Pringles

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New flavor of Pringles!  It was the only can in the store so it must be fate.  This time its a collaboration with Frank's Red Hot (I love their hot sauce).  Out of all the special flavors this one is one of my favorites.  The flavor has just enough spicy to compliment the salty chips.

Pumpkin Spice Pringles & Cinnamon Sugar Pringles

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After months of searching for Pringles holiday limited chips, I finally found two of the three Walmart exclusive festive snacks.  Diverting from its usual savory flavors, Pringles released a few sweet flavors to confused the taste buds.    Unfortunately, the one that I couldn't find was the one that I really wanted to try (White Chocolate Peppermint).  A weird concept, but gave a "not bad" rating in my book.  Cinnamon & Sugar was very reminiscent of a churro and similar to Taco Bell's cinnamon twists.  The Pumpkin Pie Spice had a mild pumpkin flavor like the last taste of a bite of pumpkin pie.  Not sure how long these will last in the stores since only select Walmart Stores have them (I found these in Walmart- Story Rd).  I'm still crossing my fingers I'll find a White Chocolate Peppermint, but seems to be a unicorn at this point. 

Flavored chips

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I picked up these chips passing through the London Heathrow airport.  I'm always on the lookout in other countries and on my travels for odd flavored chips or snacks.  I couldn't decide which ones to buy so I picked up all of them! Roast chicken, prawn cocktail, cheese  & onion, and worcester sauce.  I've had the roast chicken flavor before in London and its my favorite out of this bunch.  It tastes just like roast chicken.  The prawn cocktail flavor tastes similar to asian shrimp chips.  Nothing special about the cheese & onions.  The worcester sauce flavored chips tastes exactly like worchester sauce.

Croissant snack - Spain (Bilbao)

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Mini croissant snacks from the vending machine at the bus station

So small and cute!

chocolate filled center

I love to look at vending machines and see what goodies are there for viewing pleasure.  These mini croissant snacks were small and bite sized.  The chocolate was gooey and not too sweet.  I was expecting it to be fluffy like a croissant, but actually it was a little more dense.  Not bad.

Chocolateria San Gines - Spain (Madrid)

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Chocolateria San Gines

Chocolate con churros

 Made to order. Hot, crispy when brought to your table.  The cup of hot chocolate is thick - enough so that you can dip the churro with a nice shiny coating, but still easily drinkable.  The chocolate doesn't have a rich  chocolatey flavor.  Its very different than the super sweet chocolate bars you find in the States.

Verdict:                   Its not the best churros, but its definitely one of the more popular spots in Madrid and a must visit. 

Address:                  Chocolateria San Gines 

                                        Pasadizo de San Gines, 5 (Sol) 

                                         Madrid, Spain

Type:                           dessert, snack
                                         casual

Chomp worthy:  churros with chocolate

Random facts:

• open 24 hr
• popular late night spot after hitting the bars

Doughnut Plant - NY

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Doughnut Plant (LES)

This place has been on my must try for a while, but there are so many great spots to eat in New York that I never remember to come here.  The tres leches doughnuts are the most popular donuts and they sell out fast!  This trip to New York I actually came here twice. 

First attempt -I happened to walk by and remember I wanted to eat a doughnut here, but it was late in the afternoon and of course, tres leches was out.  There were actually only 3 types available at this time.  Me being extremely upset that I remembered to come here and the doughnut I wanted wasn't even available, I actually put up a good fuss about not even wanting to try any doughnut until I ate that one first.  Calming down I ordered the strawberry doughnut.  It was glazed on the outside, very fluffy on the inside.  Yup, tastes like strawberries.  Not sure if its because I had my heart set on tres leches, but I didn't really care for the strawberry.  Although I secretly think it must not be that good in comparison to the others because it was one of the few options left late in the afternoon.

Tres Leches

Second attempt:  Yay! Score - 1 tres leches doughnut.  This doughnut was a cake doughnut, versus the previously tried strawberry doughnut, being a yeast doughnut.  Breaking apart you notice that this doughnut is denser, but still very moist when you bite into it.  It didn't break apart in your mouth either like most cake donuts I've experienced.  So yummy!  The light coating of frosting provides the slightest sweetness to the doughnut.

