We Tried Krispy Kreme's St. Patrick's Day Doughnuts. They Are A Treat For The Eye

It is that time of year again — specifically, the time when every food product imaginable turns green. Not one to be left out, Krispy Kreme is offering a selection of St. Patrick's Day doughnuts this season. And, yes, green is heavily featured in the box.

Krispy Kreme has four unique doughnuts on offer this year, as well a special twist on an old classic for its St. Patrick's Day lineup. The first doughnut is Golden Cookies and Kreme. We love a good pun, so we were already excited. Next, we have Hat O'Gold, Golden Sprinkle, and Rainbow Kreme to round out the seasonal offering. There's still more, however. For an even more limited time, Krispy Kreme has taken the "O'riginal" glazed doughnut and turned it completely green.

This is not the company's first pass at emerald desserts, as Krispy Kreme has a habit of releasing special doughnuts for holidays, sometimes to mixed results. So we set out to see if these new doughnuts are destined to be as iconic as Shamrock Shakes or as disparaged as green beer. Here's what we thought of Krispy Kreme's St. Patrick's Day doughnuts.

Krispy Kreme went all-in on the theme this year with the decorations, though none were quite as intricate as last year's Lenny Leprechaun doughnut. However, while this year's doughnuts may lack in unique flavors, they certainly make up for it when it comes to style. 

Golden Cookies and Kreme is a cookie creme-filled doughnut topped with white frosting, "golden" cookie pieces, and sprinkled with edible gold dust to give it a noticeable glimmer. The Rainbow Kreme takes the theme perhaps even a little over the top as a creme-filled doughnut topped with green icing, a candy rainbow, gold coin sprinkles, and frosting clouds for the rainbow to sit upon.

The Hat O'Gold is chocolate iced, with green and white striped frosting on top meant to resemble plaid, along with a candy green hat. Finally, the Golden Sprinkle doughnut is topped with green icing and covered in gold, green, and white sprinkles. It is the simplest of the designs, but we're not counting it out just yet.

These doughnuts are available for purchase right now. But act fast, as they disappear faster than a leprechaun. They will only be available through March 17th at participating locations throughout the United States and Canada. A locator is available on the company's website to help you find participating stores.

Thankfully, these doughnuts will not cost you a pot of gold to enjoy. There are a couple of different ways to purchase these festive green doughnuts, each with slightly different pricing.

Golden Cookies and Kreme, Rainbow Kreme, and Hat O'Gold each cost $2.29 at our local Krispy Kreme, though prices may vary by location. Golden Sprinkle is slightly cheaper, at $1.89. However, if you know you want to try all of them, you may want to consider the "Good as Gold Dozen," which contains four each of the specialty doughnuts and brings the cost to around $1.45 apiece. If you want to save some green, there's one more option. In Krispy Kreme shops on March 16th and 17th, customers who wear green with be rewarded with an O'Riginal Glazed green doughnut.

You are not entirely out of luck if you do not have a Krispy Kreme location near you. Half-dozens of the non-filled doughnuts are available at select grocery stores across the country, including Walmart, Kroger, Food Lion, and Publix. Prices will vary.

Based on the current lineup, there are some clear comparisons to other doughnuts offered by the company. Hat O' Gold is similar in many ways to the chain's chocolate iced doughnut and the chocolate iced with sprinkles. The main difference here is the candy hat, as well as some extra calories. Hat O'Gold comes in at 270 calories, whereas chocolate iced is only 230. However, Hat O'Gold only has one additional gram of sugar, coming in at 21, not much more than its cousin.

Rainbow Kreme is functionally just a green iced creme-filled doughnut with fun sprinkles. However, it comes with noticeably more calories, at 390 versus 350 for the chocolate iced creme-filled one. The Rainbow Kreme also carries a whopping 31 grams of sugar, compared to 23 for the chocolate iced kreme.

Golden Cookies and Kreme is unique, as it features a different filling and topping than what's found in any other Krispy Kreme doughnut. It is one of the most caloric, though, at 410 calories and 29 grams of sugar.

Let us start with the two filled doughnuts: Golden Cookies and Kreme and Rainbow Kreme. The Golden Cookies and Kreme was the standout flavor. The cookie topping was similar to golden Oreos, though it was not very crunchy. This ended up being a good thing, as the softer cookie pieces easily melded with the rest of the doughnut. The filling also tasted like a cookie and felt almost like a cookie butter kreme. It was a mild but very pleasant doughnut. Our only complaint is about practicality. As anyone who has spent time around glitter knows, it gets everywhere. The same happened with the edible golden sparkles, which ended up on our table, and our clothes. We're still not sure when they will finally disappear.

The Rainbow Kreme was almost the opposite, with a design you probably expect and want. The emerald green frosting and golden coin sprinkles perfectly pair with the candy rainbow and buttercream clouds. Underneath all that, though, is simply a vanilla kreme-filled doughnut. Where the Golden Cookies & Kreme was mild but exciting, this one is a little boring. The flavors lack anything to separate them from other Krispy Kreme doughnuts that are available throughout the year.

We liked the design of the Hat O'Gold doughnut. The sugar candy hat and the decorative frostings are a nice touch, though the candy hat is just straight-up sugar with no unique flavor. It is very crunchy, too, so while it is edible, we do not entirely recommend it. The doughnut itself is just a chocolate-frosted doughnut with some extra razzle-dazzle. It is pretty and very tasty, with the chocolate frosting and the glaze underneath pairing beautifully. If you just want a festive and approachable doughnut, this one is for you. However, it is not exactly new and different.

Finally, we have the Golden Sprinkle doughnut. This one honestly felt like an afterthought, the vanilla to Hat O'Gold's chocolate in flavor and look. Instead of a real design, they just threw some sprinkles on top. Let's talk about those sprinkles for a minute: the little gold nonpareils the doughnut was named for are weirdly crunchy and give the doughnut an off-putting texture. If we had to exile a doughnut from the box, it would be this one.

Overall, while we may have some complaints about flavor originality, the doughnuts make a delicious, albeit safe way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Just be careful with those gold sparkles.