Review: Only 1 Of Krispy Kreme's Girl Scout Cookie-Inspired Doughnuts Is Worthy Of A Scout's Honor

The Girl Scouts were founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, and hit a flavorful high just five years later when home-baked cookies were sold to help raise funds for troops. The cookies became such a hit that by 1936, the recipes were licensed to bakeries to produce for the masses. Boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and Trefoils were treats that arrived once and if we were lucky, twice a year. Those days are over, and the cookies are not only more accessible than ever, but their flavors have been infused into anything and everything, including, but not limited to a General Mills cereal, Coffee Mate flavors, and more recently a beyond delicious Frosty at Wendy's.

Next up on the docket is a trio of Girl Scout Cookie-inspired doughnuts, being cooked up under the "hot light" of Krispy Kreme: Thin Mints Doughnut, Lemon-Ups Doughnut, and Coconut Caramel Doughnut. In a press release Alison Holder, Chief Brand and Product Officer at Krispy Kreme said, "Girl Scout Cookie flavors are iconic for a reason." She added "Reimagining them as doughnuts is a fun way to bring those familiar favorites to fans in a completely new and truly irresistible way."

The time has finally arrived for this Krispy Kreme x Girl Scouts mashup. Is it the best dream team assembled since the 1992 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, or more of a scout's dishonor? All will soon be revealed in this chew and review!

On the first day of their release, I moseyed on over to my local Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in New York City to purchase the new Girl Scout Cookie inspired doughnuts. The doughnuts were taken to my domicile where they were taste tested one by one, and then rounds of seconds and thirds to finalize my thoughts on all the sugar I had just consumed.

This chew and review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. I also took into consideration my many previous experiences with Krispy Kreme, Girl Scout Cookies, and my current experience with this pairing of the two dessert titans. The ultimate criteria considered for this review were flavor, presentation, smell, familiarity, originality, uniqueness, value, whether these doughnuts honored the Scouts' famous cookies or not, and overall if they are worth your time and your dime.

An actual Thin Mint hides its pepperminty magic inside a smooth chocolate shell. The Krispy Kreme version of the fan favorite cookie took the opposite approach, presenting a more deconstructed look. This doughnut's top layer looked like a stucco wall overloaded with chocolate chip morsels, with three swirly laces of neon, pistachio-colored drizzle. I leaned in for a whiff and it smelled more like mild Andes candy than the Girl Scout Cookie it's trying to emulate.

I cut a piece of the drizzle off. It was more icing tasting than minty, but did at least have a touch of the latter. Next, I proceeded to try the chocolate chips meshed together with the cookie pieces. This was more akin to a Thin Mint, although again, it seemed to be holding back on the mint. Without further ado, I delved right into a taste of it all together. Right off the bat — it's a yummy, chocolate-forward doughnut. The chocolate chips and the cookie pieces delivered a lovely double dip of tastes and textures. It wouldn't be out of place if it were a part of Krispy Kreme's always awesome Hershey's Chocomania Collection. In a full bite, the mintiness seemed to disappear altogether. As a regular old doughnut, this is a great treat, but for one inspired by the venerable Girl Scout Cookie, it's oddly thin on the mint part.

Lemon-Ups aren't the most ubiquitous of Girl Scout Cookies, having just joined the line-up back in 2020. For those not familiar with the cookie, which shouldn't be confused with its Lemonades one, Lemon-Ups are shortbread cookies with lemon-flavored icing, imprinted with inspired messages like "I am a leader." The inspired doughnut skips the inspiring messages and instead opts for a more clean and dainty coating. It's iced with a pale, buttery, yellow sheen, and accented by a lemony yellow drizzle that looks like a sunrise spun with Spider-man's webs.

Despite its lemon-sunshine appearance, it didn't really have that much lemon zest to its aroma. It mainly just smelled like a white chocolate doughnut glaze. I used my trusty steak knife to cut off a smidge of the main icing, and I really liked its sugary sweet lemon taste. I then cut off a piece of the drizzle, which also had a lemon a-peel to it, but not as sweet as the glaze was. When you get to the middle of this filled-doughnut, there's a giant gob of a lemon-type custard inside. While the outside elements leaned sweet, the innards punched back with a full swing tang of sourness. That created a fun yin and yang of what makes a lemon so special, but it was almost too much citrus flavor assaulting the mouth at once.

