LITTLE DEBBIE PUMPKIN DELIGHTS COOKIES

Welcome to day 10 of Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza 2020!

Today we’re checking out Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights Cookies: 

The pumpkin on the package is different than the ones so far — it’s a grinning jack o’lantern:The package contains some interesting information about pumpkins.  I didn’t know (or truthfully, care) that the word “pumpkin” comes from the Greek word “pepo,” meaning “large melon.”  I also learned that pumpkins are a fruit, but are often referred to as vegetables when it comes to cooking — kinda like tomatoes.  The largest pumpkin recorded weighed 2,624.6 pounds.  One step closer to being Cliff Clavin!

The ingredients include pumpkin puree and spices:

The cookie comes in its own body bag:

And here’s Jackie:

Don’t worry about the cookie getting smashed in a lunchbox — it’s apparently pre-smashed.  Seriously — it’s got a reasonable facsimile of a jack o’lantern face, but why has the top of its head been cut off?  I guess it would be an appropriate snack for a Smashing Pumpkins concert.  I kinda liked this cookie, although it’s never gonna take the place of something made in my kitchen.  It’s soft, but not wet and gummy like the Lenny & Larry’s cookie, with a mild pumpkin spice flavor.  I’m not sure what the — I don’t know what to call it, gel maybe? — filling is, but it was ambiguously fruity and not offensive.

Rating: 3-1/2 pumpkins (out of 5)

HOSTESS ICED PUMPKIN CUPCAKES

Welcome to day 9 of Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza 2020!

Today I conquered my fears and tried Hostess Iced Pumpkin CupCakes:

The pumpkin advises that these “iced pumpkin cakes with creamy filling” are a limited edition:

The only pumpkin spice-y ingredient that I could see was pumpkin puree, buried among a whole slew of hard to pronounce ingredients:Like the Hostess Pumpkin Spice Twinkies that I sampled in 2015, these also contain tallow, which didn’t belong in the twinkles and doesn’t belong in these cupcakes.

They come individually wrapped, which helps prevent cross-contamination in a lunchbox:   

And here’s the cute little cupcake.  Don’t you love the orange squiggle?

Taking a peek inside, they do indeed have a creamy filling as advertised:

These are a hard pass.  Oh my, they were nasty.  The pumpkin cake has an overwhelming and entirely unpleasant artificial spice taste.  The cream filling wasn’t bad, but you have to tunnel through that awful cake to get to it.  I’m sorry, but how can you screw up a cupcake so badly?  Tsk tsk Hostess — that’s two pumpkin strikes against you.

Rating: 1 pumpkin (out of 5)