The Time Dunkin' Sold Easter Egg Doughnuts
Much like cake and specialty coffees, doughnuts with special flavors and decorations can mark a holiday occasion. Some shops offer doughnuts with black-and-orange icing on Halloween. You can often find red-and-green doughnuts with little tree-shaped sprinkles on Christmas. It's a food that can be tailored to fit just about any holiday.
Doughnut juggernaut Dunkin' is no stranger to this idea, especially with all the holiday-themed pastries the chain has offered over the years. On Valentine's Day 2022, Dunkin' sold heart-shaped doughnuts that were packed with brownie batter or Bavarian Kreme (via Delish). For St. Patrick's Day back in 2018, the chain released a doughnut stuffed with mint chocolate brownie batter-flavored buttercream and topped with green icing and brownie crumbles (via Dunkin'). The point is, Dunkin' knows a thing or two about marketing specialty products during the holidays.
The Easter season is no exception. Way back in the 1970s, Dunkin' Donuts released Easter egg doughnuts. You may ask, "aren't they just going to be normal doughnuts in spring colors and sprinkled with little candy eggs?" But when we mean "Easter Egg doughnuts," we really mean "Easter Egg doughnuts."
Dunkin' made egg-shaped donuts in the '70s
1979 was a turbulent year. The U.S. and China were in diplomatic discussions and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan (via History Central). This was also an important year in food, as it's when Dunkin' Donuts "invents the Easter egg," according to an advertisement in an April 1979 issue of The Schenectady Gazette.
While they may not have been Easter eggs like many people think of, Dunkin' released a bundle of egg-shaped doughnuts that were dipped in chocolate and covered in colorful sprinkles. For only $1.49 ($6.14 in today's money, according to Dollar Times), customers could purchase a dozen of these "eggs" in an exclusive Dunkin' Donuts-themed carton.
While you can't find Dunkin's Easter eggs — we mean, Easter doughnuts — anywhere today, the chain hasn't stopped skipping down the bunny trail from time to time. In 2014, the chain added the sugar-coated marshmallow treats known as Peeps into its doughnuts (via Dunkin'). The company revisited this concept in 2019, this time adding the sweet, sugary taste of marshmallow bunnies and chicks into their coffee (via PopSugar).
Considering Dunkin' has already done Peeps and Easter eggs, perhaps its next innovation may have something to do with jelly beans or chocolate bunnies.