The Real Reason Fair Donuts Taste Better Than The Ones From The Box

It's a timing thing, and it explains why you always eat three at the fair.

A boxed donut is fine. A fresh one handed to you in a paper sleeve at the fairground is a religious experience. Same dough, wildly different feeling.

It's the window. A donut is at its absolute peak for the first few minutes out of the fryer, when the outside is crisp and the inside is still warm and tender.

The twist: the cinnamon sugar melts slightly into that heat and forms a thin sweet shell, something a cooled, bagged donut can never pull off.

Eat any donut as close to fresh and warm as you can, and sugar it while it's hot. Send this to whoever hoards the box until they go stale.