Tag: Toaster Strudel

REVIEW: Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel

Denis 2 Comments

Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel

What is the Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel?

A marriage between the theme park treat and a fancy Pop-Tart, aka Toaster Strudel. As always, these require some manual labor, first figuring out how to separate and then open the icing packet, and then put it on the pastry. Then the race is on to finish the Toaster Strudel before the icing liquifies from the heat.

How is it?

Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel Art

Underwhelming, much like my attempt to recreate the pastry art pictured on the box. These really aren’t bad, but they really aren’t churro flavored either. I had to ask my taste buds to dig down deep to find even a hint of anything resembling churro or cinnamon flavor. The best way I can describe the filling is nondescript sweet, warm goo.

Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel Closeup

Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel Uncooked

Looking at the photo on the box, it seemed to show something extra going on with the pastry crust—either cinnamon mixed in or perhaps little flakes of churro pieces. But I couldn’t distinguish anything different about the crust compared to a regular Toaster Strudel. The icing was chocolatey, as promised, with almost a pudding taste rather than a standard chocolate sauce. If someone had given me this without any hint as to the flavor, I’m not sure I would have guessed churro.

Is there anything else you need to know?

You can get drunk off these! OK, actually you can’t, but they do contain chocolate liquor. Sadly, it’s the very last ingredient listed (after the always delicious locust bean gum), so you are fine to eat a few of these and hop behind the wheel. Just don’t go swimming for 30 minutes.

Pillsbury Churro Toaster Strudel Mascot

On another completely random subject, if you are ever in San Antonio, you can find some delicious churros in the Market Square, along with what is likely one of the only churro mascots in the world. Just don’t give him one of these Toaster Strudels.

Conclusion:

If I was in a rush one morning and grabbed one of these without looking at the box, I would probably be satisfied and go off to work contemplating new ways to waste time while being paid. But I was expecting some kind of churro flavor, and this one misses the mark on that.

Purchased Price: $2.06
Size: 11.7 oz box (6 pastries)
Purchased at: H-E-B
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (for 2 pastries with icing) 370 calories, 14 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 390 milligrams of sodium, 56 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 18 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamania Toaster Strudel

Meghan 1 Comment

Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Toaster Strudel

What is the Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Toaster Strudel?

Combining the aromatic spices of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with the crisp flakiness of Pillsbury’s iconic Toaster Strudel, these heat ‘n eat treats take a cold cereal classic and turn it into a warming breakfast.

How is it?

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Toaster Pastries Pic 5 jpg

If there’s one thing about Toaster Strudels that’s always bothered me, it’s the icing that comes with them. While delicious, I don’t think that Pillsbury ever puts enough packets of it in the box. Each one is teeny-tiny, and you can only use a single packet per pastry unless you plan on eating some of them naked and unadorned.

Setting the icing situation aside, the Toaster Strudel itself was the true star of the show. Post-toasting, each pastry was pleasingly browned and filled my kitchen with the delicious smell of cinnamon sugar, alluding to their sweet, spiced filling. Although the top of each pasty was crisp and flaky, I thought that they were a little dry and chewy on the bottom, and they would have greatly benefited from some more butter or shortening in the dough.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Toaster Pastries Pic 7 JPG

Luckily, the much anticipated liquid spice goo more than made up for the pastry’s faults. The filling isn’t too strong, but it makes this Toaster Strudel taste genuinely reminiscent of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, ensuring that kids and adults alike will enjoy eating these for breakfast.

Is there anything else I need to know?

When you bite down onto one of these when they’re fresh from the toaster, the filling is about the temperature of lava, and it will burn your mouth if you’re not careful. Plus, the filling in mine had all run down to one end, leaving me with a few bites of plain dough.

Conclusion:

The Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Toaster Strudel is a solid addition to the line. Sweet, aromatic, and true to the cereal, these are a solid breakfast choice for a chilly fall morning.

