"Gone Nutty" Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts

When it comes to peanut butter, I'm the type of guy who likes it on its own.  I love peanut butter sandwiches, especially my triple deckers, and can eat them all week.  When I'm looking for protein, I'll eat tablespoons worth of peanut butter right out from the jar just to get a few grams.  I love it with jelly, particularly when it's Goober!  But when it comes to peanut butter flavored things, that's where I get a little picky.  Reese Peanut Butter Cups?  Hell yeah!  Peanut butter flavored cookies?  Eh, that really depends.  There is no one answer from me when it comes to what I like and what I don't like.

That brings us to these brand new Pop-Tarts!

As soon as I walked into Wal-Mart, I saw the "Gone Nutty" Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts sitting on the shelf.  The box immediately caught my eye because, as you can tell, it's completely different!  It's orange with a yellow glow.  It's like the Sun is illuminating these Pop-Tarts to add a little extra shine on these new varieties.  What you can't tell from the pictures, is that these boxes are embossed to create a 3-D appearance.  Kellogg's really went all out on these boxes and, ya gotta believe, it's because PB is so damn popular.  Luckily, after I picked up the 12-pack of Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts, I found two smaller 6-packs of both the Peanut Butter and Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts.  Now that the tongue twister is over, we can review both editions!

First thing's first, look at the glorious foiled wrappers!  If you've ever had a Pop-Tart, you know what to expect when you open the box.  You're going to get those 2nd place silver wrappers and feel like you haven't won anything.  But, in this case, you're a champion.  

As soon as you open the box, you feel like Charlie himself and you're on your way to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  It's probably the closest I'll ever to get to winning any type of Golden Ticket, so I'm going to savor the moment and run with the emotion.  In all seriousness, I love the gold wrapper and appreciate the extra effort.  The only other time I remember seeing these was last year during the 2012 Summer Olympics.  Kellogg's released a Red White and Berry edition of Pop-Tarts and included the gold foil to represent the gold medal.  I believe the Pop-Tarts have been re-released this year, but don't know about the gold foil.  Perhaps that's been reserved for Peanut Butter; Kellogg's favorite child.

Judging by texture alone, I can already tell you that I'm going to like the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor better.  The regular PB is chalky.  It's dusty.  Without the frosting, it's plain and boring.  The Chocolate PB is much thicker, has that big slab of chocolate frosting, and smells better than the original.  

But I'm not going to go by look and feel, alone.  I have to pop these into the toaster and give them both a fair chance to wow me and knock me Nutty!

 As expected, the Chocolate Peanut Butter is really good!  It reminds me a lot of a warm Reeses Peanut Butter cup and that's certainly not a bad thing!  These are tasty!  I wasn't sure where'd they'd rank amongst my top 10 Pop-Tart flavors, but I'd put them in the top 5.  My favorite are the Halloween Pop-Tarts, and that may just be because I love Halloween, but these have a similar flavor thanks to the chocolate.  These were, as expected, the better of the two.

The regular Gone Nutty Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts are okay and a bit better than expected when heated, but they're way too dry and flaky.  I'm not the biggest fan.  If I wanted to eat PB, I'd put it on a sandwich before I'd eat this Pop-Tart.  I needed a drink after one bite because it was overwhelming.  And, it's funny, because, like most Pop-Tarts, the filling is so thin that it's barely even noticeable.  I blame the poor review on the "crust" more than the PB.  Too dry for my liking.

Now, I still saw potential in the new Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts.  I knew the wouldn't be released in such an awesome package without the belief that they were going to be a huge success.  Obviously a Kellogg's employee tasted these and said "Oh yeah, I just created Pop-Tart Heaven!  3-D this box, ya'll."  He's from Texas, I don't know why.

So I thought long and hard.  It took me a good 7 seconds to figure out what to do next.  Since I knew my problem with these Pop-Tarts was that they're too dry, I had to solve it by moistening them up.  Well nothing goes better with peanut butter than his best friend, Jelly!  That's right, chocolate!  You're PB's second bestie.  You guys only hang out when Jelly's unavailable.  That's right, chocolate...PB and J will always go together like, well, PB and J.  Yeah, who's jelly now, chocolate?

Much better!  Warm up the Gone Nutty Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts and throw some Jelly on there are you're going to be much happier with the result.  Then you can go and tell your best friend that you two go together like GNPBPT & J.  That'll be the end of that relationship.

Blame it on The 'Daze :)

Apple Pie Pop Tarts

Because I only like a few flavors, particularly the Frosted Strawberry and Chocolate Chip, I don't purchase many boxes of Pop Tarts throughout the year.  I have to really be in the mood for them or extremely hungry as I'm walking the aisles.  But, whenever I see a new or Limited Edition flavor, you can pretty much bet I'll give it a shot, especially when they're holiday related.  So, of course, when I saw these Apple Pie Pop Tarts, I had to have them.

