Err, I know I’ve been hitting you guys over the head with pumpkin post after pumpkin post…
But if you could see my face right now, you’d know that I don’t really care. So boo freakin’ hoo, large-orange-vegetable haters. Suck it up.
Alright. This week, I did pumpkin muffins. I found one from Starbucks, Central Market, Reverie Bakery, and JD’s Chippery.
Reverie was kind of the underdog in this taste test, only because this particular muffin is made gluten-free. But the tasters didn’t know this. And what they didn’t know, didn’t kill them.
THE PUMPKIN MUFFINS
A. Starbucks (Uptown) – pumpkin cream cheese muffin
B. JD’s Chippery (University Park) – pumpkin muffin
C. Reverie Bakery (Richardson) – gluten-free pumpkin muffin with chocolate chips
D. Central Market (Lovers Lane) – pumpkin muffin with cream cheese frosting
THE TASTE TESTERS
A bunch of lucky people + ONE UNGRATEFUL PERSON. (You know who you are, Brad.)
TASTING NOTES
- “Good flavor. Nice little crunch.”
- “Somewhat bland.”
- “Nice flavor, texture.”
- “Kind of slimy/doughy and had a manufactured taste. Not like mom’s!”
- “I love the cream cheese frosting, but not the nuts (too thin and flaky).”
Tasting notes:
- “Bits of pecan, I think? Moist! Good amount of sweetness.”
- “A muffin does not have frosting. Case closed.”
- “Seeds on top were a not-so-fun surprise, and the icing was nasty (unsweet), but the muffin itself wasn’t terrible.”
- “Nice taste, good amount of pumpkin.”
- “Best. Liked the pumpkin seeds. Cream cheese wasn’t overly sweet.”
- “Good flavor. Cream cheese= yum.”
- “Like the frosting to bread ratio. In fact, I stole a second piece.”
Tasting notes:
- “Chalky and grainy chocolate overwhelms the pumpkin.”
- “Tastes like Play Doh.”
- “Dry, chewy, flavorless”
- “Nicely pumpkin and moist. Like the chocolate chips.”
- “Very dense. Chocolate chips are a nice touch. Very all-spicey. A little overwhelming.”
Tasting notes:
- “Light, fluffy, not extremely flavorful.”
- “Strong cinnamon flavor. Over-powering.”
- “Really dry and bad. No taste.”
- “Dry, boring.”
- “Light and fluffy like angel wings! Not very sweet, either, which I like. But not a very strong pumpkin flavor.”
THE RESULTS
5 votes for (B) Central Market
4 votes for (A) Starbucks
CONCLUSIONS
Like Ricky Ferrer said, it makes sense that Starbucks would win the hearts of 44.4% of our taste testers. It has a huuuuge research team that gets paid to find out exactly what people like to eat.
Central Market, on the other hand, looks like it won fairly because its muffin tasted the most like pumpkin. The frosting, which was thick, might’ve helped, too. Yeah. It definitely helped.
Where are you guys getting your pumpkin muffin fix? Bradford Pearson, that ungrateful sonovagun, wants to know. He apparently did not like any of the muffins I picked. Look at what he wrote! (In illegible handwriting, might I add.)
A. Somewhat bland, icing is blahhh
B. The least worse
C. WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THESE, HELL?
D. Ahh, sh** this is disgusting. Very disgusting.
