We Tried Krispy Kreme's Valentine's Day Doughnuts. They Don't Quite Pull At Our Heartstrings
Chocolate may be Valentine's Day's traditional sweet, but that has not stopped doughnut company Krispy Kreme from wanting to get in on the action. This year, Krispy Kreme is hoping you will bring home a box of doughnuts for the one you love by featuring Hershey's brand chocolate in four special edition Valentine's Day doughnuts.
While the use of Hershey's chocolate is new this year, Krispy Kreme is no stranger to the heart-shaped sales tactics regularly employed for this holiday. Last year Krispy Kreme produced four heart-shaped confections, leaning into some of the cuter elements of the holiday with both a teddy bear decorated doughnut and a "bee mine" variety. This year, though, Krispy Kreme seems to be focusing more on flavor in the hopes of providing consumers with a box "choc-full of love" (via Krispy Kreme). These doughnuts are only here for a limited time, so we wanted to find out if they are worth the effort or will just lead to heartbreak.
What the doughnuts are made of
This year Krispy Kreme is offering four special doughnuts, each with holiday-themed designs, toppings, and fillings. The Valentine's Day doughnuts are distinguishable from other Krispy Kreme doughnuts due to their unique heart shape. Really emphasizing the chocolate romance of the holiday, Krispy Kreme is offering Hershey's chocolate-based doughnuts. The first is Hershey's I Pick You, a Kreme-filled doughnut covered in Hershey's chocolate icing and decorated with a buttercream icing rose. The second is Hershey's Double Chocolate Kiss, filled with Hershey's milk chocolate, covered in Hershey's chocolate icing, and decorated with three Hershey's Kisses. How romantic!
The other two flavors still feature Hershey's products but put the chocolate out of the spotlight. Hershey's Strawberry Dream is filled with Hershey's Strawberry Kreme, dipped in red icing, and has mini white chocolate chips and heart sprinkles decorating half of it. Finally, the Hershey's Chocolate Chip Caramel Kreme is filled with Kreme, covered in Hershey's Caramel icing, and drizzled with Hershey's chocolate icing before being finished with mini chocolate chips and heart-shaped sprinkles. While these all sound indulgent, we are a bit disappointed not to see the return of last year's popular bear and bee designs.
How can you get your hands on them?
Krispy Kreme Valentine's Day doughnuts are only available for a limited time. Starting January 30th, the doughnuts became available at participating locations in the United States (via Krispy Kreme). They will be available through, unsurprisingly, Valentine's Day, February 14th. To find a location near you, you can check Krispy Kreme's locator.
If you are lucky enough to have a location near you, there are several options for ordering. Krispy Kreme allows you to order online for in-store pick-up or, in certain locations, for delivery, which means you can have these doughnuts delivered right to your house. However, then you do not get to watch the doughnut lazy river available to view at many locations, and that is half the fun of going to Krispy Kreme.
When you place an order, you can order the doughnuts individually. Be forewarned, though, they cost more than most of their non-special edition counterparts. In our area, these doughnuts cost $2.29 each, compared to $1.69 for unfilled doughnuts or $2.09 for most of the filled doughnuts. The other option, though, if you want to go all in, is to order the Valentine's Day Dozen. This gives you two of each of the special edition doughnuts and four classic glazed doughnuts. It costs $17.49 in our area and is supposed to come in its own pink box with a heart-shaped viewing window in it. Sadly, we did not receive the box with our order.
How they compare
In special edition products, we hope for originality of flavor, especially when it comes with flavors from two well-known companies. The Valentine's day doughnuts, though, are a bit of a mixed box.
For example, the Hershey's I Pick You is nearly identical to Krispy Kreme's Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled doughnut. Both feature Kreme filling and a chocolate topping. Besides the shape and decoration, the only difference seems to be the Hershey's brand chocolate icing on top of the Hershey's I Pick You. Comparing their nutritional information, we find that they are nearly identical in almost every category, except for the ingredients (the "Hershey's I Pick You" has many more). This is primarily due to the icings used to make the rose on top, which is pretty but does not add much to the flavor of the doughnut.
The other three offer a bit more originality. Hershey's Double Chocolate Kiss and Hershey's Strawberry Dream each offer a uniquely flavored Kreme not available elsewhere. Likewise, the Hershey's Chocolate Chip Caramel Kreme is made with icing not found on other doughnuts. As all the special flavors for these doughnuts are Kreme filled, they are higher in sugar and calories than the standard glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, coming in at a minimum of 350 calories. However, this is not that much higher than other filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts and, hey, this is a holiday whose best feature is candy, so it's okay for these candy-inspired doughnuts to be sweet.
The safe choices
Of the four doughnuts Krispy Kreme put out, two of them are what we would consider the safe choices: not bad, but perhaps also not daring enough. Those are the Hershey's I Pick You and the Hershey's Chocolate Chip Caramel doughnuts.
The Hershey's I Pick You was the pinnacle of uninspired. We were concerned that it was just the Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled doughnut with a frosting rose on it, and we were proved correct. It is not that it was not tasty. It was. Krispy Kreme's signature Kreme filling is light, sweet, and decadent without feeling heavy. The thing is, the Hershey's I Pick You tastes identical to the Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled doughnut. The difference is just the flower, which is not enough for us.
The Hershey's Chocolate Chip Caramel was still a safe choice but offered a bit of something out of the realm of what Krispy Kreme usually provides. The Kreme filling inside is good and is nicely complemented by the caramel frosting. The frosting has notes of brown sugar and offers a more robust flavor than the company's standard vanilla glaze. Honestly, we are a bit surprised caramel icing is not a standard flavor for the company, that being said, it just does not have that "wow" factor.
The standouts
The two standout flavors from the bunch were Hershey's Double Chocolate Kiss and Hershey's Strawberry Dream. Both flavors have the benefit of a non-standard filling flavor which helps them stand out from the crowd.
The Hershey's Double Chocolate Kiss offered a chocolate Kreme filling, in addition to the chocolate on top, and mini milk chocolate Kisses. We loved the pairing of the chocolate Kreme and the chocolate glaze; where it lost us a little were the Kisses, which weren't quite right. They were smaller than the standard Kiss but by no means "mini." They were difficult to eat on the doughnut, and we removed and ate them after. They may look nice but do not add much to the flavor.
The Hershey's Strawberry Dream also offered a delightful filling flavor, this time strawberry. The flavor was strong enough to come through but not so strong as to overpower other flavors. We were worried the sprinkles and white chocolate chips would add a weird crunch, but they worked well; it is just a shame they were only on half the doughnut. Again, we assume this was done for looks more than taste.
The final verdict
Overall, the doughnuts were good but did not feel as though they broke the mold as much as they could have. Amazingly, despite the partnership with Hershey's, the chocolate component of these doughnuts was still not as prominent as we would have thought. Even the Hershey's Double Chocolate Kiss does not feel as chocolatey as we, or any chocolate lover, would want.
It is also surprising that the doughnuts did not try to pair any classic flavors, such as chocolate and strawberry. The company, instead, chose to focus on simple, isolated flavors for each doughnut. The flavors were pretty conventional, the designs uninspired, and overall it felt a bit like they were phoning it in. While Krispy Kreme's unique summer flavors may have been a mixed box, at least they went for unconventional tastes that drew us in. Still, if you are looking for some easy-to-eat and unintimidating flavors, this box provides them. Just make sure they give you the pink box. It really adds pizzazz.