Duncan Hines Oven Ready! Homestyle Brownies. Chocolate Fudge, and Chocolate Chip. $3.49 per 17-ounce box.
Bonnie: The only thing that could make these new frozen Duncan Hines brownies more convenient would be if they contained a genie to turn on your oven.
So are they worth their tiny bit of work, the 170 calories and 8 grams of total fat? I'd say so, unless you take the time to bake from scratch, as both varieties are pretty good. In fact, if you hide the box and serve these still warm, some people might just think you did make them yourself.
Carolyn: No cleanup, ready-to-bake desserts in a pan were a big growth area in refrigerated dough last year. Duncan Hines is just the first big company to bring this idea to the freezer case.
Before Duncan Hines Oven Ready! came along, ready-to-bake desserts were the province of premium companies such as Mrs. Fields and David's. That made me think (hope) these would be of similar high quality.
But despite what Bonnie just said (and who in her right mind would go to a registered dietitian for advice on baked goods?), these are about as upscale as Duncan Hines boxed mixes. They're certainly not as indulgent as Pillsbury's refrigerated Simply Bake, with its nuts-and-candy-infused batter.
The Oven Ready! boxes do offer suggestions on add-ins or add-ons that would make these better. My suggestion would be to buy Pillsbury instead.
Celestial Seasonings Saphara Pyramid Tea. Mango Ginger Decaf Green, White Tea With Schizandra, Tropical Rooibos, Premier Estate Assam, Gen Mai Cha, and Blackcurrant Hibiscus. $6.99 per 1.2-ounce to 1.3-ounce box containing 15 bags.
Bonnie: Celestial Seasonings' new organic Saphara is an all-natural line of whole-leaf organic teas packed in pyramid-shaped tea bags. We first described pyramid tea bags in a review of Lipton's Pyramid Teas. The shape allows the water to flow around the tea leaves, fruits and herbs, so you can experience really rich flavors. I like that. I also like that these are socially responsible. These teas are "Fair Trade Certified," meaning they provide livable wages and better opportunities for their tea-growing communities.
Some guidelines for these (and all teas, for that matter): Use water at a rolling boil only for herbal, black and red teas, and brew for 4 to 6 minutes to release their full flavor. For the more delicate, lesser-processed white and green teas, use water just before it reaches the boiling point (using boiling water with these creates a "cooked vegetable" flavor). Brew white tea for 1 to 3 minutes; green, 3 to 5.
Carolyn: Celestial Seasonings' new line of pyramid-bagged teas debuts almost a year after Lipton's did. Celestial's pyramid brews are more exotic and politically correct.
This new line's exoticness starts with its Saphara name and includes unusual ingredients such as Chinese schizandra berries and recipes like Gen Mai Cha green tea blend. Saphara's political correctness comes from being all-natural, organic and fair trade, as well as from its recycled paperboard box and biodegradable tea-bag packaging.
Like Lipton Pyramid, Saphara features whole tea leaves and real fruit pieces in pyramid bags that deliver a close-to-tea-ball-brewed experience. But the ingredients that Celestial has selected to put in these bags don't deliver on flavor as pleasingly as Lipton — with the exception of the very nice and light Tropical Rooibos and the Blackcurrant Hibiscus (although the latter is only for folks who like their berry taste undercut with citrus). The White Tea With Schizandra, green Gen Mai Cha and black Premier Estate Assam taste mainly like their teas. Ginger flavor is among the missing in the Mango Ginger Decaf Green.
By contrast, Bonnie and I liked just about all the varieties of Lipton Pyramid, which also cost less than half of Celestial's Saphara tea per bag.
Kraft Singles Select American Cheese. $3.59 per 12-ounce package of 16 slices. Also available in 14-ounce size.
Bonnie: Kraft calls these new individually wrapped slices of American cheese flavorful and satisfying, and says they're designed to appeal to the adult palate.
Who is Kraft kidding? This "cheese" will only appeal to adults who already eat pasteurized processed American cheese and, even at that, mainly for its more upscale packaging. Those people should be aware that Singles Select slices contain slightly more fat and sodium than regular Singles.
I prefer real unprocessed cheese to any Singles, thank you very much.
Carolyn: Kraft Singles Select is supposed to be a premium version of Kraft Singles American. But is a premium version of that blandest and most processed of cheeses even possible?
Singles Select does have a richer (orangy) look and taste than white 'n' wimpy regular Singles. In other words, this is a firmer-textured Velveeta. Not that there's anything wrong with Velveeta, but I hardly think of it as premium.
Kraft would do better to push its already-existing distinctly flavored Swiss, Sharp Cheddar and Pepper Jack Singles varieties.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat" (Quirk). Each week they critique three new food items. For previous columns, visit www.supermarketsampler.com, and for more food info and chances to win free products, visit www.biteofthebest.com. © Universal Press Syndicate