September 28, 2025

by Duane Sandville, Outland Affairs correspondent

An Invitation to visit Bricklyn, VT. Above left: Dunk Them Donuts CEO Dave Tiler Broffman. Above right: Saul Hollybrick & Drew Brickeeth, avatars of the real Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
Photos by Ann Tiler Anderson, with assistance of GPT-4o AI and Canva..

During the recent airing of Episode 3 of this season’s Great British Bake Off, celebrity baker and Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood acknowledged that his “guilty pleasure” was eating donuts!📍 This admission was followed by the show’s challenge to its contestants to bake a dozen delectably delicious donuts.

📍The Bricklyn Eagle uses standard American spelling of words. We recognize that “donut” is spelled as “doughnut” in Great Britain and most of the English speaking world. We also note that in 1808 New Yorker Washington Irving apparently used the hyphenated spelling “dough-nut.”

Following the airing of the show, Bricklyn donut mogul David Tiler Broffman — a fan of the Great British Bake Off — set in motion a chain of conversations among Bricklyn business leaders. The result: a special invitation to the Bake Off’s two judges, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, to visit the Realm of Bricklyn, either in-person or through their Bricklyn avatars (and live-streamed back to the United Kingdom).

Coordinated by Bricklyn Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Brickorti, plans are already moving forward for Leith & Hollywood’s hoped for visit, whether in-person or through their avatars. “The LEGO Realm of Bricklyn,” noted Brickorti, “has long been recognized for its ‘donut culture,’ and as the home of Dunk Them Donuts, Bricklyn’s largest employer. We plan to show our guests the innovative ways in which Bricklyn has become the donut capital of the Inland world.”

What makes Bricklyn-made donuts so special?

Over ninety percent of donuts eaten in Bricklyn come from Dunk Them Donuts. As its CEO, David Tiler Broffman, told us, “While we offer a wide variety of donuts, all are rooted in a family recipe handed down from my grandparents. For many years, Dunk Them Donuts, were only sold in the family’s Bricklyn Junction store.

“We’ve greatly expanded our donut offerings since then, but we continue to aim for the quality found in our original family recipe.” Broffman added that “soon, with Mr. Hollywood’s permission, we would love to include a line of glazed donuts based on his own special recipe.”

If Hollywood and Leith’s visit takes place, they will be the second set of celebrity donut lovers to land in Bricklyn, following in the footsteps of the famed Simpsons.

Three years ago Bricklyn civic leaders enticed Homer Simpson, along with dozens of his family members and friends, to move from Springfield to Bricklyn, in part because of the promise of providing the Simpson clan with a lifetime, unlimited supply of Dunk Them Donuts. CEO Broffman acknowledges this was “a quite costly pledge, but one that has truly put Bricklyn and Dunk Them Donuts on the World Donut map.”

Others involved in the Bricklyn baking scene have also been contacted about the possible Hollywood and Leith visit, including Bricklyn pastry chef Patsy Brickerson. While her own shop, Pastries by Patsy, focuses on French baked goods, it also offers Patsy’s own take on donuts.

As Brickerson told us, “there’s absolutely nothing contradictory about enjoying both French pastries and Bricklyn donuts.”

“I’m glad,” she continued, “that a chef as highly respected as Paul Hollywood can acknowledge a love of donuts, even if he needs to couch it as his ‘guilty pleasure.’ I know that feeling, but am glad we’re both ‘out of the closet’ now when it comes to our love of donuts.” ✥

From the Editor: While not directly related to what you have just read, we thought the following Note by amateur historian Ned Nettles might be of interest to our readers. Mr. Nettles is a lover of both American history and the history of donuts. He earned a B.A. degree in Outland History in 1988 from Bricklyn University, and periodically reports on historic topics of interest on NewsChannel 5. — Walt Brickman, Editor, The Bricklyn Eagle.

Scroll down past this Note to read Letters to the Editor we’ve received.

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A Note on Colonial-Era Philadelphia & Donuts
by Ned Nettles, B.A.

Shown below is what is considered to be a reproduction of the original “Map of the Donut World,” circa 1791, attributed to Mathew Carey — who established one of the first American cartographic publishing firms in Philadelphia in 1785. Carey’s likeness as a young man is believed to be captured by the figure in the upper right corner of the map looking towards his wife Elissa in the upper left corner of the map.

Long thought to have been lost, the Map of the Donut World was discovered buried in a thin metal box during excavations earlier this year at the former site of Matthew Carey’s business on Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street near Third.

Carey is believed to have been a regular at what was then known as “Widow Chardin’s Coffee House,” located near the corner of Second & Walnut Streets, not far from his business. Operated by Mary Chardín after her husband’s death, her donuts were said to be the “sweetest of cherished treats.”

