No-frills products are the way to go, especially when it comes to pantry staples, but there are some exceptions to the rule, like candy bars. It's really tempting to grab store branded sweets when filling your candy bowl, but are they worth it?
I grabbed candy from Target's house brand, Trader Joe's house brand, and the real deal, who will come out on top?
What makes a non-coffee product "cold brew,"-flavored vs. normal "coffee"-flavored?
Is it a more concentrated coffee flavor? Was actual cold brew involved at all? I doubt it.
"Ice sand?" Looking at this product's name, some of you may be a little confused."Sand" is short for "sandwich." Or, "sando." Which is also short for sandwich. Basically, Japan doesn't have time for your long, not-cute, words. (Joking.) Reading manga and watching anime, I'm pretty familiar with this shortened term, but even if you weren't I think the context clues make it rather obvious that this is ice cream sandwich themed. In this case, a chocolate mint one.
We have a new Big Cup, and this time there's Reese's Puff cereal inside.I found the last two flavors, pretzel and potato chip, pretty disappointing. Not bad, but far from great. I bought them once to review them, and then never again. But, the one with the Reese's Pieces inside? Amazing. I actually like them more than the original!
Reese's-ception, doubling down on the good stuff we all know and love, seems to be where their products really shine. And we've gone full-circle. The cereal's slogan was, "It's Reese's, for breakfast!" But now we have...breakfast for Reese's? (The line delivery from that TV ad lives rent free in my head.)
Chocolate covered potato chips are sweet and salty, with the added bonus of a crispy texture, what's not to love?
Well, unlike most consumers, I have been spoiled. Aunt Charlottes, a confectionary located in Merchantville, NJ, makes the best chocolate covered potato chips of all time.
It's true! I have tried big-brand chocolate potato chip products, and even made some attempts at my own, but none of them compare to Aunt Charlotte's.
The chocolate used for their chips is incredibly smooth and sweet, more like European style chocolate than when we're used to in the states, and the flavor blows brands like Hershey's out of the water. (Which is basically chocolate flavored wax at this point.) Their good-quality chocolate has a lovely mouth-feel, and somehow, even after dipping, the chip stays crisp and crunchy. It is the best of the best....that said, how do these "clusters" compare?
Count Chocula and Franken Berry were busy this year, we got the the KAWS designed cereal boxes (plus Boo Berry and Fruit Brute), some themed yogurt, the Monster Mash fruit snacks, and now these take-and-bake cookies.
Normally these kinds of cookies aren't my thing, but they're Halloween-y, and cereal monster themed! Plus those weird little extruded faces have a certain charm to them. It's like these were made for me.
What do you say? Let's bake up some monsters!
Another, normal, year-round product with a spOoky makeover. Now I got this as a gift, so part of me feels obligated to gush over it, and yes, it has great seasonal box art, but I'm going to take this opportunity to voice a (potentially) hot take instead.
Reese's Puffs. Are Garbage. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Before avid Reese's-fans roast me, let me explain.
I'm one of you! I love Reese's Cups, and mourn the loss of the really awesome Reese's Oreo collab. I may not be a peanut butter addict, BUT I do love peanut butter breakfast cereal, and when it comes to great peanut butter flavor, this ain't it.
Tirol Chocolates
I've reviewed a lot of Japanese candies over the years, but they've mainly been fruit based and more often than not, they're gummies. (My favorite kind of candy.) Japanese chocolate is an area I haven't really explored, and from what I can tell it's quite different than what we have in America.
I've seen Japanese candy bars, like Meiji or Crunky, but it doesn't seem like they have the wide variety that we have here. Just off the top of my head we have Snickers, Milkyway, 3Musketeers, Skor, Crunch, Heath, 100 Grand, Charleston Chew, BabyRuth...the list goes on and on. From what I can tell, that is not the case overseas. They may not have all that, but they do have Tirol.
Teeth are stupid, we get baby teeth and those last us like, 12 years (or whatever), only to be replaced with something that needs to last us another 70+ and even then they might not grow in "right." It made sense when life expectancy was like, 35, but this is 2022. George Jetson was (supposedly) born this year, shouldn't we GATTACA this stuff up by now to genetically ensure our collective dental future? Or is there a big dental conspiracy so they charge us a fortune?
Long story short, I went in for my normal cleaning and ended up getting dental surgery. It was expensive, and it sucked. On a positive note, I get to eat a bunch of soft, cool, foods. Like ice cream, or gelato while I heal, so I grabbed a bunch of stuff to try. Including this gelato.
This new Oreo came out, I bought it, and then I went to put it away and found this box of cookies from Aldi that were a different take on the same thing. In fact, they're an Aldi twist on a Neapolitan Trader Joe-Joe's item that's been around since at least 2018.
I figured I'd take this opportunity to compare the two and see who did it better. Oreo? Or Aldi?
Salt and Straw dropped another really delicious looking ice cream collection, (this one is summer picnic themed), and I decided to go for it. Their Thanksgiving drop was innovative, playful, and most importantly, delicious, so I was pumped. Problem is, I needed to make room in my freezer. I have always liked ice cream, but I never pegged myself as an "ice cream" person. But my freezer begs to differ.
