Bagel, Bagelish, or Bagelicious
Written: Jun 04 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great taste and convenience
Cons: Maybe the price
The Bottom Line: This is a great tasting treat which is certainly worth a try. It may bother some that this product doesn't resemble a traditional bagel.
|
|
|
| nagels's Full Review: Brand Name Food Products |
Pillsbury’s Toaster Bagel Shoppe Bagels sure don’t look like bagels; they’re more like Pop Tart clones. I always thought bagels had to be round, but then again pretzels come in all kinds of sizes and shapes and apparently a product’s classification can be attributed to it by virtue of its ingredients, not necessarily by its shape and appearance. With their unconventional design these Bagel Shoppe bagels won’t be common fare at many conventions. Comparing the ingredient list of the Bagel Shoppe bagels to that of a bag of unfrozen Safeway bagels, I noticed quite a few common ingredients in both formulas.
I probably wouldn’t have tried these “bagels” if it hadn’t’ve been for the coupons in my two Sunday papers. Being a sucker for a bargain I couldn’t resist the $1.50 coupon on a product costing $2.40. So clutching my two coupons I went on a mission to the local grocery store to revel in a bargain and try a new product as a bonus. Four flavors are available: blueberry and cream cheese, cinnamon raisin, strawberry & cream cheese, and plain cream cheese. For my test I bought strawberry and cream cheese, and the cinnamon raisin flavors.
Six frozen bagels are in each box. They resemble Pop Tarts is size and shape but are slightly smaller and have a different texture and appearance. The top has a slightly browned, precooked look. Heating directions are given for a toaster or toaster oven. Since I don’t have a toaster oven, I opted for the toaster.
Before I toast these bagels I have to let my dog go outside. She always runs to the back door when she sees the toaster because its pop up noise spooks her. I found that putting our toaster on a low setting required two cycles to get the bagel uniformly warm on the exterior. Its cream cheese filling remains cool, and I like the contrasting temperatures and complementing tastes. The outside crust becomes crispy and has a vague, somewhat bagelish taste that’s a bit overwhelmed by the strong, sweet taste of the filling. I enjoy the taste of these “bagels”, though I would prefer a little more bagel.
There is what I considered an odd warning tucked in the directions on the box panel.
CAUTION; DO NOT LEAVE TOASTER UNATTENDED WHILE HEATING PRODUCT DUE TO POSSIBLE RISK OF FIRE.
It made me wonder about the safety of these bagels. Rather than run an extension cord outside to the deck and keep a fire extinguisher nearby, I called Pillsbury’s customer service number. To my relief I was told that the bagels are not incendiary hazards and won’t burst into an inferno on my counter top. The warning is generic and put there just to caution customers not to leave a toaster unattended. Unfortunately manufacturers must anticipate every possible hazard to protect themselves from potential lawsuits.
The ingredients of the Pillsbury Toaster Bagel Shoppe bagels are too many list; here are the first few: BLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR, BLEACHED FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMIN, MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID, WATER, CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CREAM CHEESE, (MILK, CREAM, SALT, WANTHAN GUM, CAROB BEAN GUM, GUAR GUM) MODIFIED TAPIOCA STARCH, DEXTROSE, VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL…… and the list goes on and on and on and on.
One 47-gram bagel has 130 calories. The two I have two for breakfast would then be 260 calories. By comparison, one plain 99 gram Safeway blueberry bagel has 270 calories. Just a little topping will jump the calorie count into the 300’s. After eating two “bagels”, I was surprisingly still a little hungry. Since the insides are “filling”, I thought two would be more than enough.
CONCLUSIONS
When I first toasted these “bagels” I inserted them into the toaster sideways; this required reaching into the toaster cavity a bit to remove them. I found that they’re small enough to insert top to bottom and still fit totally inside the toaster. Hope that at yeast makes sense.
My daughter doesn’t want to be bothered with the toaster so she prepares hers in the microwave. For experimental purposes I nuked one of these bagels also. The microwaved bagel didn’t have the crisp crust, and I didn’t care for the heated filling either.
I like the taste of these bagelesque pastries quite a bit and will buy them again when I get another coupon. Without a coupon it works out to forty cents apiece, not a bargain as far as I’m concerned. If you’re not a tightwad like myself, give these frozen "bagels" a try. You’ll probably enjoy them and might even find them bagelicious. Just don’t expect the look or taste experience of a traditional bagel.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.