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Donut Houses & Kolache Bakeries

For the hottest, freshest doughnuts in The Woodlands

What is a donut? A donut (or doughnut) is a sweet, deep-fried or sometimes baked piece of dough. The two most common types are the torus-shaped ring doughnut, the formation of which will result a small spherical piece of dough, originally made from the middle of a ring doughnut. And the filled doughnut; usually a flattened sphere injected with jam, jelly, cream, custard, or another sweet filling. The common circular doughnut also looks similar to a bagel. Though frying is the accepted method of donut preparation, donuts can be baked in an oven. These have a slightly different texture from the fried variety with a somewhat different taste due to the lack of absorbed oil - but as a benefit, will also have a lower fat content. Baked or fried, the perfect accompaniment to a fresh donut is a hot cup of coffee from a Woodlands Coffee Shop.

So why does a bagel look like a donut? The bagel has a hole to allow it to be retrieved from boiling water, while a donut hole is intended to allow the donut to cook faster and more thoroughly. There is no historical connection between bagels and doughnuts.

And when you just can't decide between a donut (perhaps too sweet) and a bagel (perhaps too plain) there's always the local favorite, kolachies. Depending on how long you've been around these parts, you might be suprised to discover that all this time, what you've been calling a kolache is actually a klobasnek; and what they specialize in over there at The Kolache Factory the real deal. A klobasnek, which often uses similar bread as a kolache, is usually filled with a piece of sausage. These are sometimes mistakenly referred to as kolaches. They may also contain ham and cheese, sausage, jalapeρo slices, and look a bit more like a "pig in a blanket" than the original pastry.

A little more useless donut information to send you on your way: Donut Peaches are uniquely shaped Freestone Peaches which look remarkably like donuts, as they are typically flat with a depression in the middle suggesting a donut hole. In addition to having a distinctive appearance, Donut Peaches also have a special flavor; less acidic than some peach cultivars, and with a sweet tenderness and faint hint of almonds which many find enjoyable. The Donut Peach features a creamy yellow skin with a faint red blush, and a pure, white flesh, and they are extremely juicy. Many farmers' markets and specialty stores carry Donut Peaches when they come into season in the middle of the summer months. Donut peaches can be grown just like regular peach trees, doing well in warm climate areas. They tend to be less fuzzy than some other peach varities, and are reminiscent of nectarines. Peaches and Nectarines are very closely related yet, they are actually separate fruits.

The origins of the Donut Peach can be found in Asia, where Flat Peaches have been cultivated for centuries. In the mid-1800s, several different varieties of peaches were exported to the United States, where Chinese flat peaches, as they were called, became popular for a brief period of time. The fruits soon fell out of fashion however, and the flat peach was considered an essentially lost heirloom variety until the 1990s, when it began to enter widespread cultivation again. Some stores market Donut Peaches as “Saucer Peaches” or “Saturns” in a reference to their unusual shape. In general, Donut Peaches tend to be more expensive than traditional peaches due to their novelty item status, but they can be used just like regular peaches in pies and fruit salads in addition to being eaten plain. To select a good Donut Peach in the market, look for a peach with relatively even coloring and no soft or slimy spots. The peach should yield slightly when handled, but it should not be mushy or terribly firm. Donut Peaches can be left out on the counter to ripen if they are not yet perfect, and stored under refrigeration for up to three days once they have reached full ripeness. Donut Peaches can also be stored in a paper bag to prevent insect infestation and over-ripening.

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