Junk Food Nation, it’s been BITTERLY cold here in DC lately.  Yeah I know you all up North are dealing with much colder weather – that’s not the point.  Cold is cold.  Now, where I live is a nice residential avenue – lots of buildings, lots of shops, and at times during the year, lots of runners.

I have plenty of friends who are runners.  They love to run marathons, they love to run all the time.  And I get it – those who love to run CAN’T GO ONE FRIGGIN’ DAY without running.  The street where I live is no different.  In warm weather, you’ll see local college track teams running.  You’ll see couples running.  In cooler weather, you’ll see men and women running in high tech running gear – wickaway thermal shirts, skin tight leggings designed to keep you warm while enabling full movement.  Even in rain – you’ll see people in waterproof parkas, splish splashing as their feet pound the pavement.

But today as I was walking to work, I saw a woman running that was just ridiculous.  On the bottom, she had on regular sneakers and skintight running leggings.  But up top, she was wearing what appeared to be a thermal shirt with a hood that was pulled closed so only her eyes and nose peeked out, a HUGE PUFFY bubble coat on top of that zipped all the way up, a wool hat and then a scarf bundled ’round and ’round her neck at least three times!  She looked like a Cake Pop running towards me!

It had just snowed last night, so there was plenty of snow/ice on the unshoveled sidewalks of my avenue.  NO ONE ELSE WAS RUNNING – except for this woman!  I felt like it was an Angry Birds character on two chopsticks running at me.

Runners, you tell me.  Am *I* crazy, or was she crazy? I know if you’re training, it’s tough to let one day go by…but the situation looked absurd to me.  Inspired by her, I quickly ran into a Krispy Kreme and got some Hot Donuts Now.

Today’s junk food: Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps!

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: The Money Shot

I reviewed Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Bread Bakery Crisps a while back, and LOVED THEM.  Stacy’s foray into the sweet side of things was a success, in my book.  Would these Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps hold up?

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: Not sure what’s on these…

When I was younger, I used to take slices of pound cake and slather them with vanilla ice cream, making my own REALLY high calorie ice cream sandwiches.  I feel like I can do the same thing with these Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps…forget fruit preserves!

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: So prim and proper

I love the images on the back of this Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps box: eating these crisps with cream and caramel?  When’s the last time you had a gravy boat full of caramel?  And why don’t I have this all the time?

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: about 30 cal per crisp

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: RUM!

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps contain rum.  Ok, I’m on board.

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: What’s the twist?

What’s the twist?

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps: Little slices of pound cake

When I opened up this bag of Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps, I could definitely smell the vanilla – BOOM.  Strong.  Each slice looked pristine, with very few broken cookies/crackers.  Shaped like slices of bread, these Bakery Crisps didn’t have anything else embedded into their surfaces.  Just pure carbohydrate and sugar.

Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps

I munched on one of these Stacy’s Bake Shop Vanilla Pound Cake Bakery Crisps, and must say – these tasted exactly like pound cake.  It was FULL of vanilla sugary flavor, and the pure untainted cake flour flavor came through right away.  Pound cake has a very simple one-note flavor, and this captured it perfectly – sweet, vanilla, nice carb-y flavor.  Didn’t taste the rum (Boo.)

I didn’t like it as much as the Banana Bread crisps, however – the texture of the crisps in both flavors was similar.  It was this crunchy, crispy, sort of Melba-toast-like crostini cracker.  With the banana bread, I thought it matched well – I got all the complex flavors of banana bread (cinnamon, banana, nuttiness) with the crunch of this crisp.

The Vanilla Pound Cake, however?  Without a more complex flavor, my brain’s focus on the texture was more focused…and I thought the crunch borderlined on almost a stale-feeling.  Note: These were NOT stale… but I could not help feeling like, by themselves, these pound cake crisps were a bit past their prime.

What would make them better? Ice cream, jelly…the Junk Food Gal said she thought they’d be great with coffee.  I tend to agree.

SO: Tasted good, flavor profile was spot on, but with the one-note-ness of the flavor, the crunchiness didn’t feel right.  Opt for the Banana Nut Bakery Crisps if you can find them.

PURCHASED AT: Super Walmart

COST: $3.48 on sale

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy