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Bagels or doughnuts?

mtaratoot
mtaratoot Posts: 12,825 Member
Let's say you have 300 calories to spend and you want something round with a hole in the middle made from flour.

Bagel, or doughnut?

My favorite bagel shop shut down about two decades ago. They just opened back up in November! I go once or twice a week. Nothing like a good, fresh bagel. It doesn't even need to be toasted.

Of course if you add cream cheese you're probably looking at a lot MORE calories, but also some healthy fat and some protein.

When people bring doughnuts to work, I have a relatively easy time avoiding them. Not my fave. But my colleague brought in some bagels the other day, and.... Yeah. I had to.

My vote: Bagel EVERY time. sg5xhszogkp3.jpg
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Replies

  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Provided I had enough protein for the day, donuts. I do love bagels but meh.. bread will do.
  • fuzzylop_
    fuzzylop_ Posts: 100 Member
    If I only have 300kcal, then a doughnut because I don't want a bagel with nothing on it (I usually put pb on mine). Maybe I could squeeze some hummus on a bagel in that calorie allotment, but it would be close unless the bagel happened to be especially small.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    edited January 2020
    Bagel with cream cheese (a smaller portion if necessary to fit in my calories). I don't have them often but if on offer and I was in the mood, I would enjoy it. I'd probably skip the donut (unless it was an apple cider donut) and also probably skip a plain bagel. I'm normally more of a savory person and also don't usually find plain bread that exciting unless it's homemade and right out of the oven.
  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    Donut! 🍩
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    This is very dependent on how much I've already eaten and what I've already eaten. Assuming it's the end of the day and/or I want something sweet then the doughnut wins, depending on what type of doughnut of course. Outside of that, bagel with a few slices of pastrami and red onions (preferably pickled). Normally I would just do a bagel toasted with butter, but that's fewer than 300 calories.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,610 Member
    Both would be way down my list for ways to spend 300 fully discretionary calories, . . . and I haven't found any good bagels around here in a long time, for my taste (they're all too pillow-y/bread-y, not chewy enough). Flourstuffs are not really mostly my jam, either sweet or bread-esque.

    But, if you force me to have one or the other, bagel.

    However, there is a tiny crafts bread place whose baking facility (small shed thing) is just down the road from me. Can I choose a hunk of his foccacia with sun-dried tomatoes, feta, onions, herbs and olive oil, and just punch a hole it it? That's worth the calories. ;)

    Every once in a while (once or twice a year?), I try a doughnut, these days usually one from some much-vaunted specialty place. Others praise them so highly, I always think I must be missing something, somehow. So far, not one has been worth its calories to me, really not even close . . . even as my friends seem to be in transports of ecstasy of them sometimes; I'm just "meh". I'm concluding I just must be missing some donut gene.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,130 Member
    Neither!
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Here's my deal: It's hard to find a GOOD bagel. I'm so glad that our local shop opened back up. They don't even have a toaster because they are FRESH and they are really THAT GOOD.

    It's hard to decide among poppy seed, "everything," jalapeno, or even a "firestick." These are not round but essentially it's dough from a jalapeno bagel with shredded cheddar added before baking. Baked, crispy cheese....

    But most bagels? I can just pass on those.

    Even the best doughnut, to me, can't beat a freshly baked good bagel. Needs no toppings or schmear, although if I have the calories, a LITTLE cream cheese (my shop puts on WAY too much), sliced onions, and lox or Nova. Cucumbers? Sure. But those still warm almost crispy outside and chewy inside; boiled just the right amount of time. Yeah. Bagel. No doubt for me.

    I just hate how many calories there are in one hunk o' bready goodness.

    jpa7s58zmuqd.jpg

    I prefer my bagels toasted but it's an issue of liking the texture of a toasted bagel, not because of it not being fresh. I'm lucky in that I've typically always had a very easy time of getting fresh bagels and bialys which are far superior to bagels. Fresh as in, "How much time do you have? The bialys are still in the oven" (those I only prefer toasted if they aren't still warm from the oven).

    Now if the question was "what do you prefer, a garlic bialy or a doughnut?" the bialy will win every time (even if it's a fresh very good doughnut).
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Bagel. I don't like donuts all that much.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,825 Member
    I haven't had a bialy in FOREVER. Yes. Delicious. Next time I see one I will eat it. For now... BAGEL!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,948 Member
    Depends on my mood. But my mood is more often for bagels, especially if they're good bagels. There are a lot of not-so-good bagels and not-so-good doughnuts readily available, and neither of those tempt me that much.

    Re: cream cheese. For years I have tended to use neufchatel cheese (essentially reduced-fat cream cheese) as a spread, and other than being a bit softer (which I actually consider a plus for spreading), I don't think there's a noticeable difference in flavor. Of course, it won't always do as a substitute in recipes.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,348 Member
    Scone if not many extra calories available as I rate as maximum fill up for the calories (cheese more so than raisin, though I buy raisin more often)! Bagel if I wanted more food and had the budget for it. Donut if I had already eaten my bagel, or my soup, or was really not conserving calories... cause... just one donut?!?!?! :smiley: