I am not a Cracker Barrel fan. Had to look up the pie. I thought, surely not! But....

"Cinnamon Rolls baked into a pie crust, drizzled with sweet cream cheese icing. "

SMH

Yuck. Makes my teeth hurt just looking at it. Never been to a Cracker rBarrel.

Loved Julia, but i dont have HBO. Even old ads in magazines are cringe worthy.

A while back Pal said something that was a revelation to me. And I don't get too many revelations at my age.

I was wondering if I should paint my door a stylish but unusual color and worried that most people who drove by my house would wrinkle their noses when they saw it.

And he said (paraphrasing), Who cares? Most people have terrible taste.

Case in point. It might be popular but it doesn't mean it's good.

So, when I wonder if I should try the local dilapidated burger joint with the long lines I remember that most people have terrible taste.

Thank you for the visual Allison, see how pale that crust is? Underbaked! And lo, the commercial appeared again and it is being sold as a breakfast item. I haven’t been in a Cracker Barrel for years but back in the day it was a favorite of my MIL… the one who poured cheese whiz on microwaved broccoli and served salsa as a vegetable, God rest her soul.

While I don’t find that particular concoction appealing, YouTube has some reasonably talented chefs producing videos that I enjoy. I don’t view TikTok, but some YouTubers try out recipes they’ve found on TikTok and those videos can be pretty entertaining.

That would be an interesting video, a chef making TikTok recipes 😳 I know not all TikTok content is juvenile, but everything I’ve seen on it is hastily conceived, poorly produced and light on content.

Thanks, and never mind. Comment deleted. Carry on.

I also deleted my response and apologize if you were offended by it.

I love a *good* cinnamon roll and I love a slice of *good* pie but I doubt that is either one.

While either thing is good on it's own, these assemblages of prepared foods, I can't imagine that they are. Too heavy, too sugary and stomachache inducing. One recent one featured Pop Tarts, large candy bars, melted peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, some kind of candy and such all layered together and put in the oven. The assembly skill was sloppy, and it didn't melt together in a visually pleasing way and I doubt the taste or texture were very good, but it was presented as a masterpiece.

Yes, this is clearly a case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts.

That kind of pop tart, marshmallow fluff, candy bar pieces and crushed cookie amalgamation is just what I have seen on TikTok, Pal. I too wondered if it was a joke. I’ve also seen those TTers put food on plasticware in the oven and pretend it baked there, give wildly improbable ingredient amounts, oven temps and baking times. I believe at least 75% of what I have seen is 100% faked. At least I can understand that the poster is looking for attention. What I don’t understand are the slavish comments of “oooh, this looks so good you are a genius” and ”I made it and it was the best thing I ever ate.” Both comments are palpably false, and I find it very strange that not only is the whole video/ post fake, the comments are too. The whole transaction is fake….why??

I rarely eat them but the cinnamon rolls look good - sans pie crust.

I suppose, @Kswl, that it’s all about entertainment and not meant to be taken seriously. How different are the TikTok videos from those fake videos from HGTV’s House Hunters or Food Network competition shows? I’m not defending TikTok because I don’t view it, but it seems like most non-scripted content is not particularly authentic.

We don't have Cracker Barrel in the PNW...so not everyone has been in one. From what I've seen on other threads, I don't feel like i've missed anything. I love a great cinnamon roll, but adding pie crust doesn't up the ante for me one bit.

Fun2be, I don’t think there is a difference between TikTok fakes and HGTV house hunters or food competition shows, with the possible exception of The Great British Bake Off. Those scripted reality shows are junk, and I don’t watch them — again, except TGBBO. And I don’t really watch TikTok, I think I have seen it four times— it’s too difficult to find good content if you don’t follow anyone and I haven’t yet seen anyone worth following. I know lots of people like TikTok and derive pleasure from watching people on it, and I am sure there must be stellar (or at least watchable) content on it somewhere. In my view TikTok occupies the same entertainment space as Twitter (X)… occasionally amusing but often shallow, because the brevity of the format is more compatible with ”pith” than ”profound.” That’s a limitation of the format more than a damning of individuals, although they obviously have chosen their own milieu.

