Disney Locale: found at the Hops & Barley booth (USA) at Epcot during the 16th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

Thoughts?: Meh – not as good as I was hoping … honestly, it looked better than it tasted, in my opinion.  I was kind of expecting a sweet mousse like the one I encountered out in Disneyland last year, but instead this version seemed a little more tart.  Plus, I’m not at all a fan of Craisins, so I was trying my best to eat around the topping … which is too bad because the streusel itself seems like it would be a good mix with the pumpkin.

Do It Yourself!: Nonetheless, despite what *I* might’ve thought about this one, even if you weren’t able to make it down to Epcot this fall to try for yourself, Ocean Spray and Disney also have a short video that shows you how to make it yourself…

Discovery: The other day my wife and I had breakfast at our local Cracker Barrel, and in between being absolutely amazed by the sheer volume of plates that were brought out for merely the two of us, I also got to pondering what a place like Cracker Barrel might offer in terms of pumpkin-related specialties.  We don’t really eat there all that often, so I was thinking maybe just a pumpkin pie or possibly some sort of pumpkin pancakes, but instead I was presented with an intriguing promo card on our table that despite still eating only breakfast, I knew that I was going to have to order to-go for dessert…

Taste: Holy Gingersnaps, Batman – this stuff is worth going back for!  Now I’m not sure if I’ve ever even had custard before, so I really wasn’t sure quite what to expect as far as the consistency was concerned, but I actually ended up really enjoying what I guess I might describe as somewhere between a really thick and solid pudding and those Yoplait Whips yogurts that I actually like.  As for the flavor, while the gingersnaps were definitely the dominant taste and smell (in a good way!) from the moment I opened the container, the custard itself had a very smooth and satisfying taste of pumpkin, including a nice aftertaste that I found blended quite well with the cookie sprinkles.

Ranking: Definitely a lot higher than I was expecting, and probably one of the best desserts I’ve tasted so far this season!

Disclaimer: Although it may appear that I made these s’mores out of peanut butter, while that also sounds delicious, rest assured that those are actually real, bonafide pumpkin marshmallows nestled snugly in between layers of graham cracker and chocolate…

The Ingredients:

• The Classic (aka the on the right) – cinnamon graham crackers, pumpkin-spice marshmallows, 1/4 of a Hershey’s milk chocolate candy bar
• Pumpkin Indulgence (aka the one on the left) – cinnamon graham crackers, pumpkin-spice marshmallows, Pumpkin Spice Hershey’s Kisses

Satisfaction: Sublime! What better way to end a pre-Halloween impromptu cookout than by roasting up a couple of these classic desserts with a pumpkin twist?!  Answer – there isn’t one, so if your barbecue hasn’t yet been buried under 14-feet of snow, I implore you to seize this opportunity to fire that puppy up, perhaps preface said desserting with a delicious bevv of hamburgers and hotdogs and other assorted meat products, and then finally embark on a wondrously nostalgic pumpkin and chocolate-filled journey that your tastebuds won’t soon forget…

The goods arrived promptly on our doorstep Friday afternoon, this time not only decorated with candy-corn grins as opposed to previous years’ M&Ms, but also containing a very special surprise buried deep within … chocolate chips!

One of these days I need to have her transcribe her recipe so that I can post it for all to enjoy.

I love my Mom…

Sometimes You’ve Just Gotta Make It Yourself…:

• pumpkin ice cream
• Oreo creme filling ice cream
• Oreo cookies
• chocolate syrup

Justification: If the Gods of Cookie-dom themselves won’t give us a Pumpkin Spice Oreo on their own, then we must thank our lucky stars that the ice cream innovators at Cold Stone are willing and eager to give us the tools that we can use to make such a delectable treat on our own accord.

Bonus Points: Besides, how many other ice cream parlors can you go to where the guy throws each scoop of ice cream into the air as he’s making your delicious, frozen treat?!  If ice cream juggling doesn’t deserve some sort of tip, then I don’t know what does!

Brand?: They weren’t really labeled or anything, but I found them in Target’s bakery section, for what it’s worth.

Taste?: Honestly, it was kind of hard to tell on this one just because the cream cheese frosting is SOOOO overwhelming and they’re small enough that it’s hard to take just a bite of cake unless you come in from the bottom!  Ultimately, the cake flavor is more spice than pumpkin, much like most of the stuff to come out of Target’s bakery, but they were still tasty and I can somewhat ashamedly predict that the whole container of 12 probably isn’t going to last me very long…

“Mini Cakes” … Aren’t Those Really Just Cupcakes???: Yeah, pretty much.  Although mini-cupcakes, if you really want to nitpick over semantics!

The Source: This one was a quick find at a local cafe where I grab lunch on occasion – I was kind of surprised to see it next to the chocolate cake that they usually only have, and at first was wondering if it was maybe some sort of spice cake, on account of the colorings.

The Taste: Unfortunately, after the first couple of bites, you could say that it might as well have been spice cake because there certainly wasn’t much of any flavor to indicate that actual pumpkins were involved in the making of this cake!  It was good, mind you, although it probably could’ve been just a little bit more moist for all its density, but for what it’s worth I’m sure it’s not something that they even make there themselves anyways – it kind of resembled the pound cakes that you can buy at Walmart for $7, except you don’t because you always know that they’re never actually going to taste half as good as for whatever reason they look there on that rack…

P.S.: The sandwich, on the other hand?  Absolutely delicious.  They call it the Roast Beef Bluez, it comes with roast beef, crumbled bleu cheese, caramelized onions, and a “Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing,” and it consistently draws me back to their counter for more at least once a week.

The Teaser: The appearance of a pumpkin cinnamon roll, but with the texture of a pumpkin cake and the sweetness of eating brown sugar right out of the bag…
…but in a good way!
The Blurb: Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit that this one doesn’t exactly look the prettiest, but still, as a sweet reward after a long day of unpacking I was willing to overlook aesthetics for the sake of a little mid-spring pumpkin indulgence!  Besides, I had my excuses…

1. Our new house has one of these fancy convection ovens, meaning that it doesn’t have nearly as much room inside as a traditional oven and I ended up using a 9×9 pan instead of the 15×10 that the recipe called for, hence the cake-like thickness.
2. As a result of using said smaller pan, I couldn’t get the thing to cook thoroughly all the way through without burning the edges, hence the somewhat gooey center … although for what it’s worth, I kinda liked it this way.
3. And lastly, the frosting probably needed a little less juice and ended up coming out more liquidy and less spreadable, hence the icing look that is vastly different than the picture … but again, I felt like it gave more of a cinnamon roll icing texture and it wasn’t really so bad!

The Flavor: The pumpkin – mild, but much more desirable when you got near the gooey center; the frosting – very apple-y, but did well to compliment the pumpkin when it wasn’t overpowering it completely!  If I made these again sometime, I’d either want to cut the recipe in half or find a bigger pan that will still work in our oven, and then also just take a bit more time with the frosting to get more of a frosting consistency.

The Recipes (both via pillsbury.com):

• Spicy Pumpkin Bars
• Browned-Butter Apple Frosting (note – it doesn’t actually make mention online, but this frosting was recommended as an alternative to using regular canned frosting in the original cookbook that I found the recipe in)

Initial Reaction: Wow – pumpkin?!  In February?!?! Cool!
Post-Consumption Reaction: Oh – nevermind…

A Declaration: I think I might have to stop considering supermarket bakeries for a while because out of all the stores that I’ve frequented, I think that I can count the number of quality pumpkin items that they’ve churned out on one hand.  I don’t know if they just throw the word “pumpkin” out there as some sort of gimmick or something, or maybe my expectations just fall considerably higher than “just a hint of pumpkin” these days, but frankly it gets frustrating after a while to find so many baked goods that seem to be pumpkin in name only.

Case in point: my wife, who really doesn’t like pumpkin at all, said that she enjoyed these because she could hardly taste the pumpkin in them!

So in short – didn’t like ‘em, mad at supermarket bakeries.

Words: Call me crazy, but aren’t these basically just mini-pumpkin pies???  I mean, I suppose the crust is a little bit thicker, but what exactly is supposed to make a tart a tart???

Call to Action: Seriously, I’m asking – does anybody know?!  I’ve had these things sitting in my freezer for the longest time after a pumpkin trip through Whole Foods and I’ve gotta say, I wasn’t too impressed.  Also, for being toted as “all natural,” they sure had a ridiculous amount of calories – 480 per tart! By comparison, McDonald’s Pumpkin Pies are only 240 calories, and arguably they taste better, too, so you do the math…