REVIEW: Pepsi-Cola Soda Shop Black Cherry and Cream Soda Colas

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Pepsi Cola Soda Shop Bottles

PepsiCo has introduced the Pepsi Soda Shop cola line with two limited edition flavors — Black Cherry and Cream Soda. Made with real sugar, Pepsi promises a modern take on some classics. Drug store soda shops have become harder and harder to find. Yet, the concept remains a touchstone in America thanks to pop culture icons like Grease. Will these sodas have me doing the jitterbug on the way to the store for more?

I pour out samples of each. The bottle describes these as colas, so I was expecting them to be standard cola-brown. I’m pleased when the cream soda is a light caramel color and the black cherry is tinted red.

Pepsi Cola Soda Shop Side by Side

I take a sip of the cream soda one and taste plenty of vanilla, though little cola flavor. There’s not much of a modern twist either. According to Pepsi, its soda has added agave for complexity, but I’m reminded of every other cream soda I’ve tasted. I sample again and perhaps detect a honeyed aspect to the sweetness. Then again, I mostly drink diet soda and could just as easily be tasting plain sugar.

On the other hand, there’s something immediately twisty about the black cherry. Its scent is like cough syrup. It has herbal notes, says Pepsi, which helps make sense of what I’m tasting. It reminds me of herbal craft colas I’ve had. Those colas have interesting flavors not seen in mass-market soft drinks and are bold about not being for everyone. This black cherry soda doesn’t have enough herbal notes to be as interesting as those, but has just enough to make it off-putting.

The one area that stands out with these sodas is the label design. It’s simple, comforting, and the classic Pepsi-Cola font is evocative of the era. It’s a shame the actual product doesn’t live up to it. I briefly considered getting a black leather jacket, slicking my hair back with pomade, and driving to the local drive-in movie theater to more fully embody the time. But no. The lesson here is that a cool design can’t make up for a mediocre product, not that I should buy a very, very cool leather jacket.

Good branding can’t save a mediocre product. The Cream Soda one is too mundane to set itself apart from similar soft drinks. The herbal twist with the Black Cherry is enough to make it unpalatable. Skip these sodas and seek out CVS or Walgreens instead. It won’t have a soda counter, but it’ll have plenty of other sodas worth drinking.

Purchased Price: $1.89 each
Size: 20 fl oz bottles
Purchased at: Piggly Wiggly
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 250 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 65 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 65 grams of sugar (including 65 grams added sugar), and 0 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Sea Salt Toffee Fudge Blizzard

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Dairy Queen Sea Salt Toffee Fudge Blizzard Cup

What is the Sea Salt Toffee Fudge Blizzard?

It’s part of the Fall Blizzard Menu at Dairy Queen, and it features salted toffee pieces, rich fudge pieces, and caramel topping with vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

It’s the surprise hit of the fall season!

I wasn’t sure how much I would like this one because I don’t think I’ve ever bought a toffee bar in my life. Sure, I’ve had toffee plenty of times, but it’s usually been during the weeks after Halloween when I ask one of my kids for a piece of candy from their massive haul and they generously offer me a Heath bar because they don’t want to give up any of the good stuff. As a standalone candy, toffee is just OK to me. But as part of a tag team with the fudge pieces in this Blizzard, it’s really tasty.

Dairy Queen Sea Salt Toffee Fudge Blizzard Toffee

The toffee pieces in here are quite small, but they pack a solid punch with their extreme crunchiness and buttery sweet flavor. The caramel topping blends well with the not-so-different toffee flavor, and then the fudge pieces provide a vastly different chewy texture and nice chocolatey kick. It all comes together to form a complex and pleasant taste experience that sets this one apart from most other Blizzards.

Dairy Queen Sea Salt Toffee Fudge Blizzard Caramel

One caveat here -— if you are excited about the sea salt part of this Blizzard, well, calm down. As much as I tried, I couldn’t discern any salty taste at all, from the sea or anywhere else. I don’t want to call the fine people at DQ liars, especially considering I’m sure they have a whole team of lawyers that would frown upon such a statement, but I do think putting sea salt in the name of this Blizzard is a bit of a stretch.

