BJ Cinnamon (Folsom)
food: 4.5/5
experience: 4/5
overall: 4.5/5
There's this little doughnut shop in Folsom that sells cinnamon rolls. It may be small but believe me this place is hoppin'. It's poppin'. It's hop-ular, you might even say. And since Buzzfeed (random) voted this the best bakery in all of California, along with a bunch of other awards on their wall, I figured I had arrived at the right place. I love me an old-fashioned box of fried dough products so I stopped by here a few times for my weekend diet break to dig in.
Let's start with something a little boring and move on to the exciting stuff later. Scones. They have three varieties: apricot, blueberry, and raspberry. You can probably tell which is which.
They are definitely more photogenic than they look in person. So they are very much homemade. But they're good. Apricot is nice and moist and has a "sunny" flavor to it. I don't know how else to describe it. It tastes like it has orange juice in it. It's good, whatever. It's got an apricot glaze on it too. Blueberry tastes like those sweet blueberries you get in muffins, not the fresh ones but the good sugary ones like in pie filling. It's also moist but it has more of a cakey flavor. It's basically a blueberry muffin top with a blueberry frosting. And the raspberry tastes more like strawberry. Like the flavor of a strawberry cake. It's still good but definitely not raspberry flavored. There are no raspberries in it either. The frosting is just vanilla. It tastes artificial to be honest. But all of them are good and they are also very crumbly so beware you'll make a mess. Strawberry least favorite though.
On to the less exciting muffins. Note this stuff is still all super delish so you should be excited. We got cranberry orange, blueberry, banana nut, double chocolate, and raisin bran. Raisin bran is surprisingly popular. They were out every time I came so I actually had to order ahead of time.
Their texture reminds me of Otis Spunkmeyer muffins that you get at the store. Cranberry orange is what it is. I like the tart cranberries. Blueberry is good but not as good as the scone. Banana nut tastes good but again it just tastes like Otis Spunkmeyer. Otis Spunkmeyer I will be clear though, is very good. There aren't nuts throughout; just on top. And the chocolate tastes like devil's food cake, kinda like you get at the store. Devil's food cake is delicious don't get me wrong but this is for sure from a mix. Chocolate chips are only on top. The bran was surprisingly a letdown after it seemed so popular. It tastes more like a whole grain muffin. It's not as "branny" as a typical bran and it certainly doesn't taste like raisin bran. Overall these are pretty good, just not outstanding or particularly unique in flavor. They fill a craving for sure and they're definitely not bad. Doughnut shop quality. At least they got the crispy muffin top part right. Best part hands down.
Next up: the actual doughnuts! Getting to the good stuff now. I went on a Sunday (bad idea) and this is what I ended up with: nine doughnuts and a croissant. In here in no particular order are the almond croissant, cinnamon sugar cronut, strawberry cruller, cinnamon sugar cake, blueberry cake, raspberry twist, old fashioned, chocolate coconut cake, buttermilk bar, and chocolate bear claw (filled with chocolate).
The croissant isn't the best I've had but the filling is good. It's not as doughy as I'd like. Cruller is really mushy and not fluffy and eggy like a cruller should be. Not good, don't get that. Frosting is okay. The raspberry twist I like. It's a yeast-raised twist with raspberry jam filling. It's different. It's the same raspberry filling as the scone so it tastes artificial but it is a doughnut after all. The cronut is definitely among my favorites. Cronuts are always good and cinnamon sugar? Hell yea. Chocolate cake tastes similar to the muffin but it's frosted and denser, and mine has coconut which makes it supreme. I love chocolate cake doughnuts already so that one's a win. I love the chocolate bear claw too. It's got chocolate frosting and chocolate chips both outside and inside. It's nice and crunchy and fluffy. I'm sure the regular bear claw would be equally good if it has that marzipan inside. Cinnamon cake is decent. It's dense. It's whatever. Hard to make a bad cake doughnut, really. On that note, blueberry cake is pretty good, tastes like the scone. Buttermilk is great, tastes like real buttermilk. Old-fashioned is probably the best of the doughnuts, but I'm partial to old-fashioneds. And that's the rundown. I'm just a wee bit miffed they didn't include a free doughnut in there like I keep hearing they do.
