A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It - Fall Festival Candy Corn

Happy Halloween! What better way to wrap things up than with some novelty candy corn! 

Brach's Fall Festival Candy Corn has 6 distinct flavors: 

Confectionary Fright-Flight? - Seasonal Sampler of Cotton Candy

Fun Sweets Seasonal Sampler - Walmart

A flight of seasonal cotton candy! What a great concept! 

Years of blogging has taught me that less is more. (As long as the price is right.) Buying entire packages of wacky flavored chips or cookies can be so wasteful. If limited edition flavors are released in smaller serving sizes, that's the way to go. That said, tiny tubs of novelty flavored cotton candy sounds absolutely perfect to me! 

Even though I've already tried and reviewed two of these flavors, the S'more and Candy Corn, I couldn't resist the idea of cranberry cotton candy. I pretty much bought this entire set just for that flavor alone. A wise decision?  We'll see...

Seasonally Accurate, but still Late

Remember in my last post when I told you being late was very on brand for me? Well these are fall related, but from LAST YEAR. (I may be awful, but at least I'm consistent about it.)  

Why do I still have them in my pantry, completely unopened? I couldn't even begin to tell you. Will I still open them, eat them, and review them? You bet your sweet bippy I am! 

So yeah, as previously stated, these are from Aldi's fall collection, last year. I bought them hoping to compare them to the previous Oreo version and just never did. So, better late than never?

A Trio of Summer Flavors - Krispy Kreme Carnival

Krispy Kreme Carnival Flavors 2021

Some days I come home, make a low calorie meal, walk my dogs, and then pat myself on the back for making good, healthy, life choices. Other days I eat 4.5 carnival themed doughnuts in one night, slap together a video review, and then lay on the couch munching on carrots while it renders at 1am. It's all about balance. 

Speaking of balance, I want to applaud Krispy Kreme for leaving the "c" in Carnival and not opting for a "K" to stay on-brand. 'Cause that's...that's just too many "k's." They knew it, and I knew it, so nobody went there and I am thankful for that. Kudos. 

These carnival themed doughnuts are available as of yesterday (July 19th) until August 8th. Normally I am way behind on trends, and my food hunting days are pretty much over, but when there is a Krispy Kreme right next to the train you take for work and candyhunting posts that these just dropped...it's a sign. So, if you haven't already watched the video I posted on Tuesday, let's jump into some more in-depth reviews and photos! 

Carnival Kreme

 

I'll be posting a full typed review of the donuts, with close-up photos, tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the video!

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Caramel Apple Pop-Tarts - Walmart #tbt

Caramel Apple Pop-Tarts - Walmart #tbt 

I know it's not Thursday but...I GOT THE HOUSE! 

I have been working with lawyers, realtors, and banks since the beginning of October to seal this deal and my short sale journey is finally at it's end. We start the closing proceedings next week and then I have to start tackling repairs and cleaning before I can move in, but still...I'll have a HOUSE!

This also means I need to bust through as much of my food-hoarding-stash as I can to lighten my future moving-load, so expect a lot of off-season throwbacks! 

Let's kick off the throwback frenzy with these Pop-Tarts!

#tbt Caramel Apple Cup Cakes - Walmart

#tbt Caramel Apple Cup Cakes - Walmart

Yesterday's Christmas post was a throwback, but these limited edition fall Cupcakes take the CAKE! (Lame joke was lame, and lame meme reference is even lamer.) I took these photos and wrote down some snacking notes back in SEPTEMBER, so it's been a while, but I still have one caramel cupcake left in my snack drawer. So let's dig it out and get this review started with a fresh (but  possibly stale?) perspective!

(8 flavors) DumDums Summer Time Favorites - Target

DumDums Summer Time Favorites - Target 

I'm torn. Pumpkin products and spooky decorations and lining the shelves, which warms my little-gothic heart, but at the same time I can feel summer slipping through my fingers! I'm not ready for fall sweaters yet! I'll be clinging to summer for as long as I can, and I've got 250 summer themed lollipops to help fuel my delusions.

Live G Free Caramel Apple Baked Chewy Bars - Aldi ($4.99)

Live G Free Caramel Apple Baked Chewy Bars - Aldi ($4.99)

Oops, apparently this review got posted early with no photos. I fixed it!

Remember when I went to NY for SFFS16 in June? Back then I bought a couple snack-bar type products from Aldi to stash in my hotel room. (For snacking and lazy breakfasts.) It was mostly granola and cereal bars, but I bought a box of these on a whim and they were so good I bought a second box when I got back to Jersey! Now I'm buying a third so I can photograph it and share it with the rest of you!

PEEP HAUL - 5 Different Flavors (Three are expired)

So many Peeps, so little time. I have Part 2 coming up soon!

Hammond's Seasonal Caramel Trio (Pumpkin Spice Caramel Marshmallow) - Target

Hammond's Seasonal Caramel Trio - Target

There's not much of a backstory for these seasonal sweets. I was walking around Target, saw the display, and into my cart they went.