Verdict:            Tres leches is a must, but make sure you get their earlier in the day to score your prize.  The menu does change daily, but tres leches is a regular item.  Donuts are made fresh throughout the day.

Address:           Doughnut Plant

                         379 Grand St. 

                         New York, NY 10002

Type:               dessert
                          casual

Popular chomps:  tres leches doughnut

Chomp worthy:  tres leches doughnut

Pass:               strawberry doughnut

Random facts:

• PB& J donut was featured in Food Network's Best Thing I ever Ate 
• Tres Leches donut was featured in Bobby Flay's Throwdown (Food Network).

Starbucks - (Red Velvet Whoopie Pie) - NY

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Peering into the Starbucks dessert case - the red velvet whoopie pies look like happy clams!

Stopping into Starbucks to get my usual grande drip black coffee, I saw a new addition to the starbucks sweet treats.  Red velvet whoompie pie was an interesting take on the red velvet craze that seemed to be sweeping the nation.  (Whoopie pie is a baked good that consists of a gob of cream filing sandwiched between two cookies or cakes).  I had already been a devotee of all things red velvet so of course it was a must try.   

Red Velvet whoopie pie

The "cake" part of this dessert was very spongy and soft.  Not much of the slightly chocolate flavor of a true red velvet cake.  Also, the cream was too sweet for my taste - didn't taste like the usual cream cheese filling.  I'm glad I satisfied my curiousity, but not a reorder for me. 

Verdict:                     Cute idea, but the taste was too artificial for my liking.

Address:                   Starbucks
                                         various locations

                                         New York, NY

Type:                          dessert
                                         casual

Chomp worthy:  nothing

Pass:                            red velvet whoopie pie

Wafels & Dinges (Waffle cart) - NY

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De throwdown wafel

The smell of this cart is divine!  This fate happened to cross my path in Astor Place.  You don't need to find this cart..the smell will find you!  Warm, sugary smell can only lead to trouble for me.  The epitome of how all waffles should taste like.  Crispy outside with a slightly carmelized crust,but steamy and fluffy inside.  The perfect sweetness and puff of whipped cream with a light slather of nutty, creamy, and addicting spekuloos spread (which I swear tastes like a nuttier nutella).   It kept its crunch till the last bite even under the weight of all the whip cream.

Verdict:            A winner.  I'll have to come back to sample the savory wafels.  Very satsifying sweet tooth treat.

Address:          Wafels & Dinges

                         various locations

                         New York, NY

Type:               dessert, food cart
                          casual

Chomp worthy:  de throwdown wafel

Pass:               nothing

Random facts:

• Offers both savory and sweet waffles
• da throwdown waffle beat Bobby Flay in Food Network's showdown

Anthony's Cookies

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Anthony's cookies

Rotating daily menu of cookies

Chocolate chip

I'm a cookie lover - chocolate chip is a must.  This cookie was actually significantly smaller than the other cookies I ordered.  Not too sweet and a 3 bite cookie.  The chocolate wasn't too gooey and held its shape well.  Also the size wasn't so big, you felt guilty after eating one.

 

Cookies and Cream cookie

 7x7 The Big Eat 2011 - #65

Chewy with the perfect amount of oreo cookie crumbles mixed in. 

Cinnamon sugar

 To give some fairness to the non-chocolate lovers, I ordered this cinnamon sugar cookie (aka the snickerdoodle).  I'm not into cinnamon sugar cookies at all.  This cookie is by far the best of the three.  So chewy and soft.  Amazing.  Even after finishing this cookie I couldn't stop thinking about it. 

Verdict:            Cookie monster would approve. This place had some of the best cookies I've tasted in a long time.  All the cookies were amazing.  Even though eaten cold these cookies had the perfect chewiness.  The only thing that could have made these cookies more perfect would have been a glass of milk.

Address:          Anthony's cookie
                         1417 Valencia Street

                         San Francisco, CA 94110

Type:               dessert
                          casual

Chomp worthy:  cinnamon sugar, cookies and cream

Pass:               nothing

Random facts: