Reviewed by: Caleb Turrentine
Nick Saban savors K&J’s oatmeal cream pies on ESPN College GameDay
Reading time: 4 minutes
Right: Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban takes a big bite of a K&J’s Elegant Pastries oatmeal cream pie. (Kristal Bryant)
Nick Saban’s morning routine includes two oatmeal cream pies and a cup of coffee. On Saturday, Oct. 10, he tried a version made by a Birmingham baker, live on ESPN’s College GameDay.
That baker, Kristal Bryant, brought a spread of desserts to the show’s set at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. She posted a video of the momentous occasion on her bakery’s Instagram, which shows Saban indulging in her pastry while GameDay analysts Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit throw pies into the crowd like frisbees.
Why Kristal made oatmeal cream pies for Nick Saban
Saban’s daily Little Debbie habit is well known, and K&J’s Elegant Pastries owner Bryant said she planned to make oatmeal cream pies before her spot on the show was even confirmed. Then, years later, ESPN asked for them directly.
Bryant said she’s long admired the Sabans, even as an Auburn fan:
“I’m a huge Auburn fan…but I love me some Nick Saban.”
“I’ve always just loved Nick Saban. I’ve always respected him, and I think it’s because of the work that he and Terry do in the community, and just their level of class.”
Kristal Bryant, K&J’s Elegant Pastries owner
The pies fulfilled a promise she made years ago. Saban’s daughter, Kristen, followed K&J’s on Instagram, and Bryant offered to send her dad some oatmeal cream pies.
“She sent me an address, and I never sent them. The bakery was really busy…and time just got away from me. So this was my opportunity to get him those oatmeal cream pies.”
What went into K&J’s new oatmeal cream pie recipe
Bryant already had an oatmeal cream pie recipe from when she opened her first brick-and-mortar bakery in Alabaster in 2013, but it never took off, she told the City of Birmingham.
For GameDay, she reworked it over several recipe tests just a few days before the shoot. The new version has two big, chewy oatmeal cookies filled with marshmallow buttercream.
For the show, Bryant filled display towers with:
- 30 oatmeal cream pies
- 30 pecan pie cinnamon rolls
- Vanilla, red velvet + chocolate cupcakes topped with “Roll Tide” + “Go Dawgs” signs
- A GameDay-themed cake
Bryant also made Saban his own box, with a note congratulating him on the premiere of the new six-part ESPN docu-series “Saban,” which chronicles the life and career of legendary football coach. His assistant promised it would be in his front seat before he got in the car.
Saban, who Bryant said “doesn’t show a lot of expression,” didn’t have a huge reaction, but his feelings about the oatmeal cream pies were evident, she said:
“It was amazing, just to see him break it and eat it and then bite again, and bite again, I was like, ‘Okay, he likes it.’ He didn’t say anything, but I felt like he liked it.”
Kristal Bryant, K&J’s Elegant Pastries owner
How a Tuscaloosa partnership landed K&J’s on GameDay
The booking came through Next Move Bama, a University of Alabama student moving and storage company founded earlier this year by Birmingham businesswoman Andrea Silas. The business is also K&J’s exclusive Tuscaloosa preorder and campus delivery partner.
Silas emailed GameDay with no prior contacts and pitched K&J’s. The desserts were booked within a day. Full Moon Bar-B-Que also took part.
K&J’s Elegant Pastries keeps growing
The GameDay appearance follows a busy year for the bakery. Bham Now covered K&J’s when its Kolossal Milkshake made Fodor’s list of the country’s most over-the-top desserts. The bakery also added a 24/7 vending machine and began shipping cupcakes nationwide.
The oatmeal cream pies are now on the regular menu. Bryant’s pecan pie cinnamon roll is part of a rotating “topping” series that ends Oct. 24, and she plans to announce the next flavor after that.
- K&J’s Elegant Pastries: 205-663-4827 | Website | TikTok | Facebook | Instagram
- Address: 2260 9th Ave. N
- Hours:
- Tuesday-Thursday 10AM to 7PM
- Friday + Saturday 10AM to 8PM
- Closed Sunday + Monday
- The vending machine is always available!
