REVIEW: Three Twins’ Banana Nut Confetti

August 30, 2017September 13, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Apparently I really like banana ice cream. Or maybe I’m just drawn to the less-commonly flavored base that still packs a big sweet punch and doesn’t drown out the elements it’s paired with like chocolate can do. Either way, I was surprised as I was dipping into my cream-stash that this was my fourth banana review in four months. Impressive.

Cali-proud organic churners Three Twins celebrated their 10 year anniversary in 2015 with two ice creams going right for the throat of Ben & Jerry’s – recreating some of their signature flavors with all natural organic ingredients. Banana Nut Confetti combines banana ice cream with walnuts and dark chocolate “confetti” flecks.

The banana flavor in this ice cream is present but relatively mild. It reminds me of a fruit that is almost perfectly ripe but could still use a day or two to fully bloom. You know, it’s not green but it’s pretty firm and there are zero spots to be found. Texturally it’s a bit on the thin and icy side without any dominant creamy mouthfeel or dairy slick. It isn’t awful but it’s pretty underwhelming, and is definitely my least favorite banana ice cream I’ve had this year.

The pieces of walnut are small to medium sized and similarly bland. They’re roasted but not salted and aren’t big enough to translate their unique fatty nut flavor to the spoon. There are hints of that wonderful walnut earthiness but they pop and fade so quickly it’s barely noticeable. I like walnuts in ice cream quite a bit, but they’re so mild here that I wish they were bigger and gave more depth to the pint.

Similarly, the chocolate confetti is in such small pieces there’s no real chocolate presence either. I usually like this kind of flaked chocolate, and it works well in other TT Confetti flavors, but here the pieces add almost nothing to the equation, especially in a situation where the base needs some help. Again, there’s nothing “bad” tasting about the flakes, they’re just incredibly boring.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had Chunky Monkey, and I don’t remember being too impressed by it, but I feel like it has got to be better than this. As admirable as it is to try and show how organic ingredients can be used to make quality ice cream, I think Three Twins should stick to creating their own flavors. The only other time I’ve been this let down by Three Twins was when they put their own spin on Cherry Garcia with Cherry Chocolate Chunk – and that was a disappointing snooze-fest as well.

Rating: 6/10
Found at: Safeway ($4.99)
Quick Nutrition: 1/2 cup (85g) – 180 cal – 11g fat – 6g sat fat – 30mg sodium – 19g carb – 1g fiber – 18g sugar – 1g protein

REVIEW: Keebler Limited Batch Dark Chocolate Mint Fudge Stripes

August 28, 2017August 28, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Just when you thought those funny little Elves had started to dip into the deep end of limited time offerings, they return with another safe, albeit classic and delicious, limited batch flavor – Dark Chocolate Mint. Although I’ve gotta give them credit, they’re definitely throwing a cookie curveball releasing a flavor traditionally served alongside a blanket of snow at a time when most of the country is still sweating in triple digits. It would be like Oreo dropping their long lost Gingerbread cookie in Spring – it just doesn’t make sense, and yet, I can’t help but feel like there’s no wrong time for a taste of Winter.

Opening up the long crinkly package releases an unmistakable aroma – Thin Mints. These striped cookie tires smell almost identical to the Girl Scouts’ classic that also reign supreme during a time of no Winter Wonderland vibes. Maybe Keebler are onto something, as is evidenced by their year round Thin Mint knockoff Grasshoppers – that people get down on the delicious pairing of chocolate and mint whether or not there’s a long branch of mistletoe dangling over their heads.

The taste is also very similar to Thin Mints, a lovely marriage of chocolate and peppermint, just a bit less minty, and more obviously, much creamier because of the great green stripe of fudge along the top. The extra creamy notes also make the cookie register a bit sweeter than Thin Mints or Grasshoppers, with a heartier, deeper crunch and satisfying smoothness. The stripe on these cookies feels less notoriously waxy than their older siblings with a less hardened texture that provides a more legitimate creaminess than what I know and generally love from some Stripes.

Honestly, there’s not too much more to say about these cookies. The balance of peppermint sharpness to cooling sweetness is on point and it’s a classic pairing that will essentially sell itself. If I had one criticism it would be perhaps to make the cookie a bit more bitter since they used the word “dark” in the title, but overall these are a damn fine grocery cookie that will give anyone a taste of Christmas bliss, even if they’re wearing shorts.

Rating: 8.5/10
Found at: Sent to me by Keebler but spotted at Target and Walmart!
Quick Nutrition: 2 cookies – 140 cal – 6g fat – 4g sat fat – 120mg sodium – 20g carb – 11g sugar – 1g protein

REVIEW: Limited Edition PB & J Oreo

August 25, 2017August 21, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

It’s back to school week for all the kiddos out there, and let’s just say it how it is – that sucks. The long, care free, sleepless nights of whimsy and wonder are over and get exchanged for homework, bed times, and social anxiety. But hey – at least we get another new Oreo out of it! Despite the sadness of summer ending, I always secretly kind of liked going back to school, since it meant the days would get short and before I knew it a blanket of spookiness would wash over every store and every child’s imagination. I also not-so-secretly love every opportunity I can get to try a new limited time flavor of cookie, and if this long overdue Peanut Butter and Jelly Oreo comes at the sacrifice of teenagers everywhere having to spend $30 on a new backpack – I’ll take it.

The package smells sweet like artificial berries with a bit of swirling artificial peanut butter to back it up. The creme’s are split evenly down the middle, and by the looks of it the peanut butter half is really trying to flex its protein power over the berry, as the tan creme is oozing out of the side in a show of apparent snack time dominance. On the outside is the classic Golden wafer, and I can’t help but be a little sad it isn’t graham. Even though I’ve never had graham cracker bread, the mashup sounds delectably drool-worthy.

While I really liked and was surprised by the execution of the jelly creme in the Jelly Donut Oreo, I’m not liking it nearly as much here. There’s an odd, slightly off-putting floral note that comes across and registers much closer to perfume than jelly. It isn’t the usual punch-in-the-face sweetness that comes with most artificial berry flavors, but I find it distracting, and ultimately overpowering to the usually very hard to overthrow peanut butter. I really wish Nabisco had gone with grape jelly for this Oreo, but the strangest thing is not only does it not taste like grape, it doesn’t really taste like strawberry or raspberry either. It floats in this weird fake tasting space that really reminds me of flowers and has no notable tartness to balance it out.

The peanut butter creme, when I taste it on its own, is very good. It has a slightly thick and gritty texture with a true roasted peanut flavor that strikes a perfect sweet balance in tandem with the golden wafer. Some of the great nuttiness comes through in the complete bite, but a lot of its more subtle notes get drowned out by the sweeter and surprisingly prominent jelly. From what I recall, this creme is a bit saltier and less sweet than the one most of us are familiar with in a Nutter Butter, and I would love to see a Golden Oreo that features just this creme.

While this Oreo is good, and certainly more interesting than a couple of releases earlier this year, I don’t love it, and I really really wanted to. It was a missed opportunity to not layer two thinner creme’s on top of each other, as no one eats peanut butter and jelly in two divided halves. The cookies are far from disgusting, and I will 100% eat the rest of them, but they unfortunately fall into the category of of PB&J products that don’t quite live up to the great flavor combo of the iconic sandwich, and will need an extra spoonful of PB to really pass my persona; tastebud test.

Rating: 7.5/10
Found at: FoodsCo ($2.99)

REVIEW: Salt & Straw’s Carrot Cake Batter & Hazelnut Praline

August 23, 2017August 14, 2018 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

The best time of the year is fast approaching, and as a certified spice fiend-ing cinna-slut I am ready for the equinox that arrives on September 22 at 1:02 PM PST. There will be so many special spicy pumpkin-y treats everywhere I turn that the air will taste of cloves. Since the leaves haven’t quite changed yet, I’ve found myself leaning back on the trusty year round crutch for myself and fellow spice-aholics – carrot cake. Seemingly in sync with my personal preferences for a little pre-autumn foreplay, Salt & Straw have laced their August Farmers Market series with an ode to one of the few desserts I would ever order with a vegetable in its name. Carrot Cake Batter & Hazelnut Praline combines a carrot cake batter ice cream with candied hazelnuts and a swirl of cheesecake frosting.

