REVIEW: Kellogg’s Cinnabon Bars (Original and Caramel)

/ / Reviews / 18 Comments

Even if it has the name Cinnabon on its packaging, like the Kellogg’s Cinnabon Bars, how can any product reach the high level that a fresh Cinnabon cinnamon roll achieves? It’s impossible to match the orgasmic combination of warm dough, Makara Cinnamon and cream cheese frosting.

That triple threat has the power to make people push back their diets for one more day. It can make a happy, fat kid happier AND fatter at the same time. It can makes those who are anal about cleanliness say, “fuck it” and let their mouths and finger become coated with sugar, cinnamon and frosting, because they know trying to keep clean while eating a fresh Cinnabon will always be a losing battle.

Just the scent alone of warm Cinnabons baking in the oven is extremely powerful. It draws you to the Cinnabon store located at the mall. It’s like smelling pheromones or being caught in the tractor beam of the Death Star. All you can do is just give up and let the Stormtroopers board you. One whiff of it may make your mind say no, but it makes your tongue, stomach and fat ass say yes.

Comparing these Kellogg’s Cinnabon Bars with fresh (or even reheated) Cinnabon rolls is like comparing an iPhone with its cheap Chinese rip off, the uPhone. It’s like comparing Neiman Marcus with Sears or JCPenney. It’s like the difference between silicone breast implants and water-filled plastic bags with a goldfish. These bars don’t even come close to capturing the essence of a Cinnabon cinnamon roll.

Both flavors, Original and Caramel, are sweet but they don’t give me a sugar erection like an actual Cinnabon does, probably because they don’t come close to tasting like one. Neither of them contains Cinnabon’s famous Makara Cinnamon, which, again, is part of the orgasmic combination that makes a Cinnabon roll the dieter’s devil. They claim on the box that it “tastes great warm,” but I really couldn’t trust them because the microwaving instructions on the box turned out to be quite inaccurate. It said it takes 3 SECOND on HIGH, but that isn’t enough time to warm up anything. It took about ten seconds to make them slightly warm, but doing so made them extremely fragile.

The Kellogg’s Cinnabon Bars weren’t very good warm or straight out of the wrapper. They had a boring flavor to them. If they had Makara Cinnamon in them, they might’ve been better, but I highly doubt Cinnabon would let anyone near their stash. Because they don’t have that delectable spice, I don’t think they deserve to have the Cinnabon name attached to it. Besides, eating one of these bars doesn’t fill me with regret or cause me to gain a couple of pounds, like a real Cinnabon cinnamon roll does.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 bar – Original – 150 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 130 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar and 1 gram of protein. Caramel – 150 calories, 4 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 14 grams of sugar and 1 gram of protein.)

Item: Kellogg’s Cinnabon Bars (Original and Caramel)
Price: $3.19 each
Size: 6 bars
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 3 out of 10
Pros: Cleaner than eating a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. Healthier than a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. The smell of a Cinnabon store. iPhones. Silicone breast implants. A warm Cinnabon cinnamon roll.
Cons: Weren’t very good. Doesn’t taste anything like a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. Doesn’t contain Cinnabon’s Makara Cinnamon. Bars are kind of small. Instructions to warm them up for only 3 seconds are ineffective. Warming them up makes them fragile. Contains high fructose corn syrup. A warm Cinnabon cinnamon roll.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Get Social With Our Social Networks

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Are you a fan of The Impulsive Buy?

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REVIEW: McDonald’s Angus Third Pounders (Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese and Mushroom & Swiss)

/ / Reviews / 33 Comments

McDonald's Angus Third Pounder

Let me start off by saying that the new McDonald’s Angus Third Pounders are the best burgers ever released by The Golden Arches. Of course, that’s not really saying much since most of their burgers suck. It’s sort of like saying Kim Kardashian is the most famous Kardashian but only because the others didn’t come out with a sex tape.

I know I’ve said in the past that I love McDonald’s Double Cheeseburgers, but I only love them because it’s a little more than a dollar and I can use the grease from them to keep my chest hair from popping out of my collar. And I know I’ve said that I enjoy their Big Macs, but only because of my affinity towards that middle bun.

I know what it’s like to be a third wheel, Middle Bun.

I may really enjoy these new burgers, but it brings up one question in my head.  We’ve been eating crappy McDonald’s burgers for years and all this time they had the ability to make a really good burger, so what the fuck have they been doing for the past decade? Have they been eating McDonald’s food, getting sleepy soon after, taking a nap and then not getting any work done, like the rest of us do?

The Angus Third Pounders come in three varieties:

Deluxe – a burger with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, pickles and mayonnaise.

