Category: Reviews

REVIEW: Dunkin’ Smoked Vanilla Cold Brew

Vin 5 Comments

Dunkin Smoked Vanilla Cold Brew Grab

What is the Dunkin’ Smoked Vanilla Cold Brew?

Sweet and spicy? Been there, done that. Sweet and salty? Played out! Sweet and smoky? Hmm, is Dunkin’ on to something here?

How is it?

Dunkin’ is, in fact, NOT on to something here.

Let’s just clear the air first – this is a weird flavor choice. I guess I see why Dunkin’ would do it. It does look cool on paper, but it’s always had a vanilla representation on the menu, and the “smoke” element really didn’t set it apart at all. It’s not all that “smokey.” All I can really say is, the vanilla flavor seemed to have a unique lingering effect to it, so maybe I’ll just credit that to the smoke…?

I always get one swirl just to sweeten my cold brews up a bit, and my choice varies by the day. I’ve had em all, and there really hasn’t been one that I dislike. Smoked Vanilla reminded me of a combination of two of ’em – Vanilla and Caramel.

Dunkin Smoked Vanilla Cold Brew Cup

The flavor was vaguely Werther’s Original, which sounds great as I type it, but “vaguely” is the keyword there. It was like those Werther’s soft caramels with a vanilla filling or those “Cow Tail” candies that I think only me and 43 other people eat. I love those, so even a hint of that flavor was welcome.

That’s all good and well, but it wasn’t what I was being sold. Where’s the smoke? I’m struggling to even hypothesize what “Smoked Vanilla” was supposed to taste like. Maybe it really was just a slightly caramelized vanilla flavor, and they absolutely nailed it.

Anything else you need to know?

Dunkin Smoked Vanilla Cold Brew Bottom

I use oat milk as my dairy, so that may have counteracted the smoke. Who knows? I’m just trying to think of any reason why I didn’t get any. I wasn’t expecting it to taste like brisket, but I expected some sort of intriguing smokiness.

This brew also had sweet cold foam, and it didn’t even last the walk from the Dunkin’ lobby to my car. I apologize, but I can’t even really tell you if it added any flavor to the drink whatsoever. Foam doesn’t really last in a cold iced drink, so I’m not even sure what I was expecting. From what I recall from the last time I had it, it was just a generic sugary sweetener.

Conclusion:

Hey, we’ve got another option to sweeten our drinks. Ya really can’t be too mad about that. If you’re expecting this to taste like a flambeed dessert or something, you’re probably gonna be let down.

Will Smoked Vanilla last as a flavor? I doubt it, but you may think it delivers a lot more than I did, so give it a shot. It’s like the “smoke-heads” love to say, “Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em.”

Purchased Price: $4.29
Size: Medium
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 190 calories, 3 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 10 mg of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of total carbohydrates, 36 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Blizzard

Denis 7 Comments

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Blizzard Top

What is the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Blizzard?

It’s the July Blizzard of the Month made with soft-baked Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies and mini chocolate chip morsels mixed with Dairy Queen vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Blizzard Nondescript Cup

Despite the nondescript appearance, complete with the nondescript cup it was served in, this is a top-notch Blizzard. DQ has done numerous varieties of cookie dough Blizzards in the past, and I’ve never really loved any of them. The cookie dough always seems a little gritty because it’s not really cookie dough; it’s “edible” cookie dough. What’s the difference? Regular cookie dough, as in the kind you would use to make cookies, has raw eggs and uncooked flour in it. That makes it unsafe to eat, even though we have all done it. I’m not suggesting that you should eat raw cookie dough, but I think we can agree that it does taste better.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Blizzard Cookie Bits

The soft-baked cookies in this Blizzard come pretty close to tasting like raw cookie dough, and they have a really nice non-gritty texture and taste much better than the cookie dough in other Blizzards.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Blizzard Chips

As for the mini chocolate chip morsels, DQ is not messing around when it says mini morsels. They are tiny, and even though they deliver some chocolate flavor, it would have been nice to have some bigger chip pieces.

This Blizzard is also really sweet — not too sweet, but close. The sugar content doesn’t appear to be higher than the average Blizzard, and the ingredients list on the DQ website has a lot of words I don’t know, so I can’t really explain the extra sweetness. But those are minor issues, and I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Anything else you need to know?

You can still visit the spot where the famous Toll House cookies were invented in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, except that there’s now a Wendy’s and a Walgreens there. You can, however, check out the restored sign and a marker, but don’t get too carried away with the historical significance as the 1709 date on the sign was a marketing ploy, as was the name. The Toll House Inn was built in 1817, and it was never actually used as a toll house. Thanks for ruining it for us, Wikipedia.

