Monday, May 3, 2010

Breyers 1/2 the fat Dark Chocolate Velvet
Formerly Smooth & Dreamy Light Ice Cream


[Born 2010, Retired end of 2012] Have I mentioned how crazy busy things have been around here lately? I really gotta stop buying things that say "NEW!" on them. I want to be on the front lines of the latest and greatest freezer trends but man, there is just so much stuff out there right now. Case in point is one of the two new Smooth & Dreamy flavors from Breyers.

I was pretty excited when I first saw this a few weeks ago, but I was good and waited until it was on sale. Well, sale week finally came so what we have here is the new Dark Chocolate Velvet Smooth & Dreamy ( extra creamy ) dark chocolate light ice cream. No chunks, no bits, no nothing, just ice cream.

Now I wasn't expecting that. The ice cream almost looks as though it's a mix of two different flavors, one dark chocolate colored and the other a more milk chocolate color. This isn't billed as two flavors, and it doesn't taste like two flavors, it just looks like two flavors.

To be fair and honest, I would like to preface the following statements by saying that this ice cream is all gone. That's right, our simple little dark chocolate friend did not stand a chance in the freezer. At a very unfilling 110 calories per serving, it was easy to make it disappear (you're going to need a nice big bowl to fill your belly).

The first scooping was when we brought this home from the store. I will admit to having delusions of getting the flourless chocolate cake dark chocolate vibe in a very low fat format. Realistic? No, but hey, this is Breyers, so you never know what new flavor might win you over.

Success? Nope, definitely not that strong a dark chocolate vibe. Sure, it's there, but it's not taking you to dark chocolate-ville, it's more like seeing the exit but you keep driving. You know it's there, you just aren't hanging around long enough to be truly satisfied. When they say this is a light ice cream, they mean super light. We were both still hungry when we were done. I understand that light ice cream isn't meant to be heavy, but I was just shocked that I didn't even feel remotely full.

Boredom note: this ice cream is in bad need of a mix in. I know there are plenty of ice cream bits out there, and lots of people are purists, but I just think that some "low fat" tiny brownie bits or something similar would go awesome in the ice cream. Nothing too crunchy, don't want to ruin the soft texture of the ice cream here, but a nice soft (somewhat chewy) mix in would have been really nice.

On Second Scoop: I went on to try the ice cream several more times. It's decent, and I have no problem recommending you give it a try, just don't set your hopes too high. Maybe it's best served with something else, I'm just not sure what, maybe it needs just the right kind of crushed cookie bits on top.

If you are curious, the other new Smooth & Dreamy flavor is Coffee Fudge Brownie, but since I just can't seem to get into coffee ice creams, it won't be on the blog anytime soon.

Oh, the last two servings went into a dark chocolate milkshake. Knowing that the ice cream melted quickly, I let it sit a little bit and then did my best to add as little milk as possible... after making a giant mess, I learned from my mistake and added a bit more milk. The good news is that this kept the flavor fairly strong, but the problem is that the dry nature of the dark chocolate flavor battles the milky refreshing-ness that you expect with a milkshake. It was kind of weird and just not something I would want to do to my tastebuds on a regular basis.

2012 Update: "Smooth & Dreamy" is dead and in it's place we've got a new and "improved" recipe that throws in more chemicals and ditches the "all natural" branding.... sorry, just bitter that Breyers has learned nothing from Edy's and is now going down the chemical road instead of staying true to their all natural roots. They'll learn sooner or later (hey, I said the smooth & dreamy naming wouldnt last, so hopefully I'll be right about the all natural stuff too)

2013 Update: This one didnt make it to the 2013 season

9 comments:

  1. I wish more companies would try dark chocolate ice cream. The only one I've tasted/seen has been the Haagen Dazs(?) dark chocolate icecream that was limited edition last year but it appears it's been added to the main line. I loved it last year but I recently picked up a pint and I wasn't as much as a fan. Almost too thick/fudgy/rich for me and it melted very thick as well, I didn't like it for some reason. I believe they also have a LE dark chocolate mint now, so I'd like to try that. It definitely needs some mix-ins to cut some of the richness though .

    I also recently tried the HD peanut butter chocolate
    flavor in one of those small little single serving cups, and it was awesome! I don't even really like pb that much but I loved that ice cream..mmm. I've been craving it, and that almost never happens!

    and now I'm off topic :) thanks for the review, I'll probably end up trying this even though you didn't really like it haha

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  2. Dark Chocolate Decadence without the calories !! Tried it today & loved it. True DCL prefer to have it ala carte....none of that fruity berry stuff or nuts.....And if you want some extra dark chocolate bits, why not just add it to the icecream yourself. This is the real deal...thank you Breyers !!

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  3. I read the first blogger and read and read and it was confusing but figured out that they did not like it that much. Well I loved it better than any ice cream we have ever bought, except Bryer's real vanilla bean when they used to put lots of real vanilla bean speck into the ice cream. I thought the dark chocolate was so very good. Who can affort to eat enough to fill up anyway. That is dangerous. I loved the tast without anything on it and one night I put a couple of strawberries and that was more special than a wedding treat. PLease keep making it. I went back for more and there was no more. I had bought mine at Wal-mart and had to buy a substitute. They only thing that I wondered about was that if I made a packed sugar cone ice cream that if you kinda suck on the ice cream that loads of air passed through it.....maybe it could have less air but the color and everything was what I have been looking for for years. THis makes the Dairy Queen close by jealous I bet....wow, please keep making it....never stop.......

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  4. I actually love this Breyer's ice cream flavor right now- primarily because it won't break the bank and still leave me far more satisfied than any other flavor out there. But the best ice cream out there (which is dark chocolate, of course) is Gifford's 75% cocoa with chocolate bits. I think it's only available in the DC area, so if you're ever in the area... this is the greatest monument you will experience. ^_^

    ~a severe chocoholic

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  5. I just recently heard about this ice cream. Can't wait to see if our local grocery store carries this flavor. I am a HUGE dark chocolate fan. Growing up in Missouri we had a place called "Velvet Freeze". They had a flavor called "Gold Coast Chocolate". This ice cream was the BEST. It was such a dark chocolate ice cream that the ice cream itself was almost a solid black color...LORDY I miss Velvet Freeze

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  6. i tasted the breyer's dark chocolate icream and fell in love with it;;; and it's the only kind of icream i eat;; dark chocolate is fantastic;;and only kind i buy;;; but the problem now is i can't find the dark chocolate in any of the grocey stores;; i am so mad and so disappointed that i no longer can get this icecream ;; i've look in all the stores around here but not to be found anywhere;; could you please look into this fore for me;; i really love dark chocolate icecream maded by breyers;;;thank you ;;;

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    Replies
    1. Don't fret just yet, they are currently rebranding these containers so you probably just need to hold tight until they order a fresh batch (you may even be able to go to customer service and let them know you are waiting)

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  7. I'm sorry to see the Dark Velvet Chocolate go. I was truly addicted to it, and then it was gone. It definitely was the closest to the Velvet Freeze Gold Coast Chocolate that I have found since they quit making it in the 1980's, (I think) I found this site doing a search for Gold Coast Chocolate.

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  8. I Miss this Velvety chocolaty Goodness!!! my Husband also miss's this Breyer flavor. Please bring it Back!

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