Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Pastry Wednesday: Beyond Glaze

I was sitting in my work lunchroom the other day alone like most days since I take lunch quite late in the day (it makes the day go by faster!) when I was joined by two of my co-workers who happened to be taking a late lunch also.

We'll call them Adnohr and Sugaraholic.  I've known Adnohr since grad school and I'm quite fond of her. When I was a first year grad student, I'm pretty sure she was the only second year student who was nice to us newbies.

And Sugaraholic--well, we've known each other all of a few months, but I feel like she's a kindred spirit. She grew up in New Mexico, so we always have fun talking about the Four Corners area.

My Pastry Wednesday peeps: Sugaraholic and Adnohr

Sadly, I don't work with both of them directly.  So it was quite the treat to have lunch with them.

And somehow we got on to the topic of pastries.

We're talking good pastries, people!

And all the little shops around town that serve up good pastries.  These ladies know their pastries!  I felt a little lacking when I realized I could name off my fave shops on one hand--pathetic!

So we decided to start up a little tradition called Pastry Wednesdays.

Doesn't it sound lovely?

And a little scary! chime in my love handles.

No, silly love handles!  Everything in moderation!

Because my love handles and I were a bit concerned about doing it every week (I'm training for a half-marathon!), we're doing Pastry Wednesday only every 2 weeks.  And before you think that this is a total glutton fest, only one person is assigned to bring in a pastry for each member of Pastry Wednesday.  Then we rotate who brings it in next time.

I volunteered for the first week because I had a vision--a vision of the first pastry we'd try together: the kouing-man made by Romina at Les Madelines Patisserie! {cue chorus of heralding angels here}. 


Alas, when I went to Les Madelines Patisserie the morning of Pastry Wednesday, they were closed because they were painting only till next day. Blah--just my luck! Vanessa from She Craves describes the Les Madelines' kouing-man as therapy--I concur. Hence, me being majorly bummed out. I looked at Lee forlornly and he suggested we go to a new fancy donut place he drove by last week.

I was so crushed, so I half-heartedly agreed and we went to Beyond Glaze just around the corner in the car-dealership part of town.


I found out that the owners were originally cake decorators who loved the intricacies and beauty of a well-decorated wedding cake, but wanted to celebrate and decorate in such a beautiful way on an everyday basis.  That's when Beyond Glaze was created.

We chose 4 different types of donuts: Blueberry Torte, Raspberry Mango, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, and  Bacon Maple.

Top, left to right: Raspberry Mango and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.
Bottom, left to right: Bacon Maple and Blueberry Torte

We split them in fourths and tried a bite of each.

The Raspberry Mango was light and flavorful--I found out earlier that morning that all of the fruit toppings are pureed fresh. I almost could have asked for a little more mango flavor.

The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip was a little too heavy handed on the chocolate.  At first, Adnohr thought it was a totally different type of doughnut all together, because the little circles of chocolate over-powered the delicate pumpkin.  We brainstormed that maybe cream cheese frosting or cinnamon frosting swirls would be a better compliment.

Quarters of assorted doughnuts

We chose the Blueberry Torte based on the server's recommendation.  Though there were other glamorous and daring doughnuts that I felt might be better suited for Pastry Wednesday, servers' recommendations are rarely wrong.  The blueberry puree was pure and strong for the accompanying frosting and crumble. You must try this!

The last one, Bacon Maple, is not for everyone.  In fact, they don't usually have this doughnut out in display--you have to ask for it.  It's like you belong to a secret club. A club for those who love covering pancakes AND bacon with syrup.  A little sweet, a little savory.  This was easily my favorite doughnut.

The doughnuts are $1.85 each, which can seem a little expensive, but there are definitely some doughnuts worth the splurge!



Beyond Glaze Doughnuts
54 West 700 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84101



Beyond Glaze Doughnuts
177 West 12300 South
Draper, UT 84020

3 comments:

  1. I love those Kouing-aman things. I know Romina very well. We used to visit at the Bank all the time.

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  2. Pastry Wednesday sounds awesome! I look forward to more reviews of the different bakeries you try.

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  3. Yay Pastry Wednesday!!! & YES the bacon maple was delish!!!

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