I'm pretty sure Kellogg's used to make Apple Strudel Pop Tarts and, if I'm right, I believe there were pretty much the same thing as the new Frosted American Apple Pie Pop Tarts.  But that's not why I bought them, anyway.  I bought these because of the box design.  More specifically, I bought these because of that American Flag flying in the right-hand corner.  I would have liked to see that red one dressed in American colors, too, but that one is just about all it takes for me to waste my money.  But with the Fourth of July just days away, I thought it was fitting for the Holidaze.

There's probably nothing more American than apple pie, baseball, and fireworks on the Fourth of July.  Through those things, we get to celebrate our freedom and take a break from the stress of everyday life and enjoy the rare simplicity of life.  That's what's so great about a box of Pop Tarts. 

I think I've mentioned this here before, but I don't toast Pop Tarts, I microwave them.  I like them softer and obviously don't mind burning my tongue with scolding hot filling.  As you can see above, it looks like Apple Pie.  More importantly, it tastes like Apple Pie.  These are actually some of the better flavors I've had in a while.  They're almost good enough to have on Thanksgiving, but not quite.  I'd say give them a shot, though.  I think you'll like them.

One thing I will say about these Frosted American Apple Pie Pop Tarts is that they're not fun.  There's nothing fun about the box or design.  The excitement level is so low that I couldn't even come up with anything witty to say in this post.  Not that I usually do anyway.  But just look at the back of the box.  They wrote facts about apples.  Really?  What kid wants to sit down at the breakfast table and read about apples?  Do they really think some kid is going to go to school and tell all their friends that China is now the number one apple producer in the world and not the United States?  Actually, I didn't know that.  Why the hell are they symbols of Americana then?  That explains the red flag next to the American flag on that box.  Oh boy, enjoy your Frosted Chinese Apple Pie Pop Tarts.

Spookylicious Pop-Tarts

The best part about writing this Holidaze blog is that I now make more of an effort to discover new things.  Last year, I knew that Halloween Pop-Tars existed, but I never made any attempt to find them.  In fact, had I walked right past them, I probably wouldn't have even noticed.  But now, with my focus geared toward creating an unforgettable Halloween season, I'm finding everything I never did before.  This has certainly enhanced the season and made this one of my best October's in years.  What's better?  We're not even halfway through!

It's upsetting that I didn't pick these up last year because they're obviously worth it.  I haven't had many kind words for Kellogg's this season, as I feel they can do more to create better Halloween products, yet they're still very much a large part of the season.  They've given us Rice Krispies Treats and provided the number one ingredient to our Pumpkin Spice Krispies Treats.  I hate to knock them for those reasons, but I feel like I have to in order for them to become better.  I'm like a disgruntled parent who sees that their child has an ability they're not putting to good use.  Spookylicious Pop-Tarts prove that!

If Kellogg's can do this much for a box of Pop-Tarts, why can't they do the same for their cereal boxes?  Here we have a ghost, a spider spinning his web, a full moon and the perfect amount of orange.  Not to mention the decorative tarts covered in Halloween-themed sprinkles.  They basically took their fancy box and translated that into 12 toaster pastries.  See son, you can be the best!

The Spookylicious Pop-Tarts are chocolate flavored.  To be specific, they're "Frosted Chocolate Fudge."  Either way, you're only going to like these treats if you're a fan of chocolate because the filling is rich and overwhelming.  For me, that's a good thing.  I love chocolate, but even I have to break these treats down into increments.  However, that's another good thing.  That means they'll last me straight through to Halloween without having to purchase another box just to say I had one on Halloween.

I'm not sure how the masses commonly eat their Pop-Tarts, but I usually eat them right out from the box.  On occasion, I'll microwave or toast them, but it's rare that I do.  I know that they taste better that way, but I'm just too lazy to heat them.  I've yet to try doing so with these treats, but I should have to give the people who don't read this a better review.  In the time it took me to write for nobody, I could have already finished one and had more to write about.  Oh well, I'm sure they're just as good heated as they are unwrapped.

Finally, here is a close-up on one of the Spookylicious Pop-Tarts.  Obviously it looks nothing like the ones pictured on the box, but I've yet to see a product that ever does.  However, you still get to see those ghosts, spiders and moons.  For whatever reason, they all seem to cluster down at the bottom, leaving the outcasts up top.  That's mean.  Now I'm writing as if these sprinkles have thoughts and emotions.  That's ridiculous... or is it?

Eater beware! Bwahaha!