Limited Batch! Ben & Jerry's Flourless Chocolate Cake

On top of the five new flavors out right now,  Ben & Jerry's has also released the limited edition flourless chocolate cake. It's ok, I did a double take too. Flourless chocolate cake? I love desserts but I'm a little lost on this one ....to wikipedia!

So, here it is, Flourless Chocolate Cake: Chocolate Ice Cream with Pieces of Flourless Chocolate Cake & a Chocolate Frosting Swirl. The title doesn't have me but that description is winning me over. I crack open the container and Ben & Jerry's very dark chocolate ice cream is there waiting to greet me.

Ok, here's our usual close up shot, though I was having a bit of trouble with the reflection. (I could have messed with it some more, but I was in some desperate need of chocolate). You can see two distinct chunks of flourless cake there at the bottom. Unlike the spongy bits in Boston Cream Pie, these bits are very dense and look alot like fudgy brownie bits. You can also see the swirls floating about. You'll notice this isn't some creamy store bought frosting here, this stuff has some serious density to it.

I couldn't wait anymore and I dug right in. Mmmmmmmm, yup, this definitely satisfies my chocolate needs right now. I like it, I really do, it's not what I was expecting. First off, you could have told me these were brownie bits and i wouldnt know the difference. That's not a bad thing. And this fudge swirl? Is it sweet and disgusting? Nope, not even close. In fact, it doesn't really stand out at all. Instead, it seems to be adding to the overall taste and texture. Sometimes you may have 3 or 4 tastes in one pint, but that's not happening here. Sure some bites have different texture, but overall, the taste is fairly consistant on every bite.

Now I was in desperate need of a chocolate fix when I tried this yesterday. I didn't notice it while I was eating it, but I was left with a pleasant dry finish reminiscent of the one I might get from some quality dark chocolate. Well, when I went back for my second scoop today, I made a point to focus on that aspect of the ice cream and quite frankly, it didn't disappoint. I'm not even sure how or why my love of dark chocolate started, but when I need a frozen fix of that vibe, I now know where to look.

It just so happens that I have a faux pint of H-D dark chocolate in the freezer. I'm curious to see how it will stack up against Flourless Chocolate Cake. If I spend a little too much time thinking about it, this flavor starts reminding me a bit of H-D Five milk chocolate and the dry nature of the cocoa it's built around. However, unlike that ice cream, Ben & Jerry's pulls back before it goes too far down that road and I would definitely consider getting this one again... maybe I'm just a sucker for the brownie like bits scattered throughout this ice cream. If you need a dark chocolate fix, give this a try!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is indeed a Walmart only special! My apologies to anyone who can't find it!

Skinny Cow Low Fat Cookies 'N Cream Ice Cream Sandwiches

I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not a huge Skinny Cow fan unless we're talking about their simple yet satisfying fudge pops. However, no matter how good Ben & Jerry's might taste, you really can't eat it every night (unless you're still 18). So, when I saw the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches under going a considerable sale, I knew it was time to give a few more flavors a try.

The first one I opened is the Cookie N' Cream variety of their low fat

Hmmm, which one to pick? They actually look potentially tasty.

I guess I'm hoping that the taste will remind me of the weight watchers chocolate cookies 'n cream bar, but at the same time I'm also trying not to get my hopes up. I take a few bites and it's not the cookies n' cream I'm tasting. It's the wafers, they've got some kind of funk going on. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it's striking me like some kind of bizarre fiber bar. It's weird, but you will get use to it ....I mean that literally. I've had four of these now and the weirdness will subside. Maybe I should clarify a bit...

What Skinny Cow has created is a totally unsatisfying treat. I don't mean that it tastes nasty, I mean I literally don't feel even remotely satisfied after eating one of these. So I ate a second ....and I was still hungry! What is going on here? These aren't exactly small, but they must disentigrate upon entry because these things are making me more hungry. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just crazy. "Daddy, I'm still hungry, can I have another one?". Ok, apparently it's not just me.

