I just feel like anything that needs granulated sugar (not even powdered sugar, how lazy is that!) added to its surface probably doesn’t taste that good in of itself.

Prime example are jam donuts. If the dough is good and the jam inside is good, then it’s a good donut. If you have to sprinkle literal sugar on it’s skin, then you can bet your ass that the dough is bland and they skimmed on the jam