It’s that time of year, folks.
PUMPKINUNDATION: the annual influx of pumpkin-inspired products into our grocery stores, characterized by bright orange packaging and liberal use of spice. Whether Pumpkinundation inspires profound joy or the urge to grumble that maple is the superior fall flavor, we junk foodies know that pumpkin rings the official bell of autumn.
To me, there is no greater harbinger of autumn than Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights. Styled like jack-o’-lantern faces, these seasonal soft spiced cookies are stuffed with pumpkin jam filling. They are chewy, delicious, and easily crushed in your purse when you carry one around as an emergency dessert. (I am speaking from experience.) Pumpkin Delights are Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin in edible form. When they appear on shelves, I am overtaken by a terrible urge to wear heavy wool sweaters and visit a Spirit Halloween store in August. In short, I love them.
Little Debbie and Hudsonville Creamery have granted my autumn wish by adding a Pumpkin Delights variety to their line of ice creams. This Walmart-exclusive line is extensive and has received largely favorable reviews from our contributors. Since this was my first experience with the line, I was eager to evaluate both the product’s overall taste and its similarity to its beloved namesake.
This new variety’s package offers no hint as to its flavor or composition (besides “artificial flavors added”), so I dove spoon first into the mystery. Peeling back the foil lid, I was pumpkin-delighted to see orange: a pumpkin base. Maybe I am just cynical by nature, but I had expected vanilla ice cream, an easy base to carry novel mix-ins. I should have known Little Debbie takes no shortcuts.
The ice cream is creamy, delicious, and nicely rich. Unlike other pumpkin snacks, it doesn’t rely too heavily on spice for flavor. It reminds me of a pumpkin cheesecake ice cream: a bit of tang and a bit of spice that enhance an authentic pumpkin taste.
Within the base is a graham cookie swirl that basically tastes like a mashed up Pumpkin Delight cookie. Its flavor is wonderful: a combination of pumpkin, molasses, and brown sugar. A hint of grittiness through the cookie crumbs adds a pleasant texture — a welcome departure from the Pumpkin Delight’s softness. My major gripe is that there isn’t nearly enough swirl. I found one good hunk of the stuff in my serving, and as I dug through the remnants of the container, I excavated mere additional scraps.
Although stingy — no, miserly — with its cookie swirl, Little Debbie’s Pumpkin Delights Ice Cream is a delicious fall treat for pumpkin lovers and a satisfying counterpart to its cookie inspiration. It is high quality ice cream — not “frozen dairy dessert” — and certainly the best I’ve tried at this price point. For $2.50 per pint, I might pick up another container and go excavating for more cookie swirls. Digging for sugar, after all, is the most time-honored tradition of Pumpkinundation.
Purchased Price: $2.50
Size: One pint
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (per 2/3 cup) 240 calories, 12 grams of total fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar including 17 grams of added sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
I was excited to try this but comparing it to cheesecake, which I loathe, makes me leery.
You hate cheesecake?! What the hell is wrong with you?!
There’s only 4 things I don’t eat: chicken wings, blue cheese, corned beef, and cheesecake. Cream cheese is for bagels. Fried turkey butthole? Squirrel stew? Sign me up! But no thanks on cheesecake.
That makes me even more excited to try it.. heheh
It tasted like pumpkin ice cream to me. I thought it was great!
it tastes nothing like cheesecake Way way creamier
I’ve never even heard of LD Pumpkin Delights cookies, before…never mind seen them. Having said that: Holy molars, that picture of one – demonic grin, and all – is unsettling. I’m surprised kids (who I tend to think are their largest contingent) don’t get nightmares from those suckers.
I never realized the creepiness factor until I looked at that photo! It was like I was truly seeing them for the first time. Either they’ve become more creepy over the years or watching “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” as a child desensitized me toward spooky foods.
OMG, I FREAKING LOVE THAT SHOW!!!! It’s just as awesome to me as an adult, than it was when I was a child! I have it on DVD! High five!
High five right back!
I can’t believe that you’d never heard of/seen this cookie before! If you can get over the creepy level you should give ’em a go, hehe. I don’t know if it was intentional or not and I like how they embraced the spookiness!
Yeah, I don’t know how I’ve never seen/heard of them, either. I’m not opposed to eating a scary-looking cookie, and I love pumpkin-flavored stuff, so I’ll seek them out!
Hey, Tamme, you should go get a box of those cookies when they’re being sold. I get a box or two every year. They’re pretty good. I know you’re a freaking weirdo who prefers salty to sweet, LOL, but you might like ‘em. 🙂
bahahahaha Yep, I am said “weirdo”…but these do still sound good! You and Holly May (and Julie, the reviewer) have sufficiently inspired me to find and try them. 🙂
I’m glad to hear that. Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Awesome! They’re pretty widely distributed so I don’t think that you should have a problem. Excited to hear what you think of them! 🙂
Great review, Julie! I’m not a “pumpkin person” but I am a fan of your fun reviews. Keep up the witty writing and detailed reviews!
Thank you, Tracey! I appreciate your kind words! 🙂
Thanks for the review! I was hoping that I would see “pumpkin” and “molasses” in it, and I did! I’m glad that they did the cookie proud; it’s Little Debbie’s best seasonal release imho (maybe just downright one of their best sweets overall!) and doesn’t simply rely on a seasonal “shape.” Might need to pop to Walmart soon!
Sidenote: I just found what seems to be a pretty spot on copycat recipe for the cookies on a blog called “Baking it Beautiful!” Looking forward to testing it out.
Thanks for sharing this! I looked up the recipe, and the result is incredible. I will have to try it out.
Oooh,I wanna try this so badly! Too bad that the only Walmart anywhere close to my city is so far that I’ve cream would melt before I got back home…
Not necessarily. I buy the reusable ice blocks to help keep my frozen stuff cold, but I admit, they don’t work as well as a bag of ice, so I buy a bag of ice for greater distance food trips. You should do the same if you really wanna try this ice cream, IMHO.
You could go after dinner and buy this and just eat it in your car (or perhaps a more scenic location not too far from the carpark, lol) for your dessert!
I tried this and it was so so GOOD WIsh it would be available all year long and in all stores instead of just Walmart Love anything pumpkin though