After some rearranging, I came to realize...I already had a LOT of ice cream. So, get ready for a lot of back-to-back ice cream posts!
Banana Split is a recurring limited edition offering from Drumstick, and I have bought it several times with the intention of reviewing it, only to go through the whole box before I get the chance. Finally, it's time as come.
I wasn't super interested in this flavor until I saw that it had a "vanilla pudding ice cream" base. Not too-too long ago, I used to love Jello vanilla pudding pops. They were the best flavor in the box, but they have since been discontinued. While lots of non-name brands have released chocolate pudding pop or fudgsicle dupes, vanilla? Not so much. So I was really excited for this ice cream hoping it would satisfy my tastebuds' Jello-based core memory.
Birthday Cake Oreos were released in 2012 for their 100th anniversary and it was kind of a big deal. This was back when the bags had roll-down and twist-tied tops, instead our modern front--peel packaging. (Which I hate.) It was also before we were all burnt out on fancy new Oreo flavors. (Or is that just me?)Upon their original release, this flavor was limited edition, but since then it has become a staple of the line-up, with a Mickey-themed Disney release added in for good measure.So, for their 110th anniversary, they rereleased their centennial product and added a layer of chocolate creme. That's it. Same classic chocolate cookie, same "birthday cake" creme, but with added chocolate. I didn't feel like that was anything special, and with my irrational annoyance at "Birthday Cake" themed products and marketing, I was going to skip this...but then I was given a package as a gift. So, here we are. Happy Birthday!
Herr's S'Mores and Orange Cream Pop Balls - Ollie'sAt first glance, the Herr's snack ball line seems a bit...juvenile. I used to work in daycare (which seems like a lifetime ago), and ball-shaped things like these were perfect for snack time. They're fun, easy for little fingers to grab, easy to chew, and in the case of Herr's, they come in a variety of colors and sweet flavors. It's a toddler's dream. Along with the child-like-appeal, the packaging always feels slapped together, making these easy to dismiss as a novelty. I looked down on these for a long time, thinking it's child-food, but after trying the Funnel Cake Balls I was singing a different tune.
Funnel Cake opened my eyes to these being more legit than I thought, and while not every flavor was a winner (like the lack-luster Cotton Candy), I decided I would do my best to try the rest of the line-up this time around. So let's give these two flavors a go!
During quarantine, I made countless batches of salted chocolate chip cookies, and got into the habit of adding crushed up potato chips to them as well. So when I saw that Oreo was getting in on the trend, by salting their classic cookie, I had to taste the results for myself.
If you're looking through the novelty ice cream freezer at Aldi, you're likely to see a lot of chocolate and vanilla, maybe the occasional seasonal item shaped like a snowman or whatever with a hint of fruit, but for the most part they play it safe. Lidl's offerings seem to lean more towards their European roots, and they don't shy away from nutty offerings like hazelnut or pistachio. They actually offer two different pistachio themed items, an ice cream bar covered in a layer of chocolate, and white chocolate, with pistachio pieces, and these chocolate pistachio cones. As a pistachio-lover, I had to give these a try. You know, for science.
As I reached for my tried and true pint of Make Fudge Not War I thought, why not try something new? This container of Extreme Maximum Fudge Moose Tracks was a seasonal product, popping back in time and again throughout the year, mostly during warmer weather, and I had never tried it. Why not now?
For comparison, Make Fudge not War is a Ben & Jerry's knock-off with "super premium ice cream," but it's just a chocolate ice cream with brownie chunks, and this is just chocolate ice cream "maxed out" with Moose Tracks fudge. How different could they be?
If you want to be all responsible and science-y, and compare the two nutritional panels, these are actually quite different. A serving of the Make Fudge Not War is half a cup, which clocks 310 calories, while this stuff is portioned out at 2/3rds a cup for a mere 240 calories. So you get less calories per scoop, which means there's something to the "super premium" labeling after all.
Compared to the pint this has less fat, less sugar, and about the same amount of sodium. Health-wise, that sounds like it would be "better," right? Well when it comes to ice cream, fat is good. It makes things richer, creamier, which is why all those light ice creams are so styrofoam-y and full of air. Will this taste diet-y?
The peanut buttery candy bar with a silly name, Whatchamacallit, now has a sibling, the Whozeewhatzit. Together they make for a cohesive pair branding and name-wise, but will the new chocolate-focused bar be strong enough bar to stand on it's own?
I know for a fact that I have eaten a Whatchamacallit before in my life, but I honestly can't remember when, or if I even liked it, so I picked up both to refresh my memory and see how they compare.
So, who's on first?
We all know I dislike white chocolate, but I love marshmallows, so when this item was announced I was torn. On the one hand, fluffernutter sandwiches are amazing, and this has the protentional to taste like that AND chocolate. Brilliant combination, right? Or it'll taste like white-chocolate grossness. It's kind of a 50/50 chance.
With those odds, I didn't want to overcommit. Luckily for me, this flavor is available in a wide array of sizes, 5-packs, big bags for Easter, and this handy dandy two pack. Let's see what we're dealing with here and if I made the right decision.
