Pepperidge Farm

From left to right: Pepperidge Farm's Dark Chocolate Cheesecake, Boston Cream Pie Milano Melts, and Carrot Cake cookies

When our food team ripped open a package from Pepperidge Farm housing their latest — and hopefully greatest — cookie flavors, a collective "ooooooh" broke out among all members. Its new offerings include cookies inspired by dark chocolate cheesecake, carrot cake, and my personal holy grail dessert: Boston cream pie. As longtime fans of Pepperidge Farm Dark Chocolate Milanos and Chessman cookies, our expectations were high.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

These soft, doughy cookies looked scant on their promised dark chocolate element. Thankfully, our fears were eliminated on first bite. While some tasters docked points, citing their failure to resemble the promised sweet treat, most enjoyed the cookie's balance between chewy cookie, dark chocolate, and cream-cheese-flavored chunks. That said, we wished they had a more prominent cream cheese tang, and we'd have appreciated a more generous hand with the chocolate chunks. Still, as a whole, they satisfied our afternoon snack craving quite well.

Keep reading to see how the other offerings fared.

Pepperidge Farm's swirled loaves have a special place in my heart: growing up, I was never allowed white bread, save for an occasional slice of Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl, because even my mother couldn't resist the loaf. So when we received a special delivery of the breadmaker's newest, limited-edition flavor, Blueberry Swirl ($4), I audibly squealed with delight (to the alarm of my co-workers) and sprinted to the toaster.

The spongy, melt-in-your mouth bread has all the awesome qualities found in the original cinnamon loaf; only this time, it's dotted with dried blueberries and a blueberry-flavored swirl. Is it made with real blueberries? Don't know and don't care! Actually, a quick scan of the ingredients does show dehydrated blueberries and blueberry juice concentrate (at the very bottom of the list). But that's no bother! The blueberry flavor bursts forth, making this one berry fruity, addictive bread. Try to stop at one slice; I dare you. Keep reading to see how long it's on shelves.

During the holidays, stock your fridge with puff pastries for quick appetizers that can be thrown together in a pinch. The flaky, easy-to-thaw, simple-to-slice dough is irresistible, whether it's stuffed with something sweet like ginger and holiday spice or savory like sliced prosciutto. Wow guests with minimal work by serving two types of puff pastry spirals — one sweet, filled with diced green apples and dusted with pecans and powdered sugar; the other savory and infused with the Roman flavors of sharp parmesan cheese and black pepper. Everyone will be raving at both the beginning and the end of the meal. Want the recipes? Then click to read more.