If TikTok were a breakfast it would be the Cracker Barrel Cinnamon Roll Pie Breakfast, lol….. too much and yet not enough.

edited to add: I forgot to include the most important part of this long response—I completely agree with you, Fun2be!

I actually like some of cracker barrel veggies and salads although i would not eat the item shown, but to each their own.

I really don’t have an interest in/time for TikTok, twitter, etc.

I can't remember where I was... traveling alone on business in the middle of the midwest somewhere and I was staying at some motel. Across the parking lot was a cracker barrel, so I walked there for dinner. My expectations were low. I ordered what I thought might be reasonably healthy, but it came without a biscuit. The waitress apologized but said their biscuit maker had just come in and he makes the best biscuits ever and it's worth the wait. I said ok. Several minutes later, I had the softest, lightest, most heavenly biscuit ever. It completely changed my efforts in biscuit making. The fact that I still recall it, must be at least 20 yrs later, is a testament to how fabulous it was.

But when I look at the reels on FB at some of the things they cook! Ugh. I may watch if it's interesting until they pull out some sort of horrible pre-processed disgusting ingredient and then it's on to the next reel. I'd rather watch the farrier.

DLM, I so agree. Falls into the category of ’just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’.

I have never even seen a Cracker Barrel, I don't think, although I think I have seen a billboard on the highway. I just looked -- there is one about 30 miles from me. I think I'll skip it, although I do love a good biscuit haha. I was in NC a few weeks ago and I had one almost every day. I hate to imagine how big I'd be if I lived in the South. Biscuits, BBQ...

Pal, I am now remembering the diet soda that came with lemon flavoring. Pepsi Light? I think? I remember thinking it was genius (I was a teenager, I think).

Diet Coke with lime was my favorite, and I believe they may still make it. I got one at a gas station a few years ago. I used to call it a gin and tonic without the gin or the tonic 🙄

I love cracker barrel but rarely eat there. I usually get the trout, fried okra, turnip greens and sometimes mashed potatoes. Biscuits.

A favorite comforting place to stop while traveling.

We've stopped at Cracker Barrel a few times. It's offerings really do not appeal to me. Very high fat/calorie meals. The best part is the gift shop IMPO. Today's cooks are varied. My young adult children love to watch the shows and try new exotic dishes. Eating at their house has always been such fun and man oh man DELICIOUS. Then there's the crowd that can only cook cinnamon roll pie. Buy a pre-made frozen crust/slap a bunch of refridgerator rolls in it and call it 'easy and good'. Many have grown up on things from boxes or cans or take out menues. They truly don't know how to cook or what 'good food' is.

I didn't realize the discrimination problems Pal. We do eat occasionally at Cracker, especially on road trips. In fact, we ate breakfast at one in our area just last week. I do like their breakfast food and you can order it all day long. I have not been in one where I noticed a problem with discrimination. In our area (big cities near us, we don't have one in our little area), there is a mix of race. I did see the cinnamon roll pie on the menu and was a bit surprised. Doesn't really go along with the rest of the items.

Tina Marie, I've never noticed any discrimination either. That group that were ignored at Cracker Barrel should have gotten someone's attention and asked for service, that's what most people would do. I don't know anyone who would just sit for 30 minutes without at least trying to get a servers attention. Our Cracker Barrel is usually short on servers and that may have been the problem at that one, too.

I don't understand the point of putting Cinnamon rolls in a pie crust?? It sounds disgusting. I'm not a fan of Cinnamon rolls; they look delicious, but to me they don't taste as good as they look.

Lol, SueB, we don't eat biscuits and barbecue every day here. I can't even remember the last time I ate a biscuit.

Cracker Barrel had problems in the past for discriminating against LGBTQ employees. From what I read, now they that don’t discriminate against that group and they fly rainbow flags or display rainbow porch rockers, the anti-trans conservatives are encouraging boycotts. So the anti-woke crowd is trying to cancel Cracker Barrel.

My few experiences with CB were while traveling. Besides offering very little food that appeals to me, each visit was strange in some way. Now I would only eat there as an absolute last resort or if it was the only option. Or if it upset anti-woke conservatives.

