When the flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple, and maple begin to arrive in stores at the start of fall, I tend to go a little crazy in my desire for fall tastes (and smells!). It is the only time of year when I actually get excited to go grocery shopping and enjoy hunting around for new products. A few weeks ago I started spotting the first fall treats of the year during a trip to Target and to a nearby locally owned craftstore. I am splitting these Fall Snack Taste Tests up into a few posts, but here is the first batch of what I found and what I thought about them!
Staffer’s Pumpkin Spice Snaps: Ginger snaps are something I love during Christmastime, especially curled up with a cup of tea and a blanket. The thought of a ginger snap with pumpkin spices sounded right up my alley, and wouldn’t be too out there to enjoy quite a few of. My initial thoughts when tasting these was that they were good, but didn’t really taste different from a regular ginger snap. A regular ginger snap does have quite a similar mixture of spices that “pumpkin spices” include, so this shouldn’t have been too big a surprise. The back of the package says that these include allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, molasses, natural pumpkin flavor, natural vanilla flavor, and nutmeg, all of which create a very fall-tasting crispy cookie. So while these weren’t bursting with pumpkin flavor, I did really like them and would absolutely buy them again. These would be awesome to grind up and turn into a crust for pumpkin pie.
Brach’s Caramel Apple Royals: I think my favorite fall flavor might be caramel apple, so whenever I find something caramel apple I feel inclined to try it. One of my fall traditions is to get a bag of those Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops, which is the only candy I really tend to get around Halloween. I have never seen these Caramel Apple Royals, but I have a feeling they aren’t new. The candies are individually wrapped chewy caramels, with an bright green tart apple center. My first impression was very positive, and the caramel apple flavor, while obviously quite artificial, was really noticeable. These would be something I would be excited to get in my Trick or Treat bag as a kid. The downside of these are that they are very sticky, and get stuck in the teeth horribly, which makes it not super enjoyable to eat. While I did enjoy them and the flavor, the stickiness prevented me from reaching for them too often or having more than just one at a time.
BarkThins Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Snacking Chocolate: These aren’t necessarily a specifically fall snack, but the pumpkin seeds were intriguing to me. I have noticed these before, but for almost $5 for a small bag, they seemed quite expensive. I found them on sale for $4 at Target, and thought it was worth a try at that slightly better price. At first bite, I knew I really loved this! The bag is resealable, which makes it easy to grab a few pieces. The pieces are broken up into different sizes, which you can then make smaller if you choose. The dark chocolate is yummy, without being so overly sweet. The pumpkin seeds are what really make it though, and are so surprisingly flavorful. I have never really thought about pumpkin seeds in chocolate, so it was a flavor that was new to me. It could have used a few more pumpkin seeds and more pieces inside the bag for the price, but overall it was a more quality snack. The contents of this package disappeared within a few days, which was a sign of how much I liked it. It can be pretty easily reproduced at home (which I will discuss in my next taste test post), but I really think could be my favorite item I tasted.
Brach’s Apple Mix Candy Corn: I am not overly fond of candy corn in general (a small handful is more than enough for me), especially the original flavor, but a few years ago when I was studying abroad with my cousin in London, her mom sent her a Halloween care package with some fall candies. While we were out and about we never really noticed candy corn or some of the other traditional “American” fall treats, so naturally we craved what we didn’t have. haha. Her mom sent her a few packages of candy corn, and one of the flavors was apple. Since I hadn’t really had candy corn in quite a few years, I tried a few and was instantly a fan of the apple pie. Every year since then I have gone on a hunt to find apple candy corn, and most years it takes me quite a few weeks to finally find some. This year, I lucked out right away and found a bag! This time it was a mixture of apple flavors, which I was quite excited about.
I was most excited for the “Green Apple” (white and green colored) flavor, but was left dissappointed. It tasted a little apple-y, but was not as tart as you would imagine a green apple flavor to be. If I tasted this blindly, I would never say it was green apple. I would say it tasted pretty close to a regular candy corn. The white part really just tastes like sugar and the green part is just slightly apple. My bag had a really large amount of green apple in it, and when I would try to get a handful out, it would be largely the color green that came out, which was a bummer. I think if there was more apple flavor, this could have been pretty yummy, but it was definitely lacking in flavor (but not lacking in sugar!).
The “Apple Pie” (white and tan colored) was the flavor I was familiar with, and it was what I remembered. It reminds me a bit of an apple cider-like flavor. It is definitely apple, with a vanilla undertone (crust?), and maybe a dash of cinnamon that you might find in an apple pie. This is the flavor I kept digging for in my bag and wished there was more of. I would definitely keep buying this flavor again, but just a few pieces at a time is still for the best or you’ll get a headache.
This “Caramel Apple” (red and brown colored) was the one I was curious about because I don’t tend to like fake caramel or chocolate flavored things. The red part of candy corn, which was the apple part, had a nice apple flavor, but the brown caramel part wasn’t too pleasant for me. The overall combo just didn’t taste like what it was supposed to be. I think the caramel should have been combined with the green apple and then maybe the flavors would have been a bit more on the right page.
In general, I like this selection a lot more than a plain candy corn, but the only one I would want to repurchase would be the apple pie. The other two didn’t quite live up to the name they were given and I would rather eat the Caramel Apple Royals or Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops if I want an apple-flavored candy.
White Boo-tterscotch M&M’s: I am a big butterscotch fan, and prefer it to caramel. Butterscotch is more rare to find in treats though (with the exception of Butterbeer in Harry Potter…and I read that this year’s fall beignets at Disneyland are butterscotch flavored!). These M&Ms are a Target exclusive, but I was slightly hesitant to get them because some of the other fall M&M flavors I have tried in the past (pumpkin spice and pumpkin spice latte) just didn’t really pop in flavor. I think because the flavors were put inside the regular milk chocolate, which covered the taste. These though, which used white chocolate, really burst with flavor. The candy shells are yellowy fall colors and are larger than a regular plain M&M. The butterscotch taste was strong and overall these M&Ms were a delightfully creamy, buttery, and sugary bite. I would blindly be able to recognize what the flavor of these were. I think that these would be awesome in monster cookies or oatmeal scotchies.
Keebler Pumpkin Spice Fudge Stripes: I mentioned these Fudge Stripes a while back in another taste test, and said that I was very fond of them. So while these aren’t new to me this year, I just had to get them again when I saw them. These really do taste quite close to a ginger snap, with the flavors of molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves inside. Those spices, combined with the white fudge, creates a marvelous snack that really erupts with fall flavors. The crumbly crunch of the cookie against the creamy fudge is something I love about Fudge Stripes, and the spicy flavor of this cookie is so pleasant. I would probably buy these year round if they were available. The white fudge is really soft though, and while it doesn’t really melt off, it is constantly quite creamy to the touch. Because of that, these could be something you keep in the fridge if you want the fudge to be harder.
Honestly, if I had to pick a favorite from these snacks, I would have to go with the Pumpkin Seed Snacking Chocolate or the Pumpkin Spice Fudge Stripes. I am not a huge candy fan, so just a few pieces is more than enough for me most of the time, but I do really enjoy trying different things at least once. None of these were horrible, but the majority of them I wouldn’t feel the desire to buy again.
Stay tuned for more fall flavors and snacks!
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