Soy???: Although I’ll freely admit that I don’t exactly know what the difference between a soy candle and a regular candle even is, I picked this one up at Target because even off the shelf without being lit I found that it had a much deeper pumpkin smell than most other candles outside of that ridiculously overpriced place in the mall that I’ve smelled. Lit, its scent is quite rich, but not necessarily room-clearing … very pleasant, much akin to baking a particularly high quality pumpkin pie!

Leftovers: So here’s one that despite having picked it up for Thanksgiving, I’ll freely admit that I’m just now getting around to enjoying … and for those of you who are now scratching your heads saying, “Who in their right mind takes four days to get around to eating a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake?!”, well, my bad…

But in My Defense!: We did have a ridiculous amount of food – as in, more desserts than entries and side dishes combined-level of ridiculous!

No Excuse!: You’re right, though – there really is no excuse because even though I’ve passed on this one many times in the past simply because The Cheesecake Factory’s prices are also quite ridiculous, as all of the recipients of anyone who went out shopping on Black Friday will tell you on December 26th – you get what you pay for, and in this case, $12.95 at Target purchased us the cheesecake equivalent of heaven. And I’m sure that I’ve had their cheesecake in the actual restaurants before, though I can’t recall precisely when at the moment, but if anyone is doubting that their same signature quality could also be packaged for easy pickup at your local big box store … you’re wrong, it’s excellent.

Mmmmm: I mean, seriously – this has got to be the smoothest, creamiest cheesecake I’ve ever tasted. The graham cracker crust crumbles a sweet taste of honey in your mouth, even further accentuating the golden creme that is the delectable pumpkin filling in the center. If this website was solely devoted to cheesecakes, I could pretty much just close up shop after this review and call it a day…

…but it’s not, so I won’t! Still, it’s a delicious premium well worth saving your allowance for, and really, my only fault was being too afraid of the price tag to make this one of the very first pumpkin reviews I ever did. We’ve seen a lot of great pumpkin products so far in 2011, but this might just very well be the one to beat…

Referral: So I actually went back and found this one after a tip-off from a reader, and given the festive, fall packaging and Pepperidge Farm’s dedication to quality, I was pretty excited.  I mean, these folks use two bags to wrap their bread – they’re not messing around!

Breakfast Time Cometh: That said, I made special plans to substitute some gourmet pumpkin bread for my usual bagel this morning, sink my teeth in, and … nothing.  I mean, it’s good bread - don’t get me wrong!  But it just reminds me of the regular cinnamon swirl bread that they always make – the swirls are so thin in the actual slices, I really couldn’t taste anything special above a vague hint of cinnamon.  Still, I had four slices of the stuff, but to say that it really delivers on the pumpkin spice dictated by its colorful packaging would be, in a single word – misleading.

The Tip-Off: I actually went and hunted this one down after a tip-off from fellow pumpkin fanatic Ann a couple of weeks ago.  I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised that Archer Farms went down this road because they’re probably the single-most prominent brand in terms of pumpkin experimentation, although personally I would’ve liked to see Quaker make a slight tweak to this variety of theirs in the spirit of the season…

Nostalgia: I honestly haven’t had oatmeal in a really long time – like, maybe back when I was in the Boy Scouts as a teenager and we would plan instant oatmeal for breakfast because it was quick and easy and didn’t require the cleaning of a lot of pots and pans afterwards!  Earlier before that, I recall eating a lot of cream of wheat for breakfast as a kid, mainly because my parents would pour mounds of brown sugar on-top until you could barely see the cereal peeking out between the clumps of sugar!  It always tasted the best if you could eat it before it all dissolved into the hot cereal, which normally wasn’t much of a problem in my spry youth!

Back to Present Day…: As for the new-fangled pumpkin variety … well, first and foremost, I don’t think I made it very good because the picture on the box most definitely looks more appetizing than my bowl to the right!  I didn’t want to make it too soupy, so instead I kind of held back on the water probably a little more than I should’ve, thus resulting in a significantly chunkier version of oatmeal than I ever recall eating in my distant past.  Flavor-wise, I’m not gonna say that I was blown away by the pumpkin-y goodness, but it was in there … sort of.  The aroma was actually kind of dull, whereas I was expecting the energy of a brown sugar cinnamon flavor (that was always my favorite), but instead delivering more of a sweet pumpkin flavor than cinnamon in each bite.

Conclusion: Archer Farms tends to be sort of hit-or-miss when it comes to their pumpkin products, but like I said earlier, they also happen to put out considerably more products than just about anyone else.  That said, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with this one, but I certainly appreciate the effort – it seems like a warm bowl of pumpkin oatmeal to wake you up on a chilly morning should be a no-brainer!

Hey, Doesn’t That Look Familiar?: Well, sort of … according to the Internet, sometime last year General Foods International was consolidated with Maxwell House for some brands by their parent company, Kraft.  So it’s actually probably the same exact stuff, but since I don’t know what the difference between coffee and latte are anyways, I thought why not review it again just for kicks?!