Do I recommend these? Hey, if you're on a diet, sure give them a try, but you're probably going to get the overwhleming urge to wash it down with a tall glass of milk, and at that point it will no longer be a low fat snack. The ice cream is ok but fairly mild in flavor, the wafers are fairly dry (but aren't sticking to my hands too badly), and overall it's just a boring and totally forgettable experience. What good is low fat if I'm still hungry? I'd say I'm just being picky, but I just haven't run into this problem in a long long time.

Commit Charge

I was in desperate need of a frozen treat this afternoon and luckily I had one in reserve. I had a single serve Klondike bar in my work freezer and I had planned to use it to do a size comparison with the 100 calorie Klondike minis I tried two months ago. Well, this was an emergency, so I ran off to the freezer (not literally run, someone could get hurt in our narrow hallways, and who wants that).

Anyway, I grabbed it from the freezer, headed back to my desk, and ripped open the package. Uh oh... That's not good....

Oh my.... 18 grams of saturated fat! That's 90% of my daily intake (and let's not get into the fact I had a bunch of Do-si-dos a few hours earlier). When I bought this, I assumed it was a normal Klondike since it doesnt say its oversized, but it is definitely bigger than the average bar (by weight, it's 18% bigger, by calories it's 32% bigger).

Well, it's too late, the package is open, and I can't go back. I have committed this fat intake charge to my daily diet. At least it was tasty and still fresh ...it just also happened to be horribly unhealthy. I'll be better tomorrow.

New! Ben & Jerry's Boston Cream Pie Ice Cream

First came the pie...

Next came the donut....

And now we have the ice cream!

Behold the brand new Boston Cream Pie flavor from Ben & Jerry's. We have Boston Cream Pie Ice Cream with Yellow Cake Pieces, Fudge Flakes & Swirls of Pastry Cream. Living in Mass means Boston Cream Pie is available in every grocery store bakery, but to be honest, I'm not sure how popular it is outside of New England (or even Mass for that matter). Basically it's a thin layer of yellow cake, a layer of somewhat tangy pastry cream, another layer of yellow cake, and then a heavy (but thin) coating of fudge frosting on top. It's quite tasty if the right person makes it but I will admit that I have burnt out on it over the years. My boston cream experiences are now limited to my occasional consumption of the mighty boston cream donut, which is just a chocolate frosted donut with the same flavor cream inside.

Ok, here's a nice close up of what's in store. The base ice cream is an off white color. We have a nice scattering of some fresh looking yellow cake chunks. These bits could have easily gotten mauled in the ice cream process yet they look fresh and fantastic. That's a real nice touch and a great way to start things off. You can't really see the pastry cream swirls, but those are the shiny yellowish spots in the bottom right part of the picture. They are gooey, but not ooey gooey. Funny, I was expecting more fudge chunks ...I mean, the fudge is one of the best parts of a Boston Cream Pie, so I thought there would be a lot of fudge. Maybe they are further down.

I couldn't help myself --- I took a whiff and yup, it sure smells like Boston Cream Pie (if you've never smelled BCP, it basically smells like a very sweet cake batter)

I dig in and YUP! this tastes like BCP alright! In particular, it tastes like the filling and the cake ...but where's the fudge coating? Uh oh, I wonder if I got a bum pint. This ice cream nails BCP on the money ....if said BCP is lacking it's fudgy frosting on top. Bummer.

Now, let me give you a little warning. The filling in BCP is quite potent. It's not some mild filling that's happy to just flitter by your tastes buds on the way to your belly. No, BCP filling is a mighty thing that contrasts very well with the equally strong fudge frosting on top. The beauty of BCP is this contrast. Now you can't just have cream and a fudge frosting (mmmmm, sounds tasty actually). Instead, we add in some yellow cake to balance the whole thing out and you have a nice dessert.

So, we have a potent filling flavored ice cream here. The nature of the filling also messes a little bit with the normal B&J texture, so be prepared for that as well. I think the cake pieces add to the presentation, and they are fun to scoop, but I'm not sure how much they add to the flavor. The filling vibe is already so strong that the pieces didn't seem add a whole lot flavorwise.