Purchased Price: $3.87
Size: 23.4 oz. box/12 pastries
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 pastry with icing) 180 calories, 60 calories from fat, 7 grams of total fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 9 grams of total sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Pillsbury Donut Shop Glazed Donut Toaster Strudel

Mike 6 Comments

Pillsbury Donut Shop Glazed Donut Toaster Strudel

There are a few childhood joys that I vividly remember: snow days, skipping math class, faking a sick day, etc.

You get the idea.

Almost nothing could make me happier as a child than neglecting my education. The only thing that came close was seeing that mom had decided to splurge on Toaster Strudels instead of the unfrosted store brand Pop-Tart knock-offs that she usually bought. You got to frost them yourself! They were virtually fine dining in a toastable format.

It’s been years since I’ve eaten a Toaster Strudel, so I was excited to try Pillsbury’s new Donut Shop Glazed Donut Toaster Strudels. The box promises that they’re “Like a donut, but even better!” That’s a strong statement, but given my childhood affection for the pastries, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, even if it does come from a piece a sentient dough like the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Toasting the strudels for the manufacturer’s recommended 1 to 2 cycles at low to medium heat results nicely browned pastry. Even better is the sizzling sound they make while toasting. I don’t know if these can replicate a true donut flavor, but a little bit of fried taste would go a long way towards convincing me.

Pillsbury Donut Shop Glazed Donut Toaster Strudel 2

I tried to recreate the frosting face from the box, but it got just as messy and disfigured as one might expect. It always frustrated me as a kid that I couldn’t get the frosting to look as lovely as on the box. It’s why I eventually just began to eat the frosting separately… Ok, that’s a lie. I ate the frosting separately because I couldn’t wait for the toaster to pop up. I would’ve failed the marshmallow test.

The first bite doesn’t disappoint. The crust is flaky and crisp, and there is indeed a flavor that’s reminiscent of a donut fresh out of the fryer. There’s a whiff of that weird artificial pastry flavor that frozen baked goods often have, but it’s not overpowering. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go smell a partially defrosted pot pie sometime.)

Pillsbury Donut Shop Glazed Donut Toaster Strudel 3

The filling is strange. It’s plain. I was expecting the filling to deliver the glazed donut flavor if glazed donuts have a flavor besides “sweet,” but it doesn’t. It tastes like a simple vanilla filling. It’s not bad, but it means that these come much closer to replicating a Bavarian cream filled donut than a glazed. I guess I was hoping that Pillsbury food scientists would have somehow distilled the essence of the glazed donut and injected it into the pastry, but I’ll choose a filled over glazed donut any time.

Pillsbury Donut Shop Glazed Donut Toaster Strudel 4

As a child, I ate childish things. When I became a man… I still eat childish things, but now I have to buy them myself instead of having mom do it. These are worth price even if they don’t live up to the promise of providing glazed donut flavor.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 pastry – 170 calories, 6 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 mg milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $2.59
Size: 6-pack
Purchased at:
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Crisp and flaky crust that gets a bit of fried flavor from the toaster.
Cons: It doesn’t really replicate the flavor of a glazed doughnut. It’s just a Toaster Strudel with vanilla filling.

REVIEW: Pillsbury Limited Edition Peanut Butter & Strawberry Toaster Strudel

Adam 2 Comments

Pillsbury Limited Edition Peanut Butter & Strawberry Toaster Strudel

For the better part of four years as a TIB reviewer, I have maintained a nearly impeccable streak that few writers in the colorfully chemical world of nutritionally devoid junk food can lay claim to.

I have kept poop references to an absolute minimum.

There have been one or two Fiber One one-liners, maybe some vague references to flatulence, and the occasional, you know what that looks like…, but never have I just come out and said something I’ve eaten looks like poop and pretty much tastes as vile as you could imagine. In other words, like, yeah…

But like Jerry Seinfeld’s barfless streak, Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak, and Don Gorske’s Big Mac streak, my ability to hold out from using the most primal of negative food metaphors has expired. I believe the technical term for moments like this is that the shit has hit the fan.

Pillsbury Limited Edition Peanut Butter & Strawberry Toaster Strudel 3

Skippy Peanut Butter (left) Peanut butter-flavored icing (right)

There is just no other way to describe the artificial peanut butter flavored filling of the Pillsbury Limited Edition Peanut Butter & Strawberry Toaster Strudel. That I am supposed to refer to this brown goo as icing just makes me want to throw up.

Icing is something you want to nibble off a day-old glazed donut; icing is what made Santa Claus fat in the process of hundreds of years of sugar cookie eating; icing is not, and never shall be, a cloying fake peanut butter taste that leaves you with a metallic and bitter alcohol flavor in your mouth when you should be enjoying a PB&J.

Pillsbury Limited Edition Peanut Butter & Strawberry Toaster Strudel 2

If you’re a baker, you might recognize the flavor I’m talking about. It’s the flavor of imitation peanut butter extract; noticeably synthetic, with a cough-syrup like alcohol aftertaste, it’s made all the worse by a horribly out-of-place sweetness. There’s no saltiness, no lip-smacking fatty mouthfeel, and definitely no roasted depth. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the Pillsbury Doughboy is allergic to peanuts.

Oh yeah, and the icing looks like poop.

Pillsbury Limited Edition Peanut Butter & Strawberry Toaster Strudel 4

Thankfully, the D.I.Y. nature of the Toaster Strudel provides a saving grace. Since the packets of the icing are separate, one can simply avoid them like one would avoid, well, foods that are known to cause gastrointestinal distress. Eaten completely without peanut butter, the toaster strudel is fine: The strawberry jelly is admirable for a frozen product, while the flaky layers provide buttery croissant notes.

Adding your own peanut butter makes the pastry delicious, but you’ve probably figured that out by now. Humans have only been enjoying the combination for a gazillion years*, and the slightly caramelized edges of the golden-brown strudel give the combination an unexpected richness that will make you want to start making PB&Js out of croissants.

Overall, the spokesman and chief baker for Pillsbury didn’t just forget to put on a pair of pants, he forgot to put actual peanut butter in his peanut butter and jelly Toaster Strudels.

What follows is one of the more disgusting visuals in frozen breakfasts, not to mention an abrupt goodbye to one of the best streaks in junk food blogging. It’s a shame, really, because all other things being equal, the Toaster Strudels aren’t so bad. Just make sure you get rid of the “icing” ASAP and have jar of Jif close at hand.

*approximate

(Nutrition Facts – 1 pastry with icing – 180 calories, 6 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 mg of cholesterol, 180 mg of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 10 grams of sugars, 2 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $2.00
Size: 11.7 oz box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 4 out of 10
Pros: A fine and scrumptious flaky layered pastry without the poop-inspired peanut butter flavored icing. Surprisingly balanced buttery crust with sweet, gooey strawberry jelly. More substantial eating than a Pop-Tart.
Cons: The absolute vilest and most repulsive peanut butter flavored product I have ever put into this temple I call my body. Peanut butter icing tastes like a 50-50 mix of sweet and low and peanut butter flavored extract. Poopless review streak coming to an ignominious end.

QUICK REVIEW: Limited Edition Pillsbury Caramel Apple Toaster Strudel

Marvo 3 Comments

Limited Edition Pillsbury Caramel Apple Toaster Strudel

Purchased Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Size: 6 pastries
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Sweet caramel icing prevents this Toaster Strudel from headin’ on down to Blandville. Gooey filling and icing. Crispy, flaky, and slightly buttery exterior when toasted properly. Being able to sign your name on a Toaster Strudel with an icing packet.
Cons: Apple filing was light on flavor. Caramel icing has more flavor than the apple filling. Apple filling doesn’t have tiny bits of apple to add a bit more texture. Takes longer to prepare in the toaster than Pop-Tarts. Made with hydrogenated oil.

Limited Edition Pillsbury Caramel Apple Toaster Strudel Closeup

Nutrition Facts: 1 pastry with icing – 170 calories, 50 calories from fat, 6 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat, 2 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.

*made with hydrogenated oil which adds a small amount of trans fat.