We’re fast approaching Halloween which means we’re deep into the spooky snack season! Right now, brands across the fast food landscape are dropping all sorts of seasonal treats, from the pumpkin spice latte, to Witch-inspired milkshakes, and Ghost Pepper cheeseburgers — there is a lot out there and most of it is worth the time spent in a drive-thru. But if for some reason you’re not a fan of lattes, milkshakes, or cheeseburgers (you okay, fam?) maybe Krispy Kreme is the answer!
For the remainder of the month, Krispy Kreme has rebranded as Krispy Skreme, offering up four different seasonal doughnuts that combine all the ingredients that make Krispy Kreme delicious. Are you into sprinkles? Kreme filling? Cute and festive sugar pieces? These donuts have it all. But which donut is best? We tried all four to find out which blend of ingredients is most worthy of the trip. This will be especially helpful if you plan on rolling up to Krispy Kreme on Halloween, October 31st, decked out in your costume because all customers who do will be able to receive a free donut of their choice with no purchase necessary. The only thing better than a donut is a free donut!
We’re here to help you figure out which donut to grab by ranking them worst to best, let’s dive in!
4. Neon Orange Sprinkle Doughnut
Tasting Notes:
Ranking this doughnut as the worst of the four should be taken with a grain of salt. We’re still talking about a donut here, it’s kind of hard to mess that up, and considering this is essentially an original Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut with extra stuff on it, it’s still pretty damn good. The Neon Orange Sprinkles features orange icing with mixed sprinkles on half, to which we say, why not sprinkle the whole damn thing?
Seriously, my major problem with this doughnut is that half of it doesn’t have the same textural mouthfeel, making the sprinkled half a much more enjoyable experience. The naked half allows you to focus too much on the sugar-forward flavor of the orange icing which is a bit too similar to the glazed icing that covers the whole doughnut. Overall, I just don’t think the orange icing adds very much to the doughnut, it just makes it stickier and sweeter.
The Bottom Line:
It adds sprinkles and icing to Krispy Kreme’s original glazed doughnut but doesn’t improve the experience of eating the OG in a meaningful way.
3. Boo Batter Doughnut
Tasting Notes:
Design-wise, the Boo Batter is my favorite new donut of the lineup. It’s not quite as festive as the other three, but it’s a bit more functional than the other donuts. It’s completely covered in sprinkles with no excessive decorations, providing a uniform experience across the entire pastry. Your first bite is going to be as good as the last, and I appreciate that in a doughnut!
The Boo Batter is a shell-style donut injected with a cake batter filling with neon green icing, tiny sugar sprinkles, and butter cream. There is a tiny ghost sugar piece on the top of the doughnut, which is cute but is completely inedible. It’s hard to chew and chalky. Skip the ghost. The donut itself has a great mouthfeel courtesy of the tiny sprinkles which mix well with the cake batter filling. But cake batter filling and buttercream?
Again, Krispy Kreme is doubling on two flavors that are too similar, resulting in something that comes across as way too sweet. I know calling a donut ‘too sweet’ seems stupid but, I’m just looking for a little balance here, and this doesn’t have that.
The Bottom Line:
Consistent from first bite to last, but a little too sugary sweet.
2. Scaredy Cat Donut
Tasting Notes:
My big issue with the Scaredy Cat is the design. It looks great, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t really like when Krispy Kreme throws consistency out of the window for looks, it’s shallow! You’ve got buttercream icing on some of the dnut, a big inedible chocolate-flavored sugar piece on a fourth of it, and an empty section of purple icing. Every bite is different! Who wants that?
Inconsistency aside, the flavor combination here is an improvement over the Neon Orange and Scaredy Cat because there is a bit of chocolate icing involved. Chocolate on a donut just tastes right, and instead of a cake batter filling, this shell-style donut features Krispy Kreme’s trademark Kreme filling, which is a lot less sweet and more savory like butter. That combination of Kreme filling and chocolate just make this donut come across as much richer, with less emphasis on the sugary sweetness.
The Bottom Line:
An inconsistent experience, but the flavors are on point.
1. Spooky Spider
Tasting Notes:
I’m sorry if you’re all about cream-filled donuts but the cream-less Spooky Spider is a near-perfect eating experience. As I keep harping on in this tasting, consistency in a donut is important. These pastries (are they pastries????) are round, and the circle has infinite lines of symmetry, so expecting a donut to taste the same for every bite isn’t asking for a whole lot. It should be easy, but Krispy Kreme keeps f*cking that up by favoring design over functionality, but the Spooky Spider finally gets that right.
Spiders love symmetry, have you ever seen a spider web before? They’re near-perfect structures, like nature’s stained glass window, if spiders weren’t so frightening to people you could probably open up a museum of just spider webs! So thanks to the spider for inspiring Krispy Kreme to finally get its act together.
This donut features chocolate icing on top with crumbly cookie pieces scattered throughout with extra icing in the design of a spider web with a tiny spider-shaped sugar piece. Throw that sugar piece away, and enjoy bite after bite of sweet Krispy Kreme glaze mixed with rich chocolate icing. The cookie crumbles add even more richness to the flavor palate, they look like Oreos but the mouthfeel is much softer and more cake-like than cookie. It’s amazing.
The Bottom Line:
If you don’t visit Krispy Kreme between now and Halloween, make sure you get your free Spooky Spider donut on October 31st. This is by far Krispy Kreme’s best Halloween-themed offering, combining the experience of eating a glazed donut and chocolate cake. It’s also decorated in a way that ensures your first bite is as delicious as your last.
Find your nearest Krispy Kreme here.