Found At: your local grocer’s baking section (Sweetbay Supermarkets here in Florida)
Ease of Use: Two cups of 2% milk and less than five minutes later, I had fresh pumpkin pudding firming up in the fridge … and technically according to the instructions said refrigeration wasn’t even necessary, but since I was a little kid that’s just always how I’ve made pudding and why mess with a good system now?!
Presentation: Definitely a nice and creamy appearance, especially when compared to that humdrum yogurt from a few days ago, but I still thought that adding a bit of whipped cream, nutmeg, and even a Newman’s ginger cookie to garnish made it even better!
Flavor: Not perfect, but most certainly decent when compared to other wanna-be pumpkin flavorings. Has a nice sweet flavor without being overbearing, and the spice level seems to be just about right … at least as far as a pudding would be concerned.
Final Verdict: In addition to the standard pudding recipe, the box also featured a recipe for a Pumpkin Mousse that also sounded interesting, so with any luck I hope to be able to hunt down another box of pudding mix before these disappear from the shelves and give that a try as well! I definitely recommend the pudding as a means of adding a pumpkin dessert to one’s meal without bringing home an entire pie – stay tuned to find out if the pumpkin mousse is just as commendable!

Origin: local neighborhood Dairy Queen (not my local neighborhood, mind you, but I’m sure it was somebody’s neighborhood…)
Flavor: pumpkin-flavored, with what appeared to be bits of graham cracker crust
Appearance: clearly didn’t look exactly like the promotional photo, but still looked good
Taste: left something to be desired … had definite pumpkin-flavoring, but couldn’t possibly hold a candle to something along the lines of Cold Stone’s pumpkin ice cream which is actually pumpkin ice cream instead of just vanilla with pumpkin-flavoring added in later
Footnote: This treat probably would’ve been better received had I not stood there and watched the lady make it – there was just something about seeing the spoonfuls of “pumpkin-flavoring” gunk that she put in the cup before mixing it up that really ruined the magic for me. Before ordering, I joked about how they probably just throw a piece of pumpkin pie in the blender and add some ice cream, and sadly that wasn’t too far from the truth! Some things are better left behind the curtain…