Almost done here! On to the heaviest of doughnuts (in mass and calories), the fritters. They have apple and cran-raspberry.
Their fritters are nice and crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. The apple is by far my favorite of the two. It's got actual apples in it and it just tastes really fresh. The cran-raspberry uses that same raspberry whatever that's in the scone and doughnut that just tastes too sweet to me. I like the tart cranberries but overall I'm not a fan of that one. But hey! They finally threw in some free doughnuts for me. They're decent. They're just doughnut holes.
Other specialty items I missed out on: cream puffs, hot dog croissants, and maple bacon bars.
These look delicious (and I know for a fact they are based on their other baked goodies) but I just didn't have the manpower on hand to eat every single thing on the menu. Just know though, if you want a croissant dog, they got it (and I do want one).
And saving the best for last: BJ Cinnamon's namesake cinnamon rolls! BJ has doughnut cinnamon rolls but come on now. Get the real thing. I did. I tried the classic glazed and the apple-filled.
Cinnamon rolls are pretty much never bad unless they're from Cinnabon. The iced cinnamon roll is a classic and theirs is good but not the best I've had (that title is still held by Bacon & Butter). I would've liked more filling inside. It's nice and gooey though. But the apple cinnamon, I've never had an apple cinnamon roll and this is bomb-tastic. It's like a cinnamon apple pie. The apples are nice and gooey and sweet, and the cinnamon roll is also gooey thanks to the apples which just makes it that much awesome-er. Best thing I had in this shop by far. Make sure to microwave them before you eat them or they just won't live up to their full potential.
Moral of the story: if you want the goods at BJ, get here before 9am ideally. And if you go on Sunday definitely do that. Stuff sells out fast, and the line on Sundays is out the do'. Not literally, it just wraps around the shop, but like, completely, like the game snake, it eats itself. It goes kinda fast but it's not without fret that your favorite doughnut will be the last one taken right before you.
Is it good? Yes. Is it great? Perhaps. But is BJ Cinnamon, a doughnut shop that sells cinnamon rolls, the best bakery in all of California? Doubtful.
experience: 4/5
overall: 4.5/5
There's this little doughnut shop in Folsom that sells cinnamon rolls. It may be small but believe me this place is hoppin'. It's poppin'. It's hop-ular, you might even say. And since Buzzfeed (random) voted this the best bakery in all of California, along with a bunch of other awards on their wall, I figured I had arrived at the right place. I love me an old-fashioned box of fried dough products so I stopped by here a few times for my weekend diet break to dig in.
Let's start with something a little boring and move on to the exciting stuff later. Scones. They have three varieties: apricot, blueberry, and raspberry. You can probably tell which is which.
They are definitely more photogenic than they look in person. So they are very much homemade. But they're good. Apricot is nice and moist and has a "sunny" flavor to it. I don't know how else to describe it. It tastes like it has orange juice in it. It's good, whatever. It's got an apricot glaze on it too. Blueberry tastes like those sweet blueberries you get in muffins, not the fresh ones but the good sugary ones like in pie filling. It's also moist but it has more of a cakey flavor. It's basically a blueberry muffin top with a blueberry frosting. And the raspberry tastes more like strawberry. Like the flavor of a strawberry cake. It's still good but definitely not raspberry flavored. There are no raspberries in it either. The frosting is just vanilla. It tastes artificial to be honest. But all of them are good and they are also very crumbly so beware you'll make a mess. Strawberry least favorite though.
On to the less exciting muffins. Note this stuff is still all super delish so you should be excited. We got cranberry orange, blueberry, banana nut, double chocolate, and raisin bran. Raisin bran is surprisingly popular. They were out every time I came so I actually had to order ahead of time.
