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Union Square Donuts (Somerville, MA)

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If there’s a doughnut shop I’ve come to like a lot in the Boston area that would be Union Square Donuts in Somerville. (Union Square does have another location in Brookline but Somerville is the most accessible to where we were staying.)

I have heard that this popular doughnut shop sells out early that I dragged my traveling companion out of bed early on a cold, rainy/sleet Saturday morning. The price of a little less sleep was rewarded since we have the flavors we would like to have and manage to have a table to sit at a table and enjoy these doughnuts.


Plate of doughnuts - Maple Bacon, Boston Cream, and Orange Cardamom Poppy
Cross section of Boston Cream Doughnut

The friendly staff members and willing to answer questions about the various flavors and provide suggestions if you’re feeling indecisive about what you want to get besides saying “I will have one of each.” We ended up having the popular maple bacon, Boston Cream, toasted coconut, raspberry jam, Vietnamese coffee, Belgian dark chocolate (vegan), sea salted bourbon caramel, orange cardamom poppy, and blackberry basil lime with a side of cups of coffee. All of these doughnuts tasted like what they are billed as and they are fluffy yet a touch of chewy, toothsome substance – and this is a good thing.

Toasted Coconut doughnut
Blackberry Basil Lime
Orange Cardamom Poppy
Sea Salted Bourbon Caramel

The seasonal flavors blackberry basil lime and orange cardamom poppy are a special treat. The former has vibrant, tart flavors from the blackberry and lime especially. The orange cardamom poppy is the essence of winter with the warm spices and citrus flavors.

The Boston cream is a favorite for us—the luscious custard that isn’t too sweet; wonderful dense chew of the doughnut and the shiny, dark chocolate glaze was thick and velvety. Sea salted bourbon caramel was wonderfully intense flavors of the salt, bourbon and caramel. Though it might edge toward too sweet it was a really tasty doughnut and great for the salted caramel lovers out there. Maple bacon is the shop’s best seller and we really loved the robust maple flavor on the glaze and the bacon pieces has the perfect middle of not too thick and not too thinly cut and rendered nicely. The Vietnamese coffee was delicious as it has a beautifully dark and rich flavor of the coffee and sweetened just enough to be the said coffee. Toasted coconut was beautifully coconutty. Raspberry jam has the nice heft and a good proportion of jam filling to doughnut.

I’m typically not the kind of person who seeks a vegan or gluten-free doughnut but their dark Belgium chocolate doughnut was very good. The chocolate glaze is of the same kind as the Boston cream but the doughnut texture is a little crispier on the edges that pleasantly surprises me.

If I live in the Boston area, this is would be the shop I’d be going to if I have a craving for doughnuts.

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Information:
Union Square Donuts

Official Website
20 Bow Street
Somerville, MA 02143
Phone: (617) 209-2257

Tina

I shoot, eat, and drink. My full time job is a hospital administrator. Moonlighting as a freelance photographer and food and travel writer.