New Fall Candy: Caramel Apple Milky Way and Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses!

It's fall.

Which means cooler temperatures, football, foliage, fairs, halloween haunts, parties and bonfires, and never-ending rain, apparently. It also means food. Lots and lots of fall food. Like pumpkin whoopie pies:

Apple cider and apple pie:

Fried dough and other fall treats:

always be mean mugging.

And fall beers:

Pumpkin everything, apple everything. Fall is one of the best times ever. But, in the world of candy, other than a few adventurous companies (Oreo) who come out with new flavors seemingly every week, most fall candy is just the regular candy with halloween colors. Milky Way and Hershey's Kisses decided to step it up and try some interesting fall-themed flavors, with... odd results. 

I give you Caramel Apple Milky Way and Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses:

most posed photo ever on fatguyfoodblog

First up, the Milky Ways. When I opened the bag, all I could smell was apple. In fact, eating just the little extra bit of chocolate that spills over sometimes, all I really tasted was apple. I think the nougat (white in these) is apple flavored and the smell is just so strong that everything tasted like apple, but I could be wrong- there could actually be apple in the chocolate. Apple and chocolate is a weird combination, but luckily that goes away and I mostly tasted apple and caramel. Well, to be honest, I mostly tasted apple. These started to grow on me after a bit, but I generally don't find myself loving them. The taste of fake apple is just so strong that it's weird- you're just eating a glob of chewy fake apple flavor. Milky Way gets points for trying something different, and a few more for making a candy taste like apple, but they went a bit too far for my tastes. I can only give these a C. They're interesting, and someone who worships apple may love them, but they were just a little too apple while being barely caramel for me to be psyched about them.

C.

When I opened the pumpkin spice kisses, I was surprised to see that they were orange/brown.

I was even more surprised that the inside was white.

These are very weird. The first thing I taste- and the predominant flavor afterwards- is spice. These definitely taste like pumpkin, but a very spicy pumpkin- like when people make pumpkin flavored things and accidentally spill half the can of nutmeg while cooking. The white inside (whatever that's supposed to be) make these much better, as it's creamy and smooth. It works nicely against the spice. If there was more of it, it would save these, but the spice is just too strong for me, and I ended up feeling like I was eating halloween scented candles after awhile. Don't get me wrong- these are very interesting, and for someone who loves a good spicy pumpkin flavor, these may be your favorite candy this year. But for me, I prefer a smooth and super sweetened pumpkin flavor (like in whoopie pies or fudge), and these are spicy to the point where it's surprising. The smoother inside makes for a solid aftertaste (although again, waxy), but the initial spice blast makes me not want to open up another one. Good effort Hershey's, but the rest of this bag is going on the free food shelf downstairs. 

D.

Review by Mike.

Candy Corn Oreo cookies!

Every once in a while there comes along a snack that takes the world by storm. Hushed whispers tell the legend of some new treat that nobody can find, but everybody wants. Internet searches are done to see if this thing really exists, and when you see the evidence, it only makes it worse. It spreads like a virus, this excitement, until everyone is looking everywhere for this item. 

Well, ladies & gents, we are in the midst of one of these phenomenons...

I give you, LIMITED EDITION CANDY CORN OREO COOKIES!

The Holy Grail of snack food. 

Now, I know all of you out there think that since we are big bad food bloggers that there is probably no snack that exists that we can't have in our grasp mere moments after we desire it. You probably think our celebrity status makes this happen. Sadly, there are things that are beyond even our reach. These cookies were one of them. For a month straight we had been getting messages telling us to review these cookies, in fact, we've never been asked by more people to review a single item! Research on the world wide web taught me that they were only being sold at Target. So I went to Target half a dozen damn times in two weeks, only to leave disappointed and with everything BUT Candy Corn Oreo cookies. That is, until our friend Jonn, who is also a loyal Fatguyfoodblog reader, showed us how it is done. He called every Target in NH, and then ended up calling in a favor to get some of these cookies delivered to him from over an hour away. That is dedication! We can't thank him enough!

