Let's get one thing straight before we get started here. These aren't just donuts. These are hot donuts, but not just any hot donuts. They are Fractured Prune hot donuts.

And they are delicious and waiting to be devoured every morning.

Unfortunately, the hot donut is a foreign concept to too many people. The Fractured Prune makes its own cake donuts, and while they are still fresh and hot, smothers them in whatever toppings you want. Of course, you can get one "naked," or simply deep fried.

At the Fractured Prune, you create the donuts, and the workers simply make them. What does that mean? Walk into their 28th Street or 127th Street locations and ask for anything you could possibly want on a donut. You create the topping, and they will gladly oblige your request.

Chocolate, coconut, sprinkles, sugar, brown sugar, raspberry, honey and more are available. One of the most popular choices is the O.C. Sand, which is a honey-dipped donut covered in cinnamon sugar. You can add so many things to your little circle of dough that you won't even think it's breakfast. Once you get to the level of adding chocolate chips and Oreo cookies, you've crossed the breakfast line and entered dessert.

Donuts are sold individually, as well as by the dozen and half dozen. At the 127th Street shop, they'll serve you a "Hole in One," which is any donut topped with a scoop of ice cream. They give it to you on a Fractured Prune frisbee, too.

Get in line early. From the time they open until about 11 a.m., the line often stretches out the door of the building and around the corner. Once you place your order, you don't get a number, but rather a much cooler system of organization: you get a playing card.

While you stand in line, read the story on the wall about how the name Fractured Prune came about. The short version is that in 1976, Tom Parshall read the story of Prunella Shriek, an eccentric elderly woman who liked to compete in ice skating races and other dangerous sports. She would often come home to Ocean City in a wheelchair or on crutches, so the locals nicknamed her Fractured Prunella. The name stuck in Parshall's mind, and he named his new business the Fractured Prune.

If it doesn't kill you to watch other customers walk out with their boxes full of delight, sit back and wait for someone to shout, "Ace of diamonds!" (or whatever your card is).

Pick up your donuts. Wage the war in your mind of whether it's better to eat one (or four) on the way home or to make sure your family gets fed.

Krispy Kreme would be left glazed and confused trying to figure out the secret. Dunkin' would go nuts for these donuts. Some people find Krispy's to be heavenly, but it's Fractured Prune donuts that are most holy.

The Fractured Prune has stores sprinkled from the east coast to the Mississippi, with shops in North Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware.

They may be a little pricier than other establishments, but trust me, they're worth the dough.