When you’re craving something sweet, McDonald’s has plenty of options to help you get your fix.
Scan the menu and you’ll encounter chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, shakes, and McFlurries.
(Well, assuming theice cream machine isn’t broken.)
Photo: McDonald’s. Design: Eat This, Not That!
McDonald’s introduced this sweet treatthe fast-food giant’s first-ever dessertback in 1968.
That’s the same year Micky D’s debuted its famousBig Mac.
Here are 10 intriguing facts about the beloved McDonald’s treat.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s first apple pie was fried.
McDonald’s fans who ordered the apple pie before 1992 already know this.
In other words, the baked replacement was created to be a healthier alternative.
Reese M. / Yelp
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Some U.S. locations still serve fried apple pies.
No, fried apple pies aren’t obsolete.
But they’re alsonot readily availablein the U.S., according toThe Takeout.
Shutterstock
“In apple pies alonenot even counting the taro pie and haupia piewe outsell our counterparts on the Mainland.
That’s the reason we’ve been allowed to keep our fried apple pies.
Our results prove that there’s a customer demand here in Hawaii.”
McDonald’s (Dumas, AR) / Facebook
This restaurant also happens to be the oldest McDonald’s location, opening in 1953.
Greenspan then encountered a vendor with a connection to the company that produced McDonald’s fried apple pies.
Greenspan soon began serving his own version of McDonald’s pies at his restaurant, Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese.
West St Paul McDonald’s Playland / Facebook
However, Greenspan ultimatelyclosed this restauranta few years later, perEater.
Later, in September 2018, McDonald’sannounced recipe changesthat would affect apple pie fans nationwide.
The chain alsoswitched over to a lattice crustsprinkled with sugar instead of the previous cinnamon sugar topping.
McDonald’s
The reason behind the change?
Improving customer’s perception of the chain’s menu.
“(Customers say), ‘That’s in my food?
Photo: Kaley Roberts, Eat This, Not That!
I don’t know where it came from.
I don’t want to eat that.'”
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The dessert spawned its own McDonaldland character.
McDonald’s (Marshfield, MO) / Facebook
The chain’s chocolate chip cookies follow this with15 grams of sugar.
The baked version has 230 calories and 11 grams of fat.
Travel outside of the country, and you’ll likely encounter flavors you’ve never seen before.
Ann Marie Langrehr/Eat This, Not That!
In 2020, McDonald’s released three bakery items as part of its McCafe line.
These included the blueberry muffin, cinnamon roll, and apple fritter.
However, their time on the menu was short-lived, as McDonald’s discontinued all of them inJuly 2023.
Popeyes
Farewell, apple fritter.
18 Discontinued McDonald’s Items Customers Want Back
you might order a Pie McFlurry.
No, the Pie McFlurry isn’t on the chain’s official menu.
McDonald’s is far from being the only chain to do apple pieand it’s also not the first.
The original White Castle location offered apple pie as one of itsfirst four menu items.
Over the years, several fast-food chains have followed by rolling out their ownapple desserts.
For example, Popeyes has acinnamon apple pie.
Arby’s offers anapple turnover.
Last fall, Panda Express debuted anapple pie roll.
This story has been updated to include additional copyedits, new contextual links, and fact-checking.