Each one is wrapped in a sheet of wax paper and sealed with a sticker, so there's not much for me to critique as far as packaging, and since these are so small, I figured I might as well mash all three up into one review!

Brach's Caramel Apple Candy Corn - Gift

Brach's Caramel Apple Candy Corn - Gift

Okay, step one of my candy corn experiment was a success. The Apple Pie candy corn was (surprisingly) enjoyable and authentically flavored, so now we can move on to step two. Is it truly any different than this caramel apple candy corn? Or did they just swap the colors and slap a new label on it?

Welch's Caramel Apple Sparkling Cocktail - BJ's: Marlton, NJ

Welch's Caramel Apple Sparkling Cocktail  - BJ's: Marlton, NJ

It's a new year, and there's no better time to review something sparkling and bubbly! This has actually been in my stash for quite a while. Back in October, I reviewed this bottle of Sparkling Pumpkin Cocktail, and that came in a three-pack with two bottles of this. I wasn't able to find any of these items sold on their own in the grocery store, only in a large 3-pack of two caramel bottles and one pumpkin at BJ's, so I bit-the-bullet and bought the whole pack. I put one bottle out for my friends to drink at my cookie party a few weeks ago, and then I save this bottle to review. Let's see if this stuff is as enjoyable as it's pumpkin-counterpart.

Intense Caramel Apple Milk - Wegman's: Cherry Hill, NJ

Intense Caramel Apple Milk - Wegman's: Cherry Hill, NJ

What is with the sudden influx of caramel apple flavored foods? Usually fall foodie items are all about pumpkin and pumpkin spice, but this year there seems to be a caramel-apple counterpart for almost every pumpkin item. We have Caramel Apple Oreos (Review coming soon), caramel apple chewing gum, and now we even have caramel apple flavored milk.

Back in 2012 I reviewed Intense's pumpkin spice milk, which is like a yummy hybrid of eggnog and pumpkin pie, and while it was enjoyable it was also, well..., intense! This stuff is really thick and really sweet. This is NOT a health food item. (Don't let the "milk" part fool you.) The pumpkin spice version was practically a pumpkin pie milkshake, so how will this caramel apple version compare?

Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Apple Oreos Coming VERY Soon!

Image courtesy of Consumerist.com who released the first photo, but this was actually discussed on The Nosh Show about a week prior.

Caramel Apple photo via: Shopwell

Even though I wish the summer would never end, I'm really excited for these fall-themed flavors. I'm hoping to grab a package of the Pumpkin Spice for this year's pumpkin gallery, but caramel apple doesn't sound half bad either. (At any rate, both options sound much better than the Fruit Punch.)

What do you guys think? Are you looking forward to trying these new flavors? Or is the limited edition craze finally dying out?

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Jones Caramel Apple Soda - Target - Riverside, NJ

Jones Caramel Apple Soda  - Target - Riverside, NJ

Sorry for the short hiatus. That crisis I mentioned before reappeared, so I had to take a moment to handle it. (Sorry to be cryptic, but this is a foodie blog, not a diary. I'm not gonna bore you with that kinda stuff.)  I'll be making another post later today to make up for my few days off!

With Halloween upon us, I am shifting gears and reviewing all kinds of Halloween goodies. To kick things off, here is some seasonal Jones soda.

When I was in high school, Jones was my go-to soda. I absolutely loved it's artistic packaging and unique flavors. (Flavors like Thanksgiving dinner!) Back then, I could buy it at various restaurants, grocery, and convenience stores. Now, it's kind of difficult to come by. (What happened?) Restaurants like Panera stopped carrying it, grocery shelves were empty, and the amazing flavors fizzled out. Has Jones abandoned the east coast? (Or just New Jersey?) Let me know if you guys have it in your area.

For a while now, Jones has been releasing a few limited edition, seasonal, products at target stores. This Halloween I picked up two of the four flavors: Caramel Apple and Candy Corn.

Caramel Apple Pops - Dollar General : Cherry Hill, NJ

Caramel Apple Pops - Dollar General : Cherry Hill, NJ 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Tootsie’s packaging designs desperately need an overhaul. Just look at this bag.

This layout is a mess of green, tan, and red-violet. The garish combination of colors and semi-retro look aren’t working for me at all. Thankfully the individual candy wrappers inside are much more palatable. The Tootsie company seems to be staying afloat due to the quality of their products and nostalgia, and it’s good to have a great product, but I think they should try to revamp their plastic bags with a completely throw-back retro design. Embrace the nostalgia and try to create something a little more aesthetically pleasing. (Or at the very least lose the red-violet purple color.)

Caramel Apple Milkyway - Walmart : Cherry Hill, NJ

Caramel Apple Milkyway - Walmart : Cherry Hill, NJ

I picked these up at Walmart because Milkyways are my favorite candy bar. (I love them frozen.) I was excited to try my favorite chocolate bar a new flavor. 

I had seen reviews of these before, on Candy Blog, but I had to try these for myself.

The packaging is VERY red. To me, it looks like a candy apple instead of a caramel one.  I think a lot more could have been done to convey a caramel apple, but overall it isn’t terrible packaging.