TasteBuddyCanada

salt. sugar. fat. mmm!

Searching for great cinnamon buns

Mrs. TasteBuddy has a womanly sweet tooth. Favourites include chocolate, ice cream and cinnamon buns.

While shopping last week, I picked up a package of Papa Ciro's Handmade Cinnamon Knots. They looked delicious on the package.

The verdict: not bad, but not great. Mrs. TasteBuddy says they need better quality cinnamon, and the bread needs more butter. Also, the cinnamon (and butter) should be baked in, not just sprinkled on top. High marks for the icing, though, which is very good.

Turns out Papa Ciro's is known for garlic knots, which explains a lot. The butter and garlic probably bake into the bread when you warm them up. Maybe some of that butter could be applied to the cinnamon knots as well.

So. We're still searching for great cinnamon buns. Specifically, we're trying to find a substitute for our favourite, homemade cinnamon buns, which we haven't been able to make since Rhodes stopped distributing their products in Canada.

Rhodes frozen dinner rolls were an essential ingredient in Mrs. TasteBuddy's homemade cinnamon buns. Her recipe, which came from her friend Cheryl, is similar to the "Land of Nod" cinnamon buns in the Best of Bridge cookbooks. You prepare them at night, then bake them in the morning. They're amazing.

But they're not the same without the frozen rolls. We have tried the recipe with several substitute ingredients but can't get quite the same buttery bread taste from anything else. (Pizza dough comes close, but isn't quite right, and rises too much overnight.)

Dear Rhodes: please come back to Canada. Or, at least, send us a freezer full of your frozen rolls (and your own cinnamon buns).

Meanwhile, we're off to Cinnabon.

September 20, 2008 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item

Minute Maid soft frozen lemonade

Best treat of the summer so far: soft frozen lemonade treats from Minute Maid. I bought a big box of these for the kids a few weeks ago from Sam's Club, but didn't get around to trying them myself until today.

And, wow, they're good. I tried the strawberry lemonade flavour first and loved it. A couple of hours later, I was back in the freezer, digging for more. The regular lemonade is excellent, too. It's sour and sweet together, cold and refreshing – a perfect treat for a hot summer day.

This product isn't mentioned anywhere I can find on the MinuteMaid.ca site. The U.S. site features regular lemonade and raspberry lemonade. The image I found using Google image search shows regular and strawberry lemonade and a third flavour not in the box I bought: limeade and cherry. The box I bought at Sam's Club in west Toronto had just regular lemonade and strawberry lemonade.

July 26, 2008 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item

Tomato and vinegar chips

Today's adventure in food was a bag of Red Bliss Sun Dried Tomatoes & Balsamic Vinegar potato chips from Terra Chips. There are several Red Bliss chip flavours. This one is made with olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.

Your taste buds will be delighted with the flavorful combination of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, enhanced with the sophisticated bite of sun-dried tomatoes. Delicately seasoned with the perfect hint of garlic, basil and cayenne pepper, this seasoned snack is almost a gourmet meal in a bag.

Note the key word gourmet, which may explain why these chips were in the premium organic food section instead of the snack aisle. It would also explain the premium price.

If I told you these are the best sun-dried tomato and balsamic vinegar chips I've ever tasted, it wouldn't mean much; they're the only ones I've tasted.

How about this, then: they were fresh and crunchy and delicious. The taste combination won me over on the second chip. (The first chip was just curious exploration.)

They're not for snacking while playing cards; they're for serving to special guests. The 170 gram bag cost me five bucks, which is a little out of my normal snack food price range, but I would definitely buy them again.

Now that I've taken the plunge and tried Terra Chips brand, I'm ready to sample their other products. Terra Sweets and Beets are on my shopping list for next time.

July 26, 2008 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item