Sometimes Foodie: Every Little Thing, Gonna be Alright

Everything Brioche Bagels - Aldi

Is there anything more comforting than a toasty bagel filled with cheese, egg, and bacon (my breakfast meat of choice) on a cold winter morning? Especially after shoveling snow. Just thinking about it makes me feel warm and cozy.

While the east coast NJ/NY/PA area has always taken their bagels quite seriously, it seems like other food-stuffs have taken notice and bagels, or more specifically "everything," has become an American obsession.

In the past year we've had everything bagel seasoning in several flavor variations from tons of different brands (including Aldi), everything bagel potato chips, and even everything bagel ice cream!

Personally I prefer onion bagels, you get similar flavor but less stuff all up in your teeth, but I get it. The mixture of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onions, dried garlic, and sea salt can amp up any savory breakfast sandwich combo, but we all know what it tastes like. So, when I spotted a brioche version at Aldi I thought I would see if changing the base would make a huge difference.

Brioche is light, buttery, eggy, and soft. It's like, the croissant of breads, and Aldi does it well. Their brioche burger buns ruined me for all other burger buns, and every now and again they roll out fancier brioche loafs with chocolate, vanilla, or maple French toast flavors that make delicious lazy breakfasts as-is, or deliciously decadent overnight casseroles.

With this particular item we get 4 brioche bagels coated with everything seasoning, sounds amazing, right?

I started out testing it the classic way, toasted and with cream cheese. So, into my toaster it went, it came out golden brown, light and airy, and it made the room smell like toasted everything seasoning. So far so good. I added the cream cheese and took a bite, and...I was actually a little underwhelmed.

The everything seasoning is the same as it ever was, so if you've ever had it, you'll know what this will taste like, but the bagel itself was so light and airy it felt like I was eating toast. You lose the dense chewiness of a bagel, and while I love brioche, I don't think I love it in this form. It's delicious, but it leaves me wanting a big, chunky, chewy, bagel.

I tried using it in a breakfast sandwich instead, which is my favorite way to eat bagels. My go-to combination is scrambled egg (sometimes over easy, it all depends on how messy I want to be), cheap orange-colored American cheese, avocado or guacamole (whatever is on-hand), and a dash of sriracha mixed with ketchup.

Look at it, it's beautiful. (Also take a moment to admire my precious teacup! I got it at Village Thrift because it's tiny, adorable, and was all alone without a mate. Apparently I like drinking water out of giant mason jars and cups, but when it comes to hot beverages I like 'em tiny.) I also have a buttload of green teabags I am trying to use up, so please send me any and all iced tea recommendations for the spring/summer.

So, how was my sandwich? Delicious, but not ideal. The brioche couldn't handle everything I threw at it, and a lot of my fixings leaked out as I was eating or turned the crispy brioche into mushy bread. Taste-wise, everything about this is delicious, but texturally it leaves a lot to be desired and it just doesn't make me feel as full, or satisfied, as a legit bagel. That said, Aldi also released Everything brioche burger buns, and given this light texture, I see that working out a LOT better, hell, you could probably use these as-is for burger buns and they'd be great. (Unless you're a heavy topper, like me.)

These are delicious, and of course they taste like everything seasoning, but it's not so much a "bagel" as it is brioche toast, in a bagel-shape. I'll have no trouble finishing this pack off, especially since they're so light they don't make you feel like you ate a brick like a normal bagel, but I don't think I would buy these again. At least, not in this form.