Even if this pint hadn't been lacking in the fudgy factor, I still don't think this flavor is anything more than a once in a great while buy for me. If you like party cake flavored ice creams or really sweet ice creams, you will definitely like this. I'm thinking everyone else will just try it once and move on.

One last thing, like any real cake, you might want to wash this one down with some milk when you are done, otherwise you might be tasting it for awhile.

Greetings!

Just want to say Hi! to everyone who found this site through their ChunkMail! I started this site almost two years ago on a whim and a spoon and it's been a great ride ever since. Sure, the 450+ posts contain the occasional frequent typo or two, but it's all about the love of ice cream and the fun of discovering new flavors and treats. I will freely admit that my earlier posts tend to be a bit light on content and lacking on images, but I like to think I've learned alot and I've definitely gotten alot better at taking pictures.

Do I have any qualifications to be an ice cream blogger? No skills, no training, I don't even work in the food industry, it's just that I've loved ice cream since I was a little kid (even though back in those days we had chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, ...or all three, oh boy! and then came cookies n' cream! oh, those were the days!). Anyway, I try to keep the blog diverse with at least a few posts a week, usually ice cream, but often treats or toppings or something special. Sure, Ben & Jerry's and Breyers tend to be the most popular searches, but I really try to branch out as much as possible with Edy's, Turkey Hill, Kemp's, Haagen-Dazs, Blue Bunny, Walgreens, and anything else I can find. The stuff on this blog literally comes from about 12 different sources.

I hope you'll look around and more importantly I hope you come back. Please feel free to post comments on whatever flavors you have tried, or send me a note (or comment on this post) with flavors you'd like to see in future reviews. I'm always looking for honest feedback, so thanks in advance.

Ok, time to go write the Boston Cream Pie review!

Two Bucks!!

I know you are waiting for a review, but I just had to say that Shaws is going over the top with their sales this week. Not only is Edy's Buy 1 Get 2 Free (so 3 containers for $5.99 or $2 a pop), but more importantly, Haagen-Dazs faux pints are $2 a pop! Woohoo, time to stock up! If only I could find midnight cookies & cream! There we're also some Klondike Treats for $2, and even Drumsticks for $2! Lots of sales and lots of reasons to drop $2! (ok, I'll stop say $2 now)

One other note: Breyer's Smooth and Dreamy has at least two new flavors, I spied coffee fudge brownie and also a very cool looking dark chocolate velvet. It looks like DCV use to be a Double Churn flavor. Since I can never find S&D Rocky Road, this new dark chocolate velvet will have to be an upcoming review ....once it's on sale ....buying all this ice cream isn't cheap :)

Side Note: Faux Pint = 14 oz (not a true 16 oz)

New! Skinny Cone Single Servings Caramel Cone Low Fat Ice Cream

So, when I posted the pictures of the brand new skinny cow single serve cups, what was your reaction? If you are anything like mean, you were probably ...a little ...afraid. Sorry, but from my experience, skinny cow ice cream isn't the most positive experience. Sure, I love the fudge pops, but the faux "ice cream" they use in their sandwiches and cones rarely steps outside the edible range.

I reported 4 new flavors and being a lover of crunchy cones, I went with the Caramel Cone. Now one strange thing right off the bat is the fact that there is no description of the ice cream on the container. Yes it has a picture and a name, but nothing like "vanilla low fat ice cream with a low sugar caramel swirl and cone bits covered in low fat chocolaty stuff".

Ok, here's the usual top shot (but I'm using the camera phone so the colors are off). You can see a very liquidy caramel swirl and the occasional cone bit. The bits are very tiny and sparse. I expected this, but it's depressing to see.  Let's change cone bits to cone crumbs really. You might also notice that texture of the ice cream, basically, it's very airy and does that funky crystally whatever thing when you scoop it (sorry, just can't think of the word at this moment).

