The Veera Donuts location on the Hip Strip opened up in 2019, and since then it’s become a popular lunch spot among Hellgate students. Two friends (Sophomore EB Billingsley and Junior CJ Gimpelson) and I taste-tested the holiday donut selection at the best donut shop on the Hellgate block, and these were our results:

Boston Dream 9/10

This was the regular Boston Cream that they have year-round, but it was decorated with a Christmas tree, so we declared it on-theme (always finding an excuse to eat more donuts, right?). I always love a Boston cream, so I thought it was delicious. The icing for the Christmas tree was very sugary but didn’t knock any points off. EB and CJ came to a consensus that there was too much filling/cream on the inside, but that it was just as delicious as always.

Snowfall 8/10

We all agreed that this one tastes almost exactly like the Boston Dream but without any chocolate (I take that as a negative, but you can do with that what you’d like). The design was very pretty and sparkly but not too heavy on the icing, and overall it was just a good donut.

Smashing Pumpkin Pie 6/10

CJ tried the donut after some convincing and some complaining that she doesn’t like pumpkin, and then was reluctant to admit that it wasn’t bad. She said that it’s kind of boring, but if you like pumpkin, you’ll like this donut. EB and I agreed that it was a bit heavy on the cinnamon. There was a pumpkin puree on the inside that was messy and heavily spiced, but it was still good, as was the frosting.

White Zombie 7/10

I loved the name and design on this donut; it was almost too cute to eat. I did, though, and I thought there was a strong coconut flavor on top and in the filling, but it was mostly vanilla. CJ said that it was too sweet and should have had more coconut to balance it. EB agreed, saying that the flavors didn’t mesh well together and that it wasn’t as good as the others, but still a fun design.

Psycho Holiday 6/10

This one was both too much and too little at the same time. The donut itself was regular vanilla and relatively boring, but the toppings were tasty. I loved the peppermint and chocolate combo, and it tasted, as CJ put it, like an Andes Mint. The truffle on the top was very chocolaty and flavorful and was probably the best part of the donut. CJ and EB agreed that Veera should sell the truffles by themselves, because they would definitely like them without the donut’s flavor combating it.

Cookies and Cream 6/10

This had quite a few toppings piled on it and was pretty messy, but worth it in the end. It did indeed taste like cookies and cream in my opinion. I really liked the frosting on the top. EB thought the filling tasted a bit more like coconut than like cookies and cream, but still thought it was tasteful nonetheless.

Overall, Veera never goes wrong with their donut selection. None of these holiday donuts were bad, only some were better than the others. You should definitely go try the donuts for yourself this holiday season, they’re all worth it.