And???: Ummmm, actually, I’m not sure because I burnt my tongue trying to take the first sip…

But?!: Hey, look at that foam – the last one didn’t have that, now did it?!  Ok, well for all you know maybe it did and I just covered the entire thing in whipped cream trying to look cool like those snobby baristas from Starbucks!  (honestly, I don’t really even remember one way or the other…)

The Actual Review: Ok, so once I started to get the feeling back in my tongue, I did end up finishing the rest of my cup and not surprisingly, my reaction was pretty much just like before – it was sort of pumpkin-y, but certainly nothing to write home about.  I did even try using hot water instead of milk this time to get the full experience, which is probably why my tongue still hurts a little bit because apparently it’s also a lot easier to get water scaldingly hot than it is milk!

Point #1: I technically already reviewed the fat free version of this stuff way back in 2008 when I first started this site, and it didn’t exactly fare so well.  Still not much of a fan of yogurt, I pretty much opted to give this stuff another try solely for the fact that they had multiple health-conscious varieties, and I was kind of on a roll at finding pumpkin stuff around Target…

Point #2: Trust your gut, at least with regards to rating limited edition yogurt flavors … because this one still sucks, now in TWO varieties!!!  In its defense, the low fat version did boast a slightly more orange-ish tint to itself than its fat free brethren, but still … nope, not happening.

Point #3: At least they jazzed up the artwork on the outside of the container?

Candy-Coated Memories: My sister was always into taffy a lot more than I was growing up.  She’d come home with all sorts of different colors and flavors, and although I’ve always been amused by just the vast variety of different flavors that things come in, I never really got much into enjoying their chewy goodness myself.

P.S.: Not to mention, I was also one of those kids who had to endure wearing braces for the better part of my childhood, so I suppose taffy wouldn’t have gone over too well in relation with my parents and my orthodontist, either!

The Verdict: Surprisingly not pumpkin, although very cinnamon-y, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I think I was looking for something that wasn’t there because at first I was almost convinced that they smelled like pumpkin, but every single wrapper that I tore through just tasted more and more like cinnamon without but a single trace of pumpkin…

C’est la vie: Disappointed?  Sure, but sometimes that’s the way the taffy gets pulled.

Initial Reaction: They listened!  They really listened!!!

Admission: Ok, well maybe not, but still – whatever works to get us more pumpkin, am I right?!

Delivery on Expectations: Extremely well, actually!  I was a little concerned that frozen waffles may not carry as much flavor as I tend to prefer from pumpkin particulars, but in fact, Eggo’s contribution to our autumnal morning feast actually fared quite impressively, bringing a strong nuance to the table that blended quite well when slathered in syrup in a manner such as you see above!  Just as yummy as the picture implies, you’ll enjoy many a delicious morning with this easy favorite…

Admission of Guilt: So although I’m not really much of a coffee drinker at all, I was pleasantly surprised when I found these funky k-cups in pumpkin variety because my wife and her sister run tea and coffee through our machine at home all of the time, and I barely ever get to use it for anything!  Ok, well I guess we do technically have some hot chocolate ones, too, but I normally use milk instead of water in my hot chocolate anyways, and really, when it all comes down to it, I just wanted to complain about not getting to use the fancy slurp-slurp machine like the adults do…

Issue at Hand: That said, we have a bit of a conundrum with this particular review because although I have reviewed a couple of coffee products in the distant past, I’ll admit today that I wrote those having distinct opinions on each of the pumpkin-y drinks that I was testing, however in this case … I have none.  Seriously, I tried some fresh out of the coffee squeezin’ machine, I even tried pouring in a dash of that amazing pumpkin milk that I fell in love with yesterday, but all I could taste was icky, bitter coffee.  Not really the best review because nearly all coffee except for a ridiculously sweetened few tastes exactly the same to me!

A Call to Arms!: So rather than me continuing to rant here and claim that this stuff tastes horrible, instead I want to open up the floor and ask you coffee lovin’ freaks out there to chime in via the comments with your thoughts on this perky pumpkin offering from Green Mountain Coffee!  Did they do good, or did they spend more time designing the cool artwork on the box than they did pumping in the actual flavor???  Inquiring non-coffee-drinkers want to know, so help a fellow pumpkin enthusiast out and share your own experiences today!

Proposed Slogan: “Like drinking a pumpkin pie – probably the most divine pumpkin potion your lips will ever meet.”

So You Liked It?: Yeah…

Well-Deserved Praise: Now I don’t want to go too far out on a limb here, but I will say as a man of great pumpkin prowess that not for nothing, but there’s a good chance that this bountiful beverage already has a strong lead towards being the best of 2011!  In a word, I loved it – goes down smooth and creamy, has a wonderful taste that’s sweet, but not too rich, and even has a spot-on color that assures you exactly what you’re getting from the moment that you pour it into your glass!  A+++

The Future: Back when I was growing up, chocolate milk was always sort of a big deal in our house.  I mean, sure, we had Quik around for whenever, but the good stuff that was already made in the jug was sort of reserved for special occasions like Christmas and Easter and stuff.  That said, because I can’t possibly see it happening any other way, I hereby decree that pumpkin milk will be the official special beverage in my house between the months of September and November!  How many holidays do we have in there?!  Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Autumnal Equinox, Talk Like a Pirate Day … Target had better stock up on this stuff because their sales of this delicious nectar from the gods are about to go nuts…