Light* 'n' Healthy?

"I want to eat light 'n' healthy this time of year." -- Me. Last week.

Oh, fine, I know what I said. But sometimes, a girl needs a donut.

Last night, my sister and roommate joined me and Mike for a 4.25-mile walk around Austin's beautiful Lady Bird Lake. (No disrespect to our former First Lady, but I'll always refer to it as Town Lake.) We had plans to meet friends for dinner at Gourdoughs -- an unfortunate destination for those seeking light 'n' healthy fare.

Gourdough's is one of the newer food trailers in Austin, specializing in donuts -- donuts like you've never had before. Mike and I had been there once before last night, just a few weeks ago. We forgot to capture the "Funky Monkey" at the time. The Funky Monkey is a donut topped with brown sugar, grilled bananas and cream cheese frosting. I was impressed with the quality of the donut (which tastes a lot like a funnel cake), the quality of the frosting and even the amount of caramelization on the banana slices; they aren't fooling around at Gourdough's.

Last night, I had my heart set on another Funky Monkey, but I'm glad I was with someone with a more adventurous palate. Mike and I agreed to split a savory and a sweet, finally settling on the Mother Clucker - a donut topped with fried chicken and honey butter - and the Dirty Berry - a donut topped with chocolate frosting and grilled strawberries. Both were pretty stellar, though I'd swap out the honey butter on the Mother Clucker for some maple syrup. It was a little too much butter flavor, and not enough honey. (Don't get used to me complaining about too much butter flavor; it is so rare that I just looked outside my office window, and a few pigs have taken flight.)


Somehow, my sister managed to get an extra donut on the house, and though it was probably my least favorite of the five I've sampled, The Puddin' didn't disappoint. The Puddin' is cream filled and topped with cream cheese frosting, bananas, and vanilla wafers. (The fifth sample was the Mama's Cake, a donut topped with chocolate fudge icing and then drizzled with yellow cake batter. GENIUS.)

I've heard so many people rave about Gordough's, but they always mention how rich, or dense, or overly sweet the donuts are. Many people say they can only eat half of a donut. "Ooooh, they're really good but just too much." Huh? Not the case with me. It's not a weekly dinner destination, mind you, but it's so different and unique, such a treat. I will make myself eat a light lunch and work out before I go back, but make no mistake about it -- I'm goin' back.

Maybe I'll head back this summer after a long swim at Barton Springs. I've got my eye on the Blackout and the Miss Shortcake - check out some of the Yelp photos.

*They might not be healthy, but donuts could be considered light.