REVIEW: Jack in the Box Pumpkin Spice Mini Churros

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Pumpkin spice season is upon us! Seeing pumpkin spice-flavored products in July/August is the notification reminder of all the things we might have to do when autumn actually arrives.

  • Finding space for a turkey in a freezer or fridge.
  • Bobbing for apples.
  • Rolling eyes at how many pumpkin spice-flavored products there are.
  • Harvesting the fields.
  • Explaining to children what cornucopias are.
  • Raking the orange leaves.
  • Eating pumpkin pies without hands.
  • Finding out the date when Starbucks’ PSLs return.
  • Scoring Reese’s candies at 30-50 percent off the day after Halloween.

Jack in the Box is reminding us that it’s pumpkin spice season with its new Pumpkin Spice Mini Churros, which are five bite-sized churros filled with sugary pumpkin spice filling and dusted with cinnamon sugar.

I wasn’t impressed with Jack in the Box’s Mini Churros when it debuted many years ago. It’s been on and off the menu, but I never gave them another try to find out if they’ve improved. But these seasonal ones are much more enjoyable than what I remember I had back in 2008.

If you’re hoping these have the same pumpkin spice punch as Jack in the Box’s Pumpkin Spice Shake or Basic Witch Shake, which are mysteriously not on Jack in the Box’s menu as I type this, you’ll be disappointed. Speaking of that excellent shake, it would’ve been awesome to have had the opportunity to dip these churros into that shake.

Missed opportunity, Jack.

The churros’ pumpkin spice filling has a mild flavor, but it has enough to let you know that there’s something different about these churros and that orange leaf season will soon be upon us. I’m a little disappointed that the sugary coating on the wonderfully crispy fried exterior didn’t also have a pumpkin spice flavor or a bold orange color. However, the cinnamon does enhance the same taste in the filling.

Jack in the Box’s Pumpkin Spice Mini Churros are pretty tasty and worth a try this pumpkin spice season. They’re not Disneyland churro-great, but I’d eat them again while explaining to my son what a cornucopia is or playing fridge Tetris to clear space for a heavy Butterball.

Purchased Price: $3.59
Size: 5 pieces
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 330 calories. No other nutrition numbers are available on the Jack in the Box website.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Reese’s Caramel Craze Blizzard

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Reviewing Dairy Queen Blizzards is not easy. You might think I just go down to my local DQ, order a Blizzard, snap some photos, and write up a few hundred words about said Blizzard. OK, so that’s exactly what I do, and it’s pretty easy. The hard part is coming up with a rating. Because unlike some of the wild food items we review (the Archie McPhee Lobster Candy comes to mind), any mixture of vanilla soft serve and candy, cake, brownie, or other sugar-packed ingredients is going to be good. The question is: How good? Well, the new Reese’s Caramel Craze Blizzard might be the best of the best.

Not to be confused with the Summer Blizzard menu that has two new concoctions, the new Reese’s Caramel Craze is the August Blizzard of the Month. It contains Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, along with salty caramel-filled truffles and chocolatey shavings.

I’m going to assume you know what a Reese’s PB Cup Blizzard tastes like. For me, it’s a solid 8, maybe even approaching a 9 if the DQ mixologist goes a little overboard with the PB cups. What makes the difference here is the truffles. They are truly glorious. I guess the truffles are added at the end of the mixing process, because while the PB Cups in my Blizzard were pulverized, the delicate truffles were all perfectly intact. When you bite into one, you can taste the chocolate coating and then the luscious caramel oozes out with just the right touch of saltiness. It might not look like much in the close-up photo of a single truffle, but that little thing is packed with goodness (and according to the DQ ingredient list, soy lecithin, whatever that is).

DQ has used salty caramel truffles a few times in the past, including with the Caramel Cannonball Blizzard back in 2019. I gave that one a 10, and I’m giving this one a 10 as well. Since I barely remember last week, much less six years ago, I can’t tell you which is better. But what I can tell you is that if you like peanut butter cups and caramel, then you should make a trip to DQ sometime this month. I’ll also be asking you to sign a petition I’m working on to have DQ pledge to use salty caramel truffles in more Blizzards.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: Small
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 770 calories, 37 grams of fat, 24 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, 340 milligrams of sodium, 97 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 83 grams of sugar, and 16 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Baskin-Robbins M&M’s Monster Cookie Ice Cream

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Baskin-Robbins’ Flavor of the Month for August 2025 is the M&M’s Monster Cookie Ice Cream, which should not be confused with Baskin-Robbins’ blue Cookie Monster Ice Cream. The limited time only scoop features brown sugar ice cream with M&M’s Minis milk chocolate candies, cookie dough pieces, and peanut butter cookie swirls.

First off, let’s start with the brown sugar ice cream, which wasn’t as satisfying as the brown sugar base I’ve had from Ben & Jerry’s. Something was lacking from it to make the brown sugar stick out and convince my taste buds that a cookie inspired the Flavor of the Month.

What sticks out are the peanut butter cookie swirls. They were sweet, salty, and had a satisfying, gritty, and crunchy texture. Some might find them to be too salty, and that might’ve happened because of the ice cream base’s lack of flavor, but I enjoyed that salty kick, and I found these to be the highlight of the scoop.

Unfortunately, due to the luck of the scoop and that mine was the first drawn from the tub, I ended up with just four M&M’s Minis in my order. I wish there were as many of them as there were in the store window’s poster because the chocolate added a sweetness that cuts through the peanut butter cookie swirl, making things a bit more balanced between sweet and salty. But I felt like that job should’ve also been done by the base.

