First, why a cinnamon roll taste test you ask? I had read on an RVing to Alaska Facebook page there were several places along the Alaska Highway that were known for great cinnamon rolls. Well, you know me and anything sweet. I could not resist. My partner in all things sweet on this trip, Greg, was up for the challenge and rated them as well.
Cinnamon rolls provide a taste of comfort. As you bite into the sweet baked tender dough, which is infused with sweetened cinnamon, it gives you a warming sensation like sitting by a cozy fire. The icing, usually a cream cheese frosting or sugar glaze, adds a third dimension to the taste profile. Quite surprisingly, we experienced a variety of tastes and textures during our cinnamon roll taste test.
Greg and I found there were three criteria we used when sampling a cinnamon roll. First, was the dough soft, not dry and yet not too doughy. Second, how was the cinnamon flavor? Can you taste cinnamon in every bite? Third, how was the icing? Too much, not enough, too sweet, or just right.
We did find variations of cinnamon rolls along the way, but kept to the basic recipe for our taste tests. As an aside, I really enjoyed one which added chocolate chips and Greg really enjoyed one with raspberry.
I started out ranking them in numerical order, with Greg giving me his independent score, e.g., 8.5 or 7 or the highest score he gave, a 9. We found it was harder as time went on to judge them against one another. We wish we could have had them all lined up at one time. It became harder to delineate the scores into a true numerical ranking, so I ended up grouping them. Here we go!
The top cinnamon rolls:
Testa Lodge, north of Fort Nelson at Historic Mile 375 on the Alaska Highway.
Roadhouse Bakery, in Talkeetna, Alaska, south of Denali National Park
Paul’s Bakery, Smithers, British Columbia (after the Cassiar Highway ends)
The Cookie Jar, in Fairbanks, Alaska
The next group down:
Johnsons Crossing in Yukon at Historic Mile 836 of the Alaska Highway.
Lazy Otter in Whittier, Alaska. Look for the wood carved bear along the waterfront
Village Bakery, in Haines Junction at historic milepost 1016 of the Alaska Highway. This is the only cinnamon roll that Greg and I disagreed on its rating. Greg felt it was too doughy and rated it a 4. I loved it! Greg graciously agreed it can be in the middle group.
Our final grouping was those we would not buy again.
Continental Divide RV Park & Motel located north of Watson Lake at mile maker 721 of the Alaska Highway. The cinnamon rolls were fresh out of the oven, but not frosted. Greg ate his with some butter and rated it a 5. I froze mine until I could buy cream cheese frosting (yes, out of a can). It still was not very good and yet the staff at the cafe raved about them. They need to travel down to Testa to understand what a great cinnamon roll tastes like!
Lighthouse Bakery in Seward, Alaska. Both Greg and I agreed, you could barely taste any cinnamon. That is a no go for a cinnamon roll!
Lastly, we must give an honorable mention to Jack’s Place, located just a few miles south of Muncho Lake at mile marker 423. His cinnamon rolls were by far the largest we had tried. They were a bit dry so Greg sliced his to make great cinnamon bread for toasting. He said they were great served as toasted cinnamon bread.
That’s it! The results of our Canada/Alaska cinnamon roll taste test. It was so much fun and I greatly appreciate Greg being my partner in the endeavor. Our respective spouses, Dave & Helen, also provided input which we greatly appreciated.
Ready for another taste test? On to S’mores.
I am not sure how this started, but not long into our trip, while in South Dakota, we tried our first S’more variation. Sometimes we changed out the marshmallow, sometimes it was a different sweet rather than chocolate, and we even tried a different cracker (well, it was a cookie). Before I go any further, I have to say that Dave stayed true to his opposition of this, he is a purist to the core. However, we did find a chink in his armor, and he did try a s’more made with an Oreo cookie instead of the graham cracker.
As you know I have a sweet tooth (thanks to my mom’s wonderful baking when I grew up). My favorite s’more variations were the sweeter ones, like the sour patch gummy s’more and the tutti fruiti marshmallows with sour patch starburst candies. Yes, I had trouble falling asleep those nights!
Greg & Helen had their favorites too including the s’more made with circus peanuts in lieu of a marshmallow, the Turtle s’more, with pecans and caramel sauce, and Rocky Road S’mores, adding peanuts on tope of the marshmallows.
Other variations, like using thin Reese’s peanut butter cup in lieu of Hershey’s milk chocolate got 3 thumbs up, but the one using banana marshmallows was a miss. As much as I love chocolate banana , I thought it would be my favorite; but the banana marshmallow was a miss.
Our S’mores variation was a fun project of our trip.
And lastly, we had a blind Kit Kat taste test, to see if we could discern a difference in their taste and which was from USA vs. Canada. I placed Kit Kats in two different bowls, segregated by the country we bought them in (their packaging was different as well).. Dave, Greg & Helen tried them. Two correctly guessed the right country and all agreed that they do taste different, noting the Canadian Kit Kats had more chocolate.
That ends our fun food portion of our Alaska and more adventure. It was fun having these contests.
Dave and I are making our way back to Florida and Greg & Helen are headed back to Minnesota. I will publish the final blog of our Alaska and more adventure on Sunday. Bittersweet.
I’ll participate in anything sweet-related Brenda, On a trip powered by diesel fuel and sugar Dave, and how come my input didn’t get recorded Murphy.
Canadian v US Kit Kats… who knew?
Pretty interesting and fun
I had no idea that Kit Katz would taste different.
I noticed in Mexico Coca Cola tastes different. They tell me in Mexico they use a different type of sugar
I prefer coca cola from the US
The. There is Pacifico tasting different in the Us and Mexico. I prefer the Pacifico from Mexico.
Just saying