Palmer Pumpkin Spice Cups

I hadn't planned on reviewing these but I'll be damned if these weren't literally haunting me from my pantry.

A little backstory first ... if you watched some of the Halloween videos I posted at the beginning of the month, you'll see that my friends and I have a love/hate relationship with Palmer and their candy. We loved it when we were doing our videos as it was cheap candy but we hated it because it was exactly that, cheap, generic candy. This particular bag set me back only a dollar at the local Dollar Tree back at the beginning of September. I stuffed it in my pantry after getting home that day and promptly forgot about it, until now that is.

I was filling up the trick-or-treat bowl and found them. My first though was that I'll just dump them in the bowl and be done with them. Then I realized I couldn't do that without trying one and knowing what I could potentially be unleashing on unsuspecting trick-or-treaters.

Here it is out of the wrapper. It looks pretty normal, just like any other knock off Reese's cup.

Before trying it, I dissected it to see what it looked like on the inside. Pretty generic if you ask me. Knowing how bad Palmer's candy has been in the past, I took a bite with much trepidation. It was exactly as I expected ... a super artificial flavor in the pumpkin spice filling, fake generic chocolate that was unnecessarily and overly sweet, and a horrible aftertaste that lingered an hour after taking one bite.

This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

Caramel Apple Pop Tarts

Whoever thought these would be easy to find was sadly mistaken. Every time I thought I had a lead on them, it proved to be false. One day, I found them by chance while I was out at the local Kroger store. It was there a whole giant shelf of them was available. Excitedly, I grabbed one box and put in in the cart with all my other groceries. Bringing them home, they sat in the pantry for about a week before I remembered I had them. I grabbed a few packs of them and took them to work for a quick breakfast.

Here they are out of their silvery foil prison and sitting on my desk at work. My box must have been thrashed around a bit during shipping and the pop tarts themselves weren't solid like they normally are, they were cracked. That's fine though as I usually break apart my pop tarts when I eat them. 

Since there was no toaster handy, I ate them as they were. I'm not normally a fan of apple flavored stuff but these were pretty good. I couldn't really taste any caramel but they were pretty heavy on the apple, to the point where I though these were some sort of apple pie flavor. The green squiggle didn't really bring anything to the party, neither did the frosting. 

These seem to be a Kroger exclusive flavor so if you have one near you, go see if you can find them as they are definitely worth a try. If not, I guess there's always eBay if you're desperate.

Scary and Spooky Cereals

Behold, three seasonal and spooky cereals. These are possibly guaranteed to start your day right by making it spooky and creepy and all kinds of awesome.

Count Chocula

This might sound a little bit odd but to tell the truth, I don't recall ever having Count Chocula until I poured out a bowl for this review. I know that may sound sacrilegious to some of you but that's the truth. I'm not going to go into what it tastes like as if you've had it before, you know what it tastes like and if you haven't, imagine chocolate flavored rice cereal with marshmallows in it. Sorry to spoil it for you. However, the one thing I do want to talk about is that box! Just look at it! The crazy font, the cartoonish representation of the Count himself that looks like he could be a character in the next Hotel Transylvania movie, not to mention he'd doing the old Rob Van Dam thumbs pose (that's for all you wrestling fans out there), like he's simply saying "Buy me! Not those others!". 

Chocolate Frosted Flakes with Marshmallows

I've had chocolate Frosted Flakes before, so I knew kind of what to expect with these. However, adding the marshmallow component took this to a whole new level! Frosted Flakes are what they are but the marshmallow bits added a nice component, being slightly resistant to the bite. They also double as parts of a skeleton which you can put together if you feel inclined to do so. The packaging is pretty cool too, with Tony the Tiger presenting a nice big bowl of these in what looks like some sort of dog bowl. That, or it's a hollowed out green jack-o-lantern. Aside from that, the package is pretty basic but I will definitely recommend these.

Pumpkin Spice Cheerios

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with these. If I'm going to have Cheerios, then it must be of the Honey Nut variety as I don't like regular Cheerios. Also, would these be an explosion of pumpkin flavor in every spoonful? Or would it just barely be there. The answer is that the pumpkin flavor is somewhere is the middle. It's not overly powerful but it's just enough to let you know it's there. As for the box design, it's pretty plain. Just a simple bowl of Cheerios with a spoon and a pumpkin on a wooden background. I can't say I'd recommend these but if you happen to find them for cheap, then it might be worth a try.