The carrot cake batter ice cream is executed with insane perfection. It’s extremely smooth and creamy but also hefty with shreds of carrots seamlessly working their way through nearly every bite. It eats like a cake-baking dream, with spicy notes of nutmeg and cinnamon beneath a wonderfully balanced sweetness from both the dairy and the carrots themselves. In every way it reminds me of the scraping and licking reward after whipping up some batter and I can’t think of a single way that the base could be improved to more accurately translate that highlight of any day in the kitchen.

While I generally associate walnuts with carrot cake I absolutely love the candied hazelnuts S&S threw into the mix here. They definitely have a slight candied sweet quality to them, but what they really provide is a dark, roasted, burnt-in-a-good way, caramelized richness that brings huge contrast and legitimate spoon intrigue to the equation. Hazelnut’s naturally have an intense, almost harsh flavor to them, and the aggressive roasted quality works well to heighten the presence of the spices in the “batter” as well as offset the general sweetness throughout. They also add a significant textural pop to the pint, with both a nutty crunch and a praline squish that is everything a perfect mix-in should be. Simply put, I love them.

The swirl of “cheesecake” frosting, much like the inclusion of hazelnuts, is another brilliant slight switch up to the carrot cake formula that works wonders here. The swirl is essentially a cream cheese frosting but has a more restrained sweetness than the usual straight forward frosting or glaze with some beautiful cheesy notes and ample vanilla. The ribbon is dotted with vanilla beans which play perfectly against the tang and give a very cohesive and slightly savory but still predominantly sweet flavor in tandem with the base. It’s integrated seamlessly throughout the pint, with some thick sheets along the sides, never getting too dominant, but never straying too far from the spoon either.

Despite the zero percent of actual cake in this pint, this is my favorite carrot cake flavored thing I have ever had that isn’t in actual slice form. The flavors are incredible, the idea is inventive, and the execution is immaculate. It is extremely rare for a cake batter ice cream to really channel the joys of licking the spoon, and this one not only does that, but does it in a way that is creative, elevated, and delicious.

Rating: 10/10
Found at: Salt & Straw ($11 – online and in stores)

REVIEW: Krispy Kreme’s Eclipse Chocolate Glazed Doughnut

August 21, 2017August 21, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

Today is the first total eclipse of my lifetime. For the lucky, small percent of those within the path of totality in the U.S., the sky will go temporarily dark during the middle of the day, and for the rest of us, it will go semi-dark. Stars will appear, the temperature will drop, and the animals will be confused as all hell. That’s pretty cool, but to be honest, I didn’t do so great in Astronomy class, and I can’t see a damn thing through this San Francisco fog anyway, so fortunately for me, today also marks the first time in HISTORY that something else is seeing the dark side – the Krispy Kreme waterfall of glaze. To celebrate North America’s moon party, today only (and for two soft evenings this past weekend when I snuck in) the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign will mean super fresh, melty, yeast doughnuts shimmering with black chocolate instead of the usual opaque tan sugar glaze.

I’ve gotta give Krispy Kreme some credit for their hype-o-meter skills. Rolling up at 6:30 PM on Saturday was the most poppin’ and clustered I’ve seen the shop since their big rollout and notorious over expansion in the 90’s. There wasn’t a line out the door, but the parking lot was full and the conveyor belt of doughy dreams was stopped and nearly empty – the first batch had already sold out! No worries, though, about ten minutes later the flour power was restored and the drooling group of people filming through the glass like an animal was giving birth at the zoo (myself included) simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

The doughnut is the same in size, shape, and flavor as the KK original glazed, except for the glaze. It has almost the same light, airy, “I-could-eat-about-six-of-these” texture that I know and love, and is incredibly soft and delectable, but feels a little heavier and ever so slightly denser than its big bro; probably from the cocoa powder. The chocolate glaze actually makes a pretty significant change to the overall experience as it is much less sweet, with slightly bitter cocoa notes taking place of the usually sharp and bright sugary flourish. It isn’t a dark chocolate by any means, but compared to what is usually offered it is a notably more subdued and less intense version of the circular splendor.

The other major difference is that the oily fried flavor comes through stronger with the chocolate, as there isn’t that huge wallop of sugar to cover it up. It isn’t greasy, it just has that golden flavor much like smaller french fries that get extra crispy, and it could be a good or bad thing depending on what you enjoy. I like crispy fried fries and a golden crunch on the outside of an old fashioned cake doughnut, but I’m not sure how much I love the flavor being so pronounced here.

This is a solid doughnut, but not nearly as incredible as the original. When I have a Krispy Kreme glazed that’s been made within the last couple of hours, I marvel at its simplistic beauty as I’m taken over by its sugary perfection, and the chocolate version, while good, simply can’t eclipse it.

Rating: 7.5/10
Found at: Krispy Kreme ($1.39)

REVIEW: Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

August 17, 2017August 15, 2017 / seansskillet / 3 Comments

Graeter’s have been churning out small batch super premium ice cream since 1870, and as a west coast ice cream lover I have a confession to make – I have never had Graeter’s! They don’t have any scoop shops on this side of the country and until recently didn’t have a ton of distribution in the area either. They use super high quality ingredients in their unique French Pot process which yields only two gallons at a time, resulting in super dense, heavy ice cream that is regarded as some of the best in the world by creamy aficionados everywhere. For my initial foray in Graeter’s territory I decided to go with what many deem a true classic – Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, which is simply black raspberry ice cream with their highly acclaimed chocolate chips.

The ice cream has one of the most gorgeous deep purple hues I have ever seen, channeling the rich juicy flesh of the berries, and is incredibly eye catching and appealing. The texture, as expected from a super premium high fat ice cream, is velvety smooth and heavy, but has been churned with such expertise that it doesn’t feel aggressively fatty. Based on the intensity of the color, I’m actually a bit letdown by the flavor, which isn’t nearly as bold as I was expecting. The berry flavor is very subdued, not that sweet, and not tart either. I was expecting some lush berry notes, and instead am left with only the slightest hint of fruit. It seems that the fruity notes are getting washed out by the high butterfat content in the ice cream itself, and the intended creamy power play is actually working against the execution of the desired flavor.

The chocolate chips, however, are very good. Many trusted ice cream sources, and even Graeter’s website, refer to the massive size of their chocolate chunks, and while I didn’t really get what I anticipated, I still love what is in this pint. The chocolate is in mostly smaller pieces with the occasional bigger boulder, but my goodness the flavor and texture of the pieces is flawless. There’s a deep, slightly bitter cocoa flavor that stands out strong against the dairy with a literal melt-in-your-mouth texture that is gentle and succulent like soft serve that has been dipped in magic shell. It is some of the softest, most perfect chocolate I have ever had in ice cream and falls somewhere in between chips and fudge with its beautiful textural give and flourish.

All in all this is an okay introduction to Graeter’s for me. While I cannot deny the fantastic quality of the textures at play, the flavor in the base is lacking for such a high priced premium product. Good enough to try another flavor, but not impressive enough for me to go out and pick up this particular pint again. I have heard that Graeter’s quality took a hit once they got bigger distribution, and I get the feeling that if I scooped this in one of their shops I may have a different experience, but I can only grade what I’ve got.

Rating: 7/10
Found at: Whole Foods ($6.99)

REVIEW: Keebler Limited Batch Strawberry Cheesecake Fudge Stripes

August 15, 2017August 15, 2017 / seansskillet / 1 Comment

Within any collective community or “scene” there are always different levels of dedication. There are casual sports fans who might don a team’s hat when they’re doing well, and then the guy who shows up shirtless to every game painted in the team’s colors. There are listeners of metal music that may fancy themselves a nice studded bracelet, and then there are those true-to-the-core metalhead badasses who don’t own a single piece of non-black clothing. There are part-timers who punch in 23 hours at their workplace, and then those who crawl their way in on Sunday’s and never push less than 60. There are the Taco Bell’s who are dedicated to the insanity and the McDonald’s who never stray too far from the path. You get the picture.

In the junk food world the levels of dedication can be measured by limited time offerings, and while Oreo reigns supreme in coming out with kooky cookies (Swedish Fish, Cotton Candy), Keebler have yet to really take any risks since delving into the LTO-iverse last year…until now. While they’ve played it generally close to the vest with Pumpkin Spice, Lemon, and Cinnamon, this summer the Elves took their first step towards true dedication, trying a flavor that is no easy task and could ultimately lead to Fudge Stripe failure – Strawberry Cheesecake.

Ripping open the soft pink and off-white packaging reveals a distinctly tangy and cheesecake-y aroma. It’s mellow but sharp, and surprisingly less strawberry-forward than what I expected. These cookies were shipped to me straight from the Elfin land of Keebler’s Hollow Tree, and quite a few of them took a crumble tumble in travel, but that shouldn’t effect the taste at all. The intact cookies share in the same rosy pink as the package with the signature white “fudge” stripes on the top.

Wow – these cookies are awesome. Much like the initial smell, the flavor that I get smacked with immediately is cheesecake, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting these to taste like cheesecake at all. I was anticipating a wallop of too-sweet artificial strawberry flavor with a hint of nondescript creaminess, more akin to a strawberries and cream, but these are tangy and cheesy with a great balance of sweetness. I’m not a big fan of fake strawberry, and I don’t get much of that flavor here at all, it may even be closer to cherry, as it just has a slightly tart fruity essence beneath the layer of cheesecake.

The texture, like all Fudge Stripes, is a soft-yet-crumbly shortbread that brings a nice hit of butteriness beneath the cheesy berry flavors. Much like the Lemon Stripes, the flavors here are all around a bit muted, but with such notoriously bold tart and tangy potential I really appreciate the subtly they come across with. The ratios are spot on with the berry taking the backseat, because no one ever eats a slice of cheesecake drowning in sauce, it acts as the acidic highlight to the decadent cake, and that’s exactly what these cookies do.

Rating: 8.5/10
Found at: Sent to me from Keebler but can be found in stores and online (approx. $3)

REVIEW: Ample Hills’ The Commodore

August 11, 2017August 12, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Vanderbilt Avenue is the street that houses the first Ample Hills scoop shop, where the company cut their teeth in 2011 cranking out all of their ice cream from its small kitchen. The street gets its name from the lore of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was an 1800’s business tycoon known for owning the New York Central Railroad, and more importantly, inventing the potato chip. Yes, he was that picky dude who sent his fried potatoes back for being too soggy. The cook, George Crum, responded in passive aggressive fashion by slicing them mega thin, too thin to be eaten with a fork, and they were the surprise hit of the evening. James, also known as Commodore Cornelius, literally paved the streets in gold with his advances in transportation, but he also blessed our tastebuds with the then dubbed “Saratoga Chips”. No slouches to churning out thoughtful delicious custard, Ample Hills’ The Commodore is a Vanderbilt store exclusive flavor that combines a salted honey base with clusters of chocolate covered potato chips and housemade honey comb candy.

In a completely un-shocking twist, this is the most restrained level of sweetness I’ve ever had in a honey based ice cream and it’s refreshingly delicious. The salt brings not only a different flavor but a different feeling as well – with a slight tingle that coats my tongue. I love the traditionally sweet and creamy bases that honey can deliver, but the salt in this one helps reduce the sugary notes and heighten the deep golden flavor of the sacred bee-vomit. It isn’t quite savory, but it has just enough of those salty earth tones that is doesn’t taste aggressively sweet, and I find myself wanting to eat more to figure out this unique sensation.

The chocolate covered potato chips are absolutely perfect. The milk chocolate adds a great sweet punch and has preserved all the crunch of the deliciously crispy fried chips. Cornelius would be completely lit on this pint. There’s a big genuine potato flavor that comes through like grabbing a handful from a bag of Kettle brand, and the saltiness still pops despite the minerals’ presence in the base. It might seem odd at first glance, but the mashup of chocolate and honey and chips really works and hits that ideal balance of interesting yet craveable that all craft companies should aspire to.

The honey comb candy in my pint has stayed somewhat intact but has also partially dissolved into little pools of honey caramel, and I’m not complaining. The pieces chomp with a lovely crystalized crunch that further release the deep golden honey notes, while the saucy caramel-esque sauce bleeds into the ice cream, once again deepening the honey presence. The honey comb is without a doubt the sweetest component in the container and adds that extra layer of candy crunch that makes The Commodore eat like a true sweet treat.

This flavor, usually only available at one store in one state is currently for sale as part of the Taste of NY 4 pack through the end of the month. If this sounds remotely delicious to you, I can guarantee you will love it, and the investment will be worth the cost.

Rating: 9/10
Found at: http://www.amplehills.com

REVIEW: Lay’s Do Us A Flavor 2017 (all three finalists)

August 9, 2017August 9, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

One of the greatest moments in modern junk food history is when Lay’s announced the Do Us A Flavor contest in 2013. Three flavors of “weird” potato chips that the consumer got to vote on and ultimately decide the fate of. I love this shit. Limited offerings and seasonal engagements are what make junk and fast food so fun, and this idea from Lay’s spawned other great offshoots like voting on peanut M&M’s and the ongoing My Oreo Creation contest from Nabisco. It also was an unfortunate reminder of how boring America’s tastebuds are, as the most snooze-worthy and underachieving flavor from that initial year – Cheesy Garlic Bread – took the potato crown from the far more interesting and successful Sriracha and Chicken and Waffles. But that’s all in the past.

Over the last four years I’ve tried every flavor from the contest, and I’m one of the weirdos that even liked 2014’s Cappuccino chip – which was a slightly creamy, cinnamon-kissed chocolate coffee sweet savory oddity that was so bizarre it worked. 2017’s lineup of the top 10 semifinalists had lots of promise, with the likes of Smoked Gouda & Honey, Sloppy Joe, and Nashville Hot Chicken sounding particularly interesting – but of course, none of them made it. I already tried and did quick “TASTE TEST” videos of each of the flavors with the lovely Sil B on Instagram, but below you will find my overall thoughts on each flavor as well as the associated video. Enjoy – and don’t forget to vote for your favorite to still be around next year!

Wavy Fried Green Tomato:

These chips came in with the natural advantage of being Wavy, aka the best type of potato chip, and they live up to their advantage in terms of texture and crunch. They’re wonderfully crispy and perfectly fried without being greasy at all. The flavor is salty and peppery with some herbaceous tomato notes that are present but not incredibly bold. Each of the chips, depending on their amount of coating, tell a bit of a different story with some packing a much bigger punch than others (classic). I haven’t had a ton of fried green tomatoes, but the most dominant flavor I get out of these is “fried coating” with a hint of parmesan cheesiness, garlic, and a nice black pepper finish. The most interesting element to this flavor is a mayonnaise-y creamy undertone to represent the sauce shown on the front of the bag. They’re good, safe, and a very eat-able chip that aren’t offensive in any way but don’t have much of a wow factor either. As I eat these I can’t help but feel like the semifinalist Fried Ravioli would have been a similar experience but much better with a more robust, oregano and basil seasoning blend and some wonderful slightly sharp mozzarella notes instead of fatty aioli. Oh well.

Rating: 7.5/10

Crispy Taco:

Wow. These chips are exactly what Do Us A Flavor is all about. When the semifinalists were announced Crispy Taco was one of the most boring average sounding flavors that have already been done as a chip seasoning for years, but Lay’s completely knocked it out of the park with this one. The flavor emulation game is on another level here with the leading flavor being lettuce – yes, lettuce. Somehow they packed the bright, crisp flavor of shredded lettuce into the powder, followed by cheddar cheese, tomato, beef seasoning, and even some tomato acidity. It’s actually unreal how this potato chip tastes nothing like a potato and somehow manages to taste more like a hard corn taco shell than the vegetable it’s actually made of. Kudos Lay’s, you officially impressed the hell out of me. And yes, I did squeeze some Fire sauce onto the chips and it tasted 95% like I had just left the Taco Bell drive through. Ridic.