Conclusion:

This is not quite good enough to make my personal Blizzard Hall of Fame, which is topped by the late, great Nerds Blizzard, but it’s still delicious, so maybe I can put it in my Blizzard Corridor of Fame.

Purchased Price: $4.29
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small) 550 calories, 19 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 gram of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 310 milligrams of sodium, 83 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 65 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough and Cinnamon Rolls

BrandonP 2 Comments

Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough and Cinnamon Rolls

When it comes to cereal mascots – Wendell the jolly baker and, more recently, the Crazy Squares – would not top your list of notable entries. But Cinnamon Toast Crunch has managed to cement themselves as the third best-selling cereal in the United States behind the Goliaths of BuzzBee’s Honey Nut Cheerios and Tony the Tiger’s Frosted Flakes. Even in his retirement, I can envision Wendell sitting in his rocking chair smiling about his dominance over Lucky the Leprechaun and Toucan Sam.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough Raw

The Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough comes in a tray of twelve pre-portioned sugar cookies with dark brown clumps of cinnamon pieces mixed throughout. They spread out thin when baking and achieve an even golden brown along the edges. The cinnamon looks faintly like the cereal pieces hiding just underneath the cookie’s surface but provides no actual texture.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough Sheet

While the cookies fill the house with a lovely cinnamon aroma, the actual flavor is slightly underwhelming. When still warm, the soft gooey consistency with a gentle crisp around the edges is very satisfying. As they cool, the texture is less pleasant, even in comparison to other cookies, but you can then pick up on more caramelized notes that do become slightly reminiscent of the actual Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. The balance of sweetness seems just right, but overall the cookies are lacking a pronounced cinnamon flavor. When tried raw, the cookie dough offers a stronger amount of spice and would make a good pairing with vanilla ice cream.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls Raw

The Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls come with eight rolls and icing ready to pop out of their tube. The dough has a slightly darker beige hue than the standard cinnamon roll and hard bits I was hoping was Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal mixed in. My hopes of a little crunch in the rolls did not come to fruition as they melted into little pockets of cinnamon during baking. Besides these little boosts of cinnamon throughout the dough, the rolls themselves are near identical to the standard offering.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls Icing

It is the cinnamon-infused icing that really drives home the spice in these rolls and makes them somewhat worthy of having cinnamon appear twice in their name. This offers a small upgrade over the vanilla icing that enhances the warm flavor without making the rolls overly sweet.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls Baked

While they pack a better cinnamon punch than the cookies, the rolls are also lacking any semblance of a crunch to drive home the Cinnamon Toast Crunch brand. Wendell might need to come out of retirement and show the bakers at Pillsbury a thing or two.

Purchased Price: $3.99 (Cookie Dough), $3.59 (Cinnamon Rolls)
Size: 14 oz. (Cookie Dough), 12.4 oz. (Cinnamon Rolls)
Purchased at: Lucky
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Cookie Dough), 6 out of 10 (Cinnamon Roll)
Nutrition Facts: Cookie Dough – 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 grams of fiber, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein. Cinnamon Rolls 150 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 350 milligrams of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Wendy’s Spicy Black Bean Burger

Holly 17 Comments

Wendy s Spicy Black Bean Burger Full

Being a vegetarian in the early 2000s sucked. Dining out meant either sad garden salads clearly meant to be a vehicle for grilled chicken or, worse than that, freezer burnt veggie burgers that would always be both overcooked AND still frozen. Most places just didn’t see a reason to offer meatless items, especially fast food restaurants. Fast forward to 20 years later, and the market for meatless is thriving. While I am no longer a strict vegetarian, my diet usually consists of 50%-75% meatless or “plant-based” foods, so I’m always looking for new veggie items. Enter Wendy’s.

The chain has been slow to join the plant-based trend. It tested a black bean burger (non-spicy from what I’ve seen) in late 2015 that was never heard from again. This go around it’s testing out a Spicy Black Bean Burger in Jacksonville, FL (that’s me!), Pittsburgh, PA, and Columbus, OH. We rarely get to be selected as a test market, and all the better that it’s for a meatless item.

The Spicy Black Bean Burger consists of a seasoned plant-based black bean patty, romaine lettuce, onion, tomato, pepper jack cheese, crispy chipotle jalapenos, and spicy chipotle sauce served on a premium bun. I was fascinated that Wendy’s would opt to go a more traditional route with a black bean patty instead of the popular Beyond or Impossible items. Generally speaking, people trying to swap for meatless enjoy the faux meat experience instead of the more “traditional” veggie patty.

