pumpkin spice french toast

The Pumpkin Spice Pinterest Roundup

Happy October, ES friends! It’s time to really start focusing on our favorite fall recipes… including, of course, the ubiquitous pumpkin spice. Believe it or not, October 1st is actually National Pumpkin Spice Day. Whether this flavor is a friend or foe to you, you can’t deny that it’s become an integral component to our cultural fall narrative.

And of course, pumpkin spice goes hand-in-hand with another favorite… Pinterest. Yes, these are two P’s in a pod. We trolled Pinterest to find the best, funniest, and weirdest PSL/pumpkin spice recipes trending this year. All of these puppies are certified Pinterest-viral right now, and for good reason. Whip one up if you’re feeling fall-ish and festive!

 

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Covered Pretzels 
originally from Crunchy Creamy Sweet
Chocolate-Covered-Pumpkin-Spice-Pretzels

Chocolate covered pretzels? Good. Chocolate covered pretzels with pumpkin pie spice? Great!

Read More
Pecan Pie M&Ms

This Exists: Pecan Pie M&Ms

Hot on the heels of my explosive pumpkin spice M&Ms review of Fall 2014, I’m back with my thoughts on Pecan Pie M&Ms. Just call me the Jebidiah Atkinson of the fall novelty candy world.

Pecan Pie M&Ms

Just look at that sultry green minx, tempting us with a slice of pie! That’s a snapshot of said Pecan Pie M&Ms in their natural habitat: on the countertop of a shared workspace, free for the tasting. And taste I did. I also tasted the Pumpkin Spice Latte M&Ms, which I first did not realize were different from last year’s Pumpkin Spice M&Ms. More on that later.

Pecan Pie M&Ms, similar to last year’s Pumpkin Spice, actually, really don’t taste that different than regular M&Ms. I was foolishly hoping for pecans inside the M&Ms, but no. No real nuts at all. Just a vague butter flavor infused into the chocolate. If I gave them out in a blind taste-test, I would be shocked if anyone could guess what their flavor was imitating.

Oh, and those aforementioned Pumpkin Spice Latte M&Ms? They can be summed up in one word: barf. They taste like a giant mouthful of dry, powdery allspice and cinnamon. They are an affront to the phrase “pumpkin spice.” There is no pumpkin to be found, just WAY too much spice. Maybe we rename them Old Spice M&Ms. In the battle between Pumpkin Spice M&Ms and Pumpkin Spice Latte M&Ms, the former reigns supreme.

This has been my formal, journalistic review of the new M&Ms fall flavors. In my opinion, you’re better off buying a bag of normal M&Ms (I personally prefer almond and/or peanut butter, but I will allow you to enjoy plain, peanut, crispy, or even pretzel if you’d like) and washing them down with a pumpkin spice latte.

PUMPKIN Spice Yogurt

IMG_0081

Before all you jerks out there get into the Christmas frenzy on November 1, let’s take a moment to enjoy yet another offering of fall. Since, ya know…today IS Halloween! Chobani has been good enough to offer us pumpkin spice yogurt. And it is delicious. Yogurt used to be one of those things I ate because I knew it was good for me and added things like chocolate sprinkles to make it taste better.  BUT NOW I can actually enjoy my yogurt AND appreciate fall flavors.

Of course, we could have the pumpkin spice vs. pumpkin argument. I will admit that pumpkin will always trump pumpkin spice. However, it still has the essence of fall infused into the creamy yogurt. The spice flavors are definitely there and it reminds me of a pumpkin pie filling, just a little creamier. It’s not too heavy, but it is a good snack that will satisfy. Of course, in true ES fashion, I’ve started to make a list of concoctions to make with Pumpkin Spice Yogurt. Here we go:

  • Put it in the mini graham cracker crust pies and freeze – top with whipped cream
  • Mix with cream cheese and make a pumpkin cheese cake
  • Pumpkin Spice Smoothies
  • Pumpkin Spice Yogurt Parfait layered with Vanilla Wafers and chocolate chips

Since it IS Halloween, check out our pumpkin recipes, beer lists,  and everything else Halloween at ES!

