Krispy Kreme Japan Christmas Offerings (product info.)

All images from Krispy Kreme Japan's site.

I was never gaga about Krispy Kreme in Japan, and it is of limited interest to me here in the U.S. The only thing that has me visiting them here at home is the fact that they appear to be the only donut shop among the myriads of donut shops my husband has investigated since our return that sells a whipped cream filled donut. Okay, it's not actually "cream", it's "creme", which means it's spun corn oil (like the filling of the currently unavailable Twinkie). Nonetheless, it is the closest I can come to the angel cream donut that I so loved and occasionally partook of from Mister Donut in Japan. It's not nearly as good as the Japanese one, and is nearly twice as caloric due to size and heavy external glazing, but it's better than nothing.

At any rate, Krispy Kreme Japan offered a steady stream of seasonal donuts. All of them pretty much were boring attempts to redress the standard basic donut with different decorations. I would look at Krispy Kreme America's offerings and actually feel they were doing more imaginative things. This year, I actually have a chance to sample what is here rather than what is "there" (Japan). In the U.S., there is a gingerbread donut, a snowman which is a regular raised donut with snowman decorations, and a red velvet cake donut. My husband tried the gingerbread one, and while tasty, it was a bit dry. The rest we took a pass on because neither of us is crazy for red velvet cake and painting a snowman design on a regular donut seems no better than having said type of donut.

By comparison, in Japan, there are more seasonal offerings:

By far, the one I'd be most interested in is the mont blanc (chestnut paste/cream) one. I'd be more impressed by it if it didn't so clearly look like their standard raised donut with a moderate (though certainly more than modest) amount of chestnut cream. If I were still working in Shinjuku, I'd pick one of these up for a try. Note that I think this flavor has far less to do with Christmas than the seasonal introduction of chestnut sweets each winter. Consider this more of a pagan donut than a Christmas one.

And, equally by far, the one I'd be least interested in would be the strawberry cheesecake one. This is because artificial strawberry isn't my idea of a good time. I have no idea what this has to do with the holidays, but it could have a vague relationship with the standard Japanese Christmas cake. That's a vanilla cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberries on it. Yeah, I know, it's pretty tenuous. OKay, let's just say they don't have much in the way of imagination and everyone seems to default to strawberry when all else fails.

The real holiday deal comes through with a snowman of their own. That smile and a dollop of brown good dripping from his frosty bottom may make it look like he's got a bit of a case of holiday diarrhea going on, but he's filled with chocolate. The American snowman is just full of more donut, so kudos to the Japanese for issuing a festive snowman full of delicious brown stuff.

The thing which is most interesting to me is that the first 20,000 purchasers of a holiday dozen were/will be given candles. Each shop has a limited number and the Shinjuku Southern Terrace branch ran out pretty fast. Others may or may not still have some by the time this post appears, depending on supply and demand. The web site calls them "party candles", because nothing livens up your Christmas like candles and donuts. They go well with the Kentucky Fried Chicken that you'll surely be enjoying for the holiday.