Harder to find than Beanie Babies in 1993. 

So how are they? For something based on Candy Corn, they are actually fantastic. The first thing you notice when you rip the bag open is a strong aroma, much like the recent Birthday Cake Oreo cookies. It's very strong and quite nice. If they were able to bottle this fragrance, women who are into fat guys could seduce them quite easily. Without a Birthday Cake Oreo to compare it to, I'm not sure how similar the smells are. But I can say these things smell damn good.

Ah the Golden Oreo cookie. JUST AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL!

They went with the Golden Oreo cookie rather than the original chocolate, and I think it was a wise choice. Not just because the white cookie goes great with the orange and yellow frosting if you're going for Candy Corn colors, but also, the chocolate cookie might throw the taste way off. The cream is thicker than a regular Oreo, and similar to all of the wild flavors they have been doing lately, rather than their original recipe. 

But the big question is, do they taste like Candy Corn? Most people out there in the world don't like Candy Corn. I don't hate it, but I definitely don't love it, unlike Mike, who is a huge fan. But... it kind of tastes like Candy Corn. It also kind of tastes like cotton candy. I would have to say these do taste more like Candy Corn than the Candy Corn M&M's did though. 

Just like Candy Corn, BUT A COOKIE!

But the bottom line is that even if they don't taste exactly like Candy Corn, these Oreo cookies are damn good. They aren't overpowering like some of the Fudge Dipped ones, they are just a fantastic, solid Oreo cookie that will make a great addition to your Halloween Party food spread, or on your snack shelf in the pantry.  Add these to the long list of great limited edition flavors.  If you can find a bag, buy them. Hell, buy a bunch- last time I heard, they were going for $10 a bag on Ebay! But it won't be easy. You might have an easier time trapping a Sasquatch.

I give these a solid A rating!
Review by Rich!

Mike's review: As the one guy on this site who absolutely loves candy corn (and doesn't understand how I run a food blog with 2 people who don't- candy corn rules!!), I love these too, and will say that they're the perfect mix of tastes-a-little-bit-like-candy-corn and tastes-like-nothing-specific-but-tastes-fantastic. They're close, but they're not exactly like candy corn, which is probably why we all agree that these rule. Seriously, if you see these anywhere in New Hampshire, LET US KNOW.

The Gamble of Limited Edition Chips: Kettle Brand Jalapeno Jack & Pringles Cheeseburger Chips

Even if I wasn't a part of this blog, the chances that I would drag my fat ass up and down the hallways of my local WalmAAHT without trying any new flavor of chips I see are pretty slim. Sure, this blog makes it mandatory, but it probably wasn't mandatory to push fellow fatguyfoodbloggers Rich and Josh out of the way to get my sweaty paws on this beautiful bag. 

It was the only bag I saw in a sea of normalcy, and as soon as I touched it, I knew I had something special in my hands. Kettle Brand is celebrating 30 years of making "great-tasting, all natural chips made with quality ingredients since 1982" (that's what it says on the bottom corner), and they put out 4 limited edition flavors, some of which they made way back in the day (like cheddar beer (!)). It's hard to find these chips, and to be honest, I am a chip lunatic and I only discovered Kettle Brand a few years ago. 30 Years?! Seriously?

These chips are excellent. They're super crunchy and greasy the way only natural chips cooked in canola oil can be. To be honest- at first, I didn't like them much. The taste of jalapeno was much more peppery sweet than I wanted, and the cheese wasn't too strong- it was more of a sour cream-esque flavor that took me awhile to notice. Jalapeno and cheese is a tough thing to get right, and the only other time I'd eaten jalapeno and cheese on a chip where it worked perfectly was with Doritos' Jalapeno and Cheddar, found only in Canada (which we reviewed last year). But those were more cheesy- like a different version of Doritos' Spicy Nacho. 

These are different, and with several revisits to this bag, I realized just how good these are. I wish the picture above was brighter, but the darkness brings out the sexiness of these chips. You don't throw these down your throat at a drunken BBQ- you savor these slowly with a delicious meal by candlelight with your special lady (or yourself, most likely yourself). The sweet and tangy pepper flavor meets the sour cream-esque cheese and then evolves into a delicate burn. And they're soo crunchy and greasy. 

You occasionally get giant mutant chips too, and some that are warped into knots. 

These were going to get a decent review based solely on the sexiness and strength of the bag (I had to cut it open with scissors because I couldn't open it normally- there's literally a small lining of plastic inside), but these were a happy surprise. These had a slow burn that brought out fancy deliciousness, and I'll be buying more. AND you can use the bag for pretty much anything after. It's strong enough. Look at it handle 15 pounds like nothing!

If you can't find these, you're not alone. This is literally the only bag of these or any other limited flavor I've seen. Luckily, Kettle Brand is light years ahead of the big chip brands and allow you to order chips online. HEY ALL CHIP COMPANIES: LEARN FROM THIS.

I'll be buying some more of these before they disappear, and I strongly recommend that you do too. 

I give these an A-

On the flip side of trying new chips, you get to try some that you're not entirely excited to try.

Yup, that's right. Cheeseburger Pringles. Pringles aren't exactly known for being fancy, top of the line chips, but they have their place, and occasionally come out with fantastic new flavors in addition to having some of the best sour cream and onion chips out there. 

These, however, are not good. In fact, they're terrible. To be fair, I don't think I've ever had a cheeseburger or hot dog chip that's been good. We've reviewed some here, and they usually have the same result- they kind of taste like cheeseburgers or hot dogs, but usually more like mustard. And even if they're close, they're still potato chips that taste like cheeseburgers or hot dogs. And honestly, other than the fun of trying it, who wants that? 

To be fair to Pringles, these are the most accurate depiction of cheeseburger flavor I've had on a chip. At first they just taste like mustard. Then kind of like honey mustard. Then cheese, pickles, and yes, meat. Pringles gets points for the slow evolution of flavor, and more for accuracy in actually capturing cheeseburger flavor, but again, does anyone really want to eat that on a chip? I sure don't.

Grade for capturing the flavor of cheeseburger on a potato chip: A

Grade for how much I want to eat these again: F

-review by mike

White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's...

The different holiday seasons bring with them some great food items every year. Around Easter we get Cadbury Cream eggs and lots of chocolate bunnies. Christmas brings us Egg Nog and lots of Candy Cane flavored treats. Then there's Halloween. Pumpkin everything. But it seems this year the powers that be may have decided that the public has tired of pumpkin, so it looks like they are trying something else. What is that something? Well...it's Candy Corn.

You know, Candy Corn, the only candy you would get mad at seeing in your bag after a night of trick or treating. The candy that only one in every 3083 people like. So yeah, sounds like a good idea, flavor some classic candy like them! The team at the M&M factory wasted no time getting these out on shelves. White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's!

Even the guy on the package isn't happy about it. 

I didn't think I was going to like these from the start, because, well...I don't really like Candy Corn. I'm pretty sure during October every year at some point I will eat one from a dish when I'm somewhere, and it's okay, but as I'm swallowing the last little bit I grimace and say to myself, "Ugh...don't need anymore of those." and then I don't have another one until the following year. Because they just aren't that good. Just a weird sweet chunk of waxy candy that coats your tongue way too much for how small it is. Why, M&M, why was this your choice for a new flavor? Why not Coffee, or caramel, or hell, Bacon?

Only three colors in this bag, son. 

But I have to give them credit for at least trying something fresh. They look the same as regular M&M's, just that they only come in Yellow, White and Orange. They taste like white chocolate. But not JUST white chocolate, there's a little something else. I don't think they hit the nail right on the head with Candy Corn though. I can almost say they taste like them but it's slightly off. I think the flavor other than white chocolate is given off from the candy shell, so as you crunch them together, it forms, what the M&M scientists would hope to be the Candy Corn flavor. But...they kinda fail.

Man, we should get jobs taking pictures of food, these are beautiful!