Rating: 9/10

Kettle Cooked Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese:

These were the chips I was most looking forward to, since everything bagels have lot’s of great seasoning that can plop themselves onto most vessels and be delicious. What a missed opportunity. I’m not sure if Lays got too focused on the cream cheese element of the profile or simply got lazy, but these chips taste like sour cream and onion with a slight tang and hints of garlic, onion, and an extra dash of salt. Not a disgusting chip by any means, in fact it’s pretty good, but nothing new or exciting in the slightest. I can’t say they didn’t try though, as there are poppy seeds on most of the chips, but the flavor doesn’t translate. None of the more dominant elements of “everything” – like sesame, deep onion, or a twist like caraway seeds – are present at all. These are a safe bet to be enjoyed by someone seeking a salty/creamy/slightly spiced snack but do not deliver on what could have been an ultimate follow up to the now standard salt and pepper kettle chip.

Rating: 6/10

Overall this was an okay return for the annual potato battle. Keep in mind that the ratings are based mostly on whether or not the desired flavor was achieved, and that all of these chips are pretty good and a worthy sando sidekick. My biggest disappointment is that none of the finalists this year were spicy in the slightest and they are all relatively safe. Hopefully a couple more of the semis make it out as exclusives or short runs in the near future.

REVIEW: Limited Edition Dunkin’ Donuts’ Mocha Oreo

August 8, 2017August 6, 2017 / seansskillet / 1 Comment

Few things in this world go together as beautifully as coffee and chocolate – so why the hell did it take so long for Oreo to put a spin on the classic combo? When Trader Joe’s released their fantastic Mocha Joe Joe’s earlier this year I couldn’t believe they beat Nabisco in the cookie race, but they did, and they put out a real bang up of a product in the process. Although late, Nabisco teamed up with another junk food juggernaut in Dunkin’ Donuts to unearth the Limited Edition Mocha Oreo, which pairs the traditional chocolate Oreo wafer with a coffee flavored creme filling.

Coffee is one of the most fantastically seductive aromas the culinary world has to offer, and shockingly these Oreo cookies don’t smell like coffee – at all. In fact, they smell like chocolate frosting. Slightly less sweet than what I remember regular double chocolate Oreo’s smelling like, but absolutely zero traces of the roasted bean that’s the inspiration behind the product. Sometimes coffee is used in baking to elevate the flavor in a chocolate cake, adding extra depth to the bitter cocoa notes, and I’m hoping that’s what’s at play here, and not a cookie that tastes as weak and diluted as Dunkin’s overhyped coffee.

Fortunately for me, and for Nabisco’s reputation, these cookies actually taste great. There is 100% more coffee flavor than there is smell, and while it isn’t the punchiest mocha product I’ve had, it’s a damn good one. The usual bitter notes of the wafer cookie are amplified by the coffee creme, and the two play off of one another to great success. A mocha is generally less coffee-heavy, with only two or three ounces being actual espresso and the rest milk and chocolate, and with those ratios in mind this Oreo is pretty much spot on. As a daily black coffee drinker who really appreciates the natural flavor of the dark stuff these satisfy my tastebuds and are still sweet enough to actually compliment a real cup of bitter joe on the side.

As simple as this minor creme-change is, it really works, and I find these Mocha Oreo’s to be the best chocolate-based limited offering in recent memory. They’re much more interesting and endearing than Chocolate Covered Strawberry and have a much more significant flavor switch up than Filled Cupcake or Brownie Batter. While they may not deliver as big of an espresso hit as Trader Joe’s Mocha Joe Joe’s, they’re nearly just as delicious and full of that classic Oreo nostalgia.

Rating: 8.5/10
Found at: Safeway ($2.99)

Sean's Skillet

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