Bacon & Cheese – a burger with cheese, bacon, red onions, pickles, ketchup and mustard.

Mushroom & Swiss – a burger with sauteed mushroom, mayonnaise and swiss cheese.

Which flavor you should try depends on what your taste buds yearn for and/or the amount of sodium your circulatory system can take, since each burger has between 1100-2070 milligrams of sodium.

All of the Angus Third Pounders are flavor packed. The Deluxe had a classic burger taste and I would totally do behind a shed. I could taste the Angus beef, cheese, pickles and mayonnaise (only because they put a huge glob of it on the burger), but I felt the red onions didn’t add much flavor. The Bacon & Cheese contained big slices of slightly crispy bacon that ensured I had some in every bite, although it’s taste wasn’t as prominent as I hoped it would be. Again, the red onions didn’t really provide much flavor, but the burger didn’t really need it and I would totally do it hard in the back seat of a car. The Mushroom & Swiss was probably my favorite among the three and I would do it the hardest in a janitor’s closet. The sauteed mushrooms were tasty, well sized and plentiful, but they didn’t overwhelm the sandwich, letting the flavor of the meat stand out.

The patties in the Angus Third Pounders are much tastier, less greasy and noticeably thicker than regular McDonald’s burger patties. The texture of the meat was different too, but in a good way. All of the burgers themselves were significantly larger than most other items on the menu. I hope McDonald’s keeps them that size and they don’t end up like the Big & Tasty, which started big, but now is much smaller.

Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised by the quality and flavor of the McDonald’s Angus Third Pounders. Some might complain about the $4 price tag for each burger, but the other big burgers on the McDonald’s menu are only about 50-75 cents cheaper and they’re also 50-75 percent shittier. So I think the Angus Third Pounders are worth the extra scratch.

(Nutritional Facts – 1 burger – Deluxe – 750 calories, 39 grams of fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of trans fat, 135 milligrams of cholesterol, 1700 milligrams of sodium, 61 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber and 40 grams of protein. Bacon & Cheese – 790 calories, 39 grams of fat, 17 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of trans fat, 145 milligrams of cholesterol, 2070 milligrams of sodium, 63 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber and 45 grams of protein. Mushroom & Swiss – 770 calories, 40 grams of fat, 17 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of trans fat, 135 milligrams of cholesterol, 1170 milligrams of sodium, 59 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber and 44 grams of protein.)

Item: McDonald’s Angus Third Pounders (Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese and Mushroom & Swiss)
Price: $4.19 each
Size: Third pounders
Purchased at: McDonald’s
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Deluxe)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Bacon & Cheese)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Mushroom & Swiss)
Pros: Very tasty. The best McDonald’s burgers I’ve ever had. Fresh looking ingredients. Hefty for McDonald’s burgers. Thicker, tastier, and less greasy patties than regular McDonald’s burgers. Great source of protein.
Cons: Totally unhealthy. High in sodium, saturated fat and trans fat. Red onions didn’t add much to the burgers. Some might find the burgers to be pricey. Eating McDonald’s food, getting sleepy soon after, taking a nap and then not getting any work done.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road

/ / Reviews / 15 Comments

Ben & Jerry's Limited Batch Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road

Ben & Jerry’s latest creation, Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road, honors Sir Elton John’s first-ever Vermont appearance in 2008. If Elton John wanted to honor the ice cream that honors him in lyrical form, I believe it might go something like this:

Goodbye skinny jeans
Though I never really used you at all
You had the strength to hold yourself
While my gut pushed out like a wall
It oozed out from over the top
and it looked like you were baking bread.
I really need to run on a treadmill
Because I have 20 pounds I need to shed.

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like plastic bag in the wind
Never knowing what to cling to
When my fat ass came in
And I would have liked to have used you
But I was just too big
Your stitches tore out long before
Your buttons ever did.

Now if Ben & Jerry wanted to honor themselves for honoring Elton John for honoring the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream that honors Elton John in song form, I believe it would go like this:

Hey kids, mixing ingredients together
The freezer freezing something
that’s been known to change the weather.
We’ll milk the fatted calf tonight
so stick around.
You’re gonna taste creamy goodness
that will make you round.

Say, Cherry and Garcia, have you seen them with dairy.
Ooh, but they’re so spaced out, B-b-b-bennie and the Jerry’s.
Oh, but they’re weird and they’re wonderful.
Oh Bennie, he’s really all right.
He’s got plastic spoons, hippie tunes.
You know I read it on their website. Oh ho.
B-b-b-bennie and the Jerry’s

Now if I wanted to honor Ben & Jerry for their limited edition Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road ice cream that honors Elton John, I would say that it’s a pretty good ice cream that would make Sir Elton John happy, or gay, if you will. And why wouldn’t it? Because it consists of a hodgepodge of ingredients that would make most people giddy. It has chocolate ice cream, peanut butter cookie dough, brickle candy pieces and white chocolatey chunks.

