The Brioche Box

Imagine waking up at 2 a.m., going into work, and spending the next eight hours making donuts. That's basically what Mabel Hong does every weekend behind The Brioche Box, a tiny Middleton operation making filled brioche donuts in small batches, and when they're gone, they're gone.

She purposely makes them less sweet than a typical American donut, and that's the whole trick. The brioche is so soft I described it as biting into a cloud with sweetness in the middle. Butterscotch had plenty of flavor without becoming a sugar bomb, the chocolate stayed light enough that you can still taste the dough, and peaches & cream, made with actual peaches, was one of my favorites.

I tried eight flavors: butterscotch, chocolate, peaches & cream, black sesame, Thai tea, matcha, pandan and Japanese milk cream. The Japanese milk cream is simple, light, creamy and ridiculously good. But after all eight, the thing I kept thinking about was the donut itself.

If you want a gigantic donut buried in frosting and cereal, this isn't your place. If you want something completely different, these might be some of the best donuts in the entire state of Wisconsin.