Since the dawn of civilization, Pringles has pretty much been synonymous with two things: salty and vaguely potato-ey.
Attempting to condense flavors ranging from authentic southern barbecue to mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce in the convenient delivery vehicle of dried potato flakes and cottonseed and/or soybean oil, Pringles has built an empire out of coming up with more flavors than Land Before Time sequels.
For the most part, I’m cool with that.
No, the Pringles All-American Cheeseburger isn’t going to satiate an In-N-Out craving, but one’s snack of choice can do a lot worse than ambiguous salty, cheesy, and crispy flavors. Which begs the question: what the hell is the deal with Pringles getting all sweet on us for the Holidays?
Perhaps it has to do something with the Pringles guy bearing a striking resemblance to what I can only assume was once a younger Santa Claus (or Pringles now being produced by Kellogg’s), but the new Limited Time Only Pringles White Chocolate Peppermint and Pringles Cinnamon & Sugar join Wheat Thins and Ritz crackers as long-time savory standbys trying to capitalize on the salty and sweet craze that seems to hit each holiday season.
I was expecting the White Chocolate Peppermint Pringles to be covered in a smooth, lickable white chocolate fondant with candy cane pieces sprinkled on top. Well, I guess I got what I paid for, because for $1.53 the Pringles bore the tan shade of the ubiquitous plain Pringle. The taste is akin to having an out of body experience. If you lick the chip – excuse me, crisp – you definitely pick up flavors of peppermint and white chocolate. It’s short lived though, like a stick of gum.
The flavor is actually really good, but it’s completely disjointed from the characteristic Pringles finish, which for lack of a better word is best described as slightly, possibly, sorta potato-ey. In a lot of ways, it’s like watching your favorite baseball player getting a hanging fastball over the plate, putting bat on ball, and getting what looks like all of it. Your spirits are raised – it’s outta here! – until you realize it’s going dead center at The Trop and right to the center fielder. Yes, the aftertaste of these Pringles taste like a routine fly-out to end the game against the Devil Rays.
The Cinnamon & Sugar Pringles look exactly like regular Pringles but with little specks of shiny brown which I’m assuming are cinnamon-sugar granules. On the Cinnamon-Sugar spectrum of 1-10, with 10 being Cinnamon Toast Crunch cooked in butter and then drowned in cinnamon and sugar, I’d estimate the cinnamon-sugarage to be a 3. I did not find the taste to be as sweet as the seasonal Cinnamon Wheat Thins, and it definitely wasn’t enough to drown out the salty, starchy Pringles aftertaste.
Continuing the baseball analogies, this was like watching an infield groundball. You’re kinda sorta hoping it gets through a hole, but no, as soon as you bite in, you realize it’s right to the shortstop, and tastes just like every other groundball – er, Pringles – you’ve eaten.
If you like collecting Pringles cans or just enjoy smelling Christmasy food flavors, then the two new sweet flavors of Pringles are just the stocking stuffers for you. But when it comes to actually eating them, the broken and disjointed taste sensations of sweet and cooling just don’t mesh with the loud, salty aftertaste of the vaguely potato-ey Pringles.
(Nutrition Facts – 150 calories, 80 calories from fat, 9 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 95 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.)
Item: Limited Time Only Pringles White Chocolate Peppermint and Pringles Cinnamon & Sugar
Purchased Price: $1.53 each
Size: 6.38 ounces
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 5 out of 10 (White Chocolate Peppermint)
Rating: 4 out of 10 (Cinnamon & Sugar)
Pros: White Chocolate and Peppermint has actual white chocolate and peppermint taste. No trans fat. Fun if you like out of body eating experiences.
Cons: Pringles aftertaste clashes with sweetness. Cinnamon Sugar flavor is weak. No substantial crunch. Realizing the Pringles guy could pass for Santa Claus in his 30s.