Waffnuts and Chounuts at Krispy Kreme Japan

This month Krispy Kreme Japan released a new line of interesting hybrid donuts called Waffnuts and Chounuts.

After the success of cronuts (the hybrid of croissant and donut) Krispy Kreme is banking on the success of these limited-edition pastry offerings in Japan.

The Waffnuts are a hybrid of Belgium waffle and donut, and are said to be light and crispy, while the Chounuts are a hybrid of chou cream (profiterole or cream puff) and donut.

The Waffnuts come in three different flavours, Strawberry, Green Tea and Almond and cost 240 yen. The Chounuts come in two different flavours, Lemon Cheese and Double Caramel and cost 210 yen.

Waffnuts Strawberry 

The Waffnuts Strawberry Donut features strawberry icing with freeze dried strawberries on top for a sweet and sour flavour.

Waffnuts Green Tea 

The Waffnuts Green Tea Donut features Uji matcha green tea powder in both the donut and icing and is topped with a white chocolate drizzle and chocolate cereal flakes. The matcha used in this donut is from the Uji region of Kyoto, which is famous for producing the finest matcha in all of Japan.

Waffnuts Almond 

The Waffnuts Almond Donut features almond frosting with dark chocolate drizzle and salted almonds.

Chounuts Lemon Cheese 

The Chounuts Lemon Cheese Donut is filled with cream cheese that has been infused with lemon rind and is topped with a white chocolate drizzle.

Chounuts Double Caramel 

The Chounuts Double Caramel Donut is filled with both caramel cream and a salted caramel sauce and is topped with dark chocolate.

The donuts are available from June 10th to July 21st in Japan.

The hybrid donuts look really interesting so we just had to give them a try.

The Taste Test 

We selected three donuts to test and they were Waffnuts Green Tea, Waffnuts Strawberry and Chounuts Lemon Cheese.

The Waffnuts Green Tea had a nice chewy texture from the Belgium waffle and good crunch from the chocolate cereal flakes on top. Unfortunately, the matcha flavour was not as bitter or strong as I would have hoped, especially coming from Uji. More matcha flavour please Krispy Kreme.

The Waffnuts Strawberry had a nice sweet taste from the strawberry icing and good sourness from the freeze dried strawberries on top. It was a great combination. Definitely our favourite of the three with a real authentic strawberry taste.

The Chounuts Lemon Cheese was light and fluffy like a good French Cruller donut and we loved the cream cheese infused with lemon rind filling. A winner in our book.

There you have it. We hope to try the other two on the list and report back soon. Stay posted and if you are in Japan, definitely give these a try!

Krispy Kreme Japan Website

Valentine’s Day in Japan 2014

Valentine’s Day in Japan is very different from back home in Australia. The date is the same, February 14th, but in Japan it is all about the chocolates. The tradition in Japan is for the girls to give chocolates to the boys. It is totally up to the girls to show who they like by presenting them with chocolate. The favour is returned to the girls on a special day called White Day, which is celebrated a month later on March 14th. This tradition in Japan of the girls giving to the boys on Valentine's Day is said to have started back in the late 1950s, by a company called Mary Chocolate. They started an advertising campaign along the lines that Valentine's Day is the only day of the year a woman can profess her love through presenting chocolate. Well it has been a very successful campaign and this tradition is still going strong today.

Girls can express their love to that special boy in their life on Valentine’s Day, but it is not as simple as that. There are different types of chocolate giving on Valentine’s Day here in Japan. These include:

Giri-choco (義理チョコ) obligation chocolate given to male friends, work mates, family and bosses. Giri means ("obligation") in Japanese and choco, ("chocolate"). There is no romantic association with giri-choco and it is just chocolate that you have to give to people. These are usually ordinary, inexpensive store brought chocolate and can range in price from 100 yen to 500 yen.

Honmei-choco (本命チョコ) chocolates for that special one who you want to express your love to such as boyfriend, lover or husband. This type of chocolate is special, so it is usually handmade by the girls themselves or is a really expensive chocolate from a store, often presented together with a gift. You are very lucky if you can get honmei-choco on Valentine’s Day!

Tomo-choco (友チョコ) this is chocolate that girls give to friends and is usually inexpensive. This kind of chocolate has become more popular in Japan in recent years.

Jibun-choco (自分チョコ) chocolates that girls just buy for themselves. Sometimes it’s nice to treat yourself to something special.

Various Chocolates on display at a Department Store

Chocolate ranges from the Cheap to very Expensive

Chocolate is the most popular gift for Valentine’s Day in Japan. Other popular gifts include cookies and small cakes. The department stores and supermarkets will be fully stocked with all sorts of chocolate days and weeks before the actual day. There are usually long queues at the stores in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day. Mr Donuts and Krispy Kreme have several special donuts on sale just for Valentine’s Day, while Baskin Robbins called Thirty-one Ice Cream in Japan has some special Valentine’s Ice-Cream.

Mr Donuts has two kinds of their famous Pon de Ring Donuts for Valentine’s Day. They are the Pon de Marshmallow Chocolate, and Pon de Marshmallow Strawberry.

Pon de Marshmallow Chocolate

Pon de Marshmallow Strawberry

Mister Donut Japan

Krispy Kreme has released three limited edition Valentine’s Day flavors. They include The Roasted Almond and Chocolate Donut, Raspberry Jelly and Chocolate Donut, and Caramel and Chocolate Cream Donut. You can pick up a set of two of these donuts in a special Valentine's Day box with a slot for a message card for 600 yen (USD $6). The set is called the Rich Chocolate Gift.

Rick Chocolate Gift Set from Krispy Kreme Japan

Raspberry Jelly and Chocolate Donut

Caramel and Chocolate Cream Donut

Krispy Kreme Japan

Baskin Robbins has four new “flavors of love” including the feature flavor which is amaretto chocolate with pale pink hearts. The other flavors are “Love in Berry” made with raspberry and blueberry ice cream with raspberry chocolate hearts, “Lovestruck Cheescake” made with strawberry cheesecake ice cream with strawberry and cheesecake bits and a fudge ribbon, and “Love Potion 31” made with raspberry and white chocolate ice cream with a raspberry ribbon and chocolate hearts.

Baskin Robbins Flavors of Love Ice Cream 

Love Potion 31 & Lovestruck Cheesecake

Baskin Robbins Japan

Did you know there is also a thing called "Valentine’s Insurance” in Japan? A guy can take out an insurance policy if he feels like he might not receive any chocolates on Valentine’s Day. A box of chocolates will arrive in the mail and he can feel that little bit special on the day.

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day this year wherever you are in the world.