I like Cracker Barrel ok, it's actually hard to find a restaurant that serves home-cooked like meals. Their breakfast is the best, IMO. I've had to wait 30 mins at a couple of restaurants before-so I would take that they discriminate with a grain of salt. Any company that is worried about "scores" maybe should stand up for their company beliefs instead of caving to the radicals. They would be much more respected. But, I don't know anything at all or the specifics about CB, so not going to disparage them on here.

The cinnamon roll pie does not tickle my fancy at all.

I think cinnamon roll hacks/recipes may have become popular a few years ago when the rapper Snoop Dogg came out with his cookbook, From Crook To Cook. He has a recipe and I think he did a cookoff with a famous chef. Not sure which one.

I don't patronize companies that have a history of discriminatory practices. That would be one of many reasons for me to pass on the cinnamon roll pie. I guess, unlike @OllieJane, I take discrimination as a bit bigger of a deal than a grain of salt.

Another Southerner that only has about 6 biscuits a year. We only have bread in the house a few times a year. I love good BBQ and have a sandwich about 8x a year. I am not big on the normal BBQ sides.

OJ, they did not get waited on at all for half an hour. Not that they had ordered and waited on the food.

Allison, like I said, I've actually had that happen to me! I can't believe no one has ever had a time they've just had really "bad service" before. And yes, it really makes you mad when you see other people getting served but you-but, I chalked it up to lack of communication and bad service on the waiters part.

I am just going to remove all my posts. Cracker Barrel is a gourmet restaurant who has never had multiple class action suits brought against them, and they are model employers and servers of the public. They are practically perfect in every way, an American paragon of food service. Really once a certain...element...gets involved in a thread, it's just easier to go.

No need to remove your posts Pal. CB is definitely not a gourmet restaurant. When I said was I wasn't aware of the discrimination problems, I meant the lawsuits, etc. I honestly have not heard about that, and it does sadden me. I am aware that discrimination goes on. Do you not think a women has ever been discriminated against? And believe it or not, I do take notice of who is seated, when, etc. although probably not if someone has been served. We actually had a bit of a problem the last two times we were at a CB, but it was at the area where you wait to be seated. I said something to the manager the second time. I do think they are understaffed, we still see many places who still are. That of course does not excuse discrimination. As for biscuits and bbq, not every southerner is crazy over them LOL. I would love to have one of my grandmother's biscuits, but many places they are not up to par, and I do not attempt them myself. My husband much prefers cornbread and that I can make! I can tolerate BBQ just every now and then, but it is not a favorite.

The fact that this thread took an argumentative turn and the fact that the same old posts seem to stick around forever has had me not visiting here, or at least commenting, as of late. I must not have picked the right day to comment. : )

Sorry Tina, I am not referring to you.

I really should not have brought up the issues I brought up in the first place, not in a thread about a bad dessert. It was totally my fault for bringing it up.

Since someone who participates or reads these threads often flags posts they don't like, I just wanted to point out that I was removing my own posts.

I have just deleted my post as well, in order to keep this topic alive.

For me is it's a difference between what I thnk is tasty what I choose to eat on a daily basis which is my home cooked organic paleo low carb gluten free with some desserts thrown in lol food.

Taco Bell is tasty but I haven't been there in years.

I'm quite sure I eat more kale than most people..

I’m right there with you on kale, Bumble, it’s one of my favorite foods. When it rose to prominence a decade ago my only interest in it was winter gardening 🙂 and flower beds. But when I finally decided to try to use it in place of spinach I was sold; the taste and texture are far superior to spinach and it doesn’t completely disappear in soups and stews. I like it better in salads, too. I have never eaten at Taco Bell. But—-I am a bisquit QUEEN as well as a lover of the biscuit’s close cousin, the scone. I make one or the other about every month, although nowadays I reserve four for DH and myself and distribute the rest to my neighbors. I don’t even freeze them, they’re so easy to make and I don’t want the siren song of baked goods tempting me from the freezer 😎 I also make pulled pork or pulled chicken once a month or so. On a good onion roll with my homemade BBQ sauce and cole slaw and bread and butter pickles, it’s a favorite meal. Lately though I have been buying dinner rolls and using them as buns. I can have one mini sandwich and DH two and that suits us both.

