REVIEW: Dunkin’ Ham & Swiss Pretzel Sliders

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The promotional photos for Dunkin’s Ham & Swiss Pretzel Sliders feature two sliders with round fluffy buns. However, my order looked more like Dunkin’ Ham & Swiss Pretzel Smooshers, if you will.

I promise it wasn’t me who did that. I treated them like wounded baby birds when they were handed to me.

Those squished mounds you see above feature Black Forest ham, a honey mustard spread, and Swiss cheese between smashed King’s Hawaiian Pretzel Slider Buns. The two warm sandwiches came out of their sleeve like conjoined twins fused at the cheese. I thought their whole smooshy presentation gave off a school lunch-ish vibe. I don’t know why I felt that way because it’s been a while since I entered a school cafeteria.

While that sounds awful, after surgically separating the conjoined mini sandwiches with a butter knife, the first one I grabbed had an acrid aroma and flavor that reminded me of burnt food. However, the bun didn’t look burnt in any way. Not every bite I took from the slider tasted that way, and with the other one, I didn’t experience any burnt smells or flavors, which is a little weird since they were prepared simultaneously.

Despite their flatness, they tasted quite meaty. I guess when a slice of ham is folded over onto itself twice, there would be a decent ham wall. Because of this, the sliders have an exporksion of flavor with a hint of honey mustard and even less cheesiness. From what I could taste, the honey mustard was applied lightly to my order, which was disappointing since I love the condiment.

As for the buns, the salt crystals on them provided occasional big bursts of saltiness, but I wouldn’t say the buns had a pretzel taste to them. I don’t know if that initial acrid flavor I noticed was supposed to be it, but I hope not. However, while they lacked pretzel-ness, the buns were sweet enough that you could convince me that these were regular King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls.

Apart from the initial flavor twist, Dunkin’s Ham & Swiss Pretzel Sliders were just average. Since one of the sliders had an off taste while the other didn’t, I suspect I received a subpar slider. Even with the one that tasted normal, nothing about it excited my taste buds. My enthusiasm for the sliders was as deflated as the buns that came with them.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: 2 sliders
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 sliders) 340 calories, 13 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 1440 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 14 grams of sugar (including 13 grams of added sugar), and 19 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Keebler Harry Potter Butterbeer Fudge Stripes

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Keebler’s new Butterbeer Fudge Stripes are the first Harry Potter-themed confection I’ve tried since a traumatizing run-in with a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean, so needless to say, I was trepidatious.

It’s hard to Obliviate your first earwax-flavored Jelly Belly. Just thinking about those cursed beans makes me freeze up in fear as if I were struck by the Immobulous charm. Yeah, I’ve seen the movies, folks. I know spells, at least like six of them. I didn’t read a single word of the books, but I know spells! Uh… Oculus Reparo! See?

I know you can see because I just fixed your glasses.

Anyway, despite being a fan of the Potter films, I’ve never actually had Butterbeer. I’ve had butterscotch. I’ve had butter rum, but that’s the extent of my forays into Butter *insert type of booze here.* I honestly don’t even really know much about the flavor profile of Butterbeer, so I wasn’t sure what to expect-O PATRONUM! Remember that one?!

Ya know, I gotta hand it to the elves, be it tree or house, we got ourselves a nice little collab here. Ernie met Dobby, and they baked up a solid little cookie.

These biscuits, for my British friends, reek of a Waffle Crisp-style cereal, but there’s no maple because Butterbeer IS butterscotch. I think. Perhaps my muggle brain can’t comprehend the subtle differences, but for all intents and purposes, these Quidditch goal-shaped rings taste like butterscotch. I assumed there’d be something a bit more foreign that tasted new to me, but I wasn’t disappointed.

The cookie base is the familiar Fudge Stripe sans fudge stripes, but instead piped with a white Butterbeer(scotch) icing.

As you know, Fudge Stripes are named after Cornelius Fudge, the thirty-second Minister of Magic, and Sorkelport Stripes, a legendary Hogwarts professor that I just made up. It is ultimately they who inspired this snack sorcery, and I think Keebler did them proud.

If you’re not a butterscotch lover, don’t worry, the flavor isn’t as pronounced as the classic hard candies. I’d say it exists in the same sweetness realm as dulce de leche and salted caramel fare we’ve become accustomed to, with these almost pushing “too sweet” but still quite indulgent and enjoyable for a cookie or three. Dare I say good enough to Expelliarmus anyone trying to steal one.

By now, it’s quite apparent – I know my Potter, huh?! Well, maybe not enough to decipher what I’m supposed to be seeing on each cookie, but these do seem to have fun little Wizarding World-specific designs that get swallowed up in the icing, so that’s fun, I guess.

I’d consider these a success, and I like to believe Harry, Hermoine, and… whatshisface would definitely buy a pack from the Hogwarts Express trolley.

It’s also nice to see butterscotch getting a little shine with all this butterbeer stuff hitting shelves. It’s a nice change of pace flavor that’s rarely seen outside of grandma’s candy dish.

Ron! His name is Ron. How could I forget Ron, that’s just Riddickulus! (Six. Told ya.)

Purchased Price: $2.98
Size: 9.5 oz package
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 Cookies) 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar (including 8 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ice Cream

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Baskin-Robbins should’ve called its Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ice Cream, March 2025’s Flavor of the Month, Chock-full Chocolate Chip Cheesecake because my single scoop had a copious amount of mini morsels floating in it. It’s like a bag of Nestle Toll House mini chocolate chips double-sneezed on my order.

