Bashas’ eighth annual “Donut Flavor Craze” contest was held on National Donut Day in June to find the latest donut additions to their bakery case. This year’s theme was “Retro vs. Future” encouraging contestants to submit donut creations of the past with modern and exciting flavor combinations. With two age groups, and three overall categories for winners; Youth, Adult and Bashas’ Internal Contest, three winners were crowned “Basha’s Official Donut Ambassadors” of 2023 by a panel of local celebrity judges, and there were some delicious honorable mentions as well. The Youth category winner, Payton R. (15 years old) from Apache Junction won with a Lemon Meringue donut, glazed and filled with lemon coconut meringue and topped with toasted coconut shreds and dried lemons. Adult category winner, Sara Williams of Maricopa won with a peanut butter and jelly glazed donut filled with strawberry and topped with peanut-butter flavored frosting. And Bashas’ Internal contest winner, Sheri Holland from Flagstaff, Arizona, won with a banana cream pie donut filled with banana custard and topped with graham crackers and buttercream.
Youth Honorable Mentions went out to Olivia L. (13 years old) from Surprise for her retro A&W root beer donut, Kain C. (11 years old) from Gilbert for his Orange Creamsicle donut, and Kylie C. from Surprise for her Strawberry Angel donut. Adult Honorable Mentions were Tung Bui of Tucson for his Elvis donut, Daniel Kaemmerer from Chandler for his ‘devilish’ raspberry donut and Ed Du from Tucson for his ‘Metaversal’ donut. More photos can be found on Bashas’ Facebook page!
To also honor National Donut Day, Bashas’ donated 10% of their sales to The Salvation Army, the creators of the holiday. In 1938, 250 volunteers traveled to provide spiritual and emotional support, sweet treats (including donuts), clothes and supplies to frontline troops in WWI. The volunteers became known as “Donut Lassies” and were credited with popularizing the donut in the United States when the troops returned home.
Winning flavors are available now in Bashas’ bakery cases throughout Arizona. The three Donut Flavor Craze Contest winners also received a FREE dozen donuts each month for a year, and $500 in prizes including a Bashas’ gift card and baking and cooking supplies.
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