Wendy s Spicy Black Bean Burger Jalapenos

I always like to try the special components separately before taking the “perfect” bite. The crispy chipotle jalapenos weren’t what I expected in the best way possible. I hoped they would be similar to the crispy onions one might see on a green bean casserole (dry and crispy). While they were in that same vein, they were more like pickled jalapenos breaded and fried. The spicy chipotle sauce had a deep smokiness with a sweet heat. Finally, the patty had a predominately cumin flavor with various other “Southwest” flavors (onion, paprika, garlic, cilantro). The patty was also square-shaped, continuing the Wendy’s tradition.

Wendy s Spicy Black Bean Burger Patty

Taking a bite, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the layered spicy flavors worked together. The chipotle’s warmness came through with the Southwest blend in the patty and spiciness of the fried jalapenos. The pepper jack cheese felt sort of a take-it-or-leave-it element. It didn’t take away from my enjoyment, but it didn’t really add either.

Wendy s Spicy Black Bean Burger Split

The patty itself was soft. Not soggy or mushy, just soft. The outside could have used a few moments longer on the grill to get more crust. I was taken aback by the high quality of the patty itself. Normally black bean burgers are (more or less) just a mushed blend of veggies in the form of a patty with no discernible vegetable pieces. Absolutely not the case here as whole black beans, corn kernels, brown rice, and wheat berries were easily seen and felt when biting into the patty.

Wendy s Spicy Black Bean Burger Layers

I was impressed with this sandwich. Even though I went in with a low bar, I was blown away by the freshness of the product. The spicy black bean patty was on par with the fresh, handmade ones I’ve had in sit-down restaurants. I would like to note that the item isn’t vegan/vegetarian as served, but like with the Impossible Whopper, the audience isn’t vegans/vegetarians. I think it’s interesting that Wendy’s is taking a chance with a black bean patty instead of faux meat.

The Wendy’s Spicy Black Bean Burger is a unique and flavorful item. But I wonder if the patty might end up being a skip for the more casual meatless diner or people looking for that meaty meatless experience.

Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: N/A
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 sandwich) 580 calories, 27 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 1560 milligrams of sodium, 69 grams of carbohydrates, 9 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 17 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Pepsi ‘Hot’ Chocolate Cola

Marvo 22 Comments

Pepsi Hot Chocolate Cola Can

Pepsi “Hot” Chocolate Cola was initially called Pepsi “Cocoa” Cola when the online sweepstakes to obtain it was announced. I don’t know if it was a phone call between soda CEOs or a letter from a very powerful law firm that charges per hour what most of us make in a week, but I imagine the name change was caused by something corporate that happened between the soda’s announcement and when these were shipped to those lucky folks who won them.

Also, that name change decision came after the product was produced. Because, according to a Reddit post, if I were to remove the can’s shrink wrapper, the original name is printed on the can.

The soda, formerly known as “Cocoa” Cola, features cocoa flavor with a hint of marshmallow mixed with Pepsi.

I had high hopes for this because the cola producer hit home runs with its recent fruity flavors, like pineapple and mango. (Mini Pepsi Zero Sugar Mango review: it’s my favorite new soda of the year so far.)

Unfortunately, Pepsi “Hot” Chocolate Cola was like a line drive hit that looked like it was going to be a home run but bounced off the outfield wall directly to a gun for an arm outfielder, who immediately throws to second base to prevent the batter, who thought it was a home run and stood in the batter’s box for too long, from getting a double.

The less bloviated, baseball-free version: It’s okay.

Pepsi Hot Chocolate Cola Glass

Its aroma and flavor have a noticeable Tootsie Roll-ness to them. I guess that’s what happens when cocoa flavoring is mixed with Pepsi. The combination did get my brain reminiscing about Chocolate Soldier, a watery chocolate beverage that came in an unusually heavy can that none of my online snacking friends seem to know about. I also don’t taste anything marshmallow-y.

Pepsi “Hot” Chocolate Cola is unique, and if it ends up on shelves this winter, it’s definitely worth a try. But I’m not going to be clamoring for it to be sold during every holiday season like I do with Pepsi Holiday Spice.

Seriously, Pepsi. Bring it back.

Special thanks to my online reviewing friend, The Soda Jerk, for sending me a can of Pepsi “Hot” Chocolate Cola. He reviewed it for his YouTube channel, which you can watch below.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 12 oz can
Purchased at: Received from The Soda Jerk
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 150 calories, 0 grams of fat, 35 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 41 grams of sugar, 41 grams of added sugar, and 0 grams of protein.