Author: Ann

REVIEW: McDonald’s McCafe Donut Sticks with Chocolate Sauce

Ann 7 Comments

McDonald s McCafe Donut Sticks with Chocolate Sauce

McDonald’s Donut Sticks are BACK, and this time they’ve got an accompanying chocolate sauce (maybe the folks there read our February review requesting this addition?).

I swung into the McDonald’s drive-thru and was told to wait five minutes for some fresh sticks. Usually, I’d grumble a little about the wait, but in this instance, I wasn’t upset since the result would be impeccably fresh ones, which I figure is the best way to enjoy them.

McDonald’s Donut Sticks with Chocolate Sauce are available in a six or 12 pack and only during breakfast hours. I’m not sure if you get double the chocolate sauce with 12, but it’s probably worth asking for. I went with the six-pack for $1.59.

McDonald s McCafe Donut Sticks with Chocolate Sauce Innards

They look the same as the ones from earlier this year. They’re incredibly light, super flaky, and very fragrant of cinnamon and donutty goodness. I would almost call these “cronut sticks,” but they lack a few pastry layers to qualify fully. My car began smelling like a donut shop almost immediately after I’d received the bag.

McDonald s McCafe Donut Sticks with Chocolate Sauce 2

Let’s talk about this chocolate sauce. This sauce is thicc. It’s also smooth, sticky, rich in chocolate color, and it adhered well to the donut sticks. I did find I needed to be careful, as some of the pieces were a little too fragile and would sort of collapse from the pressure of the “scoop.” But a generic dip was quite successful.

The sauce tastes exactly like the hot fudge topping on McDonald’s soft serve sundae and comes in packaging similar to McNugget dipping sauces (careful not to mix those up, although honey could be an interesting adventure for these donut sticks. OOH! Or Hot Honey! Okay, I digress.)

Overall, the chocolate is a welcomed addition to the already delightful donut sticks. It’s not overpowering, and there was enough sauce in the container to dip my way through all six pieces. The chocolate doesn’t take this treat to an overly luscious place, but it certainly elevates the regular sticks.

Purchased Price: $1.59
Size: 6 Donut Sticks + 1 oz. Sauce
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts**: 280 calories, 13 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 6 grams of protein.

**This is only for the donut sticks. The chocolate sauce nutrition facts are not listed on the McDonalds website or printed on the container.

REVIEW: Great Value Dessert Pizzas (Apple Cinnamon, Pineapple, and S’mores)

Ann 12 Comments

Great Value Dessert Pizzas

Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening – Walmart has pizza for all the times!

(That fits the tune, right? Did you sing along as you read it? Solid.) ??It’s true, Walmart has decided we, as a species, don’t have enough solutions to our 24-hour pizza needs and has launched both a breakfast and a dessert line of pizzas. I, for one, will always and forever hail the cold-leftover-slice-of-pizza-straight-out-of-the-fridge as one of the most satisfying breakfast foods out there (HOW is it so delicious hot and cold?), so I went out to find the dessert situation it’s created.??I was lucky enough to stumble upon all three flavors of the new Great Value (I’ll be the judge of that) dessert pizzas and immediately knew I had to try them all — Pineapple, Cinnamon Apple, and S’ mores.

Great Value Cinnamon Apple Dessert Pizza Raw

Apple Cinnamon straight out of the box had enormous apple pieces atop the pizza along with blobs splattered of what I assume was supposed to be the icing drizzle. The word “drizzle” in the product description and image on the box is an outright lie.

Great Value Pineapple Dessert Pizza Raw

Pineapple had bright, appetizing pineapple pieces, a visible cinnamon sauce, and like its apple brethren, icing blobs trying their best to meet expectations of a “drizzle” but failing miserably.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Raw

S’ mores appeared to be the closest to the image on the front of the package and had a plethora of marshmallows, chocolate pieces, and graham crumble. ??The prep instructions are straightforward, and the pizzas even come pre-wrapped sitting in an ovenable (real word, I looked it up) tray. So all you had to do was pull off the plastic wrap and pop it straight into the oven!

Great Value Cinnamon Apple Dessert Pizza Baked

With the Apple Cinnamon one, I didn’t realize when I got excited about the giant apple pieces that it takes longer than 18 minutes to heat those pieces of frozen apple. They were thawed but STILL COLD. They also had no added cinnamon/sugar flavor. When I bit into the pizza, I got a mix of decently-toasty sweet crust, lukewarm flavorless sugar goo icing, and a cold mass of apple that filled my mouth with cold liquid when I bit into it and didn’t taste like anything. It. Was. Horrible.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Baked

The s’ mores pizza looked and smelled the most appetizing of the three. I mean, are we surprised? The crust was perfectly baked, solidly crispy on the bottom, but very soft (and thicker than I thought it would be) throughout. Honestly, this tasted like a big open-face chocolate babka with marshmallows, and I wasn’t mad at it. But I do wish the graham crumble and marshmallows had a strong enough flavor to compete with the chocolate. It was definitely the best of the three but didn’t quite live up to the s’ mores hype.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Closeup

Sidebar about the crust – all three dessert pizzas say they’re made on a waffle crust. I tried really hard to believe what I was eating was a waffle base, but it wasn’t. It was still delightful, but more of a sweetened dessert focaccia than a waffle. There weren’t even any square indents.

Great Value Pineapple Dessert Pizza Baked

I realize that when I say this, many of you will roll your eyes so loud that I’ll be able to hear it — I like pineapple and ham pizza.

(Please stay calm)

Once baked, the Great Value Pineapple Dessert Pizza has a flavor that I imagine a pineapple upside-down cake on cinnamon toast would have. The crust was fine. It was sweet and definitely not a waffle. The cinnamon sauce could have had more of the warm spice, and the fruit chunks were delightful. Though, I’d still pick the cake version if forced to choose. For those of you who hate the golden fruit on pizza, this probably isn’t good enough to make a turncoat out of you.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Slices

Overall, there’s a LOT of food for less than $5 with these pizzas, but the s’ mores one is the only one worth buying.

Purchased Price: $4.74 each
Size: 23.95 oz. (Apple Cinnamon), 23.55 oz. (Pineapple), 20.7 oz. (S’mores)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 2 out of 10 (Apple Cinnamon), 5 out of 10 (Pineapple), 6 out of 10 (S’mores)
Nutrition Facts: (1/5 pizza) Cinnamon Apple – 320 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 370 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. Pineapple – 310 calories, 10 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 330 milligrams of sodium, 49 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 18 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. (1/4 pizza) S’mores – 420 calories, 12 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 430 milligrams of sodium, 74 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 30 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Impulsive Buy Reviewer Ann

Ann 5 Comments

Hello, you, scrolling through The Impulsive Buy at your desk. Good Morning!

No, I’m not creepily watching you through your webcam, we just have the same beloved morning routine! My name is Ann, and I’m a new contributor here at The Impulsive Buy. I’ve been reading TIB for years, typically over my first (fine, third) cup of coffee at my job in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry.

I love food and all of the physical and emotional things it can do for us. I love the anticipation of finding new flavors, the exploration of trying new foods you’ve never considered before, and the community of people willing to discuss (or debate!) all the minutia of what makes something delicious, clever, truly innovative, or truly horrendous.

When it comes to polarizing foods and flavors, I’m in the camp of “Yeah, I’m probably still going to eat that.” Think olives, cottage cheese, pineapple on pizza (teaser), I’m going to try it. I’m most likely going to like it, but I promise to be truthful in my description so that when you come at me with internet pitchforks, I can at least fall on my “fair and honest” sword.

Now, let’s eat!