The taste leaves much to be desired. Yes, it's better than I thought it would be, but no, it's not that good. I think it's the caramel that's ruining it for me. There's something weird about it and the whole thing winds up with an unpleasant taste. It might not be so bad if the cone crumbs could save the day, but like I said, they're sparse and add little to the whole thing.

The texture is ok, but this thing is so airy that it's really not that filling. It melted quick. Yes, it was cold, and it was a break from my usual afternoon work snack, but I definitely can't recommend this.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 container (99g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 170	from Fat 25
	% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g	5%
- Sat Fat 2.5g	13%
- Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol <5mg	2%
Sodium 85mg	3%
Total Carbohydrate 33g	11%
- Dietary Fiber 4g	16%
- Sugars 24g
Protein 4g
Vitamin A 8%	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 20%	Iron 4%

New! Ben & Jerry's Peanut Brittle Ice Cream

You know what's funny? It takes a moment to test a product but it seems like an eternity sometimes before I get to talk about it. Case in point, I tried this new flavor Wednesday night and I'm still trying to get my thoughts out ...I forget what happened that night, but I had some more last night and I was all ready to start writing, but I got an email that totally threw me off course (but more on that in a few weeks). Anyway, let's get down to business!

This is the brandy new Peanut Brittle Ice Cream with Peanut Brittle Pieces & a Caramel Swirl. At first glance, it's fairly plain looking. I actually expected it to be darker to match the normal peanut brittle color.  I check but there is no strong aroma, just a hint of peanuts.

Now that's better. Now we see lots of small caramel swirls, plenty of small peanut brittle chunks, and a scattering of larger peanut brittle chunks about the size of a large pea. The peanut brittle is made of the peanut brittle coating and parts of peanuts, no whole peanuts (not that I've seen anyway). I guess I expected all the chunks to be big, as if someone had smashed peanut brittle and thrown it on top, but no matter, looks are one thing, and they can help, but really it's all about taste.

I take my first bite and ....I'm a little thrown off actually. I take a few more bites and I'm struck by a weird vibe. I take a few more bites and it sinks in. When they say it tastes like peanut brittle, they are really going for it in a "unique" sort of way. Now let me clarify before we continue: I don't eat peanut brittle very often, but I am a big fan of things like Crunch 'n Munch. It's a fairly balanced treat (tasty but not too fatty). Now when you have something like Butter Toffee Crunch 'n Munch, there is a funky smooth vibe to the whole thing, it's the way the coating feels as you crunch. Well, that same smooth notion is here in this ice cream. It takes a little getting use to. Actually, now that I think about it, it reminds me a bit of the buttery nature of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. The problem for me is that I haven't gotten use to these kinds of ice creams, so it seems to be on that borderline of unnaturally smooth. I love super creamy, it's just that super smoothness has a limit for me I guess. I have settled into it now more or less, but it's definitely going to keep this off my list of favorites.

As I was trying to figure out the funky vibe, I took some bites of the ice cream by itself. It wasn't hard to scoop around the brittle bits actually. The base ice cream is actually very mild, it only really struck me as a hint of flavor, nothing major. It's when you get the caramel swirl and brittle bits in your scoop that you really get a nice flavor going. I'm definitely enjoying the crunchy bits. They are fairly taste, and have a nice soft crunch to them -- what I mean is that they are crunchy and fresh, but it's an easy crunch, not a hard pretzel kind of crunch. Someone mentioned that they felt it had a sweet n' salty mix going on, but I'm not sure if I describe it that way. It's pronounced, and it's not a mild flavor, I'm just not comfortable using the term salty here.

The swirls are nice too. They tend to be small, but it's a nice quality caramel with a middle of the road flavor, nothing overpowering or artificial here. That's always a positive with Ben & Jerry's, no artificial flavors!

I definitely enjoyed my second scoop more than the first. I knew what to expect and just tried to focus on enjoying my treat. I do think this will find it's way into the hearts of some of you, but for me, it's just not winning me over. It's something different but I just don't foresee craving it anytime soon.

