Here are some interesting new products found on store shelves by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of the products, share your thoughts about them in the comments.
Frankford Swedish Fish Marshmallows
(Spotted by Anne S at Walmart.)
Frankford Sour Patch Kids Watermelon Marshmallows
(Spotted by Anne S at Walmart.)
Highkey Frosted Plant-Based Protein CerealHighkey Cocoa Plant-Based Protein Cereal
There are also Honey Nut, Fruity, and Cinnamon varieties. (Spotted by Amanda Y at Tom Thumb.)
Kellogg’s has released several dessert-themed Pop-Tart flavors this summer: Banana Crème Pie, Lemon Crème Pie, and these Peach Cobbler ones. Can these convenient pastries capture the essence of their homemade counterparts, or do I still need to find a baker to trade their creations for my bad junk food takes?
How are they?
These appear as a typical frosted Pop-Tart, with light orange frosting and small tan dots representing cobbler topping. They’re the only hint that these are cobbler-flavored because, in reality, these are simply peach Pop-Tarts. Though, that doesn’t sound as interesting, does it?
Unfortunately, the peach flavor is very artificial tasting. I’m reminded of Peach Crush soda and Peach Jolly Ranchers. I don’t really expect a Pop-Tart to taste like real fruit, but artificial peach can be one of those flavors that tastes nothing like the real thing, and it doesn’t work for something that’s supposed to taste like a real fruit cobbler.
Anything else you need to know?
The back packaging illustrates four ways to enjoy its contents, so I decided to give them each a try.
Straight from the Foil – Like melted peach ring candy poured into semi-baked pie crust.
Toasted – I wonder what percentage of Pop-Tarts are consumed toasted vs untoasted. Very few, I imagine. That’s a shame because I’ve always found them much improved by the process. A bit of browning adds the depth of flavor missing in the uncooked counterpart, which is particularly welcome here. It’s as close as we’re going to get to a golden brown and delicious cobbler topping.
Frozen – Freezing these adds an interesting textural experience. They don’t freeze solid, but get chewy. The peach filling turns gummy-like, and the cold numbs the artificial flavor.
Stacked Stuffed – The packaging suggests “stacking” Pop-Tarts, which I take to mean to eat two at the same time. But that’s dumb. The obvious use case for two toaster pastries is to “stuff” them with something and make a Pop-Tart sandwich. Vanilla ice cream seemed the obvious choice for a cobbler-themed pastry, and I wasn’t disappointed. The creaminess rounds out the peach flavor. Plus, I mean…ice cream.
Conclusion:
Peach Cobbler Pop-tarts are too artificial tasting to be enjoyed straight out of the foil. But simply taking the time to toast them, or freeze them, or uhh… plop a hunk of ice cream on them yields a satisfying treat.
Purchased Price: $2.29 Size: 13.5 oz box/8 pastries Purchased at: Woodman’s Markets Rating: 6 out of 10 Nutrition Facts (2 pastries) 380 calories, 10 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 340 milligrams of sodium, 69 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 28 grams of sugar including 27 grams added sugar, and 4 gram of protein.
Here are some interesting new products found on store shelves by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of the products, share your thoughts about them in the comments.
I’ve now lost count of my days spent embroiled in the chicken sandwich war.
Whenever I feel they are close to an end, another challenger enters the fray. New culinary battles ensue.
I’ve seen some good sandwiches come and go by the wayside. Young. Fresh. Barely out of the test kitchens. KFC. McDonald’s. The Ch’King – all basically forgotten before they even had a chance.
While Popeyes remains the world superpower, I have a burgeoning respect for a chicken sandwich so battle-tested, so decorated, it has now transcended the sandwich itself – Wendy’s Spicy Chicken.
We can all learn something from Wendy’s Spicy Chicken. To survive the wars, you must adapt. Days may become months, and while boys become men, chicken sandwiches must become potato crisps… ?!
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That’s right, folks, Pringles has a Wendy’s Spicy Chicken flavored crisp, and I’m pretty jacked up about it.
I couldn’t even tell you how many Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwiches I’ve had in my life, but I’m pretty confident no other fast food item even comes close. So I knew I had to write this review.
After picking up my can of Pringles, I swung by Wendy’s so I could really see if they would… stack up.
I have to say, at first, I was a little bummed.
The crisps tasted like poultry seasoning and heaps of black pepper, but it wasn’t distinctly Wendy’s. I cleansed my palate between alternating bites of Pringles and the sandwich, but it just wasn’t clicking like I’d hoped.
Don’t get me wrong, the crisps were delicious, but on a flavor mimicry scale of 1 to Jelly Belly, they came in at about a 6.
I think the main problem for me was the fact that they were missing a little tang of the mayo, which is a key ingredient of Wendy’s sandwich. I also think the crisps tasted like they had a slightly different tasting pepper, but the heat levels were about the same.
I guess you lose a lot in the flavor transfer when you’re biting into a juicy chicken fillet versus a crispy potato chip, and I couldn’t get past that. I did stack some Pringles on my sandwich for a couple of bites to create a Chick-inception just for fun.
All in all, I enjoyed the Pringles, but next to the sandwich, they were only pretty good… That was until I ate them on their own the next day.
I guess the sandwich being there put too much pressure on the Pringles and my dumb brain because they tasted spot on this go around. I was blown away. The aftertaste was especially similar to Wendy’s, and I ended up polishing off the rest of the can. It was essentially like eating the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and fries at the same time.
So, my recommendation would be to just enjoy the chips as their own thing, and I guarantee you’ll notice just how much they remind you of the Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich.
This was a great effort by Pringles, and I hope Julius Pringle and Dave Thomas keep their collabs rolling. I want a line of Spicy Nugget Pringles that come in different dipping sauce flavors. Spicy Nuggets with BBQ. Spicy Nuggets with Honey Mustard, etc. Whatever. I bet those would be excellent.
——
Perhaps this crisp is what we’ve been waiting for all along. The one that will bring an end to the great chicken sandwich war. I write to you, hopeful that we will find common ground and see rise to more such chicken-based snack ingenuity.
I hope this review finds you well.
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Purchased Price: $1.59 Size: 5.5 oz can Purchased at: Target Rating: 8 out of 10 Nutrition Facts: (About 15 Crisps) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 200 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of total sugars, less 1 gram of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.
With last year’s Hot Fudge Sundae, I guess new Nesquik powders might be an annual thing from now on. Also, maybe I was too busy frantically stirring when making chocolate milk from Nesquik, but I didn’t realize that thing on the Quik Bunny’s forehead also looks like a chocolate milk splash. Oh, I’m sorry. Did I write “frantically stirring” I meant to write “frantically snorting.” (Spotted by Robbie at Walmart.)
