REVIEW: McDonald’s Special Edition Gold Sauce

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Honey mustard has been a McNugget option for years at McDonald’s. On very rare occasions, I’ve gotten it with a nugget order. But it’s so rare that I can’t even remember the last time I had it. It might’ve been during the original Snack Wrap years.

My usual choice has been Hot Mustard, and if it ever goes away, I will use whatever power I have to make sure that McDonald’s Corporate will regret that decision, which the folks there will totally ignore while they swim in money like Scrooge McDuck.

Like Scrooge McDuck, McDonald’s is also into gold, more specifically, it has a new Special Edition Gold Sauce. According to the chain, “it’s a harmonious blend of vinegary North Carolina BBQ sauce, infused with notes of honey, smoke and mustard.”

It’s available in a dipping cup for McCrispy Strips and Chicken McNuggets, as well as with McCrispy Chicken Sandwiches and the Snack Wrap. Since I’m just a regular guy rolling in credit card debt and not Scrooge McDuck rolling in gold, I skipped the chicken sandwiches and went with the Snack Wrap and McCrispy Strips.

In my McCrispy Strips review, I wrote that I thought the Creamy Chili Sauce that debuted with them was as good as my beloved Hot Mustard. But I’m going to kick that Creamy Chili Sauce to the curb because this Gold Sauce tantalizes my taste buds more and I think it should be permanent.

The sweet, smoky, and mustard-y flavors pair much better with the seasoning in the McCrispy Strips’ breading. I like it so much that while devouring and dipping the chicken strips, some sauce landed on the back of my hand, and without pausing, I licked it off. So I guess it’s back of the hand lickin’ good.

While I highly recommend it as a dipping sauce, I can’t say the same about it in a Snack Wrap. I felt there’s not enough of it within the flour tortilla to showcase its delicious flavor. Instead, the tortilla muzzled it.

To get a satisfactory level of taste, I dug out some Gold Sauce from one of the containers that came with my chicken strips and added it to the wrap. But the default amount does not cut it. Fortunately, you can order a dipping cup of it for a quarter, which I highly recommend if you get the Snack Wrap.

I’ve been really into Carolina BBQ sauce recently, so that might’ve come into play into how much I love McDonald’s Gold Sauce. My taste buds don’t want it to ever leave. If you want suggestions, McDonald’s, as I mentioned before, the Creamy Chili Sauce can go. Or kick Honey Mustard to the curb, and replace it with this.

Purchased Price: $6.19 (4 piece McCrispy Strips), $3.99 (Snack Wrap)
Rating: 9 out of 10 (Sauce), 5 out of 10 (Snack Wrap)
Nutrition Facts: (just the sauce) 90 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of sugar (including 5 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Maple Cookie Shake

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Just in time to make those brisk fall months feel a bit chillier is Dairy Queen’s new Maple Cookie Shake. It blends DQ’s soft serve, maple cookie crumble, milk, and whipped topping to create an off-white shake that doesn’t bring anything maple-related to mind.

What also doesn’t bring boiled tree blood to mind are the cookie crumbles floating within the shake. They’re as plentiful as the stars in the sky while gazing from a bed of orange leaves, and they maintained their crunchiness as I slurped up the entire shake, but they didn’t seem to add to the maple flavor. I expected additional maple bursts when I chewed on them, but didn’t get that. The shake’s description says maple cookie crumbles, but the ingredient list says shortbread cookie crumbs, so that probably explains the crumble’s lack of fall flavor.

However, that’s okay, because the maple-flavored soft serve does more than enough to make up for the cookie’s lack of flavor. The sweet maple in this shake is perfect, and I wanted to scoop some out and put it between some toasted Eggo waffles to create an ice cream sandwich, but being in the middle of a mall food court made that problematic. As for the whipped topping, it’s just there to add a bit of flair to the affair, just like this sentence does to this paragraph, as you might be aware.

Not into pumpkin spice or caramel apple, and want to experience another popular fall flavor through a straw? Dairy Queen’s Maple Cookie Shake is a sweet and delicious alternative to putting a straw in a bottle of pure maple syrup.

Purchased Price: $5.99
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 590 calories, 29 grams of fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 71 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 59 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Trolli Limited Edition Mountain Dew Sour Brite Crawlers

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If you’ve been waiting for your chance to “DO THE DEW” and “DO THE WORM” simultaneously (I wish I could take credit for this tagline, but alas, it’s ripped straight from the Mountain Dew website), you’d best slither on over to a package of the new limited edition Trolli x Mountain Dew Sour Brite Crawlers.

