By this time of year, you've probably already sampled a few pumpkin baked goods and thrown back a few of your favorite pumpkin-spiced beverages. Of all the pumpkin-spiced treats to choose from this season, you might have noticed that we have a particular weakness for pumpkin cheesecake. So when we saw Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Cheesecake Soft Dessert Cookies, there was nothing to do but sample.

Do these pumpkin cheesecake cookies deliver on their promise? Are they "a perfect blend of warm fall spices" and "a soft-baked, rich, melt-in-your-mouth experience?"

In an word: Yes.

Upon opening the bag, you'll be greeted by a pleasant waft of autumn. When you sample a cookie, you might notice that these cookies are soft — softer, even, than regular soft-baked Pepperidge Farm cookies. They may be too soft for some, but this taste-tester didn't mind. The cookies' soft texture almost melts in your mouth, as the copy on the bag promises.

When sampling a pumpkin-spiced product, it's easy to feel that one is consuming a Yankee candle. This cookie, however, strikes a warm and subtle balance that will take you on a journey to a  Thanksgiving dessert table that dreams are made of.

If I had a complaint, it would be this: Where's the cheesecake? The cheesecake white chips taste nothing like cheesecake. Though delicious, they're more similar in taste and texture to white chocolate than cheesecake, but white chocolate is not an ingredient in these cookies. So what are these mysterious delicious sugar chips? Perhaps we'll never know, but since they taste good, we're okay with it.

* Taster's Note: As with many chewy cookies, if you put these in the microwave, these cookies get even better. This has been clinically tested and proven.*

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