Bagels: Sweet or savory?

[papergirl]

I'm almost always a savory type myself, especially if we're looking at store-bought bagels. I like onion or everyseed, with butter. If they are from the local bagel heaven, I usually get everyseed with their amazing Artichoke Smoked Gouda cream cheese spread.
If I could marry a food, that would be it.

[RealityChuck]

Sweet bagels?????? The end times must have arrived.

If you want sweet, get a donut! That's what they're for.

[friedo]

Pro-tip: sweet bagel == donut.

[Voyager]

Why not serve ham and cheese on a bagel while you're at it. Oy.

[Inner Stickler]

Mmm, I just had an everything bagel with hummus. Delectable. I usually get savory bagels when I get them but every once in a while, I'll get a cinnamon sugar with honey butter. (I find when it comes to bread based products, there's no point in butter if you can get ahold of honey butter. )

And donuts and bagels are completely different products. Anyone who offers me a donut when I ask for a sweet bagel will get a derisive snort.

[Huerta88]

I'll go for either salt bagel or everything bagel, toasted, with cream cheese.

Not that I do it that often, but that's what I do when I do.

[silenus]

Jalapeno bagels are wonderful at getting your heartburn started in the morning.

[The Hamster King]

Sweet bagels = disgusting.

[Bosstone]

Wow. Sweet bagel = donut? Those are fighting words if ever I heard them.

I like savory bagels, but I love sweet cream cheese flavors like honey nut.

[Swords to Plowshares]

I used to like cinnamon raisin bagels, but I grew out of them. I prefer savory bagels, specifically sesame.

[tomcar]

Pumpernickel with onion and chive cream cheese...mmmmmm. 1vote for savory.

[OpalCat]

I don't think I'd want the actual bagel to be sweet, but I might put cream cheese and jam on a plain bagel. I'm much more likely to eat a savory bagel, though. Onion, etc.

[pulykamell]

I don't think I've ever had a sweet application of bagel, so, yeah, savory.

[Ashes, Ashes]

Plain or egg bagels w/ cream cheese or butter for breakfast, or sandwiches. Sweet bagels for breakfast or snacks.

Right now I'm obsessed with pumpkin spice bagels, which I've mentioned on the boards. I have a freezer full of them. It really is an obsession, complete with dreams, clearing shelves at the store...

Unless I make my own, bagels are just round bread, half the time. Doughnuts do not equal sweet bagels. That's an insult to good bagels and good doughnuts.

[zoid]

A plain bagel with something sweet on it, like cream cheese and apricot jam can be good, but sweet in the bagle is not my cup of tea. Someone gave me a chocolate chip bagel once and I had to spit it out.

[Magiver]

toasted onion bagel with cream cheese and lettus

[Lute Skywatcher]

Spicy! (http://news.dunkindonuts.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1264)

[papergirl]

Ooooh, I forgot the salt bagels. Maybe I'd marry one of those instead. Put a little crunchy peanut butter on there, and I'm in heaven.
My kids like cinnamon sugar bagels with cinnamon-brown sugar cream cheese. If I'm in the mood for dessert--say, after I've had my savory bagel--then I might have a piece. But I don't like any sweet chunky things in bagels--raisins, chocolate chips, etc.
When we go to Tennessee in the summer, the very last stop we make is the bagel place. We take 2 dozen bagels and two or three containers of schmear. Mmmm. I love that ritual.

[Motorgirl]

Savory. Salt or onion, though salt bagels are vanishingly rare around these parts, so I go for onion. I love how the onion gets all crispy burnt when you toast the bagel. I eat one of those for breakfast then go breathe on my enemies.

The sweet bagels at the bagel place on campus are very popular. Girls especially like the sweet bagels with sweet topping, like a blueberry bagel with honey and peanut butter. I have also heard more than one kid order a cinnamon raisin bagel with lox. Urp.

[choie]

Generally savory -- everything or onion for cream cheese with lox/baked salmon spread, poppy seed or sesame for butter. But there is definitely a place of honor for a well-made cinnamon raisin bagel, toasted, with butter. Yum. It's a hug you can taste.

Actually a guilty treat for me as a kid was pumpernickel with wine/cheddar cheese. (Wispride only, back in the days when it was sold in a brown ceramic tub with a metal wire clasp thingy and rubber gasket (http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CROCK-POTTERY-WISPRIDE-CHEESE-WIRE-TOP-SMALL-DARK-BROWN-LOT-2-USED-/250927094959). Such a production, oy!) I don't know if that combo would make it through my adult palate, although then again, I blush to admit that my adult palate hasn't changed as much as it should have from my one as a child.

[Maiira]

Savory. I like making tuna sandwiches with them! Smoked salmon is nice, too.

I also prefer my cream cheese savory, too. Not a fan of the sweet flavors.

[Kozmik]

Sweet bagels?????? The end times must have arrived.

If you want sweet, get a donut! That's what they're for.Yes. So Random totally answered the question.