The chocolate ice cream had the typical Ben & Jerry’s creaminess to it; the peanut butter cookie dough added a slight nuttiness; the brickle gave it a nice crunch and caramel flavor; and the white chocolatey chunks added…um…actually, I didn’t think they added anything, but they were big chunks and there were lots of them. Each spoonful had at least one of the added ingredients.

Of course, like most premium ice creams, the Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road is extremely high in saturated fat, providing 50% of your daily recommended intake of saturated fat in a half cup serving. But I ate an entire pint within a week and…

Don’t you know I’m still standing better than I ever did.
Eating an entire pint of ice cream, eating it like a little kid.
I’m still standing after all the grinds.
Picking up my body even with all the fat you caused on my hind.

I’m still standing. Yeah yeah yeah.
I’m still standing. Yeah yeah yeah.

(Nutrition Facts – 1/2 cup – 280 calories, 15 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 95 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 26 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 10% vitamin A, 10% calcium and 8% iron.)

(Note: If you don’t know which Elton John songs I referenced in this review, the first one was “Candle in the Wind,” followed by “Bennie and the Jets,” and ending with “I’m Still Standing.” On Second Scoop also reviewed it, but didn’t like it as much and didn’t reference any Elton John songs.)

Item: Ben & Jerry’s Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road
Price: $5.39
Size: One pint
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Pretty good. Chocolate ice cream was creamy. Peanut butter cookie dough added a slight nuttiness. Brickle add crunch and caramel flavor. Each spoonful had at least one of the added ingredients. Big white chocolate chunks. Elton John.
Cons: Big white chocolate chucks were bland. High in saturated fat. Limited batch. Eating an entire pint in a day. Butchering Elton John songs to match the theme of this review.

REVIEW: Kellogg’s Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts

/ / Reviews / 13 Comments

Oh. Dear. Lord. Stop reproducing, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts!

You’re making the Octomom and all the reality show fertility families on TLC look normal. What are you up to now, forty or so offspring? I bet they just slide right out of you now, yelling “Weeeeee!!!” as they come through your birth canal. Aren’t you almost 50 years old? Aren’t you too old to be reproducing? It’s dangerous at your age. Or maybe you’re trying to get your own reality show on TLC called “Poppin’ Out Tarts Until Menopause Starts”?

By now you’re also probably running out of names because your latest kid’s name, Blueberry Muffin, sounds like an exiled Strawberry Shortcake character or a slightly chubby stripper who is into autoerotic asphyxiation. I hope you don’t name your next child, Poppy Seed Muffin Pop-Tarts, because, really, if you think about it, that should be your name.

Well, at least your Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts sound like something that can be eaten for breakfast, which Pop-Tarts was originally made for. It’s unlike many of the offspring you’ve delivered over the past few years, which were more like desserts than breakfast pastries. Also, now that I think about it, most of them had stripper names: Hot Chocolate, Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Banana Split.

Your Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts look very similar to other frosted Pop-Tarts, so I guess you’re not jumping over the fence. It has a light yellow crust with blueberry muffin flavor and blueberry bits filling and white frosting with brown and blue sprinkles on top. It doesn’t taste like a blueberry muffin, instead it tastes like a less sweet Frosted Blueberry Pop-Tart. The blueberry flavor wasn’t overwhelming, which was due to the filling not containing much blueberry flavor. But if blueberry muffins tasted like this Pop-Tart, I would be breaking out my muffin pans and inner Betty Crocker to make them every day, because I really liked the flavor of these Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts.

Hmm…Now I’m torn, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts. I want you to stop reproducing, because it just isn’t safe (or pretty) at your age. But I want you to continue reproducing so that I can see if you come up with something as good as your Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts.

(sigh)

Continue reproducing. Weeeeee!!!

(Nutrition Facts – 1 pastry – 200 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 16 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein and a bunch of vitamins and minerals.)

Item: Kellogg’s Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts
Price: $2.49
Size: 8 pastries
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Good. Not overly sweet like a regular Frosted Blueberry Pop-Tart. Blueberry flavor wasn’t overwhelming. It’s a Pop-Tart that sounds like it can be eaten for breakfast. Vitamins and minerals. My inner Betty Crocker. Weeeee!!!
Cons: Doesn’t taste like a blueberry muffin. Has a stripper’s name. Having more than 40 children. A reality show on TLC called “Poppin’ Out Tarts Until Menopause Starts.”