Favorite Day Scarecrow Crunch

No squash. No pumpkin. No apple. No maple. Not even nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and clove. Nothing fall-ish about this product but the name. I mean, I guess the colors are there. Orange, yellow, and brown are vaguely autumnal.

Nevertheless, it's a tasty indulgent mix. Quite a few of the ingredients are the usual suspects as far as Target trail mixes are concerned, although there's a surprise or two as well. Let's break things down.

Peanuts. Good-quality whole peanuts and in some cases, halves. Can't go wrong. The quantity of them in the mix is just about right by my estimation.

Peanut butter candies. AKA generic Reese's Pieces. I've always liked Reese's and these store-brand gems are a pretty tasty knock-off. No complaints here.

Milk chocolate-covered cereal squares. You know, like from "puppy chow"? Except there are so many PB ingredients in the bag that these might as well be covered in peanut butter too. They taste like chocolate peanut butter puppy chow. Pretty good.

White chocolate oat cereal. So basically...generic Cheerios with orange-colored white chocolate on them. I'm a fan of white chocolate, and I'm a fan of Cheerios, but these don't really do much for me. Meh.

Milk chocolate marshmallow bits. Alongside all the peanut butter, these little do-dads bring something fluffernutteresque to the equation. Despite my fondness for fluffernutter sandwiches, I don't think these were necessary in this Scarecrow Crunch bag.

All things considered, I'm glad I tried it, but I doubt I'd purchase it regularly. If you want sugar shock after taking a hike, then this is the trail mix to reach for. At least there's peanuts and peanut butter in there, so you'll get a bit of protein. The ingredients list reads like a novel...a very long, very boring novel. Also there should be at least one real fall/autumn ingredient.

I give this trail mix 7 out of 10 stars.

Favorite Day Sweet & Salty Nut Topping

Peanuts, cashews, and almonds. I love each of them separately, and I love all three together in one bag. They're salted and sweetened slightly, so that makes them even better.

I wouldn't say any one nut dominates the combo, flavor-wise. It tastes like all three at once, and at the same time, it doesn't really taste like any existing nut. It's just a generic nuttiness, you know. It's super nutty, but the flavor is not distinctly peanut plus cashew plus almond.

Also the nut bits are very tiny, so they don't look or feel like any of the three constituent nuts. They're great for topping a bowl of ice cream or yogurt. I'd even add them to oatmeal or certain types of cereal. 

It's also good for turning creamy peanut butter into chunky peanut butter, in case you live in a house divided over the whole chunky/creamy peanut butter debate. You can just let those creamy weirdos have their way and simply add a topping of these nut bits when you make your PBJ's.

And of course you can eat the stuff straight from the bag, but I prefer whole nuts to these tiny little chunklets. You really need a big handful to make a single satisfying bite, and their diminutive size means they get stuck in between teeth easily.

$1.79 for the bag. I'd buy 'em again.

I give this topping 7.5 out of 10 stars.