Finally, the cookie dough pieces were another lowlight. They added a weird, mild savoriness that reminded me of Japanese rice crackers. However, they had a chewiness that gave the scoop another textural dimension to go along with the creamy ice cream, crunchy and gritty swirls, and crunchy M&M’s.

After trying the Baskin-Robbins M&M’s Monster Cookie Ice Cream, I kind of wished I had accidentally ordered the Cookie Monster one. The new flavor isn’t awful, but parts of it were unsatisfying or weird, and I wouldn’t order it again.

Purchased Price: $3.79
Size: 2.5 oz scoop
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 200 calories, 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of sugar, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar (including 16 grams of added sugar), and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dunkin’ Chipotle Hash Brown Wake-Up Wrap

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I love fast food wraps. I’m basically the anti-Sir Mix-a-Lot anaconda, because I actually want some if you ain’t got buns, Hun.

It’s a great time for me because it’s basically the summer of the wrap, with more and more fast food joints jumping into the wrap trap. Popeyes has some solid new tortilla’d strips, “Taco Bell is a chicken place is a taco place is a chicken place,” burritos are really good despite the annoying commercials, and hey, who could forget the much-ballyhooed return of McDonald’s Snack Wraps? I know I didn’t. They’re not the same, but I’ll still throw ’em down.

Here’s the thing, amongst all that hype, I almost completely ignored the best new wrap of them all. While those chicken retreads soak up the spotlight, allow me to ballyhoo Dunkin’s new Chipotle Hash Brown Wake-up Wrap. Ballyhoo, I say!

… I don’t actually know what “ballyhoo” means, but I do know that Dunkin’s Wake-up Wraps are criminally underrated, and it’s about time you people, well, woke up.

Wake-up Wraps are a great little economical breakfast in a pinch. Sure, the eggs are rubber, the bacon is borderline inedible sometimes, the cheese might as well be made by Elmer’s, and the wraps usually have hard edges, but I still kinda love ’em for some reason. Adding hash browns and chipotle sauce brings them to a whole new level.

Dunkin’s hash browns remain arguably my favorite in fast food. I’ve actually been adding the zesty, crispy coins to my Dunkin’ sandwiches and wraps for years, so it’s nice to see the restaurant finally catching up.

I wrote a diatribe about how I don’t love “sauce” in my recent Goldfish review, little did I know that just a few weeks later I’d be adding Dunkin’s Chipotle Aioli to the A-tier on my Sauce Tier list that ABSOLUTELY took the internet by storm.

The chipotle aioli works so well on a breakfast wrap. It’s very similar to the sauce Taco Bell uses in their Breakfast Crunchwrap, which, as we all know, is the breakfast G.O.A.T.

Another thing I like about this wrap is that you can customize both the protein and the cheese, and every combo works. I enjoyed sausage, but I think bacon pairs better with the aioli and hash browns. As long as the bacon is actually cooked, I’d recommend that with American cheese, but white cheddar is no slouch.

There’s no wrong way to eat a Dunkin’ Chipotle Hash Brown Wake-up Wrap. I came up with that slogan. It’s an original.

How can it get any better, you ask?! They’re included in the current $5 Meal Deal! It might not seem like anything amazing, but two of these and an iced coffee for five bucks might be the best deal Dunkin’ has had since its questionable app update.

I think these are a perfect breakfast for anyone on the go. Even if you order two, they won’t bog you down, and they should leave you satisfied. Take advantage of the $5 Meal Deal before the summer wraps up.

Purchased Price: $3.99 each
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 340 calories, 24 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 110 milligrams of cholesterol, 910 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of total sugars, 1 gram of fiber, and 10 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Burger King Iced Coffee with Cold Foam

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It’s not surprising to see Burger King offer cold foam with its iced coffees. After all, it plopped a cold foam layer on top of a slush last year. What’s surprising is how long it took for said cold foam to eventually end up on BK’s iced coffee. Has it been in a deep freeze for the past year? Burger chain bureaucracy? Ketchup red tape?

Well, whatever the case, BK now plops cold foam on its Vanilla, Mocha, and Black iced coffees. My sweet tooth convinced me to purchase a Mocha one.

This order was the first time I’ve experienced BK’s cold foam, but I’ve had several Starbucks drinks with a creamy top layer, and the burger joint’s version seems to be a little thicker. It has an almost pudding-like texture, and its flavor reminds me of vanilla frozen dairy dessert. While my order came with a straw, I took my first taste by sipping from the cup, just as I would with a Starbucks order. Well, I tried to drink it this way, but the foam’s thickness makes it hard for the coffee to break through, and I ended up with a whole lot of foam and very little java in my mouth. Not ideal when I’m trying to get caffeine into my bloodstream in the morning. After a few more sip attempts, I gave in and used the straw to mix everything.

When combined, the cold foam dilutes the chocolate and coffee, which defeats the purpose of getting a flavored coffee. The sweetness satisfied my sweet tooth, but my taste buds wanted more. Perhaps Burger King should look into developing flavored cold foams. Additionally, alongside cold foam flavors, I would like the chain to offer a Frappe or Frappuccino-type drink again, as I think the creamy layer would pair well with it, similar to the new Starbucks Strato Frappuccino Beverages.

Unless I’m desperate for caffeine, I’m not sure I’d purchase any BK Iced Coffee with Cold Foam again because of how the cold foam dilutes everything. I’d probably just get a standard iced coffee instead, although something else that BK needs to get through the ketchup red tape is to make its large iced coffee as big as McDonald’s..

Purchased Price: $4.89*
Size: Large
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 380 calories, 21 grams of fat, 17 grams of saturated fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 38 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

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