As I walk in to work at Snow-Line in Oak Glen, CA, the apple cider doughnut scent that normally invites customers and lures business to this rustic barn-turned shop instead turns my stomach and squishes up my nose. It’s not that the doughnuts are anything but scrumptious; it’s simply that working full shifts constantly surrounded by the mixed smell of sugar and cooking oil can get a little old after the second day. And while you can have as many of the sugary treats as you want when working, most of us workers only resort to snacking on them when we forget our lunch. But for those not working behind the doughnut counter, the aroma of apple cider doughnuts rolling off the fryer is irresistibly tantalizing.
photo from Snow-Line.com
And the people keep coming for those doughnuts from all over with good reason. Even the well-know southern-California PBS personality Huell Howser has visited and devoured a number of doughnuts packaged by the dozens in sleek paper white bags. Some of the visitors to Snow-Line may come to catch a glimpse of Huell Howser, but they stay for the doughnuts. The entire season I worked up at Snow-Line, only a handful of customers insistently argued that these doughnuts were anything but absolutely delicious.
The fresh, made-on-the-spot apple cider mixed into the dry ingredients provides an extra something-special to the ordinary sugary doughnut, while the cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top of the warm doughnuts sweetens up the treat even more.
Snow-Line may be only one of many little shops up in Oak Glen selling fresh apple cider (although they add an extra twist to the typical cider by adding cherry and raspberry flavoring), cutesy gifts, and various apple season items, but they are the sole provider of the apple cider doughnuts. And those doughnuts are something that, given the chance, you do not want to miss. So the next time you happen to be remotely near Oak Glen during the apple season of September to November, be sure to taste Snow-Line’s right-off-the-fryer, extraordinary deliciousness, apple cider doughnuts.
~Kristin Walder, 3/28/08