So are they good? Well, at first I didn't like them. I but the bag on the desk while doing some work and ended up going back to them every few minutes. A little while later I changed my tune. They grow on you.
But Mike, being one of the only people on Earth who likes Candy Corn, tried them and didn't like them at all. Strange.

In the end I'd say they are a fun gimmick, and okay, but I'm pretty sure every other flavor of M&M are better than these. Even those weird Raspberry ones they did a while back. Yeah. Even those. So pick up a bag if you want to put something weird in a candy dish at your Halloween party, or perhaps give away the little bags to Trick or Treaters.
But once they realize what you gave them, prepare for your house to get toilet papered.

These get a C+!
Review by Rich.

Pepsi NEXT: Paradise Mango

Pepsi decided to do try something drastic recently. Not only did they add to the Pepsi NEXT branding after the failure of Pepsi EDGE (for us MEN that don't want to drink wimpy diet soda), but they also released some flavored versions of it that I'm sure won't be on the market for very long.
I wish I had gotten my hands on the Vanilla Cherry option, but we picked up the Paradise Mango and decided to give it a proper try.

YEAH GIFS!

Pepsi NEXT Mango Paradise tastes pretty much they way you'd expect it to. The NEXT brand, where instead of calories, they decided just to throw another handful of chemicals in it to fill the space left over in the bottle... So, start with that as its base, and then throw in mango flavored chewing gum, stir it around for a bit, and take a pull off of this part pepsi, part mango, all chemical combination!

BLOOD RED! erm maybe not.

As far as sodas go this is pretty tasty, but you can't get over just how incredibly fake it tastes. You'd figure a billion dollar corporation would be able to fool my poverty stricken taste buds a little bit better. 

C

-josh

Pepperidge Farms: Milano Melts

hell yeah!

One thing that Pepperidge Farms will never cease to remember, is how to make a fantastic cookie.
We're all familiar with the ol' Milano cookie standby. It seems like the hayseeds hanging around the farm wanted to tinker with the tried and true recipe as of late, and see where they could push what might possibly be one of the best cookies on the market.

I first saw what was first of the "melts" series a few weeks ago, and asked our facebook fans what they had thought of them and if they were worth picking up. One fan stated "They are ok. Heat a regular Milano up and you would get the same effect. Nothing special."  Having faith in what our fans opinions are, I didn't bother picking these up, and went on my merry way. A few days later, I returned to our shopping venue of choice, and Excorsist flipped my neck backwards when I saw these. Not only a Melt, but they flipped what had classically been a Milano on it's head.

really pepperidge farms?

  One thing that Pepperidge Farms decidedly didn't remember, was to put any cookies in the cookie bag. There were 6 inside my package, which really bummed me out. Apparently, Pepperidge Farms is now run by the ever elusive cookie crook, once of Cookie Crisp fame, robbing consumers blind with over priced cookies. I picture him like Michael Douglas in 'Wall Street. Cigar in mouth, but still that damn cookie hat.

don't think these cookies are very big, those are tiny girl hands

So let's put aside getting screwed by PF's packing department for a moment, and concentrate on what these things actually taste like. The outer cookie has a cake sort of texture, where it wants to have a more chocolatey flavor, but just doesn't. It's not a bad thing, and I think if the chocolate was more intense it might ruin this whole deal. The vanilla creme insides were just that, a strong vanilla, almost cheesecakey type filling. I think as a whole they work together beautifully into what culminates into what Pepperidge Farms has always given us, a classy cookie that borders on decadent, but keeps us from feeling like hogs at a cookie trough.
Now that I think about it, maybe that's what the withholding of the cookies are, Pepperidge Farms keeping us from ourselves. With cookies this good, it'd be easy to over do it. But as an American, I don't want cookie elitists telling me how many cookies I am allowed to eat at a sitting.

closer view of cookie innards.

So while the cookie barons that are as much farmers as GW Bush was a Texas rancher, succeeded in making an incredible cookie, I believe the price point of the package, and the sparse number of delicious morsels contained within are keeping me from giving this product an A. flavor wise, it's hard to beat, on every other possible barometer though Pepperidge Farms needs to step up it's game if it's to survive with so much incredible competition for the cookie crown.

