Review: Market Pantry Pumpkin Shaped Cheesy Potato Puffs

So Good Readers, WHAT IS UP!? Sorry for shouting, I’m a little delirious from watching the Raiders-Chargers game, which came on the air at 11:30PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME last night. Who STARTS a football game at close to midnight???? Stupid NFL. Still, constant football and weeks and weeks of baseball playoff games is what makes me, your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy, happy. It’s also because there are a SLEW of Halloween-related products that come out during October!

Over on my own blog, I recently reviewed a Halloween offering from Target’s Market Pantry line – Market Pantry Pumpkin Cheesecake Creme Sandwich Cookies. They got such a good reaction, I ventured back to Target to find another holiday offering to review for So Good. And I was not disappointed, after stumbling on these Limited Time Only Target Market Pantry Pumpkin Shaped Cheesy Potato Puffs!

Limited Time Only Target Market Pantry Pumpkin Shaped Cheesy Potato Puffs??? SAY WHAAA. When I first saw this gigantic bag of chips, I thought, “Well, cheesy puffs aren’t THAT original…” …until I realized that these weren’t corn puffs, they were potato puffs. Cheesy potato puffs. As a fan of cheese plus potato, I went from unimpressed to intrigued. And they were pumpkin shaped? Clever.

Although I will say – Target, knock it off with putting pictures of spiders on the bag. Even if its just to liven the product packaging up during this holiday season, seeing spiders in my food makes me want to scream and go running for the hills.

HA! Target measures the serving size of these Market Pantry Pumpkin Shaped Cheesy Potato Puffs in terms of # of pumpkins eaten. And if a serving size is 33 pumpkins….well, that’s pretty awesome. That means each pumpkin has…er…math….4.24 calories. WOW.

The ingredient list of this snack is even funnier, as the first thing listed are “pumpkin pellets.” MMMM THAT’S APPETIZING. I prefer my pumpkin pellets made of potato starch and potato solids, just like these, so I’m optimistic.

I opened the bag of these Limited Time Only Target Market Pantry Pumpkin Shaped Cheesy Potato Puffs AND OUT CAME TUMBLING THE LITTLE PUMPKINS! Or rather, the little puffed rings of potato starch/solids that, when coated with orange, do indeed look like little orange pumpkins! BRAVO ON THE AESTHETIC, TARGET. Seriously, nice work. Plus, the bag clearly smelled of processed cheese, sending my brain into an endorphin tidal wave. I had to eat these. Now. MUST. RESIST. PLACING. ONE. ON. EACH. FINGER.

I crunched on a few (and by a few, I mean 50-60) of these Market Pantry Pumpkin Shaped Cheesy Potato Puffs, and I must say, these were really really good. Look, it’s really a simple snack – these potato puffs tasted like a cross between Pringles, and Bugles, and sort of like Andy Capps fries. Basically, they are machine constructed potato-based crunchy rings. You really cannot go wrong. Starchy, potato-y, and full of salty flavor. Then, take these puffs and spray them with a healthy coating of generic finger-sticking nacho cheese – lots cheesy flavor and lots of salty flavor also. Result: potato puffs that look like pumpkins!! VERY crunchy, nice cheesy potato flavor, and perfectly fun to look at. Really good execution, Target.

Another excellent sccaaarrrry Halloween offering from Target’s own Market Pantry line. I know it’s the store brand, but anyone who buys these for Halloween will not be disappointed!

PURCHASED AT: Target

COST: $3.99

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy and read more reviews at JunkFoodGuy.com. Let’s hang out.