Review: Krispy Kreme Borrows Milk Bar's OG Flavors To Leave Dunkin' In The Dust

Krispy Kreme knows a thing or three about delivering satisfying desserts, having been rolling in doughnuts since 1937. In a shorter period of time, Milk Bar has made quite the splash in the realm of treats, redefining and introducing novel tastes and textures since 2008. Milk Bar is the brainchild of Christina Tosi, and the James Beard Award-winning pastry chef has never been afraid to try something daringly new. She's been known to collaborate with other more notorious name brands, such as Birthday Cake Churros and Strawberry Bell Truffles for Taco Bell, a 75th birthday cake for Cheetos, and just last week, the launch of Crannies 'n Cream Combo with Thomas' English Muffins. Tosi's latest partner in sweet harmony finds the flavors of Milk Bar infused both inside and out the doughnuts of Krispy Kreme. Welcome to this world, albeit for a short time — the  Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection.

The collaboration was two years in the making, with a lot of back and forth between both Krispy Kreme and Milk to get it just right. Krispy Kreme's senior director of global culinary innovation and R&D, Brittany Dubin, told The Takeout, "What is it that is so iconic about Krispy Kreme? What is it that is so iconic about Milk Bar? We took the best of both worlds and we brought them together." 

So, is the Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection the stuff sweet dreams are made of, or perhaps way too much of a good thing? The Takeout took the three new doughnuts for a spin, and we're ready to spill the details on how the cookie crumbles. Now all can be revealed in this chew and review.

In advance of the release of the Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection, the doughnut company invited members of the media to its Times Square location in New York City for a taste test. The doughnuts were introduced by Krispy Kreme's senior director of global culinary innovation and R&D, Brittany Dubin, and Milk Bar founder and chef, Christina Tosi, and there was also a tutorial on how to make the doughnuts in the collection. The doughnuts for this review were sampled onsite by myself, and a guest, whose opinions on doughnuts are valued, and noted. They were also tasted again at home for a second round of internal opinions.

This chew and review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. I also took into consideration my previous experiences with Krispy Kreme, its recent collaborations, Milk Bar and its products, and my current experience with this pairing of the two dessert companies. The ultimate criteria considered for this review were flavor, presentation, smell, familiarity, originality, uniqueness, value, and ultimately whether these new Milk items do a body good ... or bad.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

The Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection marks the very first collaboration of the famed doughnut chain and Christina Tosi's treats emporium. The collection consists of three doughnuts — Birthday Cake Doughnut, Milk Bar Pie Doughnut, and Compost Cookie Doughnut. Chef Tosi told The Takeout, "I love this collection," adding "when was the last time you had three baked goods — Birthday Cake, Milk Bar Pie, Compost Cookie translated into three different doughnut forms?" The answer is, now.

The Birthday Cake Doughnut starts with an Original Glazed cake doughnut swirled with birthday cake frosting, topped with cake crumbles and finished with rainbow sprinkles. The Milk Bar Pie Doughnut borrows the flavors of Milk Bar's titular pie, taking an unglazed shell doughnut and filling it with gooey, buttery pie filling, dipping it in caramel icing, and rolling it in oat cookie topping, and dusting it with a powdered coating. The Compost Cookie Doughnut also drafts the talents of another Milk Bar favorite — the Compost Cookie, where an Original Glazed doughnut is dipped in cookie flavored icing, then it is topped with a Compost Cookie inspired crunch featuring bits of sweet, salty, and chocolaty-ness, which is finalized with a caramel drizzle.

I could have eaten the doughnuts in this collection in any order, but the Compost Cookie somehow looked the least daunting, and perhaps least messy out of the three. If you've ever had the pleasure of having a Compost Cookie from Milk Bar, all its signature textured elements, including pretzels, potato chips, graham crackers, coffee, oats, and butterscotch, are mainly hidden within the cookie itself. In this doughnut, those elements are presented like an open-faced sandwich, letting their shapes and forms finally take center stage.

No two of these Compost Cookie Doughnuts are alike, but hopefully the one that you order comes fully loaded with those exposed dry toppings. These elements' awesome crunch lead the taste for this doughnut, but there's plenty of sweetness to counteract those more salty elements. The first you encounter — the rich caramel drizzle — is intertwined with those crumble pieces. Keeping all these ingredients in place is the unique cookie icing that coats the Krispy Kreme doughnut. And yes, it actually tastes like cookie dough.

Turns out, this was one of the messier doughnuts, as my fingers, albeit happily, got rather sticky thanks to that caramel and cookie icing. While it didn't taste exactly like the famous Milk Bar cookie, it was nice to dive into a Krispy Kreme doughnut to take advantage of its ingredient complexities and juxtaposing textures and tastes.

In this collaboration, the one Krispy Kreme doughnut that looks most like its Milk Bar counterpart is the Birthday Cake Doughnut. While the classic Milk Bar treat is a tiered and layered affair of rainbow cake, creamy white frosting, and crunchy crumbles, this doughnut kind of rolls those elements all into one unified coating that tops this original glazed cake Krispy Kreme doughnut. With a birthday-ready look, this one doughnut is outwardly ready to party.