While the chocolate chips are abundant, there’s a triple threat of cheesecake-flavored components. The flavor features cheesecake ice cream, chocolate cheesecake ice cream, chocolate chips, cheesecake pieces, and cookie crumb swirls.

The white cheesecake base has a pleasant tang and seems to be doing all the heavy lifting regarding the cheesecake flavor. The brown chocolate cheesecake ice cream base has a minuscule level of tanginess, but I’m basing that on what I could taste because there was little of it in my scoop. I tried my darnedest to scrape on a decent amount of the chocolate cheesecake base onto my spoon so I could get a good taste of it, but with what I could get, its cheesecake level paled when compared to the regular base. As for its chocolate flavor, it was lacking, too, but that might’ve been also because of how little I had in my scoop.

Cheesecake pieces are chewy and tangy, but I didn’t notice them at first. Their texture sort of blended in with the softness and creaminess of the bases. Also, they didn’t really enhance the cheesecake taste when I ate it with the regular cheesecake base.

Much like the cheesecake pieces, I didn’t notice the cookie crumb swirls with my first few spoonfuls, but when my tongue hit one, it was hit with a cookie blast. It cut through the tanginess so much that it made my tongue forget it was eating cheesecake-flavored ice cream. But once that faded, the tanginess came back. Eating this scoop was like double-fisting desserts, with cheesecake in one hand and chocolate chip cookies in the other, thanks to the combination of the swirl and crunchy, dark morsels.

Baskin-Robbins’ Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ice Cream is a delight, thanks to its unexpected cookie twist. It’s far more enticing than its name might lead you to believe.

Purchased Price: $4.39
Size: Single scoop
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2.5 oz scoop) 200 calories, 12 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 16 grams of sugar (including 12 grams of added sugar), and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Red Bull Spring Edition Grapefruit & Blossom Energy Drink

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With daylight saving time just settling in and the equinox approaching, do you know what time it is? It’s new Red Bull time. For the first time ever, the oldest energy drink in the game, has brought a Spring Edition to the United States — Grapefruit & Blossom. As with the usual Red Bull products, boasts 80 milligrams of caffeine in an 8.4-ounce can, along with some B vitamins, niacin, and a little smooch of taurine.

Full disclosure: I haven’t had a full-sugar Red Bull in a long time (although I had the Cinnamon Pear Winter Edition a couple years back, and it was awesome). As a rule of thumb, I try to stick with sugar-free energy drinks and soda, but purple is my favorite color, and the store didn’t have sugar-free, so I said, “screw it,” and took a chance. That chance paid off because the first annual US Red Bull Spring Edition is quite delicious.

The unexpectedly vibrant green color of the drink gives way to a nice, sweet, and zesty grapefruit flavor that reminds me of the ruby red variety, and then it rounds out with a gentle floral note. The floral quality isn’t bold or in your face like rose water or hibiscus; it just coasts on the backend in a very complementary role. I mostly detect the “blossom” in a way that smooths the usually top-heavy and sharp grapefruit flavor into something very palatable and truly tasty.

As someone who usually leans into sugar-free options, I was surprised this didn’t come across as more aggressively over the top and sweet. But then I had to remind myself that sucralose, the sweetener most commonly used in energy drinks these days, is said to be up to 600 times sweeter than table sugar. While it is definitely sweet, the drink is refreshing and seamlessly sip-able.

Grapefruit & Blossom Red Bull is perfectly balanced and a worthy introduction of the Spring Edition to the States with a flavor profile that delightfully honors the changing of seasons. It’s good enough that I will try to track down the sugar-free iteration to see if it can hold up to its sugar-laden counterpart to toss more regularly into the pick-me-up rotation.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 8.4 ounces
Purchased at: Nob Hill
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (One Can) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 90 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 26 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Jalapeno Chicken Pocket

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Starbucks’ Jalapeño Chicken Pocket fits in most pockets, and its shape makes me want to stick it in a toaster like a Pop-Tart.

This edible pocket features a toasted chile lavash flatbread wrapped and stuffed with a peppery party of parts: diced chicken, charred poblanos, green jalapeños, three-chile-pepper cheese, and jalapeño cream cheese.

Now, before you get excited about the number of fiery-sounding ingredients, let me tell you that the heat here is weak. There’s an ever-so-slight kick from the jalapeño, which is about as warm as the side of the pillow you just lifted your head from after a night’s sleep. If you were hoping to jumpstart your morning with a jolt from Starbucks coffee and a spicy pocket, you’d have to rely on the caffeine alone.

However, the peppers contribute a lot to the flavor. The oozy filling kind of reminds me of a pepper jack sauce but without much of the sharpness. Floating in that peppery ooze are tender chicken pieces and occasional pepper bits. The soft chile lavash flatbread was easy to bite through but didn’t have a significant flavor on its own, which I had an opportunity to taste on its own because one end of the pocket had almost half an inch of just the flatbread with no filling. Overall, it’s an enjoyable cheesy and peppery flavor, but I wouldn’t say I liked it more than Dunkin’s Green Goddess Wrap, which had a more unique taste.

While I found it tasty, I was unimpressed with its size. The photo above makes it look larger and thicker than it actually is. I forgot to measure it, but I think it was about 3.5 inches wide. That could be excused if it was as thick as the previously mentioned Dunkin’ offering, but it’s about half as plump. At four bucks, it seems pricey for what you’re getting, and I don’t think it would be filling unless paired with a Grande-sized coffee. I checked Starbucks prices in other states, and they are consistent. If it were a dollar cheaper, I could genuinely recommend it.

While it has a pleasant flavor, I wouldn’t repurchase this unless Starbucks drops its price or starts inflating its size.

Purchased Price: $3.95
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 200 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 460 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 11 grams of protein.

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