I do not consider Cracker Barrel food even edible at this point. Maybe I sound like a food snob, but if so I can only say that either I have become a better and more knowledgeable cook or CB’s food has declined sharply in quality over the past 30 years.…probably some of both. I was also unaware of their history of discrimination and am sorry—and surprised—to hear that a chain restaurant would discriminate against any group in this day and time. It’s not only bad behavior it’s ultimately bad business as well. If they are now being boycotted for welcoming LGBQT patrons that to me is evidence they’re doing something right. Pal, of course you should do as you wish with your posts but I am always glad to hear your POV and often, as in this case, hear information from you that may be old news but is new to me. And the ”pie” in question is being marketed as a featured breakfast item. Imagine starting out a day with this

I can’t even wrap my head around it.

I should know by now, never say never. Maybe in the same category but at the same time not really in the same universe. This I might try but with home-made filling not canned.

Courtesy of Olive and Mango

A different universe to be sure, but a pie that is mostly bread?

It's a pie crust bottom, apple filling and a pie crust top that is cut and rolled to look like cinnamon rolls - so no more pastry than a normal pie with a top crust.

KSWL, have you ever eaten at a cracker barrel?

Yes, Hu, as I mentioned above I have eaten there many times over the years with my MIL in Alabama, who loved Cracker Barrel.

DLM, the commercial for the pie clearly shows a slice of pie from the side, all roll and no filling. I googled cinnamon roll pie after I read your post and there are recipes out there for an apple pie / connamon roll hybrid but that is not what’s on offer at CB.

Communication breakdown KSWL - I just meant there is a kinda sorta version of cinnamon roll pie that might have some merit - the one I linked to from Olive and Mango. I realize the one from CB is bread on bread.

I saw a Cracker Barrel cinnamon roll pie in the wild last week. (served at a meeting.)

Just cinnamon rolls in a pie crust. No apples, no cherries cherries, no pecan pie goodness.

It was ok warm and buttered, served with coffee. The crust was not necessary.

Yes it seems like the crust on a plain cinnamon roll pie would actually make it worse, not better. The crust of a pie is there to hold things in and to provide a taste and texture counterpoint to whatever is inside, and plain crusts don't generally taste like anything great so why bother.

But of course part of our culinary landscape seems to be packing in as many calories as one can into any meal. We were given gift cards to Chilis and to Cheesecake Factory (we normally would not go to either otherwise), and they put the calories on the menu. At both places the people at the tables next to use were tucking into on average about 4000 calories Each, for the single meals they were eating. Yes I judge people for eating that much.

When I was a kid my grandmother would trim the pie crust, dust some cinnamon and sugar on the trims, and pop them in the oven with the pie. SO good. My grandmother made the best pie crust, she never used measurements.

She was very English, and the dinners she served were very bland but her baked desserts were wonderful.

I'm not going to throw shade at comfort food, I like it as much as anyone but Cracker Barrel is so salty to me that it's unpalatable. And at my age, rich food with lots of salt and preservatives and whatever just makes me feel bad. It's like a food hangover.

We got those pie crust trimmings too, Dee! To me they were better than the pie.

DLM, thats one of the recipes I saw when I googled. It made me think……what if you made an apple or pumpkin or pecan or some kind of pie and cut up cinnamon rolls and just scattered them on top as a sort of strudel (instead of streusel) topping …… I can see it in my mind’s eye!

Pal, i see the same thing and worry about how unhealthy it all is.

eta.. cut up the cinnamon rolls in small pieces about the size of a die.

I’ve never eaten at a Cracker Barrel, and don’t have any desire to, but I do make a lot of pies and quiches, and always make ”tartlets” of the leftover pie crust, and fill them with jam or cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat or, and this is my personal fav, some grated parmesan reggiano for a savory treat that pairs well with a glass of red wine or cup of tea.

When I was a kid my grandmother would trim the pie crust, dust some cinnamon and sugar on the trims, and pop them in the oven with the pie. SO good.

My mom made pinwheels too. They were the best.