Pumpkin Spice Twinkies

I was going to write about these beauties back in October, but I ran out of time. Lucky for all of us, these are still in stores, even as late as today. Like Jack Skellington, they straddle the fall/winter holiday season as a whole. This is the second year Hostess have made these, and this year they also brought out a cheesecake variation that sounds good.

These are very recognizably Twinkies, with the classic foamy cake we all remember. The creamy filling has a good dose of cinnamon, though. Maybe it could use some nutmeg, some more ginger, etc. As it stands, this is the second-best seasonal treat I've had this month. (I'm still craving more Cinnamon Roll Peeps, and just stocked up at the Walgreen's.) I'm proud to be taking some to a few Christmas parties this week.

You might get lucky and find some of these on eBay at this-here link.

Pumpkin Pie Larabar

Hey, it's food time! Jack is holding a seasonal flavor of Larabar. I've never had a Larabar before, but my local grocery store had them on sale, and I felt like trying two holiday flavors.

This smells like pumpkin pie, a lot. And it also has real pumpkin in it, a lot. You can genuinely taste the actual pumpkin, which I didn't expect from any mass-market packaged food. I'm not sure I really like the texture of this bar; I might prefer more nuts, but that's okay. It's a nice counterpoint to all the overly-sweet, overly-chemical pumpkin spice treats that are still available lots of places. (I dunno how actually "healthy" it is, and it's got about the same calorie count as a similarly-sized candy bar, but the ingredient list is just fruits and nuts and spices, so yay for that.)

Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Juniors

Okay, so I missed a week. So what?

I've got more Frankenstein posts coming soon, but first -- more food!!!

For a few years now, my mother and I have been addicted to the Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice cake doughnuts. The density and heaviness of the cake works with these flavors, and the glaze puts a perfect touch on the warm spices.

Finally, this year they're also available in a smaller size. I like the little Krispy Juniors -- they're identical in taste and texture to the full-sized ones, but the serving size is more to my current needs. I've been working on this bag all week, literally since the last time I wrote a post, and I'm not done yet. I'm about to eat my last one, microwaved for a few seconds, and then maybe a cold glass of milk.

(I couldn't find a buy link for the smaller ones, though I imagine they're in grocery stores all over the South. The full-size ones are great too though, I promise.)

Pumpkin Spice Frappucino

A quick break from my Frankenstein coverage to mention my first seasonal food:

That's right: bottled Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappy Thing. I'm not a huge PSL fan (though I love most of the pumpkin spice things), so I didn't know how much I'd like this one going in.

I've tried all the bottled Frappy Thing flavors before (there are a lot: coffee, mocha, s'mores, coconut, mint, caramel, and my favorite, vanilla) and they're all similar: a sweet, pricey treat. It's always a tasty caffeine delivery system, and this one is no exception.

This one, as you might guess, has no actual pumpkin in it, but the spices are prevalent in the mix. I'm aware this might sound like heresy to my coffee people, but I'm not sure I can tell the difference between this Frappy Thing and a nice cold chai latte.

Like the PSL, this one seems to have flown off shelves quickly (I bought mine two days ago and went back for another today, and they were alllllll gone). If you see one and want to spend $3, it's worth your money and stomach space.

A Spoopy Month #22: Keebler Pumpkin Spice Fudge Stripes

Holy cats, I'm waaaay behind. Here's a quick one for today - promise to make it up to you.

As usual, my own pictures didn't look very good, so here's a picture I stole from someone else (sorry, Margaret!):

Wow. These were a lot better than I expected. They have the same consistency of regular Fudge Stripes, with a thin cookie and nearly as much "fudge" on the bottom. I was expected a graham cracker-style cookie, but the cookie is more like a ginger snap. It's not sharp, but there's a huge amount of ginger there, just perfect to balance with the creamy fudge.

There are a LOT of cookies in this pack, and I don't think I want more than two or three in a setting. Unless I have a cold glass of milk.  ... I just realized I should probably buy some milk after work.

A Spoopy Month #11: More Halloween Peeps

I don't like the other two flavors of Halloween Peeps as much as Caramel Apple, but they're both decent.

The Candy Corn Peeps are... not much. The candy corn flavoring isn't great. (In the past, I've loved other candy corn flavored items, like the original Jones Candy Corn soda, until they switched to cane sugar and ruined the recipe.) In fact, it kind of just tastes like a marshmallow, until you hit that white fudge. It sounds silly to say that anything could be overwhelmed by white fudge, but there it is. I've never been impressed by any other attempts to marry candy corn and white chocolate. (This may be controversial, but I didn't like the Candy Corn M & Ms AT ALL.)

On the other hand, I didn't expect to like the marriage of pumpkin spice and white fudge either, but that's really good. On opening the package, you get a nice whiff of nutmeg and cinnamon and such. Though the spices are a little too subtle for my personal taste, I can easily imagine polishing off this pack in a few minutes (though, as previously mentioned, my bathroom scale wouldn't appreciate that).  I've always passed when I saw actual pumpkin-spice-flavored-fudge, but this has changed my mind and I'm onboard with that concept now.

This Halloween season has been my first exploration of the specially-flavored Peeps, and when Easter rolls back around I'm excited to try some of those new ones. Let's see: orange, probably watermelon, I think I remember cotton candy, was there blue raspberry?

Candy Corn  ---  Pumpkin Spice