America's Second-Best Donut Resides In Texas

What, exactly, is a donut? At The Daily Meal, we define a donut as an item that you would expect to see in a donut shop: the familiar ones we know and love (of both the raised and cake varieties), like crullers, apple fritters, and other donut-shop classics — you know them when you see them.

So, in order to assemble our most-recent ranking of the 25 best in the country, we more than doubled the number on the previous list from the year before. We stuck to strict criteria in looking for the best individual donuts in America: Freshness is key; are these legendary donuts — ones that inspire cultish devotion to the shop that sells them? We considered both plain glazed and extravagantly topped creations, but there must be a balance between all the components, be it bacon or blueberry jelly. Most importantly, these donuts need to be almost too good: fresh, soft, gooey, perfectly proportioned, and intended to leave you wanting just one more bite. There were over two dozen we believed deserved to be included on our list, and as it turns out, two can be found in Texas.

The unique orange-yellow yeast-risen donut that put Round Rock Donuts on the map gets is color from the high-quality fresh eggs that go into it. The recipes and ovens used to create these rings of perfection haven't changed since the 1920s, and they sell for only $0.59 apiece. Forgo the "Texas Size" giant for the classic plain glazed. Simple and delicious. 

It's so good, it made it all the way to #2 on our national list, beating out the Funky Monkey donut at Gourdough's in Austin (#12). This means that Round Rock Douts' plain glazed is not only the second-best donut in the country, it's also the title winner of the best donut in Texas.