An Honest Review Of Krispy Kreme's Dolly Parton Southern Sweets Doughnut Collection

Collaborations between food brands can often bring out the best in one another, while creating some truly wild and delicious new concoctions. However, when a brand teams up with a celebrity, all cards are off the table. A celebrity isn't a taste or a flavor, so how does a food brand synthesize them into something one can eat and enjoy? Krispy Kreme is hoping to make sweet music with its doughnuts by partnering with legend Dolly Parton and tapping into her undeniable southern charm. Krispy Kreme's Dolly Southern Sweets Doughnut Collection feature four unique treats: Banana Puddin' Pie, Dolly Dazzler Doughnut, Chocolate Crème Pie, and Peachy Keen Cobbler Doughnut.

In a press release, Ms. Parton said, "Having some of my very favorite southern flavors in one, unique doughnut collection from Krispy Kreme is so special to me," she added, "These doughnuts remind me of home. So, I'm excited for folks to share them with their own family and friends. They're pretty sweet, if I do say so myself!"

So, are these doughnuts going to rock our world, making us belt out "I will always love you?" Or are they more likely to make us sing the blues, like the sadness that dwells in Dolly's heartbreaking song "Jolene"? There was only one way to find out, and it involved eating all four. This chew and review is based on taste, originality, Dolly-ness, and overall lovability.

One of Dolly Parton's most beloved desserts is banana pudding. You'd think that out of all the doughnuts in this collaboration with Krispy Kreme, the Banana Puddin' Pie had to be the surefire hit, but you'd be wrong. On the surface, it is certainly the beauty contest winner and features sunshine yellow icing that resembles Dolly's hair, which is then ornately decorated with a lacing of white icing. The top of this doughnut is also joined by a small amount of vanilla wafer cookie crumbles. Together, they make for a tasty top that would be enough for a solid flavor on its own. 

The trouble with this one is hidden within the doughnut. While there is physically not a lot of kreme that resides on the inside, whatever amount is there tastes way too much like artificial banana filling. There must be people out there who love the taste of artificial bananas, but I am not one of them. It's overly sweet, and outwardly not enjoyable. What it is missing is some actual banana pieces. No question about it, I'm puddin' this doughnut at the very bottom of my list.

A single Banana Puddin' Pie doughnut contains 350 calories, 17 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 44 total grams of carbohydrates, less than a gram of dietary fiber, 25 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein. Don't waste the calories on this one.

If Hostess' Ho Hos were melted then placed atop a glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, it would look something like Dolly's Chocolate Crème Pie. The parallel whipped frostings of white vanilla and chocolate buttercream neatly make cozy curls that either resemble a cursive lowercase "e," or perhaps a really fancy "c."

There's not much to the Chocolate Crème Pie doughnut. In fact, its simplicity in taste makes it the best of the four doughnuts in this Dolly Parton collection. The twin frostings combine to ape the taste of Krispy Kreme's chocolate glazed doughnut. Yet, because the frosting is whipped, it has this silky mousse-like touch to them that will make any mouth smile.

The Chocolate Crème Pie nets 280 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 120 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of total carbohydrates, less than a gram of dietary fiber, 20 grams of sugars, and 3 grams of protein.

In a beauty contest, the Dolly Dazzler will have to settle for being the runner-up to the crowned champ Banana Puddin' Pie. However, in the talent portion of the contest, the Dolly Dazzler definitely puts on more of a taste show. This glazed treat is outfitted with pink, white, and gold sugar crystals, and a cute little butterfly-shaped and decorated piece of white chocolate. It literally is dazzling to look at.

For those jonesing for the Krispy Kreme's Beloved strawberry glazed doughnuts to return, the Dolly Dazzler is just the ticket. Sure, it's strawberry flavoring comes off as being a tad artificial, but it doesn't hit you over the head with sweetness. The result is a nice smooth doughnut that has the added bonus of the sugar crystals' crunchy composition. Try to work in a bite of the doughnut that also includes the white chocolate butterfly for even more textured pleasure.

The Dolly Dazzler is good for 260 calories, 12 grams of total fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 95 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Peach cobblers' true colors shine mighty bright under its crumbled covers, but still usually have a comely enough veneer to attract one's appetite. Maybe I should have known something was off here when the crumbly topping just looked like a pebble samples collected from the moon. Still, the top had a nice coffee cake-like smell to it, and I was expecting big things out of this little guy.

This unglazed doughnut is dipped in a brown sugar icing, which somehow makes the top crumble taste like one is eating a pile of clumped together brown sugar. When I cut open the doughnut, instead of seeing a beautiful amber filling, I was greeted with an orange color that I knew wasn't going to align with the taste of an actual peach. Peaches have a lovely level of sweetness to them, and whatever filling this was didn't remotely pass that test. It makes canned peaches seem like the fruit of the gods. I was not keen on this one, as it was easily the biggest disappointment out of the bunch.

The Peachy Keen Cobbler doughnut results in 330 calories, 16 grams of total fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 170 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 19 grams of sugars, and 5 grams of protein. All four doughnuts contain four of the most common food allergens: egg, milk, soy, and wheat

The Dolly Parton Southern Sweet Doughnut Collection is currently available at participating nationwide Krispy Kreme locations, for a limited time only. The doughnuts can be ordered at the counter, or in advance using Krispy Kreme's app or website, and for delivery, where available.

The four doughnuts can be ordered a la carte, in a pack of three called 3 Count Dolly Southern Sweets Doughnuts, or by the dozen, which comes in a special signature box; larger quantities are available for catering. Prices will vary by location, but at the Manhattan Krispy Kreme where I purchased mine, a single doughnut cost $2.99, the trio ran $8.49, and a dozen would set one back $23.19. For those who can't make it to a Krispy Kreme location, many local Walmart, Kroger, Food Lion, Publix, Stater Brothers and other stores will carry a 6-count box of the Dolly doughnuts.

On May 18, fans of Dolly Parton can snag a free doughnut in store. The catch is that you either have to be "Dolly'd Up" in costume, or sing one of her songs for your free doughnut. Here's hoping we get to see some of the results of many of those get-ups and cover versions.

Dolly Parton seems like such a genuine, down to earth human being that she deserves to do as she pleases, free of our judgment. However, her doughnut collaboration with Krispy Kreme is fair game.

The four treats featured in the Dolly Parton Southern Sweets Doughnut Collection are certainly inspired creations. By looks alone, well, perhaps not including the gravely Cobbler, they look like polished beauties like Dolly herself, ready for their close-up. Sadly, when the tasting part happens, half of these baked goods reveal themselves to have no soul.

The Banana Puddin' Pie and Peachy Keen Cobbler are the largest offenders, as their fillings don't seem to line up with the fruity desserts they're trying to mimic. It probably would have been cost prohibitive and hard to keep fresh if Krispy Kreme used actual pieces of fruit within the doughnuts, but it should have at least tried. The Dolly Dazzler and Chocolate Crème Pie doughnuts don't stray too far from the winning formula of the familiar flavors in Krispy Kreme's wheelhouse, and that's probably why they work. The other two should start looking for new 9 to 5 jobs.