JELL-O S'more Pudding Snack

I may have said this a million times or two, but there will never be enough products with marshmallow in this world for me. I love everything about them. I love them "raw" (a.k.a just out of the bag), I love them roasted, and I especially love them burned to a post-eruption lava like crisp.

When the kind folks at JELL-O offered to let me try a pudding with marshmallow, I just about erupted myself. And just in case the FTC is reading this--while yes, I did get this pudding for free, I am not so shallow as to allow myself to be bribed by things with free marshmallows in them. It takes slightly more than that buy my allegiance. (Note to people who may want to bribe me: I only said SLIGHTLY more than that.) So why do I have the feeling that now the FTC is going to sic their own version of Men in Black on me? Anyway, on to the review...



The JELL-O S'more pudding cup consists of two layers. The bottom portion is a chocolate flavored with graham cracker, and the top is marshmallow flavored. The two layers are also differently textured.



The marshmallow layer: OH EM GEE! First, I love that they made this layer with the "mousse" texture, à la the Temptations line. Yes, I love that entire line...and having a marshmallow version only makes it better. The flavor is close to that of a toasted marshmallow. It seemed a little malty to me (but I liked that). Here's what's kinda odd, though: even though the graham crackers are in the chocolate layer, you can actually taste them more in the marshmallow layer. Go figure, huh? But it was still a very nice flavor, so that's not a complaint. As far as I am concerned, I could skip the chocolate and just have an entire cup (or vat) of this.



But there is still that chocolate graham layer waiting below for me, like a sea of dense, dark water--you know that sounds kind of scary--like a bad Shark Week trailer--oh, wait! Let's run with that! Maybe we can somehow work in a cross-promo with the Discovery Channel, where I talk about sharks while reviewing the pudding by eating it off of...oops, duh, I meant eating it with, yes with, Mike Rowe. Silly readers, how dare you think I had my mind in the gutter! Granted, I am mayor of the gutter, but I hardly see where that matters. We are supposed to be talking about pudding here, right? And sadly, it is Mike Rowe-free pudding. What did you say? Okay, fine, have it your way, I will get back to work on this review. Sheesh.

So, before my mind took its perv detour, we were starting to talk about the chocolate layer. And so we shall.

Unlike its best friend the marshmallow layer, which is mousse textured, the chocolate layer is the classic smooth and creamy style of pudding. On its own the chocolate seems to be not quite as infused with graham cracker flavor as the marshmallow layer, but you can tell it's there. I actually think it works better that the chocolate is the stronger flavor in this layer. It keeps things from being too sweet, and I like the contrast in textures. That said, I do think it would have been even better to have a layer of actual graham cracker crumbs in the cup. That would have been pretty tasty.

Now that I have talked about the layers separate, how are they together?

I have no idea how this is even possible, but the layers together reminded me more of a rum ball then of a S'more. I doubt kids would ever pick that up, but it may be an extra selling point for the grown ups (and right now the JELL-O people are probably wondering why the hell they ever let me near a sample). It's a delicious combo either way. And again, I would love to see the marshmallow layer get its own dedicated cup.



Also check out reviews by:
The Impulsive Buy
Foodette Reviews

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

CALORIES:
110 Calories per cup

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
kraftbrands.com

I'm BAAAAAACK!!! and programming notes.

First, a million thank you's to everyone.

To those of you who helped with the burial of my father -- you will never know how much it was appreciated and how much it helped. To those of you who sent well wishes, again I will never be able to say thank you enough. And to those of you who were patient with me...again, thank you.

Some day I might go into why it has taken me so long to get back in the saddle. But I can't take another depressing post right now, and I am sure you guys probably feel the same.

My current plan for the new schedule is going to be new reviews on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I may start picking up the slack and doing more, but I at least wanted to have some sort of plan.

Also for the next few months, other than some reviews that I had started months ago and have just recently done my best to finish, there is going to be a ton of soft food. I had to have emergency oral surgery last month, and I am still on soft foods only for a few more months. I had actually planned to do all of this great stuff when I was New York City in mid February. Instead, I spent the entire trip sick in bed. And that's not even to mention I have pretty much every pack of gum released in the last six months, and I can't touch it. SOOO unfair! I figured, however, that soft food items still leaves us a pretty wide arena, so it should be interesting.

I am also going to work on the enormous backlog of comments and emails. And I will be tweeting and re-tweeting other bloggers' great reviews.

Something new I that am starting--completely unrelated to food--is a nail art blog. Nail art is one of my favorite things. I am still learning all the terms, but hey- there will be pretty pictures! I will tweet when it goes live, but it is called Gigi Nails It.

Again, thank you and it's good to be back.