Category: Reviews

REVIEW: Kellogg’s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal

Heather 3 Comments

Kellogg s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal Box

What is Kellogg’s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal?

It seems like everything is getting a reboot these days. Maybe it’s your favorite old movie, maybe it’s a nostalgic toy… or maybe, just maybe, it’s a beloved childhood treat. If you’re excited for option three, then we have news for you. Little Debbie, maker of the classic Cosmic Brownies, is teaming up with Kellogg’s on a new Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies cereal. It’s mini brownie squares complete with rainbow pieces to look like the original.

How is it?

Kellogg s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal Brownie

As I opened the bag, I first noted this: If you were conducting a blind sniff test, I’d think this was a bag of Cocoa Puffs. It’s a strong whiff of chocolate. Now, obviously, I had to buy a box of the original Cosmic Brownies for true comparison. (I was surprised to find out that my husband had NEVER tried the brownies, which makes me wonder how sad his sack lunches were growing up…) I tried the brownie and immediately followed it with the cereal.

While the texture of the actual brownie is very fudgy and soft, what you’re getting here is a standard, crunchy cereal that feels like anything else you find on grocery shelves. You might as well close your eyes and play eeny, meeny, miny, mo with a handful of chocolate-based cereals, and you wouldn’t know this was supposed to mimic the brownie.

Kellogg s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal Closeup

I noticed a strong cocoa taste that is sweet without being TOO sweet, which I liked. The nutrition facts back it up – only 14 grams of sugar in a serving. Sadly, the rainbow pieces are so small that they added no impact or flavor to the cereal.

In terms of rating – while it doesn’t taste exactly like the original brownie, it still tasted pretty good for a fun cereal. I knocked points off for the comparison, but not for the taste alone when you separate that concept.

Anything else you need to know?

Kellogg s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal Spoon

Definitely add milk if you do want it to have any semblance to the brownie. A splash of milk helps soften the cereal and bring out the fudgier taste I was desiring. Unfortunately, the flavor stayed mostly with the cereal, so the milk at the bottom of the bowl ended up being not very chocolatey.

Conclusion:

If you like chocolate cereal, Kellogg’s Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies is worth a try. But if you’re coming for a replica of the original, you might be disappointed.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from Kellogg’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 8.2 oz box
Purchased at: Received from Kellogg’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (per 1 1/3 cup) 150 calories, 2 grams of total fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 14 grams of total sugars, and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks

Marvo 4 Comments

Ben Jerry s The Tonight Dough Chunks Pouch

Full disclosure: This review will be partially about Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks, but mostly a new product pitch to the folks at Ben & Jerry’s.

But before I present a PowerPoint slide deck of my idea, I should probably get the review out of the way.

If you’re not familiar with the ice cream flavor, it features caramel and chocolate ice creams with chocolate cookie swirls and gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cookie dough. But the pouch above has a mixture of chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolatey coated peanut butter cookie dough chunks.

Is this two cookie dough chunk combination delicious? Absolutely.

But having had almost every single type of Ben & Jerry’s dough chunks, I have to say there’s nothing that really makes it stand out from the other varieties. The two are pretty much the combination of others but in one pouch.

Ben Jerry s The Tonight Dough Chunks Innards

Yes, if you want to get technical, there’s no chocolatey coated peanut butter cookie dough chunks variety. But the peanut butter chocolate chip dough chunks are basically the same thing. If you like those two, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t like this. Although, when I snacked on this, I popped into my mouth one of each simultaneously, and sometimes there was be a solid nutty punch, and other times it’s hard to notice the peanut butter flavor.

But with that said, as much as I enjoy edible cookie dough, I can’t help but feel myself getting bored of it. Yes, there have been several flavors, but how many more different dough chunks are there left? Maybe it’s time to change things up a little.

Now let me get to that PowerPoint I promised…Wait, this projector only has a VGA port. Seriously. Am I in the 90s? Does someone have a VGA to HDMI adapter? No one? Well then, I guess you won’t be treated to my 85 slides about what I’m about to propose to Ben & Jerry’s. Instead, it’ll be 85 words.

Ben & Jerry’s should sell bags of its edible cookie dough with its non-dough mix-ins. It could be called Mix-In Mashups (feel free to use that, Flavor Gurus). For example, I think it would be great to combine the fudge-covered waffle cone pieces in Americone Dream with the company’s chocolate chip cookie dough chunks. It would be a contrast of textures with the cone’s crunch and the cookie dough’s squish. Or maybe have a bag with cinnamon bun dough and fudge brownies.

Ben Jerry s The Tonight Dough Chunks Closeup

I might never get my Mix-In Mashups, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the perfectly fine Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks and all the others in the edible dough bites line.

Purchased Price: $4.59
Size: 8 oz pouch
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 tbsp/28 grams) 120 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Girl Scout Thin Mints Blizzard

Denis 22 Comments

Dairy Queen Girl Scouts Thin Mints Blizzard Cup

What is the Girl Scout Thin Mints Blizzard?

It is part of Dairy Queen’s Summer Blizzard Menu, which is available two months before summer begins and includes this offering as the only new flavor of the six. As you surely have surmised by the name, this Blizzard includes vanilla soft serve with Girl Scout Thin Mints cookies and, importantly, as I will explain, cool mint.

How is it?

Dairy Queen Girl Scouts Thin Mints Blizzard Top

Before I get to the taste, I must assure you that the accompanying photos are indeed of the correct Blizzard. When it was delivered to my table, complete with an enthusiastic upside-down flip from a friendly DQ employee, I figured perhaps a mistake had been made as I stared down at my oddly grayish treat. So, I think for the first time in my life, I made a deliberate attempt to smell a Blizzard, and it definitely had that familiar Thin Mints aroma.

Dairy Queen Girl Scouts Thin Mints Blizzard Color

Confident that my order was right but still a bit perplexed by the color, I dug in. It tasted even better than it smelled and much better than it looked. This is coming from someone who likes Thin Mint cookies but doesn’t love them (and no, I even don’t love them straight from the freezer). Thin Mints are good — they are cookies, after all — but when I get guilted into buying Girl Scout cookies on a trip to the grocery store, I usually pick other varieties. So, this Blizzard had to prove its worthiness to me.

If it simply had Thin Mints blended in, even perhaps with some chocolate, then I think it would be pretty average. But with the addition of cool mint, which in the ingredients on the DQ website is listed as creme de menthe topping, it jumps up several levels. The flavor is a bit mintier than simply biting into a Thin Mint, but it is by no means overpowering, so the chocolate and more subdued mintiness of the cookie is still there.

Dairy Queen Girl Scouts Thin Mints Blizzard Spoon

Thin Mints also have a great texture for Blizzards, as they are not too crunchy but firm enough to hold up well in the ice cream. I was a bit surprised how much I liked this, especially given my neutral stance on Thin Mints.

Anything else you need to know?

I really cannot fully explain why my Blizzard was more gray than green, although the green color in the DQ advertising is somewhat muted, so the color difference was not that great after comparing the two. Plus, my Blizzard did get a bit greener as I got toward the bottom, so an uneven mix was likely at play too. But I don’t buy a Blizzard to look at it, so if it tastes good, I don’t care what color it is.

Conclusion:

If you really dislike Thin Mints, then take a gander at the five other options on the summer menu, but if you like Thin Mints even a little bit, then I think you’ll give this one a big thumbs up. And if you really love Thin Mints, you might even use both thumbs.

Purchased Price: $4.79
Size: Medium
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Medium) 900 calories, 32 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 460 milligrams of sodium, 137 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 102 grams of sugar, and 18 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Mystery Flavor Twizzlers

Vin 25 Comments

Mystery Flavor Twizzlers Package

What are Mystery Flavor Twizzlers?

Uh, I have no idea. That’s kinda the point.

How are they?

I think this may be the most successful “Mystery” flavor gimmick of all time, because these Twizzlers taste like… nothing. I’m mystified. The mystery is how anyone could possibly come away from these with an idea of what they just tasted.

I’m gonna try to explain, but I’m not sure I’ll be successful.

Mystery Flavor Twizzlers Closeup

There are really no clues on the boring packaging to go off of, so let’s start with what we know, these probably aren’t a flavor that Twizzlers has done before. Just going off the purpley-brown color rules out Strawberry, Cherry, Chocolate, Grape, and Raspberry. I can’t help but feel like a standard fruit wouldn’t be worthy of a mystery flavor anyway.

The smell, which is infinitely stronger than the taste, reminded me of something familiar. I ultimately decided it was Hawaiian Punch.

Tastewise? Man, these just taste like bad Twizzlers.

Twizzlers don’t really bash you over the head with flavor as it is, they just taste like twisted leathery plastic more than anything. If I was blindfolded, I would think I was eating a regular red Twizzler from a bad batch. I tried really hard to concentrate, but my brain just kept thinking, “Oh, this is a Twizzler!”

They’re not sweet, they’re not especially fruity, and there’s just nothing distinct about them.