Widow Chardin’s Coffee House is also where the practice of dunking donuts into mugs of steaming hot coffee is said to have occurred with special gusto on September 17, 1787, when patrons dunked to the health and welfare of the framers of the United States Constitution — a document adopted by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention earlier that day at the nearby Pennsylvania State House (now called Independence Hall).

Some reported at the time that Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, were among those present at Widow Chardin’s Coffee House for this impromptu dunking ceremony.

Others have disputed this account, saying that the ailing 81-year-old Franklin had been carried in his sedan chair back to his residence on nearby Fourth Street, while Madison, complaining of a headache, had returned to his lodgings at Mrs. Mary House’s boarding house on South Fifth Street, a short walk from the Pennsylvania State House. ✥

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We welcome Letters to the Editor. Please email to: bricklynvt@gmail.com

To the Editor: This invitation is just one more example of Dunk Them Donut’s CEO’s showmanship. But what Mr. Broffman mistakes is thinking that the British Bake Off judges would care in the least for touring Dunk Them Donuts’ facilities.

Broffman’s company, with its mass production of donuts; its aim to dominate the donut marketplace; its belief that with donuts the bigger the better; and its shabby treatment of its workers, is the polar opposite of the kind of craft and human values I hope and believe Mr. Hollywood and Ms. Leith support. It is disappointing that your reporting failed to note these points. — Toby Smallbrick, Bricklyn, VT.

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To the Editor: As a worker in Dunk Them Donuts’ manufacturing plant in Bricklyn Junction, I fear the Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Broffman may paint too glowing a picture of Dunk Them Donuts for Hollywood and Leith. Sure, the pay is decent, and we need donuts for the economy. But why can’t we have better working conditions and more rest breaks?

Filling donuts all day can get tiring, and I’ll admit even boring. I’ve never been the complaining type, but I’ve come to think we could use a union here. Don’t know why Mr. Broffman keeps telling us having a union would threaten our jobs and our future. Seems to me it would help secure them both. –– Name Withheld, Bricklyn Jct., VT.

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To the Editor: I saw you added a long footnote about donuts in Colonial-era Philadelphia. Yeah, that’s sort of interesting if you’re into history. But what’s really important is that Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith may visit Bricklyn! That would be something! Let’s pull together and make it happen! — Annie B. Cool, South Bricklyn, VT.

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To the Editor: I must say that I have my doubts about the “Note from a Lover of American History & Donuts” that you appended to reporter Sandville’s otherwise informative article. You say this Note is written by a Bricklynite with knowledge of American history and culture. But a lot of the “facts” he sets out are more in the nature of “fantasies.” For example, he highlights the role of the so-called “Widow Chardin’s Tavern” or “Coffee House.” But was there really such a place? Here’s what I asked Chat GPT, followed by its reply:

But now take a look at what Chat GPT wrote in response to my follow-up question for its source of information about Widow Chardin’s establishment:

So it appears there may well have been no such place as Widow Chardin’s Coffee House or Tavern! This is only one of several questionable statements made in Mr. Nettle’s Note, including the claimed existence of a fanciful looking 18th century document titled “Map of the Donut World” … So what are we to believe? Please, no more amateur historians who fail to check their sources! — Ellen B. Sondberg, Bricklyn, VT

Reply from Editor Walt Brickman: While I thank Ms. Sondberg for her dedication to historical accuracy, I am afraid she misconstrues the nature of The Bricklyn Eagle and its contents.

I need to re-emphasize the “fact” that while The Bricklyn Eagle draws on real people, places, and events to provide some verisimilitude, it remains a work of fiction. So please double-check any statements you read before passing them along as actual facts.

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To the Editor: I was just told by a friend about a comment your newspaper received questioning the accuracy of material you published about colonial-era Philadelphia, including mention of Matthew Carey, who was my 8th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. There had long been family lore that he published a so-called “donut map,” something your article referenced. In checking with friends here in Philadelphia, I can verify that a Colonial-era map with the title “A Map of the Donut World” was found during excavations this past March at the site of Matthew Carey’s business, and has been donated to the Atwater-Kent collection of Philadelphia-related historic documents housed at Drexel University.

In discussing this further with my cousin Suzanne (our “unofficial” family genealogist), she told me that word was that our 8th-great-grandfather also loved to frequent a nearby tavern that was operated by a widowed woman named Mary.

Hope the above information is helpful to you and your readers. While I never heard before of Bricklyn or of your newspaper, it’s nice to learn that among LEGO people there’s an interest in Philadelphia history. By the way, my two children really enjoy LEGO building — I’m going to tell them about Bricklyn! — Margery Bookbinder, Philadelphia, PA.

Reply from Editor Walt Brickman: I trust our readers saw the second paragraph of my previous reply!

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