Stay cool with penguins and drift ice, complete with popping candy crystals.   Krispy Kreme has been upping its doughnut game in Japan recently, releasing cute regional-exclusive doughnuts at select l

**Stay cool with penguins and drift ice, complete with popping candy crystals.  **

Krispy Kreme has been upping its doughnut game in Japan recently, releasing cute regional-exclusive doughnuts at select locations around the country. Now, the chain is rolling out two new doughnuts that will be available nationwide, and they’re some of the cutest Krispy Kreme has ever produced.

Based around the theme of “Cool Summer Lovin’”, this doughnut duo is inspired by penguins and drift ice, and is designed to keep us cool during the hottest months of the year.

▼ First up, we have the Penguin Custard (378 yen [US$2.40] takeout; 385 yen eat-in)

This is the first penguin doughnut that Krispy Kreme has ever produced, and it’s wrapped in a vanilla-flavoured blue icing and milky white chocolate, with bitter chocolate used for the eyes and custard-flavoured icing for the beak. Inside, the fluffy doughnut is filled with rich custard cream made using Hokkaido milk.

▼ Drift Ice White Chocolate Ring (291 yen takeout; 297 yen eat-in)

Inspired by drift ice sparkling in the sunlight, this sweet treat builds upon Krispy Kreme’s best-selling Original Glazed doughnut, coating it in milky white chocolate and topping it with clear-coloured sugar crystals for crunch. Interspersed between the sugar crystals are** blue candy chocolate pieces that pop in the mouth**, giving you the sensation of crunching through ice.

Both doughnuts deliver good looks and taste in equal measure, giving us some much-needed respite from the heat with their cool hues and icy connotations. On the menu while stocks last from 15 July until mid-August, they can be enjoyed as is or popped into the fridge for an extra hit of coolness, as recommended for Krispy Kreme’s other summer doughnut collection.