These candy critters aren’t the only option to fulfill all of your Dewy/wormy desires—this fruitful (ha) partnership also includes a Zero Sugar Cherry-Lemon soda—but I’m not opening that can of gummy worms today, so I’ll focus on this wriggly business.

As soon as I opened my pack, I was rewarded with a scent cloud that was certainly Mountain Dew-esque. The worms come in three flavors: the green Original Citrus, the red Original Citrus Cherry, and the blue Original Citrus Blue Raspberry.

You may, like me, be disappointed to note that there’s nary a “Code Red” or “Voltage” in sight—the savvy shopper suspects that this decision was made to broaden the pool of potential buyers to those who may be interested in gummies but unfamiliar with Mountain Dew’s intense yet vague naming conventions and while that is a bit of a bummer for Dewhards like Yours Dewly, fair enough. (What I can’t forgive as readily is the omission of Baja Blast, but maybe that’s another marketing thing—I concede that “Original Citrus Tropical Lime” does have a weird ring to it.)

Of course, I had to try the OG flavor first, and my verdict was… yeah, that tastes like what a Mountain Dew-flavored sour gummy worm should taste like! It starts with a burst of mild sourness that quickly recedes into sweetness, with a bright, refreshing throughline of fizzy citrus-ness. I usually don’t opt for snacks much sourer than a Sour Patch Kid, and fortunately for me, these fall on the lower side of the sour scale, such that even if you’re tentative towards tart treats, you shouldn’t have much of an issue. Because of the mellow flavor, if you told me these were Sprite gummies, I would have believed it, but they’re credible as Dew too. While I noticed an oddly artificial aftertaste (how dare my sugary snacks based on a radioactively-hued soda taste artificial!?), I found that to be minimized when I took smaller bites rather than gulping down a whole worm at once.

The red and blue variants had even more intense flavors, which I would say made me enjoy them more than the green, but the tradeoff was that they didn’t strike me as especially Dew-like. Rather, they tasted like pretty generic cherry and blue raspberry slushies. Appearance- and texture-wise, all of the worms are quite satisfying—they are thick, chewy but not too hard, and somewhat stretchy, with an appealing marbled pattern. (I tried to discern whether the lighter parts and the darker parts tasted different, but as best as I could tell, the difference was purely aesthetic.)

If you’re thinking about picking these up, I suggest you Mountain Dew it; they won’t be around forever, so make like an early bird and get that worm.

Purchased Price: $3.79
Size: 12.3 oz package
Purchased at: 7-Eleven
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (serving size of 5 pieces): 100 calories, 0 grams of fat, 45 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 14 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Pizza Hut Crafted Flatzz

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If you want a personal pizza from Pizza Hut, you could get its Personal Pan Pizza, or you could go up to any of the chain’s other pizzas, spend quality time with it, learn about each other through long, deep conversations, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll build a platonic or romantic relationship with it. But now there’s a third way — Pizza Hut’s new Crafted Flatzz.

The pizza-for-one comes in several varieties: Nashville Hot Chicken, Chicken Bacon Ranch, Pepperoni Duo, Three Cheese, and Ultimate. So that I can tell my doctor I ate vegetables, I picked up the Ultimate, which comes topped with fire-roasted peppers, caramelized onions, diced tomatoes, pepperoni, and Italian sausage.

The Crafted Flatzz is oval-shaped and is about 11 inchezz long and about six inchezz wide. It’s the perfect size ratio to cram into a vertical TikTok video or Instagram Reel. Its length is almost as long as two Personal Pan Pizzas, and if you fold it in half, it’s about as thick. However, I thought that there’s enough with this oblong menu item for two meals. Well, at least for me.

Its edges were quite crispy, but not quite as satisfying as the buttery crispiness from Pizza Hut’s original pizza-for-one. As I ate my order, I noticed there wasn’t a lot of sauce, although I could taste its sweet, tomato flavor with almost every bite.

As for the rest of the toppings, they were typical Pizza Hut fare, although I was glad to see diced tomatoes included. (Gotta get that lycopene!) They added occasional bursts of acidic goodness that give this a slight taste difference from a supreme pizza.

Besides its flavor, what I also liked about this was its price, which is comparable to the chain’s Personal Pan Pizza. However, the locations near me were only promoting the five-dollar price for orders placed before 5 pm. Weird.

