Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Poke 'Em...One Of Them Is Bound To Giggle.

Sometime during the winter, while passing a Burger King I noticed a banner advertising their new breakfast menu. I hate eggs, so fried chicken embryo on a biscuit scaled up 800% serves no purpose other than triggering my gag reflex. But something else on that banner made me do a double-take: Cini-Minis. For those unfamiliar, they were (and are once again) four bite-sized cinnamon rolls with icing dip (see mug shot on right).
I love cinnamon rolls and have sampled the spectrum of good and bad with many bordering on building supply rather than baked good. However, for a product originating from a fast food restaurant, Cini-Mini's were exceptionally good. I hadn’t seen them since at least 2003 when suddenly, and without warning, they disappeared. In trying to reason their disappearance I devised this theory: they were a headache for franchisees. Cini-Minis were, according to a Burger King press release dated April 27, 1998, "Baked fresh daily on restaurant premises…” My theory made sense as there were a few rare occasions when I could swear that corners were cut and they were deep-fried (dark brown and greasy…yum!).

Cini-Minis share an interesting lineage with another popular cinnamon roll; Pillsbury produces them for Burger King. A small image of the Poppin’ Fresh, The Pillsbury Doughboy found on the bottom of the carton offers the only evidence of this [Note: While I’m no Annie Leibovitz, the blurred quality of the following photo comes courtesy of the package printer and not my jangled nerves - click for an enlarged view]:

This makes sense as the corporate information on Burger King’s website reveals that Pillsbury was a one-time owner of Burger King, purchasing the company ten years after its founding in 1967 (Burger King was sold in the late 1990’s).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WE don't get those swirly things in OUR Burger King ... where in the world are you? I'm in London ...

I found you quite by chance pressing that next blog button up top ...

I do a blog too, it's called Gledwood Vol 2 at http://gledwood2.blogspot.com. You're most welcome to pay a visit. It's very different from yours. More my secret diary online. Come there to read my innermost embarrassing secrets!

Looking forward to seeing you there ...

All the very best to you
from
Gledwood
("gledwood vol 2")

Gledwood said...

Thanxx 4 ur comment on mine!

I like what you say about cinnamon rolls ... "many verging on building supply"! My old local supermarket which was called Budgens had the cheek to sell white bread rolls so incredibly hardened by day after day languishing in the bread isle they were only suitable (in my opinion) for dry stone walling.

(Which, if you've never seen it, is those "cobbled"-looking walls you get in Yorkshire in the N of England. You also get it occasionally in Wales and Ireland. Basically it's a way of clearing a field of stones that will bugger up the plough and making a handy (& really strong) wall out of the stones you collect. And it is JUST made out of UNHEWN stones. No plaster. No cement.)

Sorry for that tangential rant. I was just assuming that being American you wouldn't be that familiar with them. Don't tell me they have them in Montana and Nebraska (!!)