Glazed Doughnut - © Lara Ferroni via Epicurious

It’s National Doughnut Day! Go Ahead and Indulge…

National Doughnut Day is officially the second Friday in June. But there’s also a National Doughnut Day on November 5, and other National Days honouring specific types of Doughnuts on other days of the year. Let’s see if we can sort them all out. And have a Doughnut (or two) to celebrate…

War Cry Magazine 1918 - © The Salvation ArmyThe Doughnut Dollies

The first National Doughnut Day was held on the first Friday in June in 1938 as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army, which sent volunteers to the front in the First World War to serve hot Coffee and Doughnuts to the soldiers. The Dough Boys (no historic relation to the Pastries) called those gals the Doughnuts Dollies and relished their periodic visits.

A parallel celebration

Probably in an attempt to boost business in what might have been ‘the off season’ back then, it’s said that around 1930 an unrecorded retail baker unilaterally instituted a National Doughnut Day (NDD) to be celebrated on November 5. That’s just a week before Armistice Day, now Veteran’s Day in the U.S., and Remembrance Day throughout the British Commonwealth countries. So this observance may have also been honouring the military connection. This ‘secondary’ NDD is still celebrated, largely by the big Doughnut store chains who can’t be faulted for picking up on any viable reason to plug their products.

Other Doughnut Days

If you thought two NDDs were not enough, you must be related to Homer Simpson! But that’s another story. In fact, there are several NDDs recognised as celebrations of various specific types of Doughnuts:

  • June 8: National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day
  • September 14: National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day
  • October 23: National Boston Cream Doughnut/Pie Day
  • October 30: National Buy A Doughnut Day

There may be more, but those ‘fringe’ celebrations probably enjoy only narrow, regional significance.

How to celebrate

Get out there today and tour your local Doughnut Shops. The vast majority are offering special doughnuts as well as special deals on singles and boxes of Doughnuts.

My closest WalMart now has a Mini Doughnut Factory, like we’ve all seen at county and harvest fairs, turning out Plain, Sugar & Cinnamon and Powered Sugar single-bite Sinkers. Does yours?

Or… Make your own. What a great weekend activity to get the whole family involved in! You can Google literally thousands of recipes for both Cake and Yeast-raised Doughnuts, not to mention recipes for Glazes, Frostings and Fillings, and suggestions for decorative Toppings…

~ Maggie J.