Food Stuff

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Baked, Not Fried, and Still a Treat

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Published: April 3, 2012

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The venerable Butterfield Market , a carriage-trade grocer on the Upper East Side, traces its beginnings to 1915 but is now focused on innovation: doughnuts that are baked, not fried.

Given many dieters' aversion to fried foods, "I thought they'd be popular," said Evan Obsatz, whose maternal grandfather and parents took over the market in 1972 and who is now involved in running it. He noticed a small, empty storefront a few doors south and has turned it into Baked by Butterfield.

The doughnuts, mostly cake style, look like their fried cousins and come in more than a dozen decorative varieties, including black-and-white, red velvet, ginger carrot, triple chocolate and olive-oil-thyme. They're like a cross between a cupcake and a doughnut, since they lack the slight crispness that fried doughnuts have on the outside. But in a neighborhood where coffee shops serve low-fat egg-white omelets, they could be a home run.

The baker, Newton Pryce, also makes yeast-raised doughnuts, satisfying plum-size sugared or glazed spheres filled with jelly, chocolate or cream. The roster of flavors will vary; a gluten-free variety is now available, while vegan and sugar-free doughnuts are in the works. The shop also sells coffee, tea, juices, lemonade and chocolates.

Baked by Butterfield, 1102 Lexington Avenue (77th Street), (212) 988-0196, bakedbybutterfield.com , is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Doughnuts are $1.50 to $3.75 each. Delivery is available citywide, for a fee, on orders of $20 or more.

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