Burns My Bacon: The Sudden Decline of Pumpkin Spice

Pumpkin Spice Latte

PHOTO: Starbucks

Pumpkin flavored anything is on the top of my list from mid September up until the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, that’s right, I celebrate fall from beginning to end. Apparently, I am in the minority. Approaching a day of meetings, angry co-workers, and tons of stress, I decided to get a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. I enter Starbucks, proudly present my Starbucks app (I’m a Gold member), and order my latte with a sprinkle of extra fall. What do I get after I actually order and start waiting? “Oh, we don’t have pumpkin spice anymore.” Day. Ruined.

I’m sorry, did I miss the fall foliage, carved pumpkins, horror movie marathons, trick-or-treaters, and high school football season? Nevermind Thanksgiving – that’s a battle that will never be won. But to take pumpkin spice off the shelves before Halloween?! What is the world coming to? Are we all that ready for Christmas? Do you REMEMBER what last winter brought? Tons of snow! I love skiing, but I’d like to enjoy the full extent of the fall season. That includes the special pumpkin taste of fall. Don’t give me the BS about “your market hasn’t demanded the product.” All that is telling me is that the region I live in sucks. They are a bunch of namby pamby rich snobs that are entitled to the point that they believe they should be showered with gifts and attention even longer. STOP IT. In all fairness to Starbucks and my barista – they did comp my hazlenut latte (said in a dull and drab voice) because of my visible distress given the situation. But that could also be because I am a gold card member.

Read More
Pumpkin Spice M&Ms Flavor Taste Test

Just Give In: A Pumpkin Spice M&Ms Review

Pumpkin Spice M&Ms Flavor Taste Test

So, the internet has collectively decided that liking pumpkin and pumpkin spiced flavored things makes you a basic white girl. There have been many online thought (well, “thought”) pieces written about this, including one fairly accurate Buzzfeed list. If you’re really interested in the history of being basic, the truth is that everyone has taken a phrase coined a few years ago and twisted it into something completely different meaning ordinary/boring. New York Mag has a pretty good piece on it, and over on The Awl they have an interesting 2013 read about the fetishization of pumpkin and pumpkin flavor. If you’re interested into delving into this weirdly specific trend/topic.

Anyway, whatever. If liking pumpkin shit and football and boots makes me basic, then basic it is. Pumpkin is delicious, football is an amazing justification for day drinking, and boots keep your feet warm and dry.

All that being said, what up with all the pumpkin-flavored stuff in stores these days! It’s getting borderline ridiculous. Apparently these limited-edition Pumpkin Spice M&Ms debuted last year, but I never experienced them in-person until this year, the year of our lord 2014. SUPPOSEDLY there are also Pumpkin Spice Oreos out there now, but I have yet to see them in stores them despite a semi-intense search at Target last week. But let’s rewind a sec to the M&Ms.

I was in said Target purchasing my new Crock Pot (one more step in my quest to be the most basic white girl in the fall, I guess) when a garish display of seasonal M&Ms caught my eye. Nestled among the Halloween-themed regular flavors were Pumpkin Spice and White Chocolate Candy Corn varieties. Clearly the powers above were sending me a message, and that message was: you must sacrifice your pre-vacation crash diet and sense of pride. You must taste test these cheap, bandwagon-y limited edition candies.

I decided to save the candy corn flavor for a later unfortunate date, but purchased the pumpkin spice kind and tore into them in the car ride home (obv, why would I delay this flavor experience longer than necessary?) To the disappointment of my friend and myself, they were barely pumpkin-tasting at all. If anything, I would describe these M&Ms as “Mexican chocolate,” that is, regular milk chocolate infused with a tiny bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and generic “spice.”

When I got home, I introduced them to Rob in a BLIND TASTE TEST and he thought I was just feeding him regular milk chocolate M&Ms. Another failure.

But… something strange started to happen. The longer the weekend went on, the more we snacked on these little nuggets of dubious seasonality. And the more we snacked on them, the more we liked them. Soon we were saying things like “You know, maybe I CAN taste the pumpkin spice” and “Well, I actually really like these, they taste like fall” until we were full-on making conversation with each other about how we might be borderline addicted to Pumpkin Spice M&Ms.

What does this all mean? I suppose if the summary of my review is “They don’t taste that great at first, but just keep eating them and eventually you’ll think you can taste the difference, start to like them, and eat way more than you meant to in one sitting” that might not be high praise. But, this is kind of how I feel about pumpkin spice and fall in general. You resist at first, you think you’re better than it, but you’re not. Just give in.