Aberdeen’s Trinity Centre was looking merry and bright when I stopped by yesterday.
It had been a while since I’d had a wander round the Union Street mall, and it was great to see that a handful of the units are now occupied by new businesses.
One of these is Shot ‘n’ Roll – headed by the team behind Aberdam – located in the building’s former Debenham’s premises (inside the old Costa unit). And their specialty is cinnamon rolls.
It goes without saying that the offering is perfect for those with a sweet tooth, with milkshakes also on the cards. The business sells coffee and tea, too.
Made by the north-east’s very own The Bread Guy – with 100% plant-based ingredients – Shot ‘n’ Roll say they’re serving 6,000-7,000 cinnamon rolls every week.
Read on to see what sweet treats we tasted, and our ratings for each…
Salted caramel and gingerbread
I loved the bold, pink branding at Shot ‘n’ Roll from the outset. And the cinnamon rolls, all displayed at the order counter, were just as inviting.
Joined by my fellow taste tester, P&J health and wellbeing journalist Andy Morton, we selected six rolls (four to try for the purpose of this review, and two to take away).
First up was one of the week’s specials, salted caramel and gingerbread.
Layered with salted caramel sauce, dusted with gingerbread cookie crumble and finished with a crunchy gingerbread cookie, the flavours really shone through on this one.
You get the perfect amount of cinnamon, caramel and gingerbread.
Ratings:
- Andy: 3.5/5
- Karla: 4.5/5
Kinder Bueno
After asking which rolls have proved the most popular, two members of the attentive team were quick to say Kinder Bueno.
It is a firm favourite treat for a lot of folk, after all.
This one had a thicker layer of that sweet, sticky icing, but instead had a drizzling of milk chocolate sauce, and white chocolate and hazelnut sauce.
There was no denying it tasted like Kinder Bueno when you got a mouthful containing the latter.
And with a bite of the Happy Hippo (one of the toppings), there was a lovely added crunch.
This roll was sweeter than the first – which I expected – so would have loved more cinnamon. Hence it’s ranked a wee bit lower for me.
Ratings:
- Andy: 3/5
- Karla: 4/5
White chocolate and raspberry milkshake
I’ll get back to the other rolls we tried soon.
The pair of us were keen to sample the other special of the week – the white chocolate and raspberry flavour. But we tried it out as a milkshake.
There are other roll options you can ask to be made in milkshake form, including Biscoff.
Topped with whipped cream and raspberry pieces, it looked delicious.
However, we didn’t quite get the white chocolate flavour we were after. It tasted more like a vanilla milkshake. Andy found it a tad on the runny side too.
Ratings:
- Andy: 2/5
- Karla: 2/5
@karlasinclair Shot ‘n’ Roll, located in Aberdeen’s Trinity Centre 📍 #fyp #foodtiktok #scotlandfood #scotlandtiktok #scotland #foryoupage #visitabdn #food #aberdeen #dessert
Oreo
Back to those cinnamon rolls.
Oreo was also on the cards, and it wasn’t difficult to tell which one that was…
Again, the roll itself was huge. I loved this about them. You’re guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth or enjoy a shared treat with a pal.
Andy wasn’t quite so happy with the dimensions. He thought there was a bit too much dough in the cinnamon rolls, which made some of them an effort to get through.
Sharing one between two worked better for him.
The flavour wasn’t as apparent as the other options we’d tucked into so far. But I do appreciate that Oreo isn’t the easiest flavour to replicate.
Nevertheless, the cookie crumb on top was a great touch. Maybe a dollop of buttercream or Oreo filling could be added to this one to make it shine that bit more?
Ratings:
- Andy: 3/5
- Karla: 3.5/5
S’more
Although each roll looked incredible, the s’more roll really stood out boasting two toasted marshmallows on top.
Milk chocolate, cinnamon and marshmallows. It screamed Christmas – despite not being a special.
This was another one of my top picks.
It was at this point that Andy thought there could have been more cinnamon added to the rolls as it wasn’t coming through as much as he’d have liked.
However, we did agree that the ratio of roll to topping was superb. The pair of us got a bit of icing with every bite, so the treats are nailed in that aspect.
Overall, I’ll definitely be revisiting Shot ‘n’ Roll.
I would recommend bringing a roll home with you (after stopping by) and giving it a quick whizz in the microwave for some heat. It brings out those flavours even more!
Ratings:
- Andy: 3.5/5
- Karla: 4/5
A box of six (non-loaded) cinnamon rolls at Shot ‘n’ Roll is priced at £20.95, while a regular and large milkshake costs £4.90 and £5.90, respectively. A loaded box of six costs £23.95.
For further pricing and information, visit www.facebook.com/shotnroll.uk
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