While many casual, high-volume shops in Seattle suffer from unremarkable frosting pumped with artificial flavors, oily dough, and dry cake, that’s not the case at Family Donut. Instead of fake fruit essence, the donuts at this strip mall spot are coated with a glaze that contains actual bits of blueberry, orange zest, or raspberry puree. A heavy hand of buttermilk makes the bars phenomenally moist and tangy, and old fashioneds are soft on the inside despite the craggy crunchy edges.

If the MoMA ever wanted to open a museum exclusively for fried pastries, the donuts from Kora in NYC would have a permanent exhibition. At this Filipino bakery—a former pop-up that once had a 10,000-person waitlist for preorders—your meticulously constructed donut might come garnished with ube chips, or the core might be excavated and replaced by flan. But the fried brioche dough always stands up to the maximalist embellishments they’re known for here, while still being light and airy.

LA has over 1,500 independent donut shops, and a good majority of them are owned by Cambodian Americans. (That’s a story in itself.) But if we have to pick one, it's going to be California Donuts. The 24-hour spot serves an incredible range of options, like fluffy lemonberry crumble, old fashioneds with sweet matcha glaze, and a donut decorated like a panda that’s arguably too adorable to ingest. Parking is a nightmare, but where else are you going to find a donut this good at 7pm on a Thursday?

Dat Donut in Chicago specializes in Texas-style donuts, which (shocker) are gigantic. They're about 10 inches in diameter, can be shared by two to three people, and make for the perfect party favor for your friend who despises cake. And yet, this yeast-raised giant is unbelievably light and fluffy. While we love their cartoonishly large donuts, another great option is their reasonably-sized, not-too-sweet, and actually-tastes-like-fruit strawberry glazed.

Beiler’s has been perfecting these warm and doughy Pennsylvania Dutch treats since 1985. They offer 40 varieties every day, and come stuffed, topped, and drizzled with Lancaster’s best ingredients. It’s nearly impossible to pick just one from behind the glass display, but you can’t go wrong with the classic chocolate iced or the seasonal harvest apple (which is a perfectly tart and gooey taste of fall).

Malasadas are Portuguese fried donuts, but they’re a staple on Oahu. And while you can seek out a couple of places to get them on the island (including the touristy and extremely delicious Leonard’s Bakery) you’ll find the best at Pipeline. These donuts come fried to order, and you should definitely get them with a dusting of puckery-sweet li hing powder. They’re obviously best if you eat them straight away, though unlike most other malasadas, these are still good the next day.

As the crowned donut headquarters of Houston, Christy’s Donuts & Kolaches makes one the best apple fritters in town. You can also load up on cherry and chocolate-iced donuts with sprinkles, classic bear claws, glazed donuts with a cinnamon sugar crumble, and kolaches, the Czech-style sweet bread stuffed with sausage or boudin. Service at this family-run spot is quick and friendly, and they always tuck a couple donut holes into each bag.

When we walk into this Takoma donut shop in a mood, our happiness meter immediately jumps from “Wrecking Ball” to “Party In The USA.” Donut Run’s classic glazed gives Krispy Kreme a run for its money, but it’s the french toast and death by chocolate that'll keep you coming back. Order a dozen, which will come in two giant pink boxes, so you can try flavors like The Homer, a strawberry sprinkle ring straight out of The Simpsons. And for the people who need to know, they’re all vegan.

You should take a trip to Rehoboth Beach just to visit Fractured Prune. The pillowy cake donuts are fried to order and coated with your choice of glazes and toppings, like mocha and marshmallow or crumbled bacon and cookie crumbs. We recommend them all, but maybe not all on one donut. Fractured Prune claims that there are 155,648 different combinations of toppings, but for those who feel overwhelmed by that decision, they have a menu of set flavor pairings for you to choose from.

Round Rock Donuts has been a staple of the greater Austin area for nearly a century, and for good reason. These are the best of the best—simple, fluffy, appropriately sweet, and perfectly balanced. They’re what all the other little donuts in town want to be when they grow up, and they’re absolutely worth sitting through I-35 traffic for. If you really want to melt your brain, order the Texas-sized donut that takes up an entire box of its own.