Crazy Halloween Junk Food

I'll have to admit, September has pretty much been a blur. Between work kicking my butt and being busy nearly every weekend, I had precious little time to write. Fear not though, since it's now officially fall it's really time to embrace the season ... and by embrace the season I mean gorge myself on Halloween junk food. These items have no relationship to each other whatsoever other than the fact that I couldn't get enough out of them for a full fledged article.

Hostess Scary Cakes

Yes! These are back for another year. Sure, they're just the basic Hostess cupcake any other time of the year, but not in the fall. In the fall, they are "Scary Cakes" with S'cream filling. If these aren't a sign that the Halloween season is in full force then I don't know what is. The box design this year is great with a spooky design that just grabs you. The icing on the cupcake has that standard Hostess squiggle design but the frosting is orange! Name another time of year you'll find a cupcake with orange icing! Now, if you've had a Hostess cupcake before, you know what this tastes like, however I think it has just a little bit better flavor and taste because it has a Halloween style. Put some of these out along with a cold glass of cider for the Great Pumpkin when he comes and your Halloween will be that much better.

Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

I've always looked at Pepperidge Farm stuff from afar, it being more expensive than your normal Chips Ahoy or Oreo cookie pack. I've gotten a few of their products before and haven't been too terribly impressed which is mostly the reason I stray away from them (the other being cost). These were one of the first "fall" products I saw in the stores, so I grabbed it. The package design is very bright as has a design of falling leaves on the top. Opening these, I couldn't discern any particular smell so I just hoped they wouldn't be horrible. Well, they weren't horrible, but they weren't great either. The chunks you see picture in the cookie on the package are cheesecake flavored chunks. The cookie itself had a slight sort of gingerbread-y flavor to it. I can't say I can recommend these but you could do a whole lot worse.

Count Chocula Cereal Bars

Speaking of doing a whole lot worse, I found these on a display at the grocery store lumped in with all the Halloween cereals (side note: review of the cereals coming soon) and though they looked interesting. The box has a very cartoonish  vibe to it, probably to appeal to kids or fans of the Count Chocula cereal. I had the cereal itself before I had this so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. Well, everything I expected went right out the window when I bit into it. It's got a very processed and marshmallow heavy taste and has the consistency of cardboard. The chocolate looks and tastes incredibly fake and it's very heavy on the artificial sweetener. I tried to offer part of the bar to my 3-year old son and he promptly screamed and ran away. Even if kids are running from this, that should tell you something.

Hi-C Ecto Cooler

This was all the rage back in the summertime when the new Ghostbusters movie came out in July. People were looking high and low and grocery retailers big and small just so they could get a nostalgic taste of their childhood. I didn't find any in my area until mid-August, just before the movie left theaters. That didn't stop me though, I grabbed a bunch of the 10-box packs. It tastes just like I remember it, very citrusy with orange and tangerine. You better believe that when I found more of these at the store, I loaded up. There's no telling if this is back for good or if stores are just going through what stock they have left. One thing is for sure though, this is the perfect drink to have on a fall night when you're staying up late to watch a Pumpkinhead marathon.

Pecan Pie and White Boo-tterscotch M&Ms

Oh, M&Ms, you never cease to amaze me with the crazy seasonal flavors you come out with. Last year, it was Pumpkin Spice Latte and Candy Corn flavors, this year its Pecan Pie and White Boo-tterscotch flavors. The concept is good, but let's see if they really work.

White Boo-tterscotch

I heard about these via some of the foodie websites my wife frequents and to be honest, I was pretty excited. My favorite dessert at Thanksgiving is the butterscotch pie that my aunt makes so when I heard about these, I knew I had to make a beeline to the nearest Target. These were positioned right in the middle of the main aisle with a bunch of other standard M&M flavors like peanut and peanut butter in the requisite fall packaging as was just about the only Halloween related thing Target had out. I like the package with Red getting all scared and ghosts abundant all around

Here's what they look like out of the package. Three different colors, brown, white and tan. I tried one of each color and then all three colors together. The inside is white as it states on the package and the butterscotch flavor is pretty strong but captures the flavor perfectly. They're also pretty sweet and after just having the small amount in the bowl, I feel like I could run about 10 laps around the block. If you're a fan of butterscotch flavored stuff, then these are definitely worth a try.

