The Dunkin’ on Lake Flower Avenue in Saranac Lake will offer spicy ghost pepper doughnuts through December. (Enterprise photo — Amy Scattergood)

SARANAC LAKE — One of the many casualties of the pandemic is the shuttering of 450 Dunkin’ shops by the end of the year. Dunkin’, the coffee and doughnut chain formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts, will only close stores located in Speedway gas stations, a move that the chain says will help them keep larger, stand-alone stores open.

Which is to say that the Dunkin’ on Lake Flower Avenue in Saranac Lake isn’t going anywhere, which is fortunate, given the long lines that seem to always fill the drive-thru lane.

Not only is the local Dunkin’ still open, but it’s got Halloween seasonal specials, including orange doughnuts topped with chocolate doughnut holes and frosted to look like spiders, and red sparkly doughnuts flavored with ghost peppers. They’re the first spicy confections the chain has offered, frosted with strawberry icing torqued with ghost pepper and cayenne and then finished with red sanding sugar.

Ghost peppers, for the uninitiated, are among the hottest chiles in the world. Also called bhut jolokias, the chiles rate over one million Scoville heat units, which is about 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified ghost peppers as the hottest chile pepper on earth. In 2013, it was beaten out by the Carolina Reaper pepper.

When I ordered a box of a dozen Dunkin’ ghost pepper doughnuts on Tuesday morning, the guy behind the counter asked if I was trying to trick someone. He’d given one to his mother, he said, and she wasn’t too happy about it.

While the ghost pepper doughnuts definitely have a kick, they’re spicy like Red Hots are spicy, with a mild jolt that’s hinged to all that sugar. And the heat kind of tempers overwhelming sweetness, as does a giant cup of coffee.

So just in time for Halloween, in a year when trick-or-treating has been canceled, you can at least trick your small family and friend groups with pink doughnuts. The doughnuts will likely be available until December.