Limited Edition Foods

Dunkin’ Donuts has a special Create Dunkin’s Next Donut Contest. To enter the contest you simply need to create a donut, name it, and explain your inspiration for your donut design. You can enter up to three times. The contest entry period ends on April 7, 2009. A dozen finalists will be selected and there will be a voting period May 15 through May 27, 2009. The voting will take place online on Dunkin’ Donut’s website. The winner of the voting will be announced on June 5, 2009, which is National Donut Day.

The prizes include cash, donuts, and the chance to have your donut creation appear as a limited edition donut at participating Dunkin’ Donut locations. The 12 finalists will each get $1,200, a year’s supply of donuts, and a trip for two to the Donut Bake-Off at Dunkin’ Donut University in Braintree, MA. The Grand Prize Winner with get $12,000 (not sure if they also get the finalist prize), and the chance to have their donut produced as a Limited Edition donut.

Krispy Kreme has released a variety of heart doughnuts around the world to celebrate Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend. In the United States participating locations have heart shaped doughnuts with white colored frosting and red and pink sprinkles. I also read that Krispy Kreme has released some doughnuts in Japan. In Japan they released two different heart shaped doughnuts. One is called the Choco Moka Heart, which is filled with coffee flavored cream and chocolate and topped with chocolate crunch. The other one is a Strawberry Double Heart. This heart shaped doughnut is topped with freeze dried strawberries and a white chocolate heart. These ones in Japan are expected to be available until March 14, while the United States ones are only supposed to be available through Valentine’s Day.

Since I learned about these two doughnuts I started browsing the company’s other country websites and found some more Valentine doughnuts. In Australia they have special heart shaped doughnuts with pink icing and heart shaped sprinkles. In Korea that have Deep Love and Pure Love doughnuts that appear to be chocolate covered doughnuts with the deep love one having milk or dark chocolate and the pure love one having white chocolate or frosting. It appears the United States ones are also being released in Mexico. In the Philippines they have released a variety of chocolate heart shaped doughnuts. In the United Kingdom they have released a Strawberry Kiss doughnut with strawberry sauce, dipped in glaze, and covered with pink curls. It seems besides Japan they are available only through Valentines. The ones in Japan are released longing because of a holiday called White Day in Japan.

The other day I found an article about limited edition/seasonal food items in the Philippines. The first limited edition story on the page is about Magnolia Ice Cream’s limited editions being 10% off. The ice cream flavors are Coffee Vienna (seems like it is just a fancy name for coffee or am I missing something?) and Waffle Cheesecake (this one sounds like a pretty interesting flavor combination and definitely unique). The 10% off specials relates to them being priced P199 instead of the normal P220.

The article also mentions Krispy Kreme seasonal snowman doughnuts. The doughnuts they talk about being available in the Philippines are shaped like snowmen. The snowmen are decorated with icing and gummy candy scarfs. I looked on the United States Krispy Kreme website and noticed that they also are making the snowman doughnuts in the United States. These ones are more simply decorated and do not have gummy scarves or the orange noses. The Philippines ones most definitely look more festive, but the United States ones are still cool looking I also noticed the United States Krispy Kreme’s have a special Holiday Combo with the snowman shaped and decorated doughnuts, glazed doughnuts with red icing on top, glazed doughnuts with white icing on top with green lines over the white, and glazed doughnuts with white icing on top with white, red, and green sprinkles over the icing. The Holiday Combo is a dozen donut package with three of each of the four designs described above. They all look pretty festive, but it would be more interesting if they had some unique flavor like the pumpkin ones.

LaMar’s Donuts & Coffee have two limited edition donuts as part of their 2008 Presidential Donut Poll promotion. The have made a donut themed for Democrats and Barack Obama supporters and a donut for Republican and John McCain supporters. Now what about us independents who are not supporting either and instead are voting third-party??? Anyways the donuts are cute and the poll is currently at 52% Obama and 48% McCain. It should be interesting to see if the donut poll has any reflection on the actual Presidential poll results.

The doughnut for Barack Obama is a glazed donut shaped like what is supposed to be a donkey, however, it is a pretty pathetic looking donkey in my opinion. It kind of looks like the Democrat Donkey logo, but not quite. It has a blue eye and blue sprinkles on the bottom half. This one for Democrats is being called The Doughbama. The website describes this donut candidate as “Urbane and sophisticated, with a savory sense that yearns to blend with a variety of beverages.”

The doughnut for John McCain is a glazed donut shaped like an elephant and it actually does look like the Republican elephant logo. It has a red eye and red sprinkles on the bottom half. This one for Republicans is being caled The McCandyCain. The website describes this donut candidate as “Succulent and sugary, though with a touch of tartness so as to stand apart from the crowd.”

Want a seasonal donut on Election Day (November 4, 2008) and do not have a LaMar’s nearby, then maybe you have a Krispy Kreme nearby. They are offering free limited edition Patriotic Star doughnuts to those who come in with an “I Voted” sticker on Dlection Day.

There is no longer a Krispy Kreme in Tucson, so I am kind of late at noticing the fact that they have limited edition/seasonal doughnuts for the Halloween and autumn season in general. They have a Jack-o’-Lantern one and a Pumpkin Spice one.

The Jack-o’-Lantern doughnut is a pumpkin shaped doughnut. It has orange icing on it and a black icing friendly Jack-o’-Lantern design on it. These Halloween themed doughnuts will only be available through this Friday, October 31, 2008 at participating locations.

The other pumpkin limited edition doughnut they have is the Pumpkin Spice Cake doughnut. This doughnut is described as an old fashioned cake style doughnut. The doughnut if flavored with pumpkin and other spices (probably the same kind of spices you put in pumpkin pie). It is glazed with the traditional Krispy Kreme sugar glaze. Since pumpkin as a flavor is also commonly associated with Thanksgiving, this doughnut is available at participating Krispy Kreme locations through November 30, 2008.

Another seasonal special is a very limited edition doughnut. The Patriotic Star doughnuts will be given out next Tuesday, November 4, 2008, to anyone who comes in wearing an “I Voted” sticker. The doughnuts are in the shape of a star. They have white icing and has red, white, and blue sprinkles on it. According to their press release some stores may have them in circle shapes, but they will still have the white icing and Patriotic colored sprinkles. Either way it sure is a nice sweet free treat just for voting in this year’s election.