Second Sighting Confirmed

The existance of Limited Edition Flourless Chocolate Cake has a second confirmation! in fact, it's sitting next to a pint of Boston Cream Pie in the deep freezer. Not sure if I am going peanut brittle or boston cream pie tonight, guess you'll just have to check back to see which one gets the scoop.

Oh, I also saw peanut brittle the single serve section by the way PLUS Breyers is getting in on the pint action. I saw a half dozen regular and overload flavors in $1.53 Pints, though I didn't see any special flavors or branding action going on.

Update: No worries, a review is coming! I've had the ice cream, I've got the pictures ready to go, I just need to write the post but my eyes are trying to close.

New! Kemp's Raspberry Vanilla Fro-Zing

As tempted as I was to dive back into the wonderful world of Ben & Jerry, I decided to give Sunday to the lowfat healthy world of frozen yogurt. I know, it wasn't easy to switch gears like that, but Kemp's marketing firm was nice enough to send out two containers of their brand new Fro-Zing! Frozen Tangy Amazingness. Apparently my last enjoyment of their stuff got their attention, though I wonder if they are familiar with this review. Hey, if Kemp's is brave enough to send me tangy yogurt even after I mentioned I don't like tangy yogurt, well then, it's my job as your host to be brave enough to try it.

(Sorry, every picture I took didn't come out right)

Ok, now you can see the swirls.

I decided to try the Raspberry Vanilla (with other natural flavors) first. Try focusing on the picture for a second and notice how immensely smooth the yogurt is. Like we're all seen on TV, I cut off the top layer to expose what's underneath, but when I tried that here, it was perfectly smooth. I knew right then and there that I was in for a frozen texture rather than a creamy texture. No matter, I'm going in!

I take a bite ...and ...I didn't spit it out! YAY for me!! I've made progress! Sorry, couldn't resist. Now, don't get the wrong idea, this stuff is very tangy, but, not horribly painfully so. Those little Kemp's cups I tried were tangy in a spoiled milk kind of way. This new blend is not nearly as painful, in fact, it kind of reminds me of smarties candy. I'm not loving it, but I'm actually eating it, and I continue to do so (for at least one servings worth). Now here comes the biggest shocker. My daughter actually goes "this ice cream is awesome daddy". Needless to say I was amazed. She is a daring little taste tester sometimes, and she does love yogurt, but I didn't expect her to say that.

So when I said the texture looked weird, well, it tasted non-ice-creamy just like I figured it would. Now, as a disclaimer, this was sent with dry ice, so that may have messed with the texture a bit. However, considering the immensely low fat content of this stuff, I'm thinking this texture might be fairly standard thing. Let's be honest though, you can only be so creamy when using nonfat milk instead of skim milk (or whole milk for that matter). To me, it was more like italian ice than ice cream, though to be honest, the taste, not the texture, is the big thing going on here, at least for me.

All in all, I will give some kudos to Kemps for taking the time to improve their tangy yogurt to the point where I actually ate some of it. Will I be running back for more? Sorry, no, I prefer sweet treats and I've just never been a big fan of tart things, but hey, improvement is always appreciated, it's just that I prefer my frozen yogurt sweet and made with skim milk.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream NEW! Milk & Cookies

I don't usually start my blog entries off with a bold claim, but let me say this: I'm pretty sure that today, March 13, I have most certainly tried what will go as one of the best new flavors of 2010. Ben & Jerry set the bar amazingly high on this one and they cleared it, oh my have they cleared it. Why am I ranting? Because I'm using what energy I have left to fight off the immense urge to go polish off what's left of this tasty pint of newness.

Behold fellow ice cream fanatics, Milk & Cookies from Ben & Jerry. To be honest, I wasn't really thrilled with the name at first, I guess I was just too tired for it to sink in --- Milk & Cookies --- Cookies & Milk --- Cookies & Cream! Ahhh, there it is! This, my friends, is the most unique take on Cookies & Cream that I have ever sampled.

