With November here, it is soon time to really start thinking about the holidays. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of year, but I always feel like it gets a bit forgotten and pushed aside for Christmas. So as autumn slowly disappears, with stores currently clearing out the fall decorations and halloween candies, I’m back with my final fall snack taste test!
Special K Pumpkin Spice Crunch: After liking a few other pumpkin spice cereals, I was excited to try another one. I was not overly impressed by this though. After first bite, I read the box more carefully and realized that the pumpkin spice flavor only really comes from the clusters that are throughout the cereal. The box says the clusters have nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cinnamon, and the actual pieces of cereal are plain “crunchy rice and wheat flakes”. Eating the cereal, I can taste some spices, but overall just very underwhelming. Plus there just aren’t really that many clusters as I looked at my bowl and through the cereal, not to mention I’m not really a fan of hard “clusters” in my cereal either. Overall, there just doesn’t seem to be too much effort into this. Special K is obviously a bit more on the “healthy” side of cereals compared to many, but it didn’t really seem worth it and they just seemed to want to hop on the pumpkin spice trend.
Cinnamon Apple Hot Tamales: My grandma and mom are big Hot Tamales fans, so naturally I became a fan of them the more I tried them. I was excited to see this new flavor, considering I am fond of apple flavor. Plus this is a more unique mixture than the caramel apple flavor found this time of year. The box contains about half red cinnamon candies and half green apple. I tried each individually, and was happy with the flavors. Then I tried them together, and was also quite pleased. I thought this was great mixture, and I would definitely repurchase this. The addition of the apple was a nice break from having all cinnamon, with the hot and sour mixture making a fun combination.
Pumpkin & Spice Triscuit: I was pretty excited for these, because for the past couple years I have been very fond of Triscuit’s holiday cracker flavor, cranberry & sage. This seemed like it had a lot of potential, but it ultimately fell pretty flat. The problem was that the seasoning was just too light. The first two crackers I could hardly taste anything but a plain Triscuit. The more I ate, I was able to taste a little more of the pumpkin spice taste, but I was pretty dissappointed. What I love so much about those cranberry & sage crackers are how seasoned and flavorful they are; perfect for the holidays. I think these crackers could have been pretty great if the flavor was kicked up, and its possible I got a batch that just didn’t have much seasoning on them, but with some cheese and maybe cranberry (like they suggest on the box) these are still good. Not amazing, but fine. It just too bad the flavor is so slight.
Jolly Rancher Caramel Apple Lollipops: Every Halloween, the one candy I always have to buy a bag of is Tootsie’s Caramel Apple Pops. When I saw these this year though, I felt the desire to try them. I haven’t had anything Jolly Rancher for years, but when I was a kid I really liked the cherry and green apple flavors. I thought these were worth a try, and was overall quite pleased. These aren’t as much of a “chore” the Tootsie pops can be, considering the caramel on those really is a caramel texture, which can take a while to soften and get through. The Tootsie pops also do have the habit of getting stuck in your teeth if you aren’t careful, which isn’t the most fun experience (I always seem to get a sore tongue after I eat one as well!). These Jolly Rancher lollipops do have a caramel flavor, but isn’t quite as pleasant because the caramel is in a hard candy form, which isn’t as pleasant as a creamy caramel. The apple is great, with a nice slightly sour taste. These are pretty small and quite quick to get through as well. With each one I had, I couldn’t resist crunching into them at a certain point. I liked the overall flavor and the fact that it was simple and easy to eat, but overall it isn’t as special as the Tootsie brand pops, but if you like caramel and apple together, this is still a good candy. Next year I will have to try the Blow Pop brand to see how those compare.
Archer Farms Salted Caramel Apple Cider: I used to not be overly fond of cider for many years, probably stemming from the fact that I got so sick of apple juice as a kid. There was just something about the taste of apple juice that didn’t seem right to my senses, and for some reason it would give me a little headache every time I drank it. So for years I didn’t have the desire to try ciders, but slowly have grown to like it the more I try different kinds. I would rather buy a cup from a cafe or something special, but I have tried a version for a Keurig machine, which I did enjoy. When I saw this Archer Farms cider at Target, I thought it would be fun to try. Honestly, this is pretty good. Not only is the apple flavor there, but the salted caramel aspect is definitely also present. If you like cider, and caramel, you will probably like this. The issue though is that it is so incredibly sweet, so a very small cup is more than enough. It can definitely equal a headache if you drink too much. For a little warm up and treat, it has a lot of flavor, and the combo is fun. This might be a good thing to mix with a latte mix to make a caramel apple latte, which also might help lessen the sweetness it is.
So that wraps up all the fall snacks I’ve tried this year! I am already looking forward to gingerbread, eggnog, and peppermint flavors to start appearing, which I’m sure will be very soon (I already spotted quite a few holiday creamers). I don’t usually buy too many holiday snacks because I end up switching my focus and excitement to holiday baking. First up, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, because I always try a new dessert. This year I am going to try a Pumpkin Tiramisu Cake!
Check out my previous fall snack taste tests here:
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