Purchased on 7 November 2014, in Cleveland, USA
Consumed on 11 November 2014 in Singapore.
Price - $0.95USD
Calories - ~240kcal
I haven't been over to North America since last Christmas, and although I was able to try a Pralines and Cream McFlurry at the time, they were completely sold out of Pumpkin Pies. Luckily for me, they've recently been re-released in time for Halloween/US Thanksgiving, so when my colleague was back in the US last week, and I asked him to bring one back for me. He ended up staying in London for a day enroute back to Singapore, and I was over in Brunei for 2 days after he got back, so I asked him to stick it in the freezer for me along with the McPizza Pepperoni Burger. Even though it was a pastry, I didn't think it would survive 5 days, and 21 hours of flying without going stale.
Since the pie was frozen solid, I tossed it in the toaster to heat back up. It took a couple cycles, but eventually became hot enough to want to eat. As it was toasting, there was a noticeable cinnamon odour filling our kitchen, and even my colleagues who think I'm insane for eating old McDonald's were interested in trying a bite of this pie. Full disclosure, since I grew up in Canada, I've probably had Pumpkin Pie maybe 3-4 times in my entire life. Although I'll happily eat a piece since I love most things sweet, it's never been my favourite, and I've never really craved for it. Also, since I've been living in Asia for the past 6 years, I've pretty much missed the whole "pumpkin" snack trend of recent memory.
It seems like the internet has a proper hatred for this pie, but that seems more directed against the "pumpkin spice" trend more than this pie itself. Most of these negative reviews are from 2013, so unless they completely changed the recipe for this year, I think they are completely wrong! When I took my first bite, I was immediately impressed by the amount of cinnamon in the pie, and even though it was 5 days old and frozen, the shell still had a softness to it which is only possible since it was baked and not fried...The Pumpkin filling wasn't burn-your-tongue hot, because I didn't want to burn the shell toasting it too much, but I thought it worked very well with the cinnamon. The cinnamon did hide most of the pumpkin filling taste, but meant it was perfect for me since I'm not a huge fan of the filling anyway.
Although I only had a single pie, I ended up sacrificing over 1/2 to colleagues who wanted a bite. Not a single one had any complaint, including the 'raised on Pumpkin Pie' Americans that I work with.
Rating - 4/5