Here is the new flavor in all it's frozen glory! We have Vanilla Ice Cream with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl, Chocolatey Chips & Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. That's right, **TWO** kinds of cookie dough in this awesome ice cream! The dark brown spots are the chocolate cookie swirl. The straight brown spot in the middle there is the chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough, and then all those tan spots are the chocolatey chip cookie dough bites. I love a flavor that looks awesome right off the bat!

I don't know if you can make them out clearly, but the cookie dough has these awesome little chocolate chips in them and they actually look like tiny chocolate chips (hmmm, probably should have put it next to something for scale). They are very small but definitely tasty and a very nice touch.

Have I mentioned how hard it is not to go finish off the container right now? Every now and then B&J come out with an amazing flavor that I can't get enough of and this is one of those flavors. Simple fantastic.

For perspective, let me start from the beginning (even though you know the conclusion). At first, I was thrown off by the name. Should I expect milk flavor? or maybe a mellow milk vibe to the whole thing? Then I read the description, and then I read it again. Two kinds of cookie dough? This I have to try, but then it sinks in and that little bar in your head just starts going up and up and up. Will this be the best flavor ever? Will this rule time and space with a fair and just demeanor for all? Will I run out of pointless things to say? I started to worry a little bit. What if it's boring and bland? What if all those cookie dough bits go to waste?

There was only one thing to do, start eating! At first I was greeted by what can best be described as an awesome cookies and cream flavor. The top notch cookie swirl mixed with B&J's excellent vanilla come together to make a wonderful cookies and cream flavor. I love c&c so I was already happy, but then it was time to dig into the cookie dough bits. Wow, those are some top notch bits! I expect the best from B&J and they deliver on these bits. The right texture, the right taste, just plain right on the money.

I settle in and really start to enjoy the ice cream. I expected the cookie dough bits to rule the roost here, but it started a little bit slower than that for me. At first they were just accenting the cookies and cream vibe. As I had more and more, as I really started to get into the bits everywhere, a wonderful flavor came over me. What's the problem with regular cookie dough? There's never enough cookie dough! Milk & Cookies has solved this problem in a most unique way. By starting with an excellent cookies and cream base, the cookie dough vibe never has to end. It's almost as if the ice cream and cookie vibe are in a near perfect one to one harmony. Once you realize this, once you are in the groove, you just want to eat and  eat and eat and...... It's the pleasure of eating ice cream and the pleasure of eating a fresh cold chunk of cookie dough at the same time.

Maybe I'm delirious on some kind of cookie dough high, but right now, at this moment, at this point in my blogging career, I adore this flavor. It is probably the best cookies and cream flavor I have ever tasted (or may ever taste). Now, go do yourself a favor: When you go to pick up a fresh pint of this stuff, save a trip to the store and buy two, you're gonna need it.

Paperwork backlog

I try to do a quarterly state of the freezer address, but I've missed it by over a month now. Let's recap the last poll so we can move on with that at least.

There were 229 votes total:
Straight from the container: 90 (39%)
anyway is fine by me: 59 (25%)
gotta be the bowl: 56 (24%)
cones are the way to go: 15 (6%)
single serve treats: 9 (3%)

Since I know many of you are ice cream fanatics like myself, I definitely expected straight from the container to win. However, I am happy to see the bowl with strong support. I think there is just something traditional and relaxing about a bowl. When I go for the container, I want instant gratification. When I grab a bowl, that means its time to relax and just turn the world off for ten minutes.

With that said, I'd probably go with anyway is fine by me, it just depends on the moment really. Actually, that's not totally true, if I had my way, and if I had the time, I would love to eat out of the cone most of the time. Sure you increase the chances of making a mess, but I just love crunchy and creamy put together ....especially when the inside of the cone has a chocolate lining ....and now I'm hungry again.

What's up next: The good news is that I've packed up the freezer pretty well. We've got a lot of Ben & Jerry's, I found a pint of Haagen-Dazs Five buried below the veggies, I've got two samples of Kemp's new Fro-Zing! fresh from the factory, I've got a few more treats courtesy of Blue Bunny, and in the most recent development, we're actually going to have some new pints from Perry's Ice Cream up on the blog. Consider me extremely excited about ice cream literally coming from every direction. Woohoo! I love spring time product announcements!