If we were judging on looks alone, the Coconut Caramel Doughnut handed in Academy Award-worthy hair and make-up work, taking on the storied life of a Samoa and translating its visual elements to absolute perfection. The familiar terrain of coconut flakes gave away to comely caramel striped drizzles, standing in place of the usual chocolate ones that doll-up the cookie. A most welcoming quick smell test of this one, and I literally felt like I had an enlarged, yet sticky, Samoa sitting in my hand.

I broke a few coconut pieces off the doughnut, and to no real surprise, they tasted as they were supposed to. The flake pieces were soft and chewy. Unlike the actual Samoa cookie, the caramel here was more creamy and fluid, and in general, had a great flavor to it. Taken all together in one bite, I was instantly ready to declare the doughnut the true belle of the ball. There's a lot of coconutty-ness going on here, so if that's your least favorite part of a Samoa cookie, you've been forewarned. While there doesn't seem to be much chocolate flavor found within this doughnut, like there is in the actual cookie, the caramel works overtime here as a velvety partner to accompany the more tactile coconut flakes. It's all quite a mouthful, and a super yummy one at that.

The thought of Krispy Kreme doughnuts flavored to mimic Girl Scout Cookies seemed like a slam dunk, but two of three doughnuts didn't exactly deliver. While it's not called a Samoa doughnut, for all intents and purposes, the Coconut and Caramel doughnut read the assignment instructions correctly and gets an A for its excellent efforts. It looks like a Samoa through and through, and tastes like the genius article, if it had a doughy body instead of a cookie one. It could have earned an A+ with a dash of chocolate, but I had no complaints polishing this one off.

The Lemon-Up inspired doughnut actually needed to lemon-downsize. Don't get me wrong, I love lemons and it's flavoring, but there's nothing here to break up the citrus high. Krispy Kreme should have borrowed a key ingredient from the actual cookie itself — shortbread. Crumble some up and sprinkle it on top of the icing, and perhaps we could have had a real contender here.

I really did like the Thin Mints one, if it was just called a chocolate cookie doughnut. If Wendy's pitchlady Clara Peller were around today, she would gripe, "where's the mint?" Alas, I gave the Thin Mint doughnut one last chance for salvation — by trying it the way the cookie is always best enjoyed — frozen. While it did add a bit of coolness to the mint, it wasn't able to amplify its mintiness at all. 

Starting Tuesday, July 7, Girl Scout Cookie Inspired Doughnuts are landing at participating nationwide menus of Krispy Kreme. The doughnuts can be ordered any time of day Krispy Kreme is open for business, and will remain on menus until Sunday, July 26, while supplies last.

The three doughnuts can be ordered à la carte, as a trio, or as a dozen, which includes three of each flavor, and three Original Glazed Doughnuts. Price will vary by location, and at my Manhattan Krispy Kreme, each doughnut costs $3.09 a pop, the trio is $9.19, and a dozen runs $24.99. At select retail locations, such as Walmart, Kroger, Publix, and Stater Brothers, there is also a speciality 6-pack, which includes 3 Thin Mints doughnuts and 3 Original Glazed ones.

The doughnuts can be ordered directly in-store at the counter, or at a kiosk or drive-thru where available. Advance ordering for take-out, or even delivery, where available, can be placed through Krispy Kreme's website or app. Prices may be higher and additional fees may incur for delivery orders or ones placed through third parties.

The Thin Mints Doughnut has a laundry list of ingredients and highlights include peppermint oil, cookie pieces made from enriched flour and cocoa, plus chocolate pieces made from unsweetened chocolate cocoa butter, and vanilla extract, and chocolate icing made with cocoa and chocolate liquor. One doughnut contains 330 calories, 14 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 140 milligrams of sodium, 48 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 31 grams of sugars, 30 grams of added sugars, and 3 grams of protein.

The Lemon-Ups Doughnut make-up is headlined by skim milk, egg yolks, lemon puree, white chocolate, biscuit pieces, meringue, and lemon juice concentrate. One doughnut nets an eater 360 calories, 19 grams of total fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 170 milligrams of sodium, 43 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 25 grams of sugars, 24 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

The Coconut Caramel Doughnut leans on such key ingredients that you've heard of such as skim milk, egg yolks, cocoa, chocolate liquour, praline coconut, and a caramel spread. It packs in 310 calories, 14 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 160 milligrams of sodium, 44 grams of total carbohydrates, 30 grams of sugars, 27 grams of added sugars, and 3 grams of protein. All three doughnuts contain the many of the most common allergens, like milk, soy, egg, and wheat.