularly beautiful on the exterior, often they are the kind of place you might drive by numerous times without even noticing they exist. But for those who are able to slow down and look around, perhaps even actively seek out an exceptional donut shop, these inconspicuous establishments make for a pit stop worth pulling over for.

In Benton, the walls of Dale’s Donuts have been packing in happy patrons since the early 90s. Donut lovers from all around central Arkansas are waking up early to make the drive to Benton in order to procure the hot, glazed pillows of fried dough that Dale’s has been perfecting for years.

The simplest and probably most important measure of a decent donut shop is its plain glazed. It’s no surprise that Dale’s plain glazed is good enough to keep their customers coming back for more. This donut has all the notable characteristics you’d expect from a made-from-scratch pastry. Lightly sweetened dough, chewy and slightly dense gets a thin, slightly crispy brownish-gold exterior after a flash fry in the oil. They don’t come out overly greasy, but you still won’t be confusing them for anything on a salad bar. The thin glaze is adequately sweet, complementing the airy fried pastry wonderfully, without leaving you reaching immediately for a toothbrush after you take a bite. I’ve always found genuine, scratch-made donuts, the products of real people waking up before the sun touches the world, to be so far superior to the offerings of most chain donut shops in flavor, texture, and character, that I simply can’t bring myself to return to the latter. Dale’s is also the kind of place in which you know that, due to their consistent and steady stream of customers each morning, you won’t be left with stale donuts that have been sitting on the shelf for hours. In the donut world, a high turnover rate can mean all the difference.

One donut that stands out in the variety offered at Dale’s is the indulgent maple and peanut. The standard glazed donut gets a healthy slab of maple frosting and is then sprinkled in chopped peanuts. Although they are, perhaps, a little too generous with the frosting, the combination of maple and peanut is an unconventional pleasure. Another customer favorite, rather unique to this shop, is the chocolate cream filled bars. While most donut shops limit themselves to custard and whipped cream fillings, Dale’s offers a whipped chocolate cream, which they inject into a chocolate glazed Long-John. They are able to get the cream to travel the entire length of the bar, providing each bite with a good blend of chewy donut and creamy chocolate filling.

Most of the offerings at Dale’s are excellent, owing to the fact that, at their core, each donut begins with good ingredients, assembled with the quality and care you’d expect from a locally owned shop. The only item that could use a tune-up is their apple fritters. As these have always been one of my personal favorites, I was a little disappointed to find their version, flat, slightly dry, and severely lacking in apple flavor. The perfect fritter, in my opinion, is a thick amalgamation of chewy bits of dough, interlaced with beads of cinnamon and chunks of apple filling, all doused in a blanket of hot sugar glaze. The interior should be soft, steaming, and chewy, with the exterior being brown, and fried to a crisp. Dale’s version misses the mark on most accounts.

I’d have no hesitation in making a quick detour, if driving through Benton, to grab a bag of Dale’s donuts. Concern for my health may prevent me from making this a regular routine, but for the occasional morning sugar rush, I find Dale’s to be a satisfactory addition to the Central Arkansas donut scene.

Dale’s Donuts
919 Military Rd.
Benton

Tags: Dale's, Donuts, Breakfast, Eat Arkansas, Image

From the ArkTimes store

Tweet

Instapaper

    Favorite
  Saving…
Share

    Comments
    
      (2)
    
Email

Comments (2)

Showing 1-2 of 2

Add a comment

Subscribe to this thread:

By Email

With RSS

Showing 1-2 of 2

More by Daniel Walker

The Kraft Mac & Cheese Food Hack

Recently, we held another food hack competition, taking another childhood classic, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and tried to turn it on its head, creating something entirely new and unique. Again, the results were pretty awesome. The rules were simple: Use a whole box of mac and cheese, both noodles and cheese powder, and turn it into any sinister monstrosity imaginable. We had a vote via the Eat Arkansas Facebook page to crown a winner. Here's what was submitted:
- by Daniel Walker
- Jul 30, 2014
Food Feedback Friday: The "We need your vote!" edition

Alrighty...you know the drill with Food Feedback. Tell us what you're eating this week and what you thought about it. I love to hear all the suggestions and I'm frequently looking back through your recommendations to determine my next meal. So share away! Happy weekend, y'all.
- by Daniel Walker
- Jul 25, 2014
Looking in on the new Le Pops, now in the Heights

Le Pops is a wonderful addition to the Heights neighborhood. Laurie Harrison is incredibly dedicated to her product, she still works here 7 days a week and is constantly experimenting in the kitchen to develop new flavors. Check them out the next time you need a cool down.
- by Daniel Walker
- Jul 24, 2014
More »

Readers also liked…

A sneak preview of Fourquarter Bar in Argenta

A look at Fourquarter Bar in Argenta, brought to you by the folks behind Midtown Billiards. Beer, barbecue and killer cocktails abound!
- by Joel DiPippa
- Feb 23, 2016
Judge anticipates punishment of lawyers in Fort Smith class action case

Federal Judge P.K. Holmes of Fort Smith issued a 32-page ruling yesterday indicating he contemplates punishment of 16 lawyers who moved a class action lawsuit against an insurance company out of his court to a state court in Polk County after a settlement had been worked out.
- by Max Brantley
- Apr 15, 2016
John Goodson and others add lawyers for hearing on forum shopping

Lawyers facing federal court sanctions for forum shopping a class action insurance case have brought in new legal guns from out of state to fight potential sanctions.
- by Max Brantley
- May 26, 2016

Most Shared

ASU to reap $3.69 million from estate of Jim and Wanda Lee Vaughn

Arkansas State University announced today plans for spending an expected $3.69 million gift in the final distribution of the estate of Jim and Wanda Lee Vaughn, who died in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
Bad health care bill, again

Wait! Postpone tax reform and everything else for a while longer because the Senate is going to try to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act one more time before September ends and while it can do it with the votes of only 50 senators.
Sex on campus

Look, the Great Campus Rape Crisis was mainly hype all along. What Vice President Joe Biden described as an epidemic of sexual violence sweeping American college campuses in 2011 was vastly overstated.
The inadequate legacy of Brown

LRSD continues to abdicate its responsibility to educate poor black students.

8 members of Little Rock Nine reunite to answer questions 60 years after Central High desegregation. Story + photos… https://t.co/32cNpmK3Jy
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

will they answer questions on Graham-Cassidy? https://t.co/tL0DSt8Op8
Arkansas Blog - Max Brantley

Students react to another reported sexual assault at UCA - https://t.co/UWJqH9AvO4 #ARNews
KATV News

Can Teaching Civics Save Democracy?
KUAR Newsroom

RT @AustinKellerman: .@RepFrenchHill's staff headed to Dunbar Community Ctr next week. Good opportunity to talk #ARDeclareVictory or anyth…
Fox16 News

More Headlines...

Most Recent Comments

Re: 'Definitely a Barb': a Q&A with Shannon Purser of "Stranger Things"
- MAMA MADE MY LIFE A SUCCESS WITH MAGIC RING IN S.A +27735315587 "several years of…
- Posted by Zana Keti
- on September 21, 2017
Re: Janet Jackson at Verizon Arena: A Review
- Wow this review sucks and who cares what your expectation were you sound like a…
- Posted by Lavonza Brown
- on September 21, 2017
Re: Janet Jackson at Verizon Arena: A Review
- You review has been the only bad review thus far in the entire country... hell…
- Posted by VANESSA WALKER
- on September 21, 2017