This could be fruit punch, but it literally packs zero punch, and I don’t think that’s unique enough to base a Mystery Flavor campaign around. Fruit Punch isn’t exciting, and this was, frankly, more like a fruit slap. Nah, it was more of a “poke,” to be honest.

Perhaps I was swayed by the color, but I thought maybe it could be a soda-based flavor. Perhaps cola or Dr Pepper? Ya know what, my final guess is Cherry Cola.

Mystery Flavor Twizzlers Package Closeup

Anything else you need to know?

Nope, scratch that, Wikipedia claims Twizzlers briefly had a Cherry Cola flavor in 2006. Unless this is a rehash of that, I guess I’m just gonna stick with Fruit Punch Poke.

I honestly feel like this could be a prank, with the flavor being “nothing.” That would actually be hilarious.

I’m not kidding. I waited a week to write this review because I wanted to keep eating these while my taste buds were fresh. They always tasted like a sugarless red Twizzler with ZERO aftertaste.

Conclusion:

Mystery Flavor Twizzlers Question

So, like all great mysteries, this one ends… with zero resolution?!

Twizzlers were a perfect brand to try the mystery thing – they’re literally twists! I don’t know how they failed so miserably.

Please try these and help me understand what the heck I’ve been eating. I’ll revisit them after every guess because I’m definitely gonna have these lying around for a while. At least I’ll have some environmentally safe drinking straws to sip cherry cola through if I could actually manage to tug-o-war another one out of the sticky bag.

Purchased Price: $1.98
Size: 16 oz bag
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3 Pieces) 120 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 0 gram of saturated fat, 70 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of total carbohydrates, 14 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Reese’s Crunchy Peanut Bar

Julie 8 Comments

Reese s Crunchy Peanut Bar Wrapper

Some new Reese’s products are announced with great fanfare —- social media announcements, television commercials, or (as I like to imagine) a red carpet dotted with Reese’s Pieces to lead the way to the closest candy aisle. Other products seem to surprise us, one day gracing shelves with an air of nonchalance that makes you think they’ve been around for years.

For me, at least, the Reese’s Crunchy Peanut Bar falls into the latter category. After all, it seems like a simple idea and consists of everything Reese’s does best: chocolate, peanut butter, peanut butter creme, and, of course, crunchy peanuts. When I first saw the bar in stores, I wondered if it was the Cheshire Cat of Reese’s products, disappearing and re-appearing to play tricks on my mind, until social media confirmed its brand-new status.

Reese s Crunchy Peanut Bar Coating

Despite its unassuming entrance into the Walmart checkout and, therefore, my growing sugar stash, one thing about the bar isn’t unassuming: its size. This King Size packet contains one hefty bar, which comprises three servings of Reese’s goodness and measures about 3/4 of an inch in thickness.

Reese s Crunchy Peanut Bar Split

The combination of flavors in Reese’s Crunchy Peanut Bar is a sweet-and-salty lover’s dream. Inside the standard chocolate coating are a substantial layer of peanut butter and lots of roughly chopped peanuts, densely packed and held together by peanut butter and creme. The peanuts are the dominant force, providing a nice hit of salt that plays beautifully with the other components. The bar has a greater peanut-to-filling ratio than any crunchy-filled peanut butter cup I’ve tried and maybe even enough peanuts to make a PayDay feel insecure.

Although the wrapper lists peanut butter and peanut butter creme as separate components, they taste similar and are initially hard to distinguish. The visible layers of soft peanut butter filling are deliciously sweet with a lighter, smoother texture than your standard Reese’s filling.

Reese s Crunchy Peanut Bar Crumble

Meanwhile, the subtle peanut butter creme seems closer to a peanut butter-flavored version of the “white creme” (oil-based white chocolate substitute) that we all know. Delicate layers of hardened creme are remarkable more in function than taste, acting as a binding agent to hold the peanuts in place. Because of this, the bar crumbled apart easily, like a dessert bark, and sometimes felt like an odd choice. At times, I wished for more of a creamy element to add some moisture, especially when the loose peanut crumbles felt like trail mix in my mouth.

If you are a believer in the peanut butter war that pits Team Crunchy against Team Creamy, the Reese’s Crunchy Peanut Bar is definitely a victory for Team Crunchy. As a member of Team I Shouldn’t Have to Choose, I enjoyed this new product, but found it easy to detect small flaws due to its simplicity. Peanut fans will revel in Reese’s latest release, while others yearning for more daring or complex flavors might find that, among other options, this bar fades into the background.

Purchased Price: $1.48
Size: 3.2 oz (90 g)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (per 1/3 bar) 170 calories, 12 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 12 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.