C
with flavor like that and a price point like this, you can never

get above average!

-josh

*EDIT The good folks at Pepperidge Farms reached out to us to inform us that the amount of cookies inside one of these packages is 12, and we did indeed, receive the wrong amount of Milano Melts!I do have to say they were nothing but pleasant and are going above and beyond to make the cookie mistake right. thank you!

NEW GRADE: A
good price, awesome cookie, great people. winning combination!
-josh

Grilled Nutella & Cheese.. Aka the CheeseBoy Choco-melt

Not too long ago I got a picture delivered to my phone from a friend who was on the road in NJ. He had just had dinner in some giant mall when he stumbled upon a place called CHEESEBOY, which I didn't even know existed. He messaged me a picture of their current special.
It blew my mind.

A grilled cheese made with Nutella and American cheese, on Cinnamon Swirl bread. I asked him if he had gotten it but he said he was too full from his dinner. I was angry for an instant about this but then I remembered he isn't a huge fat dude with a blog, so I kind of understand why he didn't get it.
But only kinda.
Now my dilemma here is that New Jersey is too far away for me to drive for a grilled cheese. So I hit up their website, www.cheeseboy.com/ and found out that there were indeed locations closer in Mass. But my schedule was filled for the entire week, and I wouldn't be able to make the trip down. The idea of this sandwich stuck in my brain like crazy, so I decided there was only one course of action... I made my own.

The recipe is simple enough. I didn't go fancy with the cheese, despite my usual love for expensive deli cheese. This time I just wanted to go with a sure thing and when it comes to American Cheese, Kraft Singles are a solid choice every time. Pepperidge Farm makes everything better, so that goes without saying. Somehow I didn't have a jar of Nutella in the house. I know. It makes zero sense. But I do now.

I felt kind of like a mad scientist. I had told people about this sandwich and they hadn't seemed as excited. I assured them I had no doubt it would be spectacular. I'll be honest, as I began creating this beast, a little doubt slipped into my brain.

As I buttered the bread on one side, and then covered the other side in Nutella, I wondered if all this would be for nothing. If the first bite I would take would be gross...

But then the smell hit me, as it sizzled away in the frying pan. A strange buttery cinnamon smell, with something underneath. I used my well honed grilled cheese making skills to be sure not to burn it, flipping just when needed, and leaving it on exactly the right amount of time. By the time I slid it onto my plate, it looked like a work of art. Then I cut it diagonally, because let's face it, if you cut your sandwich any other way, you're probably either dumb, or evil.

Immediately, gooey melted American cheese oozed from the sandwich and formed a puddle, its white color thrown off by an oil spill of Nutella weaving through it. So how was it?

Simply put, it was incredible. I'm pretty sure if there was a heaven, Christ himself would serve you one of these on a golden tray as you walked through the pearly gates. Your eyes would get wide as you chomped into it and he would say, "Yeah... that right there? That's how we roll up here. Make yourself comfortable, dogg." Then you would dance away on a cloud as you finished the sandwich.

Yeah. It's that good. The combination of the sweetness of the cinnamon swirls in the bread & Nutella mixed with the rich cheese & buttery, crispy bread gives you a medley of flavors your mouth can barely keep up with. When you crunch through the bread and that mixture of cheese and Nutella hits your taste buds for the first time, you will truly understand the glory of this sandwich.  You may feel light headed as you eat this. It's fine. That's normal. It's called euphoria.

In the end, this experiment was a success. Would I want to eat this sandwich every day? Well... yes. But I won't. Because it's a dangerous item. I feel like I still have half of it jammed into the arteries surrounding my heart right now. But it was worth it. Yes, I have made more than one. Yes, I do plan on making another. But it's certainly a treat I will leave for every once in a while.

So if you have a CheeseBoy near you, go try this. If not, make it at home like we did, and make sure you thank us after, for opening your mind to what we call the 10th Wonder of the World.

Grade? A++++++++++++
Review by Rich.