The Judges' Best Doughnut Recipes

The judges on Cooking Channel's Donut Showdown make a living deciding what makes the best doughnuts around, so you can imagine how good their own doughnut recipes would be.

Jeff Mahin's Buttermilk Old-Fashioned Doughnut

With its trademark cracked texture and its flavors of bittersweet dark chocolate and mace, this old-fashioned spiced doughnut is heavenly for the grown-up palate.

Get the Recipe: Buttermilk Old-Fashioned Doughnut

Maggie McKeown's Grilled Strawberry Shortcake Doughnut

Almost a trifle, almost an ice cream sandwich, this cool cream-centered doughnut sports fresh strawberries and a homemade vanilla-lime syrup. 

Get the Recipe: Grilled Strawberry Shortcake Doughnut

Eden Grinshpan's Pistachio-Dusted Rose-Glazed Yeast Doughnuts

With a lemon-orange dough, rosewater glaze and ground-pistachio topping, these yeast doughnuts dazzle with bursts of flavor and a texture that is simultaneously creamy and crunchy.

Get the Recipe: Pistachio-Dusted Rose-Glazed Yeast Doughnuts

David Rocco's Italian Nutella-Filled Bomboloni

The proof is in the hazelnut spread for David Rocco's simple lemon sugar bomboloni filled with generous dollops of Nutella.

Get the Recipe: David Rocco's Italian Nutella-Filled Bomboloni

Duff Goldman's Blueberry Greek Old-Fashioned Doughnuts

Go for a vintage look with these blueberry yogurt doughnuts, topped with a simple, sweet lemon glaze, that display a wide-ringed shape and an old-fashioned cracked surface.

Get the Recipe: Blueberry Greek Old-Fashioned Doughnut

Elizabeth Falkner's Kale Doughnuts

This doughnut runs the gamut of superfoods, from its browned butter-kale cake to its maple cream glaze, all topped with chopped pecans, bacon bits and kale leaves.

Get the Recipe: Kale Doughnuts

Zane Caplansky's Maple-Beef Bacon Doughnuts

Have it your way with the bacon of your choice mixed into the spiced buttermilk doughnut, which is then topped with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Get the Recipe: Maple-Beef Bacon Doughnuts