About a month ago, I received a happy little email from Panera. “Free Daily Bagel in April.” WHAT?! One free bagel. Every day. For an entire month. All because I have one of those free MyPanera accounts.
Let me clarify: I do not work for Panera, and this is not a sponsored post. I’m simply showing some love for an awesome reward! (And I’m letting you in on the “secret” so you can get some free stuff in the future!)
I’ve got 13 bagels, and a seagull ain’t one.
I started off going straight for the cinnamon crunch bagel. A big ole piece of fresh dough with crunchy pieces of cinnamon sprinkled on top with butter? YOU BUTTER BELIEVE IT.
Then I thought, let’s make this fun. So I ordered a different bagel, every day, for the rest of the month. Here are the results.
Cinnamon Crunch Bagel – A+++++
This was by far THE BEST, and most delicious bagel. This is one big piece of fluffy dough with cinnamon baked inside AND sprinkled on top. YES, PLEASE.
Blueberry
A soft bagel with blueberries sprinkled inside and out, cut in half with butter melted on each half. This was a good pick. This had plenty of fruity sweetness, and it was soft enough to enjoy the doughyness that makes a bagel…a bagel.
Everything
This is a crowd-pleaser, for sure. For me? It was alright. It was full of LOTS of flavor. Plenty of sesame seeds, poppyseeds, garlic, toasted onion and kosher salt compile the “everything” of this bagel. I’m not an onion kind of gal, so I wasn’t a big fan of the odor and taste of this one. But I know plenty of other people will argue with me that an everything bagel is THE bagel.
French Toast
As DJ Khaled might say…Another YUM! Bring out the pancakes and bacon for this one. It tastes like maple syrup! I put butter on pretty much ALL of the bagels, so that sealed the deal for me. This one will make you feel all warm and toasty. It’s a great complementary breakfast item.
Asiago Cheese
This one was another shmelly one…but it was good! The Asiago Cheese filled me up quickly. It’s a thick bagel, so cutting it in half was difficult since it’s one big bagel loaf. The cheese is baked inside, nice and fresh. Mmmm.
Whole Grain
I thought this one might be plain…it wasn’t too bad! It definitely needed some help from butter and/or jelly. It’s sweetened with honey, and topped with rolled oats.
Chocolate Chip
Oh. my. GOSHHHHHH. Chocolate chips, get in my belly! GET IT TOASTED. AND EAT IT NO OTHER WAY. The chocolate chips will melt, slightly. Spread that butter and BAM! You’ve got yourself a delicious morning treat. But don’t stop there…I found that I could have some of these any time of the day. Of course, bagels are not a breakfast-exclusive item. I ordered most of these in the morning, 6:40 a.m., and I either ate them before work, or at work, in the 10 minutes I had to spare before clocking in. As the month went on, I found myself ordering some of the dessert bagels later in the day to enjoy as a sweet treat later on.
Cinnamon Swirl & Raisin
This one was…eh. It gets bagel points for throwing in some cinnamon. The raisin kept the sweetness going. But overall, I wouldn’t have it again because it was kinda plain.
Plain
Quit pla(y)in with my taste buds! There was nothing spectacular about this….plain bagel. I mean, we must love every bagel as its own, and celebrate it for its unique tastiness. This one needed a little sprucing up with the condiments, of course. If you’re not into the sweet flavors, or if you want to make a bagel your own, this one is for you.
Sesame
Although a little plain, this was a great choice. The top is COVERED generously in sesame seeds. There are at least two hundred of those seeds. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but I definitely tasted those sesame seeds. Tasty, easy to eat, not too dry. Great!
Sprouted Grain Flat
Another plain grain. This one was too dry for my liking, even when it was lathered with butter. This one was similar to the cinnamon crunch in that it was a round loaf of a bagel, topped off with some sprouted grain. The grain was sprinkled on top. I would not recommend this one. Next! Thankfully I had enough free bagels left to circle back to my favorites: cinnamon crunch, chocolate chip, and sesame.
Overall, it was a fun experiment! I’m always up for sampling food. I would try it again if I was given a free daily somethin’ somethin’. In the end, the cinnamon crunch, chocolate chip, blueberry, and sesame were the best! The french toast was an honorable mention. The cinnamon crunch stole my heart. Try them out sometime!
~Twentysomething Vision