Arlington Overflows With Doughnut Holes This Weekend

Doughnut holes spill into Arlington this weekend as a pop-up takes its operation permanent. Mass Hole Donuts, which serves cake- and brioche-style doughnut holes in various Boston-inspired flavors, opens Saturday, October 19, at 2 Lake St., in Arlington.

Co-founder and chef Alex Mansfield is no stranger to the location, having run pop-ups in the space during its previous incarnation as the Local Fare, which closed earlier this year after three years. Now, the place is entirely Mansfield’s, just in time for cider doughnut season.

“Things are going great; everything seems to be lining up well for the opening weekend,” Mansfield told Eater in an email. “I’ve been in the space for a couple months now getting things set up, so I’ve become friends with a lot of people in the neighborhood and other local business owners already.”

Mass Hole Donuts will debut with 12 doughnuts on opening weekend, including a continuous supply of Johnny Appleseeds, or cider cake doughnuts made with chunks of local apples and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Other varieties include a brioche hole filled with Earl Grey banana cream and dunked in chocolate ganache and chocolate sprinkles, a chocolate cake doughnut with passionfruit icing, and a lemon poppyseed cake doughnut.

“I expect a lot of those to sell out early on opening day, but we will be making the Johnny Appleseeds fresh all day,” Mansfield said.

In addition to doughnut holes, Mass Hole Donuts will serve Counter Culture coffee.

The business will operate from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during its opening weekend, with full hours starting the following week and running from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Mansfield eventually plans to expand hours and in the meantime will continue to fill catering orders. See below for the full list of flavors that will be available on opening weekend at Mass Hole Donuts.

• Mama’s Lil Mass Hole: Old-fashioned cake doughnut hole with vanilla bean glaze and rainbow jimmies
• New-berry Street: Rich chocolate cake doughnut hole with vanilla glaze, Nutella, and fresh blackberry
• The Drunken Mass Hole: Old fashioned cake doughnut hole with whiskey glaze, candied orange, and dark chocolate
• Boston Banana Cream: Raised brioche doughnut hole filled with Earl Grey banana cream, dunked in chocolate ganache and rolled in real chocolate jimmies
• Green Monster: Raised brioche doughnut hole filled with lime cream, topped with green tea white chocolate
• Pecan Hill: Old fashioned cake doughnut hole doused in homemade caramel, candied pecans, and white chocolate
• Tuukka Rask-Hole: A tribute to the Boston Bruins’ goalie Tuukka Rask, chocolate cake doughnut hole with passionfruit icing
• Brockton Blackout Cake: Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate cream cheese icing and dark chocolate chips
• Pink Lemon Papi: Lemon poppyseed cake doughnut with pink lemonade icing and pink strawberry sprinkles
• Johnny Appleseed (Cinnamon Sugar): An apple cider cake doughnut studded with chunks of local apples, fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar
• Johnny Caramelseed (Apple Caramel): An apple cider cake doughnut studded with chunks of local apples, fried and dunked in a house-made apple caramel infused with boiled cider
• Toll House (Limited availability): Brioche doughnut hole dough wrapped around a gooey orb of house-made edible chocolate chip cookie dough, dusted in powdered sugar

• Doughnut Pop-Up Aims for Permanence in Arlington [EBOS]