What is it?

Another one of those store-exclusive snacks that cajole you into buying a value pack by not offering a smaller box.

In other words, this Pop-Tarts flavor is a Walmart exclusive, only comes in a box of 16 pastries, and features a chocolate-y pastry filled with alternating ribbons of chocolate and salted caramel fillings and salted caramel icing.

How is it?

Even though Pop-Tarts are never going to be a five-star breakfast, I suppose these aren’t half bad when you consider that most people are going to be eating them while they’re not fully awake.

Fresh from the foil sleeve, each pastry was crisp, sturdy, and smelled faintly of cocoa. It did an adequate job of containing the pastry’s filling, which was surprisingly less runny than I was expecting it to be, and the acceptably sweet frosting gave a satisfying crunch to top off the experience.

Calling them “adequate” or “acceptable” is about as kind as I can be towards these, though. The dry pastry shell needed more cocoa to make it taste sufficiently “chocolatey,” and the salted caramel and chocolate fillings both ended up being so faint that they almost completely canceled each other out.

Even the frosting tasted like regular royal icing and left me wanting more salted caramel. If I had been eating one of these first thing in the morning, you could have told me it was a S’mores Pop-Tart and I would have believed you.

Is there anything else I need to know?

Like all Pop-Tarts, these are best eaten warm. Toasting them turns the filling into little rivers of chocolate and salted caramel lava, and that helped bring the fillings’ flavors forward a little more.

Conclusion:

While Chocolatey Salted Caramel Pop-Tarts are far from the worst toaster pastries to eat for a quick breakfast, you might want to split a box of these with a friend or two, because their lack of uniqueness and distinct flavor is guaranteed to leave you bored and disinterested before you finish the oversized box.

Purchased Price: $3.68
Size: 16-pack
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 pastry) 200 calories, 50 calories from fat, 6 grams of total fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

Pop-Tarts Splitz first showed up back in 2007 and soon after crawled back into the Pop-Tarts vault where Dulce de Leche and Guava Mango Pop-Tarts reside.

Yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking now. Not that there were Dulce de Leche and Guava Mango Pop-Tarts, but that brands have been turning S’s into Z’s for over a decade now and they should stop.

With the original Splitz, the flavors used were so basic and one-worded — Chocolate + Vanilla, Strawberry + Blueberry, and Chocolate + Strawberry.

The 2018 version has flavors that, mostly, aren’t so basic and use more than one word — Strawberry + Cheesecake and Sugar Cookie + Brownie Batter. Like the original, they look like kindergarten finger-painting drawings of clouds or hills, depending on which side is facing you.

Frosted Strawberry and Drizzled Cheesecake

Strawberry tastes like, well, I mean, if you haven’t had a Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tart that’s on you. You should’ve had it at least once by now. They’re good and it’s what I eat when I want to joke around with the Food Pyramid by saying, “Look, I’m going to have a serving of fruit.” As for the other side, there’s no tang. So it’s hard to consider it cheesecake. At times, I think it’s marshmallow, but it’s definitely not cheesecake.

The flavor combo is begs to be eaten together. So maybe through food science or food magic, combining them will create a strawberry cheesecake-like flavor. They don’t. There’s a tanginess from the fruity filling, but it doesn’t help flip my mind into thinking it’s cheesecake. It tastes like a Strawberry Pop-Tart. Even toasting it doesn’t help bring out the cheesecake flavor.

Drizzled Sugar Cookie and Frosted Brownie Batter

The other Pop-Tarts Splitz variety has a lighter crust than the Strawberry + Cheesecake one. I guess it’s supposed to represent the color of sugar cookies, while the darker one looks like the crust you’d find under a cheesecake.

Unlike the other variety, this combo seems more like one that shouldn’t be eat combined. Although, that’s not going to stop me from doing so because sugar cookie brownies sound magical.

The dark filling tastes like brownie batter, but kind of loses that when combined with the crust and the icing. Its flavor wavers between brownie batter and standard chocolate. Despite that, it’s my favorite of the four sides. As for sugar cookie, it’s a variety

Sadly, combining the two doesn’t create an awesome new hybrid flavor. The stronger brownie batter overwhelms the milder sugar cookie, much like the strawberry hides the cheesecake in the other. So I guess it’s best to eat the two sides separate.

Both varieties are tasty but also aren’t mind-blowing. However, the cookie-brownie combo stands out because of its flavors and the cheesecake flavor is lacking with the other one, making it a bit of a letdown. So if you’re split about which variety to try, go for the Sugar Cookie + Brownie Batter.

DISCLOSURE: I received free samples, but doing so did not influence my review.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 pastry – Strawberry + Cheesecake – 190 calories, 40 calories from fat, 4.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 1.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 1 gram of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 17 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein. Sugar Cookie + Brownie Batter – 200 calories, 50 calories from fat, 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 1 gram of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 8-pack (Strawberry + Cheesecake)
Size: 16-pack (Sugar Cookie + Brownie Batter)
Purchased at: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Strawberry + Cheesecake)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Sugar Cookie + Brownie Batter)
Pros: Brownie batter filling taste like what it’s supposed to. Better flavor combos than the previous Pop-Tarts Splitz. Sugar cookie tastes like a sugar cookie.
Cons: Cheesecake flavor not noticeable. Combining the strawberry and cheesecake sides makes it taste like a regular Strawberry Pop-Tart. Combining the sugar cookie and brownie batter sides make it taste like brownie batter. Still using Z’s to replace S’s.