Krispy Kreme's New Donut Holes are the Real Deal. Just ask Shaq.
In a taste test, Shaq and I agree that store-bought is scrumptious.
"I damn near have to fistfight with Charles Barkley at TNT whenever I bring a box of donuts to work," legendary basketball player and current Krispy Kreme global spokesperson and franchise owner Shaquille O'Neal told me in a recent Zoom chat. "They're my favorite, they're his favorite, and hopefully they're your favorite." And some of O'Neal's favorites became even easier to come by on June 22, when Krispy Kreme announced it's rolling out packaged mini crullers and strawberry donut bites at Walmarts nationwide. And while he can finish a dozen full-sized crullers easily, I was full after half a box of the small but mighty, satisfying mini versions.
Krispy Kreme sent me a box of mini blueberry crullers with two sleeves inside, each containing two crullers the circumference of a water glass. The pair held their shape in spite of their jostling travels. Each surface was covered in a blueish glaze, and they were dotted with the suggestion of blueberries.
The crullers had the hyper-sweet, hyper-savory, life-ruining flavor of the typical packaged donut, while still maintaining their Krispy Kreme texture and excellence. Krispy Kreme excellence amounts to this: biting into one is like sinking your teeth into a galaxy of easy-absorbable sugar crystals, and its center was light and airy as the atmosphere without sacrificing the density required to feel satiated. The dough was lighter than cake, but the icing was thick enough to give each unit a weight that brings the brain pleasure.
"These [crullers] are my favorites when I go to the Krispy Kreme store," O'Neal said. "I just wanna eat a whole box, so I think people will love this."
Although I prefer my crullers a little less sweet, I have to agree. But I'm fairly confident folks looking for a mellow, semi-sweet dessert aren't shopping in the prepackaged baked goods aisle.
Along with lemon crullers (not the blueberry I sampled), strawberry donut bites are among the first of Krispy Kreme's retail line to debut. The rest will come seasonally. But one flavor can tide O'Neal over until then.
"Strawberry's always been my favorite color," O'Neal said. "And in all my cars I've got the strawberry air freshener... So when I tried these out today... Perfect. Excellent."
Original glazed options will be available for both bite varieties, which are packed four to a sleeve, with five sleeves per box. My complimentary bites had a pebbled surface, with enough glaze to make them gleam. Their texture was similar to the cruller -- dense at the surface and airy at the center. Each shone beautifully and they were -- apologies -- moist enough to seem freshly made, much more than blueberry flavor I'd tried. My roommate had been nibbling on Dunkin' Munchkins at the time, and Krispy Kreme's glaze put Dunkin's to shame; the former seemed to have twice the icing and packed more of a flavor punch.
Krispy Kreme told Thrillist to expect a complete roll-out by the end of July. The release is pretty serious food news; while plenty of chains have released DIY recipes lately (think Disney's churro bites, DoubleTree's chocolate chip cookies, and Chipotle's guacamole), this is one of more recent ready-made/prepared products hit store shelves. It's just the assist Krispy Kreme fans were waiting for.
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