NOMinally Ephemeral: Cadbury Screme Egg & Mike and Ike Mummy's Mix

Let's close out Halloween 2012 with two noms that are only ephemeral in name, no reviews required.

Cadbury has rolled out their Screme Egg, which is simply a Creme Egg with green filling.

Then we have Mike and Ike Mummy's Mix.  While this blend is a unique mix of flavors, the flavors themselves aren't unique.  At least, I think they aren't.  A rudimentary search on my part can not find which other blend contains the grape flavor, but I'm fairly sure it's out there.

Kool-Aid Ghoul-Aid Scary Blackberry

You could call our house a Kool-Aid shop, so to speak.  We drink a lot of Kool-Aid (with sugar free sweetener), and we keep up on a lot of the new flavors that occasionally come out.  Limited time flavors, however, are rare for Kool-Aid.

The company has decided to celebrate Halloween with Ghoul-Aid, a special edition flavor of "blackberry".  This mix's flavor(prepared with real sugar for review) isn't quite of blackberry, but instead a mix of various purple fruits.  To me, it tastes and smells mostly of blueberry, but there's also grape, blackberry, raspberry, and maybe even pomegranate.  The finish of this stuff is surprisingly sour and bitter, reminiscent of a good black cherry soda.

The sourness isn't my cup of tea, and blueberry isn't my favorite flavor either.  Overall, however, I laud Kool-Aid for issuing something new, and especially one that's different than their normal stable of flavors.

Kool-Aid Ghoul-Aid Scary Blackberry: - Good
Original Kool-Aid(Grape, for comparison): - Good

M&M's White Chocolate Candy Corn

M&M's are offering a seasonal variation to add to the sugary onslaught that is Halloween.

These candies come in a variety of warm autumn colors, and their size and shape are a bit more like Peanut M&M's despite that there's only a chocolate mixture inside.

The chocolate mixture is all white chocolate, with no cocoa solids to be found.  These teach me that I like white chocolate in M&Ms... I wonder why they don't make them regularly?  This is no regular white chocolate, however... it's supposedly flavored like candy corn.  It tastes nothing like candy corn, ultimately, which is good, because I despise the stuff.  The flavor instead is of burnt sugar, caramel, and maybe toffee.  There's a sugary note in there that reminds me of cotton candy.

Not bad, overall.  This departure in flavor from the normal M&M's stable is worth a detour.  The "candy corn" flavoring isn't a huge hit (even among candy corn fans I've consulted), but in my opinion, the white chocolate filling is worth your attention, if only for one go-round.

M&M's White Chocolate Candy Corn: - Good
Original M&M's (for comparison):  - Good

Pop-Tarts Wildlicious Frosted Wild! Grape

 Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

The Pop-Tarts Wildlicious flavors continue.

Why they thought "grape" was wild enough to be marketed in this packaging/sub-brand is beyond me.  It must be sour grape or something, right?

No, it's just normal grape.  I give credit to the brand, because I don't think a grape flavor of these pastries has ever been done before.  It tastes exactly how you think it will: just like a typical Pop-Tarts fruit flavor, such as strawberry, but with the distinct flavor of grape Kool-Aid instead.

It's tasty and different and yet par for the course.  And much like the previous Wildlicious flavor, the taste of the product does not match its marketing.



Pop-Tarts Wildlicious Frosted Wild! Grape: - Good
Original Pop-Tarts(Strawberry, for comparison): - Good

Acquired: supermarket

Birthday Cake Golden Oreo Fudge Cremes

Before Oreo's Birthday Cake cookies left the shelves, Oreo issued this other cake-flavored Limited Edition.

I'm not sure when Oreo started making these modern Fudge Cremes, but I think it's a step in a good direction on Oreo's part.  Fudge cremes consist of 1 Oreo cookie, 1 normal portion of Oreo creme, and a full chocolate coating.  These differ from Fudge Covered Oreo, and I think they're much better.  The lack of the 2nd cookie somehow brings a balance to the snack that it didn't have otherwise.

The experience plays out how you might expect.  The cookie is a simple Golden Oreo one.  The filling is the Limited Edition creme that's strongly flavored of cake, heavy with vanilla and that doughy cake mix flavor that is somehow mysteriously achieved.  What makes these snacks so good is the chocolate.  It is somehow formulated or tempered in a way that makes its texture absolutely perfect, with a firm bite that has the slightest snap.

Huzzah to the new Oreo Fudge Cremes, and to this product in specific, which approaches a 4-NOM rating.

Birthday Cake Golden Oreo Fudge Cremes: - Great

Reese's Crispy Crunchy

Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Reese's Peanut Butter candies come in various shapes, but they also occasionally come in various versions that change their construction by adding other types of candy bases to them.  I give Reese's credit for consistently testing different variations like this.

One of the latest of these is the Reese's Crispy Crunchy.  Most of Reese's products of this ilk tend to be successful, so I went in with high expectations.

Unfortunately, this may be one of their least successful iterations, in my opinion.  You can think of this as a Butterfinger wrapped in a Reese's cup.  The inner part of the bar features a crunchy brittle whose texture is somewhere between a Butterfinger and traditional brittle candy.  I always thought that a crunchy texture such as this never belonged next to a supple chocolate coating, and I don't feel that the peanut butter that surrounds it improves the combination.  The peanut butter takes away from the brittle and vice versa, and all of it manages to get stuck in your gums and teeth.

This thing is laborious to eat, and the poorly combined elements of this candy take away from each element's value.  Unless you're a Butterfinger superfan, I'm not sure you'll find this one pleasant.



Reese's Crispy Crunchy: - (Passable)

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup(for comparison): - (Great)

Hot Pockets Four Cheese Garlic Pasta Bake

Foods that combine carbohydrates with other carbohydrates are always fun in a ridiculous and decadent way. You'll occasionally see potatoes on pizza or in a pasta dish, or even stuffed in pasta like pierogi, rice inside burritos, and plenty of people like to put potato chips in their sandwiches. I personally like to put spaghetti onto garlic bread.

Hot Pockets have decided to join this silly trend by stuffing a bread pocket with a creamy penne. After baking the snack according to the directions, (which is my preferred way to cook Hot Pockets... I'm a very patient person) I found that perhaps these are the most aesthetically attractive Hot Pockets I've ever seen, with green flecks of parsley folded into the dough and what looks like perhaps some crusty pieces of Parmesan cheese melted on top. Lovely!

After taking a bite, I was surprised at how good this silly Hot Pocket was. The filling in this pastry is softer that any of this brand I've ever had. With that said, the pasta inside is cooked to a perfect al dente and is chewy and pleasant. The thick sweet sauce is strong with garlic and heavy with cream, and it has a pungent kick of Parmesan.

Despite that I thought this product would be a joke, it is instead delicious, and is probably something I would have bought regularly, should it have been available permanently. It easily hits the 3-NOM rating, and is perilously close to hitting the 4-NOM level.  One of the best Hot Pockets I've ever had.

Hot Pockets Four Cheese Garlic Pasta Bake: - Great
Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza(for comparison): - Good

Acquired: Harris Teeter