[LavenderBlue]

Sweet bagels strike me as bizarre. I much prefer the classic plain with a smear of butter or a bit of cream cheese and lox. Ideally it should slightly hot indicating it was baked very recently.

[GameHat]

I suspect this isn't kosher *wink*

But I've fallen in love with a pretzel bagel, toasted, with lox, cream cheese, capers, onions and tomatoes.

I know that's basically a lox bagel, except for the pretzel part. But the pretzel part totally makes it!

[araminty]

Call my sacrilegious, blah blah, whatever, but I like a savouryish bagel (onion, everything) well toasted with butter and honey or jam.

[NDP]

I like sourdough bagels. What's the consensus around here on those?

[Lynn Bodoni]

Why not serve ham and cheese on a bagel while you're at it. Oy. Actually, I DO put ham slices on a bagel spread with cream cheese. I don't like lox, but I do like ham.

[BigT]

Sweet bagels plain, regular bagels with stuff that's either savory or savory with light sweet (like flavored cream cheese). Come to think of it, sweet bagels aren't that sweet, either.

[chiroptera]

I keep reading this as "Beagles: Sweet or savory?"

I like both. Classic with cream cheese and lox (capers a bonus), or the apple cinammon bagels a local place makes.
Best: classic savory bagel, followed by a sweet one for dessert.

[kiz]

I'm all over the map when it comes to bagels.

Sweet? I've never been a fan of cinnamon raisin, but our local upscale gourmet market used to carry both French toast and triple chocolate chip. They were both TO DIE FOR with just a touch of butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. The wholesaler from which they got them discontinued both. When I found that out I wanted to cry :(

Otherwise, I really like pairing that butter/cinnamon sugar mixture with the savory, particularly with everything bagels. When I want to feel healthy I'll ditch the everything and eat 100% whole wheat or some kind of multigrain. And I just realized it's been years since I've had either a salt or a pumpernickel bagel...

Ooh, I also like anything "berry". The wholesaler I mentioned upthread makes triple berry occasionally with real fruit. They're always the first one gone at the upscale market.

[Sticks and Scones]

I used to like cinnamon raisin bagels, but I grew out of them. I prefer savory bagels, specifically sesame.

There's nothing like a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese on it. Mmmm



Unless I make my own, bagels are just round bread, half the time.

You're right. 'Bready' bagels make me want to puke.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I used to like cinnamon raisin bagels, but I grew out of them. I prefer savory bagels, specifically sesame.

Yes, sesame seed, toasted so the seeds get all nutty, with really good chive cheese.

mmmmmmm

ETA: Nice simulpost Sticks and Scones!

[Sticks and Scones]

Yes, sesame seed, toasted so the seeds get all nutty, with really good chive cheese.

mmmmmmm

ETA: Nice simulpost Sticks and Scones!


:D

[bouv]

Unless I make my own, bagels are just round bread, half the time. Doughnuts do not equal sweet bagels. That's an insult to good bagels and good doughnuts.

Ugh, I feel sorry for you...are there really no nice local bakeries that have decent bagels where you live? Don't go for those bags of Lender's POS's on the shelves, I agree those are just round bread, and when my mom bought those as a kid I was convinced I didn't care for bagels! Heck, even the bakery department at most supermarkets make passable bagels...not as good as even a halfway decent bagel place, but better than something made offsite and shipped in a month ago.

Anyway, to answer the OP, savory. Sometimes I'll get a plain bagel and put jam on it, but usually I go full savory. Last bagel I had was Sunday...an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese. There's also a place around here that makes a really good parmesan black-pepper bagel.

[hogarth]

I usually like savory, but once in a while I like a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter.

[Snickers]

Savory, savory, savory. And it always bites me in the ass, because whenever someone brings in bagels to the office (generally from Panera; it's closest), they always have a metric ass-ton of sweet bagels. I have to dig to find the one (one!) asiago bagel in there; forget a garlic or onion or everything bagel. Bums me out, but hey, free bagels!

[Moonlitherial]

Sesame is definitely my favorite but a good blueberry bagel is a nice treat. My preferred topping is savory cream cheese but when I'm in the mood for sweet a whole wheat bagel with plain cream cheese and a tiny bit of jam or sliced fruit is delicious!

[faithfool]

Savory.

My favorite used to be Sun Dried Tomato and even Sara Lee made them. But now days, no such luck. I am terribly saddened by this news and wish to complain to the bagel industry. Who else is with me?

[OpalCat]

I keep reading this as "Beagles: Sweet or savory?"

I like both. Classic with cream cheese and lox (capers a bonus), or the apple cinammon bagels a local place makes.
Best: classic savory bagel, followed by a sweet one for dessert.

I had to look up "capers" as I didn't know what they were (though I've heard the term before). What I read didn't do a very good job explaining what they might taste like, other than to say that chopped green olives are a good substitute. I know it' shard to describe flavor, but what are capers like? Are they like olives?

Now I'm going to put myself out there as a heretic and say that I actually prefer the more bready, less hard/chewy bagels. I used to like the harder ones, but with my current dental situation I find them difficult and sometimes even painful to eat. Toasting helps, as the crispness will get through some of the chewiness.

Here on campus if I get a bagel I usually get an "everything bagel" with hummus on it. I like cream cheese, but with hummus I can pretend I'm being healthy.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Capers give you a pungent-briny hit of flavor. They are small, so you don't get overwhelmed by the taste.

[amaguri]

I like 'em both. I don't give a #$(* that people seem to think sweet bagels are an abomination... a cranberry bagel, double-toasted, with a generous amount honey nut cream cheese is delicious!

[Annie-Xmas]

Savory, like salt or everything.

Ocassionally a cinnamon raisin might be okay.

[norvalnormal]

Generally speaking, I am a Bagel Traditionalist, and shudder at the Wonder Bread-textured 4WD-tire-sized abominations one usually encounters these days ...

But the U.S. supermarket chain Wegman's makes a "Marco Polo" bagel with Japanese rice flour ... heaven, particularly lined with treyf cold cuts such as ham!!

[papergirl]

Call my sacrilegious, blah blah, whatever, but I like a savouryish bagel (onion, everything) well toasted with butter and honey or jam.

I could see that...I love hearty rye bread with butter and jam. The rye against the jam is a very nice contrast.
And like Lynn, I like a schmear of cream cheese with a slice of smoked ham.
Mmmm. Hungry now.

[missinformation]

Garlic, please, with TempTee cream cheese and some fresh lox. Want to go back up to NJ just to go to Goldberg's in Westwood to get one....

[limegreen]

Panera (or St. Louis Bread Company) has a cranberry bagel during October -- their Pink Ribbon Bagel -- that I would gladly eat three times a day for the entire month. Everything bagels are okay once in a while, but my stomach rebels.

[River Hippie]

When I go on one of my periodic bagel binges it is always an onion or garlic bagel, toasted then spread with a little butter and then cream cheese. Sprinkled with a little salt and it's perfect for me. Sometimes I mix some garlic powder into the cream cheese or the butter.

[Tangent]

I like savory better, and I agree with silenus that a good jalepeno bagel can put a nice burn in your belly.

My favorite "sweet" bagel is banana-nut (with some sweet walnut cream cheese), but I have a hard time finding them around here.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Savory. Or possibly neutral bagel with honey-nut cream cheese on it.

My favorites are everything, onion, or garlic. Pumpernickel with bacon-scallion cream cheese is divine, too. (I know, pork-infused dairy on a bagel - live with it.)

Cinnamon-raisin bagels seem reasonable if not tempting to me, but the crazy sweet flavors I see at Panera? Chocolate chip bagels are an abomination.

[DiosaBellissima]

Given the choice of only one, I'd pick savory. Garlic bagels are a wonder and delight, for sure.

That said, there's a time and a place for a sweet bagel. Panera, for instance, has a surprisingly delicious chocolate chip bagel.

[markdash]

I definitely prefer savory. A poppy seed bagel with plain cream cheese is all I need.

But if given the choice between a sweet bagel (like blueberry or cinnamon & raisin) or a donut, I'm still taking the bagel. Donuts are disgusting.

[ZenBeam]

Sweet bagels? Child's play!

You need a Fragel (http://www.mdbagelfragel.com/menu.html). Deep fried cinnamon raisin bagel, covered in sugar.

(I never get them, but the real bagels there are good, if you're in town.

[Kamino Neko]

Doughnuts do not equal sweet bagels. That's an insult to good bagels and good doughnuts.

Hell, it's an insult to lousy bagels and lousy doughnuts, too. To have one resemble the other in any way other than being round, they'd have to be almost supernaturally bad.

[papergirl]

I had an odd bread-related experience yesterday. I frequent our local food pantry, and as food pantries go, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one. So yesterday I got an enormous handmade loaf of bread--the local bakeries donate a lot of day-old, premium, artisan breads. It seriously is the biggest loaf I've ever seen. I couldn't tell what kind it was, but it smelled sweet and looked like it had a cinnamon-sugar type topping, so I figured the kids would like it with peanut butter and honey.
When I got home I cut a big chunk of it to try. Sure enough, the top crust was slathered with nice crunchy cinnamon sugar stuff...but the bread itself was a gorgeous, savory, sundried tomato/garlic/etc type bread! Apparently someone got mixed up when they went to top the breads...and the food bank got the benefit of the odd loaves. :)
The dogs are enjoying the top crust and the rest of us love the sundried tomato innards.

[Beware of Doug]

there's a time and a place for a sweet bagel.It probably addresses a need that used to be filled by the donut, which used to be widely available but has lost a lot of its class and market.

But bagels are really a cultural item. The traditional varieties represent ethnic and regional tastes, which add up to the kind of character donuts, as a genre, can never have (although individual varieties of donut certainly can).

It's kind of like calling any old funnel-shaped cocktail a martini.