Their texture reminds me of Otis Spunkmeyer muffins that you get at the store. Cranberry orange is what it is. I like the tart cranberries. Blueberry is good but not as good as the scone. Banana nut tastes good but again it just tastes like Otis Spunkmeyer. Otis Spunkmeyer I will be clear though, is very good. There aren't nuts throughout; just on top. And the chocolate tastes like devil's food cake, kinda like you get at the store. Devil's food cake is delicious don't get me wrong but this is for sure from a mix. Chocolate chips are only on top. The bran was surprisingly a letdown after it seemed so popular. It tastes more like a whole grain muffin. It's not as "branny" as a typical bran and it certainly doesn't taste like raisin bran. Overall these are pretty good, just not outstanding or particularly unique in flavor. They fill a craving for sure and they're definitely not bad. Doughnut shop quality. At least they got the crispy muffin top part right. Best part hands down.
Next up: the actual doughnuts! Getting to the good stuff now. I went on a Sunday (bad idea) and this is what I ended up with: nine doughnuts and a croissant. In here in no particular order are the almond croissant, cinnamon sugar cronut, strawberry cruller, cinnamon sugar cake, blueberry cake, raspberry twist, old fashioned, chocolate coconut cake, buttermilk bar, and chocolate bear claw (filled with chocolate).
The croissant isn't the best I've had but the filling is good. It's not as doughy as I'd like. Cruller is really mushy and not fluffy and eggy like a cruller should be. Not good, don't get that. Frosting is okay. The raspberry twist I like. It's a yeast-raised twist with raspberry jam filling. It's different. It's the same raspberry filling as the scone so it tastes artificial but it is a doughnut after all. The cronut is definitely among my favorites. Cronuts are always good and cinnamon sugar? Hell yea. Chocolate cake tastes similar to the muffin but it's frosted and denser, and mine has coconut which makes it supreme. I love chocolate cake doughnuts already so that one's a win. I love the chocolate bear claw too. It's got chocolate frosting and chocolate chips both outside and inside. It's nice and crunchy and fluffy. I'm sure the regular bear claw would be equally good if it has that marzipan inside. Cinnamon cake is decent. It's dense. It's whatever. Hard to make a bad cake doughnut, really. On that note, blueberry cake is pretty good, tastes like the scone. Buttermilk is great, tastes like real buttermilk. Old-fashioned is probably the best of the doughnuts, but I'm partial to old-fashioneds. And that's the rundown. I'm just a wee bit miffed they didn't include a free doughnut in there like I keep hearing they do.
Almost done here! On to the heaviest of doughnuts (in mass and calories), the fritters. They have apple and cran-raspberry.
Their fritters are nice and crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. The apple is by far my favorite of the two. It's got actual apples in it and it just tastes really fresh. The cran-raspberry uses that same raspberry whatever that's in the scone and doughnut that just tastes too sweet to me. I like the tart cranberries but overall I'm not a fan of that one. But hey! They finally threw in some free doughnuts for me. They're decent. They're just doughnut holes.
Other specialty items I missed out on: cream puffs, hot dog croissants, and maple bacon bars.
These look delicious (and I know for a fact they are based on their other baked goodies) but I just didn't have the manpower on hand to eat every single thing on the menu. Just know though, if you want a croissant dog, they got it (and I do want one).
And saving the best for last: BJ Cinnamon's namesake cinnamon rolls! BJ has doughnut cinnamon rolls but come on now. Get the real thing. I did. I tried the classic glazed and the apple-filled.
Cinnamon rolls are pretty much never bad unless they're from Cinnabon. The iced cinnamon roll is a classic and theirs is good but not the best I've had (that title is still held by Bacon & Butter). I would've liked more filling inside. It's nice and gooey though. But the apple cinnamon, I've never had an apple cinnamon roll and this is bomb-tastic. It's like a cinnamon apple pie. The apples are nice and gooey and sweet, and the cinnamon roll is also gooey thanks to the apples which just makes it that much awesome-er. Best thing I had in this shop by far. Make sure to microwave them before you eat them or they just won't live up to their full potential.
Moral of the story: if you want the goods at BJ, get here before 9am ideally. And if you go on Sunday definitely do that. Stuff sells out fast, and the line on Sundays is out the do'. Not literally, it just wraps around the shop, but like, completely, like the game snake, it eats itself. It goes kinda fast but it's not without fret that your favorite doughnut will be the last one taken right before you.
Is it good? Yes. Is it great? Perhaps. But is BJ Cinnamon, a doughnut shop that sells cinnamon rolls, the best bakery in all of California? Doubtful.
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