The birthday cake frosting here alone delivers the goods. It has that cream cheesy great flavor one expects from a "birthday cake" product. The colorful sprinkles and airy crumbs that sit atop the icing add a nice additional touch, more so in the visual than the taste department.

This isn't an everyday doughnut, but definitely an excellent one to mark a special occasion. If you don't have something to celebrate, the doughnut itself can become a special occasion. Cheers!

Milk Bar's namesake Pie once went by a more nefarious name — Crack Pie, as its delicious nature proved to be quite the addictive treat that was hard to stop gobbling up. The controversial name was dropped in 2019, but that didn't stop eaters from indulging in the pie where confectioners sugar-dusted oat-cookie crust plays host to buttery salty-sweet filling. The Krispy Kreme doughnut equivalent didn't really look like the Milk Bar Pie, but more closely resembled a crumb coffee cake that wouldn't look out of place housed in a white and blue Entenmann's box.

The crumbs and dusty sugar appeared very intimidating, and prone to making a big mess, so I saved this one for the end of my taste test. Turns out that was a wise decision for a different reason, as I happened to save the best tasting doughnut for last. My mouth was having a ball tackling just the exterior parts, where the crumbly oats and powdered sugar play such overly sweet music together, all while being held together by a lovely caramel icing. This was almost too much of a good thing, but I allowed it back into my mouth, again and again.

The real magic spell was cast when a bite was combined with the filling, laying cool within this shell doughnut. Wow, just wow. What looks like lemon pudding is actually just an ooze of buttery-sweet amazingness. The filling came off like a cleaner version of pecan pie. Is it too late to throwback rename this one Crack Pie Doughnut?

There are many beauties to the fact that his collection exists. First and foremost, the doughnuts are complexly great. All of Milk Bar's trademark textures, tastes, and flavors of its three most exemplary products have lovingly been translated and celebrated in the hands of Krispy Kreme. All are worth trying, but if I were to rank them, the indulgent Milk Bar Pie one reigned supreme (chef Christina Tosi agrees), followed by the crunchy Compost Cookie one (a favorite of chef Brittany Dubin), and the Birthday Cake one that's quite the "frosty" reception on its own.

Another beauty with this collection is that the wonders of Milk Bar's kitchen are allowed to venture far beyond the brand's reach. It currently only has 10 brick and mortar shops spread over five cities, but now Tosi's neat treats will reach curious cravers at well over 300 Krispy Kreme locations in over 40 states. Not only that, but a doughnut from Krispy Kreme is far more affordable than what is sold at Milk Bar. Chef Tosi herself sees this opportunity and widespread availability and accessibility as a "dream come true." She added, "You could pinch me, and I still wouldn't be able to wrap my head around it." After eating all three of these doughnuts, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this dream team pairing.

The good news is, in the two-year long process that brought these three doughnuts to market, there were some ideas that didn't reach the finish line. I'm already ready for this collaboration's sequel. Count me in for a Carrot Crackle Marshmallow doughnut and a Skippy Peanut Butter Crunch pie one too. Don't forget to bring back the Milk Bar Pie doughnut for an encore too!

The Krispy Kreme x Milk Bar Collection will be available at participating nationwide locations of Krispy Kreme starting April 21. They will remain on menus for a limited time only through May 3. The doughnuts can be ordered anytime Krispy Kreme is open for business, while supplies last.

The collection features three doughnuts, which can either be purchased individually, or as a specialty dozen. Eaters can also find them delivered to select retailers where the Milk Bar Birthday Cake doughnuts reside alongside three Original Glazed in a special Krispy Kreme six-pack.

Ordering at Krispy Kreme locations can take place in-store, at the register, kiosk, or drive-thru where available. Advanced ordering for dine-in, takeaway, and delivery can be placed through Krispy Kreme's website and app. Prices of the doughnuts will vary per location, and additional costs and fees may apply to delivery orders or ones placed through third-parties.

Several of the things composted to create the Milk Bar Compost Cookie Doughnut are enriched wheat flour, sugar, soybean oil, egg yolks, butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, milk, skim milk, whey, chocolate, oats, pretzels, graham flour, coconut, molasses, cinnamon, and natural flavors. A single doughnut nets a nosher 310 calories, 14 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 25 grams of sugar, 24 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

Some of the magical ingredients that make up the Milk Bar Birthday Cake Doughnut are enriched wheat flour, sugar, soybean oil, egg yolks, butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, milk, skim milk, whey, cream cheese, buttercream icing, sprinkles, honey, and natural flavors. Polishing one of these guys nets 410 calories, 20 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 290 milligrams of sodium, 55 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 40 grams of sugar, 39 grams of added sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

The ingredients of note in the Milk Bar Pie Doughnut are enriched wheat flour, sugar, soybean oil, egg yolks, butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, milk, skim milk, whey, salt, honey, oats, chocolate, and cinnamon. One of these fellers emits 340 calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 43 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, 22 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

All three doughnuts contain the same common food allergens: milk, soy, eggs, and wheat.