The Best Dessert Shops in Scottsdale, by the Record
The best dessert shops in Scottsdale, by the professional record: Phoenix New Times has weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Chin Up Donuts comes out on top.
Randy's Donuts and The Local Donut hold the next two places.
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Rank 1. Chin Up Donuts
Dessert
A donut shop in Old Town Scottsdale that leans into vintage furniture and bright walls, making it feel more like a coffee shop than a bakery. The donuts themselves split the difference between cake and yeast, landing somewhere denser and breadlike, which gives toppings like strawberry shortcake crumbles or Lucky Charms marshmallows something to push against. The pizza donut and mac and cheese fritter are exactly as committed to the bit as they sound.
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Rank 1. The Local Donut
Bakery
A tiny donut shop tucked into a shopping center off Hayden, where the menu categories are literally named Classy, Fancy, and Schmancy, so expectations are appropriately calibrated. Yeast donuts, cake donuts, mochi donuts, fritters, and seasonal pastries all share the case, and the creme brulee donut gets a kitchen torch before it reaches you. Phoenix New Times put it on their list of the Valley's top dozen donut shops.
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Rank 4. Sugar Bowl
Dessert
Pink booths, a soda fountain counter, and ice cream sodas that have been drawing Scottsdale families for what feels like forever. This old-school ice cream parlor is better known for sundaes than sandwiches, but the lunch menu holds its own: turkey salad with avocado, tea sandwiches, chili with cheese. The kind of place where saving room for dessert isn't advice so much as the whole point of showing up.
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Rank 5. Cool Gelato Italiano
Dessert