Pecan Pie

The other offering from M&Ms this fall ... Pecan Pie. I've never really been a big fan of pecan pie as pecans covered in gobs of karo syrup never really looked all that appealing to me. The packaging on this is very enticing with Green sitting on some haystacks offering up a big slice of pecan pie topped with whipped cream. Hopefully these will live up to the lofty packaging standards in terms of taste.

Again, here's what they look like out of the package. They're a bit darker than the butterscotch. As for how they taste, they're a bit underwhelming honestly. I was expecting a blow away flavor of pecan pie like I had with the butterscotch ones but there wasn't any of that. These tasted exactly like regular M&Ms with the slightest hint of pecan in the aftertaste. Not exactly my favorites so these will be pawned off on others. 

I'd definitely get the butterscotch ones again but the pecan pie ones I'll pass on. 

Project Halloween Begins .... NOW!!

Welcome to Project Halloween 2016!

Let's do this.

Project Halloween is born out of a love of the fall and Halloween season that I discovered about ten years ago. Back in 2007, a few friends and I came up with the idea to do a video reviewing Halloween candy, decorations, and the like and put it online the Friday before Halloween. While we were doing that, I was the main person going out to stores getting goofy candies, rubber masks, cheap props, etc that we could all review and talk about during the special. During that time, I discovered a love for the holiday and the season that I never knew I had. Those specials continued yearly and eventually made it onto YouTube until our last one in 2014. There wasn't one last year as everyone's schedules made it incredibly difficult to get together and film.

I know most, if not all, of you come here for the trading card content. Between now and November, that will be on the back burner in favor of Project Halloween. Come November, once we're all suffering from a Halloween hangover and I've blown through at least 100 cans of Mountain Dew and untold boxes of pumpkin flavored junk food, cards will be back in full force. Trading cards are around and available all year, while fall and Halloween only comes around once, so why not embrace it while I can. It is my favorite time of year after all.

So what is in store for Project Halloween? Anything and everything! The "Hallo-Switch" is in full effect where stores have started clearing out their beach chairs, grills, and school supplies and are replacing them with masks, candy, plastic weaponry, shrunken heads, costumes, etc. That, along with the amount of seasonal food already available (and judging by what's out there, it's going to be a very heavy year on the pumpkin spice), should make for a fun Halloween season. I can't guarantee a new post every day but there will be plenty to go around, don't worry.

Besides the Halloween standards like candy and decor, there will be all kinds of other stuff ... fall festivals, farm markets, horror films, trick-or-treat night, seasonal beers, and lots of other random junk that I'm sure hasn't even shown up yet but probably will between now and October 31st. Oh yeah, the blog got a little Halloween makeover just to make sure the spooky season is done right.

Since this is a kick-off to Halloween and in order to get you into the Halloween spirit there are a number of things you could do right now, but the biggest one of all is to get out and do some shopping! Call it a Halloween treasure hunt if you will. Sure most stores may not have a full-fledged display out yet but if you just look at little closer or go out of your way to look, you never know what you might find. Now is the time where each evening walk, each trip to the store, and a million, trillion mundane, routine items we do on a daily basis are now all out adventures and I encourage you to take advantage of it.

So come on in, boys and girls, sit down, and stay for a while, there's nothing to be scared of. My only hope is that you have as much fun reading my two month ode to this time of year as I do writing it. If it helps you embrace and rediscover the best time of the year, then I've done my job and far as making it fun. I hope you as readers enjoy it and I encourage you to leave comments and spread the word if you do.

For the next two months, we're going to go crazy folks. Enjoy it, savor it, make it your own. Halloween only comes around once a year, it's our duty to do it right. Now, do yourself a favor and kick back with some popcorn, your favorite drink, and Friday the 13th: Part 3.

We're gonna party until we're dead.