Monthly Archives: September 2015

CHEX PUMPKIN PIE SPICE CRUNCH

Posted on by
2

Welcome to day 10 of Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza!

Today I took pumpkin spice matters into my own hands and made a batch of Chex Pumpkin Pie Spice Crunch.  This was a big hit here — in fact, I’ve already made a second (double) batch.  Crunchy, sweet, and lightly spiced, it makes a welcome snack.

The Chex varieties used in this mix are Honey Nut, Cinnamon, and Wheat (it was hard to resist eating the Cinnamon Chex straight out of the box):

IMG_6770

Mixing up a batch takes only a few minutes.  There are microwave versions out there, but in my opinion, the mix really benefits from conventional baking.  Use any kind of nuts you like — pictured below is a batch made with a honey-roasted nut mix from Costco that was really great.  Pecans and peanuts also work well.  (My family didn’t care for almonds — they were too hard.)

Print
CHEX PUMPKIN PIE SPICE CRUNCH
Author: 
Recipe type: Snacks
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Cinnamon Chex cereal
  • 2 cups Honey Nut Chex cereal
  • 2 cups Wheat Chex cereal
  • 1 cup nuts of your choice
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • ¼ cup butter, melted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
  2. Place cereals and nuts in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, butter, and vanilla, stirring until thoroughly combined. Drizzle over cereal mixture, stirring to coat cereal and nuts.
  3. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool before serving.

 

chexmix

Snack time!

KELLOGG’S FROSTED PUMPKIN PIE POP-TARTS

Posted on by
Reply

Welcome to day 9 of Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza!

Today I have a special treat for you — Kellogg’s Limited Edition Frosted Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts:

IMG_6779Just take a minute to take in all the autumn colors, the falling leaves, the fat little pumpkins.  Oh boy!

You’ll notice that pumpkin is pretty high up on the ingredient list (although it is still beat out by, among other things, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, and sugar).  Also included among the ingredients are cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg:

IMG_6781

The autumn-colored flecks on the icing hinted at the pumpkin pie filling inside:

IMG_6782

IMG_6785Pop-Tarts are an infrequent treat for me.  This is because one Pop-Tart is 200 calories, which is already pretty high, but they come two in a pack, so someone please tell me how you don’t eat two at a time?  I certainly haven’t figured that out, and so Pop-Tarts are either on my “do not eat list” or my “proceed with caution list,” depending on my mood.

That said, I loved these Pop-Tarts.  The filling tastes very much like pumpkin pie, and doesn’t suffer from the artificial taste that plagues so many of the pumpkin and pumpkin spice products I’ve tried so far.  I liked that the filling was orange, and the colorful bits sprinkled on the icing were a nice touch.  When it comes to pumpkin, aesthetics matter! (Do you hear that Milano Pumpkin Spice Cookies?  Skid marks are not cool.)

Rating:  4-1/2 pumpkins (out of 5)