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The Rise Of The Biscuit Doughnut

By Melissa McEwen in Food on Jun 6, 2014 9:05PM

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Doughscuit (from Endgrain's Facebook)

You may have noticed them creeping onto menus across town. They are fluffy, they are flaky, and they are fried to perfection. They are the biscuit doughnuts. Where did they come from? And where can you find them?

The original doughnuts made with biscuit dough were probably made on the front-lines of where household deep fryers and processed foods collide. Someone figured out that sticking some canned biscuit dough in the fryer made some great doughnuts. This may have occurred in the South. Paula Deen says her mother made such doughnuts in Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible and Callie Morey mentions her aunt made them when she was a child in Callie's Biscuits and Southern Traditions.

But it wasn't until hybrids like the cronut became prominent that bakers in Chicago started making them. And these are made with high-quality homemade biscuit dough. As most biscuit dough has plenty of butter, they are more decadent than their normal doughnut cousins.

Probably the first was the Doughscuit at Endgrain (1851 W Addison St), a relatively sophisticated creation that's glazed, sliced and filled with cream.

Then there's the fantastic freshly fried biscuit doughnut at Two (1132 W Grand Ave), which we've praised before. It's topped with maple ice cream and Templeton Rye syrup.

And the latest comes from Bang Bang Pie Shop (2051 N California Ave.)- the horribly named Bonut. Already known for their delicious biscuits, now they've turned them into doughnuts that are topped decadently with delicious glaze.