Rule #1 of being a junk meals fan: once you hear {that a} take a look at product is obtainable in your space, you give it a attempt. Additional down on the listing of guidelines: get pleasure from that product whereas it’s sizzling, particularly in case you are chilly. Each tenets lately led me to Arby’s to take a look at its Cinnamon Roll Fried Pie. The take a look at product, a fried pastry with cinnamon filling, is obtainable at choose areas for a restricted time. (The chain launched an identical providing — a Strawberries and Cream selection — final 12 months.)
It feels acceptable that Arby’s would take a look at this new dessert in my area as a result of March marks the longest stage of my metropolis’s annual Seemingly Limitless Winter. As spring eludes us, we layer our socks, aggressively moisturize, and metal ourselves for the inevitable spring snowstorm that, like a horror film villain, pops up for one final scare simply as you assume the worst is over. To outlive, we want consolation meals, and with this new take a look at product, Arby’s has aimed to create an excellent trifecta of heat and coziness: pie, fried meals, and cinnamon.
Finally, Arby’s Cinnamon Roll Fried Pie does justice to every element of the trifecta. The fried turnover-style pastry is the crispy, crunchy star of the dessert. It’s golden brown, rife with tiny air bubbles that come from the excessive frying temperature, and virtually shatters with crispiness on the floor. Beneath the preliminary crunch, the dough is skinny, tender, and mushy, and not using a trace of sogginess or oily residue.
The cinnamon roll filling is flavorful and beneficiant. I tasted a great quantity of the sweetly spiced stuff in each chew. The feel shocked and mystified me. I used to be anticipating some quantity of gooey drippage, which I admit sounds extra like a symptom of the chilly you catch throughout Seemingly Limitless Winter. However any cinnamon roll fan is aware of the stuff: the sugary, melted butter that will get absorbed inside the roll’s thick, spiraling dough. The filling on this fried pie, nevertheless, jogs my memory of the filling earlier than it will get baked: thick and moist, however nonetheless nearer to a mushy, shaggy paste in texture.
I want I knew the recipe for the filling, however like a proud grandmother defending her culinary secrets and techniques, Arby’s has not launched that data. I’m curious as to how the filling maintains its physique with out feeling heavy. Substances I’d look forward to finding in a cinnamon roll, like the standard butter or cream cheese frosting suspects, don’t appear to contribute to the filling’s style or texture. Whereas it does style like a cinnamon roll’s coveted middle, the filling’s taste can also be just a little one-note. A streak of icing might need added an additional dimension to the not-too-sweet pie.
Arby’s Cinnamon Roll Fried Pie is a cheap, pocket-sized deal with that hits the spot, particularly in the event you gobble it down for a warming deal with on the finish of a protracted, frigid day. Its enchantment definitely extends into hotter months as a result of, as yet one more junk meals rule dictates, fried stuff is reassuring year-round. If this Fried Pie makes Arby’s official menu, it could change into a brand new favourite.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of reader Dorothy for letting us find out about this take a look at merchandise within the Erie, PA space and for the signage photograph originally of the evaluate.)
Bought Value: $1.79
Score: 8 out of 10
Vitamin Details: Unavailable at time of publishing.