Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Gone nutty! (frosted chocolate peanut butter)

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Gone nutty! (frosted chocolate peanut butter)
Purchase details: £2.50 for a box of six tarts (Bold Street Sweets)
Calories: 200 per tart (400 per pack of two)
Country of origin: USA 

A few weeks ago, Bold Street Sweets had an amazing 50% off day for their Facebook fans, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to buy some more expensive imported goods at the lowest prices I’ve ever seen.

Americans have had the luxury of peanut butter-filled Kellogg’s Pop Tarts for a few months now and I’ve been incredibly jealous. Thankfully, Bold Street Sweets had managed to get hold of the Gone nutty! (frosted chocolate peanut butter) variety, so I quickly snapped them up for £2.50 rather than the usual £5.00.

Unlike most boxes of Pop Tarts, this one only contained six rather than eight pastries, and the box was orange rather than blue in order to reflect the nutty flavour. The picture on the front looked pretty yummy since it showed a chocolate flavoured frosted tart with a gooey-looking ‘real peanut butter’ centre. In addition, there was a dollop of peanut butter and a chunk of chocolate to further emphasise the flavour which was described as a ‘melty peanut butter’ and ‘chocolate high five to the taste buds’.

The pastries were annoyingly, as usual, split into foil-wrapped packs of two rather than one, but I did like the surprise of the wrapper being gold instead of the normal silver. Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that one of my foil packs was already unsealed so I was concerned about the freshness. Regular readers will know that, on reviewing Pop Tarts, I always try them cold, toasted and microwaved so, on this occasion, I made sure I tried each method twice to ensure my views weren’t affected by possible staleness. (As it happened, I didn’t notice much of a difference!)

Pleasingly, the naturally and artificially flavoured tarts looked how they did on the box, although I was surprised that some of the pastry was visible through the smooth brown icing. The peanut butter was quite dark in colour but looked nice and moist.

When cold, the tarts had a strong chocolatey smell but I could also detect the peanut butter up-close. The pastry itself was dry and moist at the same time (allowing it to stick to the mouth), and had a slight hint of the unique American chocolatey baked taste that we just don’t seem to have over here, as well as a nutty flavour. The icing was crispy and sweet whilst the peanut butter was so moist that it was almost slimy on its own. I loved how squidgy it was – almost like a peanut butter brownie! Whilst the classic peanut butter taste was present, the chocolate flavour was also strong and, unfortunately, not the best quality flavour in the world. However, texturally, it was the best cold Pop Tart filling I’ve tried so far, and the centre of the tart was far better than the edges.

When I was little, my brother came up with a fantastic invention that he used to make for me: ‘peanut butter in the microwave’. This originally-named dish was simply a peanut butter sandwich that was microwaved so the bread went floppy and the peanut butter became warm and runny. I absolutely adored this and, as a result, I expected these warm Pop Tarts to be a bit special.

When toasted, the aroma had a warm, slightly burnt, chocolatey smell and the icing looked a bit molten. The peanut butter was wonderfully gooey in appearance to the extent that it almost looked like thick caramel. The edges of the pastry, whilst remaining pretty soft, became partly crispy, and I also found it to be more flavourful and like a chocolate flavoured biscuit. Unfortunately, I found that the strength of this flavour was at the expense of the slightly salty peanut butter, although the latter did still have a lovely texture which had become like molten lava – thick, gooey and warm. I was also pleased that the crispiness of the icing was maintained and provided a nice sugary shell that was a bit softer than, say, a Nestlé Smartie’s.

Microwaving these Pop Tarts made the pastry really floppy so that it broke apart. Texturally, this was dryer and softer, and it also tasted more chocolatey. The smell wasn’t that strong considering the fact it had been warmed but it was still chocolatey. I found that 10 seconds in the microwave didn’t make the filling too hot but did take me back to my childhood since the peanut butter became really squidgy. Thankfully, it also released more of the peanut butter’s flavour, although the chocolatey aspect still caught in the back of my throat and I did find it a bit artificial. Since I fancied a really runny filling, I dared to microwave another tart for 20 seconds. This made the pastry so soft that it was more like cake and, obviously, the filling became very hot so it needed handling with care (some of it also leaked through the base of the pastry). It was like being a seven year-old all over again, though, with a slightly burnt nutty taste and fabulous gooey texture that stuck to the roof of the mouth beautifully.

In terms of Kellogg’s Pop Tarts, I really enjoyed my first foray into the Gone nutty! range, but I have to say it wasn’t my favourite peanut butter and chocolate combination product ever. I would have loved the peanut butter to have shone through more so I would be interested to see how the Gone nutty!  (peanut butter) version compares since this doesn’t contain any chocolate. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.25/10