The Hostess 100 calorie muffin product line concept was intriguing to me since I am a big fan of Hostess 100 calorie cupcakes (the chocolate one which brings back fond childhood memories with less calories). My husband surprised me one day with a package of the Hostess 100 calorie blueberry muffins, and then I saw their banana muffins listed on the package, so I had to try those as well!

In case you haven't opened the box to one of these Hostess 100 calorie products before, I want you to be prepared. These are the world's tiniest cupcakes and muffins! Each Hostess 100 calorie muffin or cupcake is going to be only a little bigger in diameter than most bottle caps.

The good news is that those 100 calories entitle you to eat three of these Hostess cupcakes or muffins. So if the psychological benefit of being able to say "I just ate three Hostess chocolate cupcakes" or "I just ate three banana muffins" is important to you, you're going to love this product! If you are looking to feel full, that's not going to happen.

The Hostess 100 calorie blueberry muffins taste very sweet and are like a smaller version of the Dunkin Donuts Reduced-Fat Blueberry muffin which I treat myself to every now and then. The Hostess 100 calorie banana muffins are also very sweet and very banana-y.

I am okay with muffins that look like they could have been from the old Disney classic movie "Honey I Shrunk The Kids". What I am not okay with is that there is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in all the 100 calorie Hostess offerings (which means there's trans fat in them there hills). So yes, because of bonehead government labeling laws that allow a food that has less than .5 grams of trans fat to be labeled "trans fat free", Hostess proudly and legally can claim "0 grams of trans fat" on its product packaging. Of course, in fairness to Hostess, they are not alone in being able to make this claim courtesy of the government.

While .5 grams is a trivial amount of trans fat, there is no safe amount of trans fat!

And if you have a couple of "0 grams of trans fat" items in a day, that are not really "0 grams" at all. It can easily add up to the number that experts have said is an issue - over 2 grams of trans fat per day.

So the way I look at it, is that if I am going to eat any pseudo trans fat free food, it has to be incredibly worth it, and I have to watch out for similar foods during the rest of my day. So between the Hostess 100 calorie muffins and the Hostess 100 calorie chocolate cupcakes, it's no contest. I'll take the Hostess cupcakes. They are one of my favorite "in case of chocolate emergency, break glass" items to have on hand that won't do me much damage.

Sorry Hostess, I've got to pass on the muffins, and save your Hostess 100 calorie cupcakes for special occasions.