CARAMEL APPLE POP TARTS

Just in case you didn't read my review of Hostess Caramel Apple Cupcakes, I'm going to cut and paste from the opening of that post...because it also applies here.

"Pumpkin spice is, of course, the ubiquitous flavor this time of year--gracing everything from latte and cakes to Mini Wheats cereal and English muffins.  A close second, however, is caramel apple.  Considering the fact that pumpkin spice is completely fictional, you might expect confectioners to have more success recreating the taste of caramel apple when flavoring other desserts.  Sadly, you would be wrong."

Once again, I am flabbergasted by a confectioner's inability to recreate what seems to be a simple flavor combination.  Granted, Kelloggs might not have as much experience as Hostess when it comes to caramel or apple (aside from Apple Jacks...which, now that I think of it, doesn't really taste like apple either).  Still, Kelloggs is the king when it comes to creating breakfast pastries from flavors and colors not found in nature.  How hard could it be?

Apparently, too hard.  The fake apple flavor is a little easier to taste here than it was in the cupcake, but that's not a good thing.  It still doesn't taste right.  The fake caramel taste is a little better, but seeing as how one should normally associate this taste with a substance that is thick and creamy...two adjectives which have never been used to describe a Pop Tart...it doesn't taste right either.  One doesn't have to be a mathematics major to understand that, if two great tastes taste great together, two mediocre tastes taste...well...mediocre.

Considering the large library of other Pop Tarts currently available, you would be hard pressed to find a reason to consume this one.  If you really want a caramel apple Pop Tart, your best bet is to take an un-frosted brown sugar cinnamon variety, stuff it with applesauce, and melt a handful of Kraft caramels on top of it.  (If you do so, and wind up bringing this to a school bake sale or local county fair, where it becomes the second biggest hit behind fried Twinkees, please contact me so that I can let you know where to send the royalty checks...)    

RATING:  2/5

HOSTESS CARAMEL APPLE CUPCAKES

Pumpkin spice is, of course, the ubiquitous flavor this time of year--gracing everything from latte and cakes to Mini Wheats cereal and English muffins.  A close second, however, is caramel apple.  Considering the fact that pumpkin spice is completely fictional, you might expect confectioners to have more success recreating the taste of caramel apple when flavoring other desserts.  Sadly, you would be wrong.

I'm not sure why this is the case, but Hostess seems to have had trouble reproducing both caramel and apple flavors.  It's not as if they don't have previous experience with both.  In fact, the Hostess Apple wheat flour, beef fat and high fructose corn syrup concoction...which you might otherwise know as "Hostess Apple Pie"...has been a kids' lunch staple for decades.  And they've tried, albeit unsuccessfully, bringing a sea salt caramel cupcake to market in the past.

In this case, the new cup cake doesn't taste much like caramel or like apple, which sort of defeats the purpose.  It would be like a peanut butter and grape jelly flavored sandwich that tasted like almonds and boysenberries.  Close, but no cigar.  If I had to pick one flavor that broke through, it would have to be the caramel.  But that's about as much of a victory as the winner of a boxing match between two washed-up old fighters where one falls down and breaks a hip in the first round before a punch is thrown.  So, yeah, the imitation caramel taste wins...just barely.

If you didn't read the box and weren't expecting this to taste like caramel apple, which sadly I did and was, it is a passable cupcake.  Certainly no worse than many other Hostess cupcake flavors.  But considering what this could have and should have tasted like, Hostess Caramel Apple Cupcakes are definitely a missed opportunity.

RATING:  3/5