While I enjoyed chomping my Crafted Flatzz, it’s not as satisfying as a Personal Pan Pizza. It’s also not something I would consider completely new. It’s essentially a thin-crust pizza for one, with a name that makes me roll my eyes due to the use of double Zs.

I mean, I understand it because pizza has two Zs, and it would be weird if it were just one. And calling it Flatzza would’ve been worse, because that’s a horrible name. And giving it the name Flatizza would’ve been the worst because it would’ve violated Subway’s trademark.

I’m sure Pizza Hut’s lawyers do not want to get personal with Subway’s lawyers.

Purchased Price: $5.00
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: No nutrition info was available on the Pizza Hut website at publication time.

6 Other Things I Consumed (August 2025 Edition)

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Here are six other things I consumed last month that I felt like writing about:

Nescafe Ice Roast

Nescafe Ice Roast.

I’m sure coffee fanatics would roll their eyes at the thought of cheap instant iced coffee, like this Nescafé Ice Roast, but like raccoons and cockroaches, I don’t discriminate against how it tastes. As long as its flavor is fine with lots of creamer and non-dairy milk, and carries caffeine into my system, I’m as cheerful as a morning show personality.

Unfortunately, the bottle doesn’t indicate the amount of caffeine in each serving. Fortunately, someone on the internet inquired about its caffeine content and learned it’s approximately 60 milligrams per teaspoon. There are a gazillion teaspoon servings per bottle, which will last us a month.

I love how quickly and easily I can make my morning iced coffee now. Will be repurchasing for the rest of my life. Or until Nescafé discontinues it.

7-Eleven Hawaii Banana Bread Slurpee

7-Eleven Hawaii Banana Bread Slurpee.

Another Slurpee flavor you can only get here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! I wrote about a couple of others in a previous post, but this flavor appeared in August, and it’s not as sweet as the standard Banana Slurpee.

It has that artificial banana flavor that I love (Go Banana Runts!), but with a little something something that I’m not sure what it’s trying to emulate. Walnuts? Baked goodness? Banana overripeness? Speaking of overripe bananas, the Slurpee’s color reminds me of them. I’ve slurped this multiple times in August.

Baskin-Robbins Oreo ’n Cold Brew Ice Cream

Baskin-Robbins Oreo ’n Cold Brew Ice Cream.

Not a new flavor, but it’s one I’ve never had before until this past month. It features cold brew coffee flavored ice cream made with cold brew concentrate, Oreo cookie pieces, and chocolate cookie swirls. I was a bit disappointed with it.

Cold brew coffee is supposed to have a smoother flavor than regular coffee, and I guess you could say that this ice cream’s flavor was smoother than coffee-flavored ice creams I’ve had. However, perhaps it was too smooth because I didn’t taste a noticeable coffee flavor.

It’s not awful, and I would eat it if offered some, because the Oreo pieces and swirls complement the ice cream base’s mild coffee flavor. Also, it’s been a long minute since I’ve had Jamoca Ice Cream, and I can’t remember what it tastes like, so I’m unable to compare.

Monster Ultra Violet Energy Drink

Monster Ultra Violet Energy Drink.

I’m 100 percent certain I’ve never had this Monster Ultra flavor before this past month, despite it being available since 2017. I’m 100 percent sure because how can I forget something so delicious?

There are so many Monster Ultra flavors that it’s easy to miss one, but I usually opt for the standard one in the white can or any of the other flavors that have been released within the past five years or so.

But on a whim, I decided to pick the purple canned one, and I’m glad I did. I drank this three times in August. I guess I’m making up for lost time with this excellent grape-flavored energy drink.

Panda Express Cream Cheese Rangoon

Panda Express Cream Cheese Rangoon.

Another new-to-me product. If you’re not familiar, these rangoons are fried wonton wrappers filled with cream cheese and served with sweet and sour sauce.

I have skipped over these for years and years because I didn’t think I would like them. But it turns out, they’re okay. However, they’re so mid that I would be fine if I never had another for the rest of my life. People must like them, though, because they’ve been on the menu for a very long time.

Doritos Twisted Queso

Doritos Twisted Queso Other.

Our reviewer, Sean, has already written a full review of this chip flavor, and he loved it. So, when I saw it at 7-Eleven, I decided to pick up a bag. And I have to second what he wrote. These are delightful chips that perfectly capture the cheesy and peppery flavors, evoking thoughts of queso.

Now that I think about it, I should’ve heated them in the microwave for a few seconds to feel the warmth of the queso. It was a seasonal flavor, but it’s so great that I expect it to come back next year.

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