Anything else you need to know?

I bet you can’t name three brands of toffee candy bars. In the U.S., there are basically two — Heath and Skor (and although they competed against each other at one point, both are now made by The Hershey Company). I tried, without much success, to see where those two candy bars rank in popularity compared to the likes of Snickers, Kit Kat, Milky Way, Twix, etc. The best I could do is find that the Heath bar was 56th in popularity in 1987, back when I’m not sure there were many more than 56 different candy bars being made. And maybe it’s time for someone to do a new survey.

Conclusion:

If you are like me and do not have an affinity for toffee, you should still give this Blizzard a chance because it’s unexpectedly good. And if you are one of the few people who actually goes out and buys toffee bars, then you are probably going to love this.

Purchased Price: $4.29
Size: Small
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small) 710 calories, 25 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 570 milligrams of sodium, 110 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 86 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Smartfood Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Popcorn

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Smartfood Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Popcorn Bag

What is Smartfood Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Popcorn?

Smartfood welcomes fall with a limited time cinnamon sugar doughnut-flavored popcorn.

How is it?

I had a sinking suspicion that this popcorn was last year’s Christmas themed-Snickerdoodle Smartfood with a new name and an earlier release date — and I was 100% correct. This red and shiny bag of delight tastes identical to 2020’s green and shiny bag of delight, and I love it just as much as I loved it last year; if anything, it might be slightly better.

Smartfood Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Popcorn Pour

The doughnut dust is slightly sweet and buttery with a rich and aromatic cinnamon taste that perfectly fits next to a popcorn kernel’s earthy crunch. The pieces are uniformly coated and have a fresh snap to them, with the cinnamon sugar flavor really bursting through on each bite.

Although this is Smartfood’s second doughnut release, it’s important to note that this is not a coated corn adjacent to caramel corn (the glaze in the Krispy Kreme version) but simply a powder, like Smartfood’s classic White Cheddar.

Anything else you need to know?

Smartfood Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Popcorn Closeup

I brought this up in a short review on Instagram last year, but no one else seemed to notice: this popcorn seasoning is Cheetos Sweetos dust. I knew instantly because I ADORE Sweetos and could recognize that sweet cinnamon-y cheetle anywhere (I’ve had over ten bags since their inception), and this year I was able to confirm it. For the first time ever, Cheetos’ Bag of Bones is available in Cinnamon Sugar (aka spooky Sweetos), and the ingredients check out – brown sugar, spices (including cinnamon), buttermilk, and molasses – they’re the same.

Conclusion:

Smartfood cinnamon sugar-flavored popcorn, whether it’s supposed to taste like a doughnut or cookie, is absolutely delicious. It’s a higher volume and lower calorie way to get my Sweetos fix, and while it may not have the same oily fatty airy crunch of a puffed Cheeto, it has the satisfying salty snap of popcorn, and I’m already trying to hunt down my next bag.

Purchased Price: $1.99
Size: 2 oz bag
Purchased at: ampm
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 1/2 cups – 28 grams) 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Thomas’ Limited Edition Everything English Muffins

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Thomas Limited Edition Everything English Muffins Package

What are Thomas’ Limited Edition Everything English Muffins?

If you love everything bagels, but always felt they lacked nooks and crannies, your time has come.

How are they?

Well, they’re better than nothing.

That’s actually selling them short. Thomas has outdone himself.

“Everything” is the most popular bagel flavor in the US, according to my 2021 level research. (That’s where you Google something and just read the little blurb that appears before the links.) I’m shocked it took this long to expand over to the underrated English muffin.

Thomas Limited Edition Everything English Muffins Top

English muffins don’t get enough love. They’re better than buttered toast, and I personally think they’re the single best bread for an egg sandwich. There’s no hole. They don’t crumble like a biscuit or have a strange, messy shape like a croissant. They just get the job done.

Thomas Limited Edition Everything English Muffins Toasted Untoated

Thomas’ Everything English Muffins have all the same ingredients as your typical everything bagel – poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion, garlic, and salt. Although you can really only see the poppy seeds, and the salt isn’t crystallized.

