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Copyright © 2018 by Jessie Janowitz
Cover and internal design © 2018 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover design and illustrations by Nina Goffi
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.
Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
(630) 961-3900
Fax: (630) 961-2168
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Janowitz, Jessie, author.
Title: The doughnut fix / Jessie Janowitz.
Description: Naperville, Illinois : Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, [2018] | Series: The doughnut fix ; 1 | Summary: When his family moves to tiny Petersville, eleven-year-old Tris stops focusing on his perfect sister, Jeanine, by using his cooking expertise to revive a town tradition of chocolate cream doughnuts.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017034429 | (13 : alk. paper)
Subjects: | CYAC: Family life--Fiction. | Community life--Fiction. | Doughnuts--Fiction. | Moving, Household--Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.J3882 Dou 2018 | DDC [Fic]--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034429
Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Mom’s Molten Chocolate Cakes
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Rookie Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
The Cheat Sheet
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Cover
For Toby, Leo, and Sylvie
1
It started off like any normal Saturday with Jeanine, Zoe, and me flipping through cookbooks on the living room floor.
For Mom, teaching us to bake was right up there with teaching us to read. As soon as we were old enough to digest chocolate, we got a Dessert Day, one day a week to make whatever we wanted. We’d pick our recipes on Saturday morning, then shop for ingredients after eating breakfast at Barney Greengrass, a deli a few blocks up Amsterdam Avenue from our apartment.
I’d been working my way through Roland Mesnier’s Basic to Beautiful Cakes since I got it for my birthday in July. Roland is king when it comes to cake. He was the White House pastry chef for twenty-five years.
That morning, I decided to tackle the white chocolate dome cake Roland created for President Jimmy Carter, minus the nasty orange syrup he uses. Except for cutting out stuff I hate, I usually follow the recipe exactly, which drives Mom crazy. She says you have to make a recipe your own, but she’s a professional.
As usual, it took Zoe no time at all to pick her dessert, because she always chooses snickerdoodles and knows the ingredients by heart.
Jeanine couldn’t make up her mind between triple chocolate chip cookies and banoffee pie. Jeanine is Gifted and Talented, which means no matter the question, she’s always sure there’s a right answer. So when there is no right or wrong, when it’s just red or blue, plain or sesame, she totally falls apart.
I was rooting for the cookies for the simple reason that banoffee pie is disgusting. It never even gets cooked, so it’s all cold and slimy like hand sanitizer. I kept my opinion to myself though. I may be two years older, but Jeanine never listens to me about anything, not even dessert.
According to the New York City Department of Education, I, Tristan Levin, am not Gifted or Talented. I can make a perfect chocolate chip cookie, but Mom made sure we could all do that. I’m not entirely clear on what about me isn’t G&T material, but I’m guessing the fact that I still use my fingers to do the nines trick has something to do with it. When Jeanine turned seven, it was like God had downloaded every single multiplication fact right into her brain.
What I do get about the whole G&T thing is that it’s not something I can change. I’m pretty good at knowing what I can control and what I can’t. I guess that’s not something G&T tests for because Jeanine never knows.
I used to think my name was one of those things that I was just stuck with, but then I found out you can legally change your own name. Charlie’s Uncle Ralph, now Uncle Damien, did it. Personally, I don’t think Damien’s any better than Ralph, but neither are as bad as Tristan.
What do you think of Jax? There’s something especially cool about a name with an X in it, right? But then, sometimes I wonder if it sounds too much like a dog: “Here, Jax! Roll over, Jax!” You can’t change your name till you’re eighteen, and I’m only twelve, so I’ve got some time.
When half an hour had gone by and Jeanine still hadn’t picked her dessert, I told my parents I’d meet them at breakfast. Barney’s opens at eight thirty, and if you’re not there by nine, you’ll never get a table, even if you are a regular.
Barney’s isn’t fancy or anything. The wallpaper is peeling and has food smears on it, and most of the chairs are crisscrossed with duct tape. But I’m telling you, none of that matters once you taste the food. If I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be Barney’s eggs and onions. The eggs are so creamy, they taste like custard, and the onions are so sweet, you’d swear they were cooked in maple syrup.
Then there’s the smell. Just one whiff of that air dripping with chicken soup, sautéed onions, and garlic bagels, and Shazzam! The whole world goes all Willy-Wonka-big-glass-elevator-crashing-through-the-ceiling
