The Place:

Tully’s Coffee (distributor of Pinks Original Bakery donuts and confections), 2060 N.W. Market St., 781-4887, BALLARD.The Hole: One teeny, tiny glazed old-fashioned for the change I managed to dig up in the cigarette tray of a Volkswagen.The Shit: After a day of “sailing” Puget Sound in almost no wind and pouring rain, I was desperate for a warm drink and a little something sweet. A tray of mini-donuts sitting just beside the resgister at the Ballard Tully’s seemed just the ticket.The donuts are the product of Pinks Original Bakery, a local baked-goods distributor that has an insanely adorable website filled with line drawings and tales of Capitol Hill friendships.See, 22 years ago, according to the interweb, two friends named Anne and Molly started baking muffins in a Capitol Hill church basement. That was the beginning of Pinks, a bakery that distributes its locally sourced goods to coffee shops and eateries throughout the Northwest.That’s how I came to be staring at a donut approximately the size of an eye socket in Ballard.Here’s the thing about mini-donuts. They are surprisingly difficult to get right. The key to old fashioned-style donuts is the mix of crispy exterior to moist, fluffy interior. The smaller the donut, the less room you have for error. Try to keep the insides soft, and the exterior won’t have that hint of crunch you expect from a good old-fashioned. But if you really get the outside crispy, there’s hardly enough dough left on the inside to be anything but dried out.Pinks’ version of the mini-donut errs on the side of too dry, but they make up for it by really slathering that sucker in glaze. And the size is just perfect when what you’re looking for is a bite or two to go with your coffee while you try to raise your core temperature out of mild hypothermia.Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.