LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Eggnog, gingerbread cookies, candy canes and doughnuts. The fried sugary delights have a deep link to the holidays, and in recent years, bakers have been getting creative with seasonal flavors and designs for Hanukkah and Christmas. NPR's Chloe Veltman, on a very tough assignment, went to find out more.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Golden fist-sized puffs of dough emerge from a big fryer at Johnny Doughnuts.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRYER RATTLING)
VELTMAN: The boutique doughnut purveyor has four branches, including this one in San Rafael, around 20 miles north of San Francisco. Erick DeLeon (ph) gets ready to fill and decorate the fresh batch.
ERICK DELEON: This is the maple bourbon cream. Then we're going to fill it like this.
VELTMAN: He makes a hole in the side of a doughnut with a wooden skewer, stuffs it with whisky-laced filling, sprinkles it with sugar.
DELEON: And then we're going to torch it.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLOWTORCH HISSING)
CRAIG BLUM: We call it Santa's Little Helper.
VELTMAN: Johnny Doughnuts founder Craig Blum says this boozy, blowtorch-crisped confection has been part of his company's holiday repertoire for the past couple of years, along with the chocolate Old-Fashioned sprinkled with pieces of crushed peppermint candy that I'm sinking my teeth into as we chat.
I like the little crunchy bits.
Blum says the holidays are a very busy time for Johnny Doughnuts. They have deliveries destined for tech sector holiday parties...
BLUM: Meta, OpenAI.
VELTMAN: ...A nearby prison...
BLUM: We're doing San Quentin's.
VELTMAN: ...And a local synagogue. Blum says the Hanukkah doughnuts - or sufganiyot - filled with homemade wild berry jam is by far Johnny's most popular holiday offering.
BLUM: It's unbelievable how many jelly doughnuts we sell during the holidays.
MICHAEL KRONDL: Hanukkah's all about frying because it's about the miracle of the oil.
VELTMAN: Food historian Michael Krondl has written a book about doughnuts. He says they have been part of holiday celebrations across various traditions for centuries, though not always at this time of year.
KRONDL: In the Muslim world, they were served particularly for Eid at the end of Ramadan.
VELTMAN: Krondl says here in the U.S., doughnuts went from being a relatively simple, non-holiday-specific treat...
KRONDL: Made at home by Mom, not too much fuss.
VELTMAN: ...To a tasty canvas for all kinds of creativity - especially, in recent decades, during the holiday season, when businesses of many kinds are competing extra hard for customers.
KRONDL: If you're running a doughnut shop, there is this pressure on you to come up with something exciting and interesting and new to draw people to your particular product.
VELTMAN: This is true not just of small boutique doughnut shops, but also global giants like Krispy Kreme. Kelcey Hamaker is an executive for the company. He says Krispy Kreme has offered holiday-themed doughnuts for decades.
KELCEY HAMAKER: It's usually something that will pick up on flavor and/or theme trends of the year or of the time.
VELTMAN: The theme for 2025 is Peanuts-related.
HAMAKER: Celebrating the 60th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
VELTMAN: The line includes a bright yellow, brownie-creme-stuffed doughnut reminiscent of Charlie Brown's polo shirt and a white one with a cookies-and-cream filling shaped and decorated to resemble another famous Peanuts character's head.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHELSIE DUNNING: Look, y'all. It's Snoopy.
VELTMAN: They are popular with foodies on social media. Kentucky-based influencer Chelsie Dunning recently posted a review of Krispy Kreme's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" selection on TikTok.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DUNNING: This is the cutest thing I've ever seen.
VELTMAN: Tucking into her box of a dozen, she says these doughnuts are a must, if only because it's the holidays.
Chloe Veltman, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