The flavor doesn’t burst as much as you’d expect from a bagel, and I loved that. It was way more subtle than what I’m used to. I’ve had everything bagels at 8 am and still tasted the onion and garlic at dinner time. There is a perfect balance on these muffins.

Anything else you need to know?

Thomas Limited Edition Everything English Muffins Butter Cream Cheese

I tried these three ways – with butter, with cream cheese, and with egg and cheese. I wouldn’t normally ever think to put cream cheese on an English Muffin, but I had to try it on account of the everything spices. I think plain butter on a medium toasted muffin is still king, but all three ways were delicious.

I would say one drawback to everything flavor is that it probably isn’t gonna blend as well with the sweeter toppings you might like on an English muffin. You might wanna save your various fruit spreads or peanut butter for a plain.

Conclusion:

Thomas Limited Edition Everything English Muffins Wrapper

I’ve bought frozen everything bagels and everything rye bread from the supermarket, but these are easily better than both. I’m not ready to say they beat a good everything bagel from your local spot, but I think the added flavor improves on the typical Thomas’ English Muffin.

These are currently a limited-edition product, but I can’t imagine a world where these don’t become mainstays in due time. Tommy and the crew would be foolish to keep them off the shelves.

Purchased Price: $2.49
Size: 13 oz. (6-pack)
Purchased at: Shop Rite
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 160 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of total carbohydrates, <1 grams of total sugars, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Roll

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Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Roll

What is the Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Roll?

For the first time in its 84-year-history, Krispy Kreme has made cinnamon rolls. Until October 10, the rolls will be offered in a standard Original Glazed Cinnamon Roll, a yeast-raised dough hand rolled with cinnamon and glazed to perfection, and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch version that has cinnamon cereal milk icing and CTC cereal on an Original Glazed Cinnamon Roll.

How is it?

Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Roll Split

Krispy Kreme really did it. It created a menu item topped with cereal that isn’t soggy! No, this isn’t some unlikely perfect timing scenario either. I bought my roll at noon and ate it for dessert eight hours later and the cereal was CRUNCHY.

Also, whatever they did to the pieces, be it a glaze, coating, or straight up voodoo magic, it’s thin enough to not jump out visually or taint the subtle buttery and sweet taste of the beloved toast squares. The cereal has a touch more heft to them than what CTC weighs in my head, but overall the most risky part of this roll is an absolute success.

Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Cinnamon Roll
Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Cinnamon Roll

The rest of the roll is smashing too, thanks to KK’s wonderful dough and glaze quality. The Original Glazed Cinnamon Roll, the base of the CTC roll, is soft and fresh and doesn’t suffer from the dreaded dry and crumbly experience that often comes along with the larger cinnamon rolls from old school mom-and-pop doughnut shops.

The cinnamon cereal milk icing pushes this roll beyond the ceiling of a standard doughnut shop affair and into the Cinnabon conversation. It reminds me of buttercream cake frosting with a hyper sweetness accented by cinnamon that when combined with the CTC squares truly does channel the creamy and crunchy satisfaction of a bowl of cereal. This level of crunch from a doughnut is rare, especially juxtaposed against the fluffy perfection of Krispy Kreme’s soft yeast dough. It’s so texturally refreshing, I can’t help but adore it.

Anything else you need to know?

Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Roll Warmed 2

This cinnamon roll is great as is, but like most things sweet and cinnamon-y it gets even better when warmed up. Microwaving it for a quick 8-12 seconds takes the gooeyness and sugary spiced delight to new heights that 100% gets my endorsement for how this limited time creation should be enjoyed.

Conclusion:

Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Roll In Shop

While it may be the most expensive single item I’ve ever purchased at Krispy Kreme, it’s also one of the most dense and satisfyingly fun doughnuts it’s come up with this year. It’s not gonna run Cinnabon outta town, but it deserves a seat at the table of breakfast pastry elites, and you MUST grab one before it’s gone.

Purchased Price: $3.19
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 doughnut) 470 calories, 20 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 66 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 37 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

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