Have you ever sipped on a cup of hot cocoa on a cold, snowy evening and thought, “This is nice, but I wish I could have it in the form of a toaster pastry”?
Well, if you have, Pop-Tarts has got you covered!
This limited-edition flavor, Frosted Marshmallow Hot Cocoa Pop-Tarts, has a cocoa pastry and a marshmallow filling. There are also wintry designs printed on the frosting, which is fun.
There are some Pop-Tarts I prefer at room temperature, some I prefer toasted, and some where I don’t care either way. I tried this flavor both untoasted (“Make a toast,” ironically) and toasted (“Cocoa is deer to me”). This variety is much better toasted: The marshmallow filling becomes nice and gooey, like a marshmallow over a fire or marshmallows in a cup of hot cocoa. But marshmallows aren’t known for their exciting flavor.
As for the cocoa part of the pastry, it’s barely there. I get a whiff of fake chocolate when I open the package, like you get in a Tootsie Roll or a Dum-Dum pop, but I don’t really taste it in the Pop-Tart itself. According to the ingredients list, there is less than two percent of cocoa and natural and artificial flavors.
My all-time favorite Pop-Tart flavor is Sugar Cookie, and I have had a hard time finding it in recent years. I hope this new, mediocre winter flavor doesn’t supplant that superior winter flavor.
These are sugary carbs with a gooey filling, so they’re enjoyable to eat. But they’re really just boring. If you want to eat them this winter, I recommend waiting until January. There are so many better ways to spend your calories in December.
Purchased Price: $3.29
Size: 8-count box
Purchased at: Smith’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 pastries) 360 calories, 8 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 3 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 2 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 340 milligrams of sodium, 69 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 32 grams of sugar including 32 grams of added sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
Can we not use the phrase “spend your calories”? I don’t think we need to think of food that way, especially on a blog dedicated to enjoying different kinds of foods. Calories aren’t currency, and you don’t need to count calories like that.
If you don’t like a food, that’s totally valid, but I don’t think anyone needs to say it’s a waste of calories.
I completely agree with you, Elizabeth. Thank you for mentioning it.
Fantastic point, very well-said and you’re completely right.
Personally, I like the phrase! To state the intent more accurately, I suppose one could say, “spend your caloric intake”, but my fingers are already tired spending calories on this response.
But there is no specific caloric intake your body needs to adhere to, and our bodies are meant to take in different amounts of food every day. Some days you are hungrier and eat more and other days you aren’t and eat less. It’s a phrase that’s deeply rooted in diet culture, and we don’t need to reinforce it by saying things like this. I say this as someone who has had an eating disorder for 17 years.
Regardless of whether you have had an ED or not, I think phrases like this are putting guilt/attaching moral value to food that shouldn’t exist.
Seems like you missed a major third category of how people like their Pop tarts…..FROZEN
My favorite was the vanilla creme. Is that what it was called? Similar to cookies and cream, but better.
“Chocolate Vanila Creme” ?
I loved those! I wish they’d bring them back.