FOOD FACEOFF: New Gone Nutty! Frosted PB & J Strawberry Pop-Tarts vs. Limited Edition Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts & I WAS ON NERD LUNCH!
JFG Nation, before we do another Food Faceoff, quick programming note: The dudes over at Nerd Lunch had me on their wonderful podcast last week, and it came out today! Presenting, Nerd Lunch Podcast Episode 191: MOVIES MENUS!
On this Episode, each of us was assigned to combine a randomly selected movie with a randomly selected food chain, and come up with a themed menu, like the current Fantastic Four menu at Denny’s. I had to come up with the Titanic menu at Arby’s. It was delightful. Listen in as CT, Jeeg, and Pax from Nerd Lunch offer their more brilliant menus: The Big Trouble in Little China menu at 4 Rivers Smokehouse, the Terminator 2 menu at Popeye’s, and the No Holds Barred menu at Buffalo Wild Wings. Like, I’m still blown away at their pun-filled word play brilliance.
Alright, let’s get to today’s FOOD FACEOFF between the “New” Gone Nutty! Frosted PB & J Strawberry Pop-Tarts and Limited Edition Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts!!
New Gone Nutty! Frosted PB & J Strawberry Pop-Tarts vs. Limited Edition Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts: The Money Shot
I don’t know why these boxes of New Gone Nutty! Frosted PB & J Strawberry Pop-Tarts and Limited Edition Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts still have the words “new” and “limited edition” emblazoned on them. They’ve both been around for months. Still, both of these represented, to me, Pop-Tarts trying to take the strawberry standard into new directions, adding the popular ingredients of peanut butter and chocolate.
I reviewed the PB&J line last December, and LOVED THEM. I was already a big fan of the Gone Nutty! line of Pop-Tarts anyways, so adding strawberry wasn’t a big leap for me. The Fristed Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts also seemed like a no-brainer – why hadn’t these come out earlier, like, in life? We have fruit and chocolate in a lot of other places – donuts, cakes, etc. – so why NOT Pop-Tarts?
Opening these up, both the New Gone Nutty! Frosted PB & J Strawberry Pop-Tarts and the Limited Edition Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts had standard Pop-Tart looks – doughy pastries with a big glob of dried frosting and sprinkles. I tried both and untoasted just to make sure I got the before and after taste. I’ve eaten a TON of cold Pop-Tarts, but I much prefer toasted. And the reason why is simple – the simple dough and frosting exterior of the Pop-Tart is sweet and all but nothing POPS.
Here, the PB&J version was good – standard Pop-Tart dough, great peanut butter aroma, and I got a solid PB&J flavor. The exterior frosting added a nice sweet crust.
On the Chocolatey Strawberry side – the chocolate dough was just ok; definitely made better by the frosting on top. The red sprinkles were just for sugary effect; I didn’t taste anything particularly fruity about them. The strawberry insides tasted good, but strangely didn’t pair as well as I thought. I’m so used to eating fruit and chocolate directly, that I think the more muted chocolate flavor muddled the strawberry taste a bit.
BOOOM. There we go – toasted these suckers and now they are ready to be tasted in proper toaster-pastries-epic-form! Look at that crust! Look at that singe! Look at that melted sugar. Oh baby.
Tasting them side by side after toasting them, I am reminded why I love this blog. My impressions of the New Gone Nutty! Frosted PB & J Strawberry Pop-Tarts were the same as before – it tasted like an awesome sweet peanut butter and jelly toaster pastry. Still had a low ratio of sweet filling as compared to a real PB&J I’d make, but still good sweet/salty PB flavor with a nice balance of strawberry jelly.
The Limited Edition Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry Pop-Tarts were MUCH better toasted than not. The chocolate exterior and frosting got to heat up and caramelize a little bit, strengthening the chocolate flavor. Adding in the strawberry insides, which also had a stronger berry taste once heated, gave the overall flavor a mild Black Forest cake taste. I still would’ve liked the chocolate to be stronger, but it was a good combination of flavors.
IMO, the PB&J version won the faceoff for me. If the Frosted Chocolatey Strawberry had a ribbon of fudge INSIDE the Pop-tart in ADDITION TO the strawberry filling, then I think it would’ve pushed that over the top. But as it was, while it tasted good, it still didn’t wow me as much as the PB&J version.
What about YOU, JFG Nation? Have you eaten both of these , and which do you prefer? Which do you think complemented the strawberry filling better? Which would you eat again? Let me know in the comments below. No parameters here – you can argue any side of either product.
Talk to you tomorrow!
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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
Discuss - 10 Comments
I definitely thought it was the other way around – but even though I suggested Chocolate Strawberry way before they came out, I don’t think either of them will make a reappearance in my Pop Tart repertoire. They don’t hold a candle to Chocolate Fudge and Cookie Dough.
@Jessica: Still waiting for Key Lime PopTarts
@junkfoodguy AND FLUFFERNUTTER. Said it in the same tweet even.
i love the gone nutty line of poptarts, but i never buy poptarts because they are so terrible for me – and so addicting, which makes it hard to moderate myself, haha. i’m allergic to something in chocolate poptarts, so i’ll never try those chocolate strawberry ones, but maayybe i will get the pb & j ones.
@Kaitlyn: You still haven’t tried the PBJ ones yet??? Dude. You gotta buy them.
With the exception of brown sugar cinnamon, I’m more of an untoasted Pop-Tart person. People usually look at me like I just cancelled their favorite show when I say that, but it’s just the way it is. 😉 That said, I always like to try one toasted for comparison. The chocolatey strawberry ones definitely came alive when toasted. I wasn’t a fan of the PB & J ones toasted though. Hot peanut butter is just not my JAM. *chuckles*
BUT…untoasted PB & J Pop-Tarts reign supreme. Best Pop-Tart out there in my opinion. As for the chocolatey strawberry, they were decent. I doubt I’d buy them again, but they were fun to try. I think I’d rather have chocolate fudge OR strawberry instead of the combo.
@Heather: Un..toasted??? *staring*
As with everything else, Smores is the best flavor even when it comes to PopTarts. Love the Food Faceoffs once again JFG.
And have to give a HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA about Geno Smith. As a Dolphin fan here and a Bills fan there, we can surely appreciate.
@MArcP: Thanks man. I like the Food Faceoffs too. And poor Geno….its time for FitzMagic!
I found the Chocolatey Strawberry ones at Ollie’s. Maybe they are better toasted, but I’m a cold Pop-Tarts girl and they were terrible cold.