Published September 1, 2012. From Cook's Illustrated.
Warm bread for everyone—is it guaranteed with this little bear?
The Bear Bun Warmer ($7.95) was created to make sure everyone gets a warm roll, whether he or she is served first or last. To test how well it works, we soaked the bear-shaped terra-cotta disk in water and then heated it in the microwave for two minutes before wrapping it in a cloth napkin with cinnamon rolls. We tucked the same number of oven-fresh cinnamon rolls in a separate napkin, with no bun warmer. Then we charted their cooling from an oven-warm 148 degrees. After 15 minutes, the rolls with the bun warmer were still piping hot at 143 degrees; rolls wrapped up alone had cooled to 118 degrees. Ten minutes later, rolls with the bun warmer were 120 degrees, and those without had dropped to a cool 98 degrees. The Bear Bun Warmer extends that just-from-the-oven pleasure a bit longer—making it worth the small effort of soaking and preheating.
