I’ve finally gotten my paws on the Limited Edition release of Dunkin’ Donuts Frosted Vanilla Latte Pop-Tarts from Kellogg’s. Set your expectations at “toaster pastries” and scroll on down to read my review!

Now I know I said these were Limited Edition – I mean, it’s right there on the box – but who knows how long a Limited Edition run lasts for. These have been out in America since the beginning of the year and I found them on a recent trip to The Candy Store in Munich.

I’m getting this out of the way from the off. This is a Pop-Tart review. Don’t be expecting anything other than a Pop-Tart here. It’s not gourmet, it’s not ‘high-end’. They are what they are and that’s the point of view I’m reviewing them from. If you’re not a Pop-Tart fan, these babies won’t be changing your mind.

Savor the sweet vanilla and creamy latte flavor of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee – all drizzled with frosting and baked into a coffee-licious Pop-Tart®. Gimme! Now! | Kellogg’s

I remember a time when Pop-Tarts were really popular and various kinds of flavours filled the supermarket shelves. At around the same time Lucky Charms disappeared, so did these sugar filled strips of pastry. I can’t blame parents for not wanting to buy them – I only ever get them as a really occasional treat (and usually in a Cinnamon related flavour). They don’t keep me full at all and if you have them for breakfast, your day is starting with 400 useless calories. As an evening treat though? Particularly toasted in the winter – I can get on board.

Just check out this insane Ingredients list above. Flour, sugar, sugar, fat (with the preservative TBHQ), sugar, sugar, flour, whey, salt, flour, raising agent, gelatin (??!), colourings, flavourings, stabiliser and added vitamins. Make no mistake – you’re getting a lot of flour and sugar in here. And that’s not really a surprising list… until you hit the gelatin part, at least.

Opening the pack, it smells like a Vanilla Latte. Honestly. It’s got that sugar heavy vanilla syrup in the foreground and a touch of mild, milky coffee in the background. It’s wizardry in that I recognise it simultaneously as being both real and artificial.

Cold Pop-Tarts don’t do much for me, but in the interests of science… I gave it a go.

The pastry is, as ever, very salty and pretty standard for a fairly generic mass manufactured pastry item. It’s not quite pastry in the way I’d recognise it in the UK but it’s a close enough approximation when you take all things into consideration. I don’t mean to say it’s good – but, it is what it is. A bit soft, a bit lackluster. It’s a flour based vehicle for sugar that must withstand a zombie apocalypse and whizzed in a toaster.

The filling is soft and sweet, albeit inconsistently applied. This must be where the gelatin appears, (Edit: Many thanks to Claire for posting a comment saying that the gelatin is actually in the frosting! “It stabilises it despite application of heat. The unfrosted types don’t contain it.” – The more you know! Thanks Claire!) When toasted and hot the gubbins inside takes on a lighter, moussey sort of consistency. Fluffy, really.

As for the taste? Well it really is one of those fake-coffee type drinks. Vanilla syrup takes centre stage with a mild milky coffee flavour meandering around the back. Both are present in the right sort of proportions here – I mean, if you get a chain store vanilla latte it isn’t the coffee you’re tasting first.

Toasting the Pop-Tart up definitely improved texture and flavour for me. Though I’m still a bit surprised at being able to taste the saltyness of the pastry. Whilst I know I’m always a bit sensitive to salt in foods, I do think the vast majority will taste the salt here too (i.e. I don’t think it’s just me being fussy).

These aren’t ‘coffee’ flavoured, as in a “wake me up” espresso. It’s just… well, exactly what it says on the box really. It’s a sugary sweet vanilla syrup heavy milky coffee.

And I liked them.