Miranda's class had a fall party right before Halloween. They learned all about pumpkins that week, so everyone was supposed to bring food that was either made from pumpkin or flavored like it. We chose pumpkin donuts! I have never in my life had a pumpkin donut and neither had Miranda so we had no idea if they were even any good. I decided to make it into a little adventure, so we took the two weeks before we had to get them to try three different donut places to see who had the best flavored ones, and the winner would be where we bought them from for her class! :)
We live closest to Howard's Donuts and Dunkin Donuts, so we tried these two first.
HOWARD'S: They were big crullers. Soft, and yummy, a little spice to them. Miranda liked them, but they are still not her thing, lol, I thought they were yummy. Loren didn't like them at all, but Homma agreed with me.
DUNKIN DONUTS: Regular round donuts, and the verdict was unanimous!!! NASTY! My mom and I decided the best word to describe the taste would be kerosene! Never again!
So far Howard's donuts was definitely in the lead!
But then...we tried our absolute favorite donut place in Memphis...Gibson's Donuts!!
GIBSON'S: While they had two pumpkin spice donuts to offer, they were the same, just one had orange colored icing and one didn't. They were smaller than Howard's, but definitely better tasting! Miranda decided it would be the iced pumpkin spice donuts from Gibson's that she would have at her fall party!
All of these donut places were priced the same, the trick was getting to Gibson's across town and back this way in time to get her to class. Gibson's is opened 24/7, which is extremely convenient, so we placed our order for two dozen iced pumpkin spice donuts and headed out early. There was a VERY long line! I'm telling you they are the best in town! The ladies there are so nice and helpful. We got an extra dozen of half glazed, half chocolate for the ladies in Miranda's school's office and each got a donut of our own for breakfast. Two caramel for the girls, YUM, and one chocolate eclair for mommy, haha!
This was definitely one of our favorite taste testing adventures!
And they were a hit at her school as well. (We were only 15 minutes late, but it was definitely worth the drive!)
Some of our other taste test adventure winners:
Sno cones of course, the winner was Jerry's Sno Cones in Memphis, can't be beat! If only Sno Cream Castle were still around to compare. I tried Stinkerbell's in Bartlett, but it was just ice chips with syrup, not at all what I was looking for, once I tried Jerry's, I was done with my search.
Yogurt places, with so many popping up everywhere, Cool Bliss Frozen Yogurt in Cordova was by far our favorite. (Loved the pomegranate and mango yogurt, very friendly staff, and very cool seating for the kids.)
We have tried:
Yogurt Mountain (our second favorite),
Sweet CeCe's (way too much going on),
Gracie Bleau in Germantown (very cute and kid friendly, kids have their own little area),
TCBY (just can't compete with the new places),
YoLo (way too boring for us)
However, every time I turn around there seems to be a new one popping up somewhere or one I haven't seen yet, here are some we have yet to try:
Dream Berry Frozen Yogurt downtown and Berry Berry Good Frozen Yogurt in the Avenue Carriage Crossing Mall. (This used to be Ben & Jerry's)
We will definitely need to try these soon.
Cupcakes we tried:
The Curious Gourmet Cafe and Cupcakery in Franklin, TN is what started all these taste testing adventures, almost three years ago. I was determined to find something similar to this when we got back to Memphis.
So as soon as we got back I tried Muddy's Bake Shop, everyone said how amazing they were and at the time, they were the only place in town you could get cupcakes at a shop.
I was very disappointed. Small, and there just was NO comparison to the cupcake shop in Franklin. Not long after, a new place opened up, Gigi's Cupcakes!! I was beyond excited, not only were they almost just as big as the ones in Franklin, but they packed as much flavor! Well, almost! Still not the same, but much, much closer to what I was looking for.
Then I found Cupcake Cutie in Bartlett, TN. This place is similar to the new yogurt shops in that you create your own cupcake. VERY fun for the girls, they loved it. While they were good cupcakes, I am looking for something more, you can only get basic flavors here and then you choose your toppings, not really my thing. Again, the girls loved it though!!
Finally I stumbled upon L'Oven Cupcakes in Southaven, MS. Regular sized cupcakes, but they pack the MOST flavor!! I have only been able to make it back once, but took my sis and she agreed, DELICIOUS!!!
While none of them compared to the ones on Franklin, my top pick is L'Oven Cupcakes. You should try them out for yourself, you won't regret it, and they are very affordable, cheaper than all the others.
Hope you've enjoyed our little taste testing adventures...we will keep you posted on our future ones as well! :) This has been so fun to do with my girls, they love it, and it has helped me with Miranda's very picky eating habits. She is now more willing to try new things thanks to our little adventures!
...on another note
