19 February, 2013

Chocolate Raspberry Pie - Amherstburg, Canada - February 2013

The differences in colour will be explained in the review.
The same Baked Pie box they've been using for years.
Consumed on 7 February 2013.
Purchased on  15 January 2013.
Location - Purchased in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada.  Consumed in Singapore.
Price - $1.39+ 13% tax for 2.
Calories - ~280kcal each.

Back in January, when I was checking out McDonalds.ca for new items, I found a little ad on the side of the coupons which they post on their website for this Chocolate Raspberry Pie.  It wasn't being promoted anywhere else on the site, and there wasn't even a coupon for it, this was the only reference I could find.  I had my mother stop into McD's later that week to buy me one, and to freeze it so she could bring it over to Singapore for me.  I didn't know if it was only a 1-month promo, or if its still being sold now.  This wasn't the first time my mother has flown a pie for me across the globe.  Last time she came to Singapore she carried the Baked Caramel Pie, and I didn't die from food poisoning that time, so I thought I'd give it a go again. 

As my mother landed at 00:30, and by the time we collected them at Changi Airport, took a taxi to the Conrad, set them up, and then headed home, it was nearly 3am.  I didn't feel like eating that late, so I threw them in the fridge and had them for breakfast a couple hours later for breakfast before heading into the office.  They were frozen in Canada, and they were actually still somewhat chilled by the time she reached Singapore, but no doubt that was due to the cold luggage compartment of the plane rather than still being frozen 24+ hours prior.  If you look at the photos, she brought me 2 pies.  One (left in the photos), I threw in the microwave for 30 seconds, the other I ate chilled from the fridge.  I was surprised the microwave didn't dry it out more than it did, as the batter was soft, and the filling was very hot and moist.  I actually burnt the roof of my mouth on the filling during the first bite.  The filling had a darker-than-raspberry colour to it, and though it was noticeably red even to these colour-blind eyes, its darkness threw me off a little. The raspberry filling was very tart, though you could still taste the sweetness. My first thought was that it had to be raspberry mixed with something else, and when I pulled up the nutrition facts online, I found that the primary ingredient in the filling was chocolate fudge, with (luckily), the second ingredient being raspberries.  I couldn't taste any of the little seeds you would normally find in raspberry jam, which was somewhat disappointing. More surprising was that I enjoyed the flavour and texture of the cold pie more than the hot pie.  With the filling being hot and runny, it took away from any of the chocolate flavour that was in the pie.  When I ate the cold pie, I could taste both the chocolate (in the crust), and the raspberry filling, together.  I don't know if the tart raspberry filling hid the chocolate taste when eaten fresh from McDonald's, but that was the case with me.  

Rating - 3/5