Doughnut makers find their crowd in Nashua
By Mya Blanchard
[email protected]
Their first time at the Nashua farmers market, Donut O’clock sold out in just 40 minutes.
“I don’t know how that happened because it was our very first day in Nashua,” said Anna Khachatryan, who owns the business with her husband. “We had this rush of people [and] everything was gone by 10:40 a.m. It was just the best experience.”
Donut O’clock, which operates out of a commercial kitchen in Derry, attends the Nashua farmers market at 6 Hartshorn Ave. every other week, returning on Aug. 6.
According to Khachatryan, what has now become Donut O’clock started not as a business venture but as an experiment.
“We were trying doughnut places here and there and … every time we would try a new place, one of the components wouldn’t be satisfactory,” she said. “We really couldn’t find the ideal doughnut.”
Being a pastry chef, her husband Davit Hovhannisyan decided to create the ideal doughnut himself. He started developing the recipe during the beginning of 2022. After months of research and experimentation, he finally perfected the recipe for the brioche-style dough.
“It takes a lot of time to ferment and he would use a special technique so at the end the doughnuts would come out really, really fluffy,” said Khachatryan. “Then he would experiment with the glazes and the flavors. His goal was to develop a dessert that is not too high in calories, but at the same time is really elevated. … It was a journey.”
The two began bringing the doughnuts along to gatherings for friends, who declared the doughnuts the best they had ever tasted.
“Instead of taking it just as a compliment, he thought that maybe it [was] worth turning it into a full production,” Khachatryan said.
By September 2022, Donut O’clock was officially in business. With 15 varieties on their website menu, like maple apricot, apple caramel, mango and strawberry cheesecake and tiramisu, each doughnut is hand-rolled, according to Khachatryan. The creams are made from scratch every day with quality ingredients; they craft their own purees, jellies and glazes from fresh fruit.
“It is a labor of love. It is really, really demanding,” Khachatryan said. “The techniques are really artisan. They’re handmade, whereas if you go to a typical doughnut shop you will have machinery involved.”
Originally from Armenia, Khachatryan and Hovhannisyan moved to Boston and then to New Hampshire about five years ago. Both with musical backgrounds, Hovhannisyan being a classical pianist and Khachatryan being the director Virtuoso Kids Music Academy in Nashua, they wanted to incorporate musicality and artistry into their doughnuts.
“He’s so close to art and so close to the kitchen, so he just tried to make artistic doughnuts,” Khachatryan said. “It’s just like music and art; there’s a lot of components like different textures and different flavors.”
Khachatryan has noticed more and more local businesses bringing handmade products to the market, which is something she is glad to be a part of.
“The markets have been great so far. We just love people’s feedback, it’s been overwhelmingly [positive],” she said. “We are adjusting the numbers and bringing more and more but since they are handmade there’s a production capacity; we can’t just make a thousand. Not yet.”
Donut O’clock
Where: Find Donut O’clock at the Nashua farmers market in the Nashua Public Library parking lot, 6 Hartshorn Ave.
When: Sundays, Aug. 6, Aug. 20, Sept. 3, Sept. 17, Oct. 1, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 12 and Nov. 26, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Visit: donutoclock.net
Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Donut O’clock.
