Orange Blossom Bakery & Café

Orange Blossom Bakery & Café is a bakery and café on NC 12 in Buxton, known for the Apple Ugly, a large apple-and-cinnamon fritter with glaze. Its rough, twisted shape gives the glaze plenty of cracks to settle into. If you're trying one thing, start there. The menu also lists chocolate-covered Uglies, donuts, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches, so there's more than a single specialty treat.

The shop occupies the former Orange Blossom Motel, a six-unit roadside motel built in the 1950s. The motel became a bakery in 1979. A visiting baker suggested working apples into leftover donut dough; the fritter that came from the idea became the Apple Ugly. The name fits the look, and the pastry's story is a small piece of island food history you can taste rather than read on a plaque.

It's right on NC 12 in Buxton, an easy stop as you drive Hatteras Island. For breakfast, the menu lists sandwiches served on a homemade biscuit, toast, croissant, or bagel, with Italian bread also offered. I'd come for the Apple Ugly and add coffee or breakfast if you need more than a snack.