One of my favorite holidays is quickly approaching next Friday...NATIONAL DONUT DAY! Every year on the first Friday of June, donut shops offer deals and fun treats to celebrate the momentous occasion. We all love a good doughnut whether it is filled, fried, cake and baked, or covered in powdered sugar. Here are a few places around Tampa that are offering National Donut Day deals as well as a few of your favorite donut chains!
Cosmic Donuts
Cosmic Donuts is an incredible little shop located out in St. Pete. And they have tons of doughnuts on their menu as well and by far some of the best donuts I have had in the West Florida area. Specifically, Cosmic Donuts has THE BIGGEST APPLE FRITTER you will ever eat. This apple fritter is bigger than my head. It is probably about 6 donuts in one and it has real apple chunks in it!! But my true favorite from here is their famous cronut. A cronut is a combination between a doughnut and a croissant and it results in a glazed piece of perfection. It comes in a square flaky shape and I could easily eat 4 or 5 of them.
Cosmic Donuts is offering a simple donut free with a purchase of a large drink or a breakfast sandwich! They have iced coffees, mochas (white Mocha lavender iced latte!!), and build your own sandwich with egg, cheese, bacon, sausage, or ham. The best part of these Sammy's is that you can put it on a croissant, bagel, biscuit, or donut!!
Hale Life Bakery
The owners of Hale Life Bakery opened their gluten-free, dairy, egg, and even soy-free bakery called Hale Life Bakery. The son and mother co-owners were diagnosed with celiac disease and therefore aimed to dedicate a place that provides goods for people in the same situation as themselves. You do not have to be vegan or gluten-free to enjoy these donuts!! It will surprise you how soft, and flavorsome all of the desserts are that you will totally forget that they don't have wheat flour in them. Hale life does EVERYTHING like this so they have cupcakes, cake, bread, even brownies, and cookies.
Hale life is offering a $3.00 discount on all of your half dozens of donuts and $8.00 off if you buy a dozen!! They have 24 different flavors of cupcakes, donuts, and brownies so you are for sure going to find something that you love. I adore their cookie monster donut but I definitely want to try their newest donut: a blueberry lavender donut (YUM!). If you thought you couldn't enjoy national donut day because of a GF/Vegan diet choice, think again because Hale Life has you covered!!
Nicola's Donuts
Nicola’s Donuts is a family-owned small business that started in 1982. They are definitely well known all around the Tampa area for their fresh, fluffy, hand–made donuts. The current owner, Diane Rosario, is a retired elementary school teacher but she is still making kids happy every day with her gorgeous donuts!! Nicola's probably has the largest donut menu ranging from classic cake donuts, classic fille, classic and fancy raised donuts, even vegan cake donuts!!
Nicola's is offering a free glazed donut to everyone who comes in and buys any sized coffee. I mean what goes better than coffee and donuts so you probably would've gotten a coffee anyways but now you get a free donut too!! The best of both worlds with the best-glazed donuts. Pure sweets heaven.
Hole in One Donuts
I had heard about Hole in One Donut's famous apple fritter from before I even lived in Tampa and for good reason. This apple fritter was so soft on the inside with the perfect crispy crunch on the outside and it had real apple chunks (yay)!! There was definitely a little spice (cinnamon maybe?) in the dough that made this apple fritter so addicting. I am drooling just thinking about it. Their classic glazed donut was so soft that I accidentally squished it when I picked it up which just goes to show that their donuts compete if not OUTCOMPETES Krispy Kreme. You could tell that they make these fresh right in the store.
Hole in One Donuts has not released what they are celebrating National Donut day with this year however last year they served out free glazed donuts with every purchase so let's cross our fingers that they are doing the same this year. Either way, definitely stop here on your way to work for a donut and coffee!!
Five-O Donut Co.
This donut bakery is located a little bit more south down in Sarasota but these donuts are worth the drive in themselves. Five-O Donuts is one of the fasted growing bakeries in Florida due to their incredibly soft dough covered in the most outrageous and unique toppings that will blow your Instagram feed up. They recently released a blueberry cheesecake stuffed croissant filled with cheesecake and blueberry pie which looks absolutely insane and I definitely need it!!
On National Donut Day Five-O Donuts is giving away 12 free T-shirts to the first 12 people in line at each of their restaurants. AND on top of that, they are giving away 1 free simple donut with any purchase to every person who comes in and visits them on June 4th.
Krispy Kreme
Obviously, one of the most famous donuts in the world, this soft, melt-in-your-mouth donut is completely free on National Donut Day with no purchase necessary! But warning, if you eat one, you are going to probably crave 3 more so you might as well treat yourself to a dozen:)
Dunkin' Donuts
If you are a regular at Dunkin', you might as well factor it into your Friday routine because they are giving away a free donut with any beverage purchase on Friday! If the Florida heat is getting to you, I highly recommend their strawberry-flavored lemonade refresher which is so fruity and delicious!! And you can pair it with a berry donut for pure perfection.
Fray's Donuts
This St. Petersburg staple has been serving some of the best donuts to their area for now over a decade. They serve everything from donuts to breakfast sandwiches to your morning coffee. They have over 30 different types of donuts so when I went, it was almost overwhelming. The baskets were loaded to the brim with different flavors, textures.
I could not find any info on what they are offering for National Donut Day however they always support our local public heroes with free coffee and donuts every single Tuesday!
Simply Done Donuts
Simply Done Donuts started in Georgia and their growing popularity quickly allowed them to open up their first Tampa location. Unlike the other bakeries on this list, Simply Done Donuts has perfected their donut base which they use for all of their donuts. It is a mini donut so you could finish it in 1-2 bites but that does not make the flavor any smaller. They even have a vegan donut option that is available. At Simply Done Donuts, you can create an entire box of little mini donuts, each with a different flavor of your choice that they will construct hot and fresh right for you!
They are not offering any national donut deals that I could find but they just recently dropped their June Donut flavor that you are not going to want to miss. It will be the perfect way to start your summer.
Gaia's Donuts
Sadly Gaia's Donuts will be closed for renovations and updates on June 4th but they will be back and at it soon after!! They are working so hard to make their location the best possible for their customers and you can feel the love in every bite of one of their delicious pastries!! Gaia's Donuts offers gorgeous cupcakes, donuts, and even surprise sample boxes where you can get a little bit of everything. They have recently partnered with Delivery by Dave so you can order Gaia's Donuts right to your doorstep!!
They have every single ingredient in every single one of their products on their website so you have complete transparency into what you are eating which I absolutely love!! You can also request a custom cake or wedding cake testing online so I highly recommend keeping an eye out for them!
Go treat yourself on Friday! Have a cheat day and a dozen donuts! I highly recommend stopping at our local places first because they will surprise you with how soft and fluffy all of their doughs are. But there is no shame in making a quick run through Krispy Kreme to grab that free donut:) Happy National Donut Day! Please follow me and check out my other articles if you are interested in other News on the foodie scene in Tampa Bay.
With Love and Good Food,
CollegeandChocolate