Krispy Kreme Is Teaming Up With One of New York’s Most Iconic Bakeries
Its beloved cakes, pies and cookies now come in doughnut form.
Image Courtesy of Krispy Kreme
Attention, anyone with a sweet tooth: Krispy Kreme and Milk Bar are dropping a collection of doughnuts inspired by three of Milk Bar’s most popular treats.
After more than two years of development, the limited-time Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar doughnut collection launches tomorrow, April 21. We got an advance taste of all three reimagined treats. We also got the chance to talk to James Beard Award-winning founder of Milk Bar, Christina Tosi, about the collaboration. Spoiler: the desserts and the conversation were all super fun.
What prompted the Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar collection?
We could all use a little treat now and then.
“We need more excuses to have joy in our lives,” Tosi tells Food Network. “A nibble goes a long way to making a day a little bit better.”
She adds that the collaboration is meant to highlight what Krispy Kreme and Milk Bar do best in a way that is “a little tongue in cheek.”
What are the doughnuts in the Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection?
The new collection includes three limited-edition doughnuts, each a playful new take on a Milk Bar classic:
- Birthday Cake Doughnut: Inspired by Milk Bar’s iconic Birthday Cake — a colorful three-tiered delight featuring vanilla sponge cake, creamy white frosting, crunchy crumbs and unfrosted (“naked”) sides — this doughnut is a “celebration in every bite,” Krispy Kreme says. It takes a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed cake doughnut (Tosi loves the “cake” echo) and tops it with a swirl of vanilla birthday cake frosting, cake crumbles and rainbow sprinkles.
- Milk Bar Pie Doughnut: This doughnut takes its cue from Milk Bar’s signature pie — which features a gooey, custardy, sweet-and-salty filling, a toasted oat-cookie crust and a dusting of confectioners' sugar. The Krispy Kreme homage starts with an unglazed shell doughnut, then adds pie filling, caramel icing, an oat cookie topping and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Tosi calls it an “iconic dessert almost inside out.”
- Compost Cookie Doughnut: Milk Bar’s famous Compost Cookie is a sweet-and-salty “kitchen sink” cookie made with vanilla and brown sugar dough, chocolate chips and a slew of mix-ins: pretzels, potato chips, graham crackers, coffee, oats and butterscotch. The Krispy Kreme doughnut made in the cookie’s image starts with an Original Glazed doughnut, which is dunked in cookie-flavored icing and dipped in a crunchy mixture of mocha chips, potato sticks, candied pretzel bits and graham cracker crumbles.
Image Courtesy of Krispy Kreme
My take on the Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar doughnuts:
Visually, the Birthday Cake Doughnut is the most colorful of the collection and therefore highly appealing. That’s by design. Tosi expects it to be a big hit, telling Food Network people (perhaps especially kids, including her own) tend to choose “with their eyes first, and they're going rainbows and sprinkles every time.” She says the tendency is easy to understand and that, in this case, the taste of the doughnut justifies the impulse: “It’s very delicious,” she says.
The frosting (more yellow than the milk-white icing of the cake that inspired it) tastes creamy and, while sweet, it’s not quite as sugary as you might expect. The cake crumbles, which are the same as those used in Milk Bar’s Birthday Cake, add an appealing texture.
“We’re texture hounds at Milk Bar,” Tosi says.
As for the Pie Doughnut, I liked the gooey inside and crunchy outside — it reminded me of a cinnamon crumb muffin. I would happily snack on that oat cookie topping on its own any time. One note: You should definitely anticipate super sticky fingers. So, napkin alert on this one — or wait for when no one is looking and lick.
Tosi, a self-described “filled doughnut girl,” tells us the Milk Bar Pie Doughnut is her favorite of the collection.
“I think it blurs the line between doughnut and pie,” she says. “There’s something so naughty about the pie filling.”
However, the Compost Cookie Doughnut was my personal favorite. The chocolate-espresso chips, plus the sweet-and-salty mixture of the other toppings, are kind of transcendent.
Tosi says the cookie that inspired the doughnut is meant to be a flavor and texture “adventure.”
“Your tastebuds are on a little bit of a roller-coaster in a really fun way, where you’re chasing the perfect bite,” she tells us.
Where can you get the Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection?
The Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection will be available for a limited time starting April 21 at participating Krispy Kreme locations. You can pick it up in stores or order it for delivery via Krispy Kreme's app and website.
You can get the doughnuts individually or by the dozen. The Milk Bar Birthday Cake doughnuts can also be ordered alongside three Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts in a six-pack delivered to select retailers.
You can search for participating locations here.
Order the Original Milk Bar Desserts:
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