With just one month of winter left, it’s time to start looking ahead for all the great things spring promises. And while we’re all happy about getting some extra daylight and the prospect of being able to wear fewer than three layers of clothes whenever we step out our front door, we’re even more excited that Krispy Kreme Japan is once again whipping up a special group of Easter donuts, which promise to be just as adorable as they were last year and possibly even more delicious.
A year ago, Krispy Kreme Japan drew us to our local branch with its limited-time Caramel Easter, which we were all to happy to try for ourselves. The chick-shaped treat was such a hit that it regularly sold out, and that popularity has won it a repeat appearance this year starting on February 16.
Shaped like a smiling chick hatching out of its shell, the Caramel Easter is topped with crunchy shaved almonds plus chocolate and orange glaze forming the eyes and beak. Inside, you’ll find a filling of extra-creamy custard, meaning that your 230 yen (US $1.95) gets you a snack that not only tastes good, but looks cute too.
In 2014, Krispy Kreme also offered the Strawberry Milky and Marshmallow Egg donuts to celebrate Easter. Neither one is coming back this year, but instead the two seem to have been melded together into the Strawberry Egg.
The pastel pink isn’t just an appropriate color choice for the holiday, as it comes from the strawberry infusion in the chocolate and candy toppings. You’ll find even more strawberry flavor in the vibrant filling of the 210-yen donut.
Finally, although it may not have anything to do with Easter directly, the Sakura Ring is a nod to Japan’s most beloved springtime event, the blossoming of the cherry trees.
The 210-yen Sakura Ring’s sakura flavor glaze is its most obvious, but not its only, connection to the ephemeral flowers. The pistachio chips’ green color is supposed to be evocative of the new leaves that form on cherry trees after the scattering of the blossoms, some of which are actually closer in hue to the donut’s white chocolate topping than the bright pink they’re often depicted as in illustrations.
If you’re looking to pick up enough to share, or simply so that you can have seconds or thirds, Krispy Kreme is also offering a 2,000-yen Easter Dozen Box that bundles two each of the three springtime donuts with two chocolate glazed donuts with sprinkles and four of the chain’s famous original glazed. There’s also a six-donut set with one each of the Easter donuts, a single chocolate glazed with sprinkles, and two original glazed, which Krispy Kreme Japan calls the Easter Dozen Half box (because the chain’s fortes are baking and marketing, not English syntax).
The special donuts will be available until April 21, meaning you’ll still be able to pick some up after Easter (April 5 this year), but also that you’ll have to say goodbye to that cute little chick earlier than last year, when he stuck around until May 20.
▼ They grow up and leave the nest so fast these days…
Sources: Entabe, Krispy Kreme Japan
Images: Krispy Kreme Japan