I was wrong ....so wrong....

At first, I learned that there was just one NEW Ben & Jerry's flavor: Boston Cream Pie

And then, I was told that there are three NEW flavors: Milk & Cookies, Peanut Brittle, & BCP

Well, I was wrong, and it this case, it's ok to be wrong....

There are FIVE new flavors! Oh am I excited!!

From left to right:

• Mud Pie: Chocolate & Coffee Liqueur Ice Creams Swirled Together with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl
• (Fair trade vanilla --- the new Peanut Brittle** was actually on the shelf above this one)
• Dulce Delish: Rich Caramel Ice Cream with Dark Caramel Swirls
• Boston Cream Pie: Boston Cream Pie Ice Cream with Yellow Cake Pieces, Fudge Flakes & Swirls of Pastry Cream
• Milk & Cookies: Vanilla Ice Cream with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl, Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

**Peanut Brittle is Peanut Brittle Ice Cream with Peanut Brittle Pieces & a Caramel Swirl

I was so bummed I was on my lunch break with no way to get these little buggers home, but no worries, I hope to rectify this situation this weekend... preferably at $2.99 a container and not the $4.79 you see above.

UPDATE: We have a report from Kentucky that their is actually one more new (limited batch) flavor, flourless chocolate cake!! Thanks to Hettar7!

BIG SIDE NOTE HERE: Ben & Jerry's is going Fair Trade on ALL their flavors. Their long standing commitment to a better world will continue with this great effort which should be wrapped up by the end of 2013. You can see the entire press release here.

Ben & Jerry's S'mores Ice Cream

It has been almost two months since I've had Ben & Jerry's on the blog ...wow, I can't believe it's been that long, time really does fly as you get older. No matter, I picked up three flavors at Market Basket: One because it had a fun name, one for St. Patrick's day, and S'mores.

I'm not sure why I haven't tried this one sooner because it really does sound awesome: Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks, Toasted Marshmallow & a Graham Cracker Swirl. Mmmmm, how can you go wrong with that? And when will I learn to not jinx myself by asking silly questions like "how can you go wrong with that?"

Wow, now that is some seriously dark colored chocolate ice cream. Notice a very healthy smattering of fudge chunks everywhere. The lighter spots are a solid marshmallow swirl, while the tannish spots are these funky semi-moist graham cracker swirl spots. To be honest, I'm wondering if this pint was thawed at some point, the texture just looks weird. It's also possible that the ingredients, in particular the marshmallow, come together and totally mess with the melting point of the ice cream. I had just pulled this from the deep freezer and you can see it's already starting to melt. I might expect this on some super crazy hot day in august, but not on a cool night in march.

Ok, nevermind the fast melting, how does it taste? CHOCOLATY, really really CHOCOLATY. I think this may just be a general trend in B&J's ice cream, but I wasn't ready for it. The problem, for me, is that the chocolate is overriding everything. I can crunch the fudge chunks, but I don't really taste them. The marshmallow and graham cracker swirls are practically non-existant. I think the swirls might be messing with the texture a little bit, but even when I try to eat slow, I can still barely taste them. Bummer.

Now I was technically eating out of the container and a bowl at the same time. I ate the bowl part after it had melted further and it did make for a fine and extremely rich chocolate slush. Tasty and borderline overpowering.

If you need a massive chocolate blast to keep you up for a test or to do your taxes, this should suffice. As always, it's a quality product, I'm not questioning that, but I do question why you call something S'mores but don't really let the other ingredients be anything more than decoration. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how the second scoop goes.

On Second Scoop: I was dieing for some chocolate when I got home from work the other day, so what better way to fix that craving than with some very chocolaty Ben & Jerry's. As always, I don't want to give the impression that this is a bad ice cream. It's well made and the chocolate flavor is excellent when you are in the mood, I just wish it tasted more like S'mores. I purposely aimed for the grahamiest spots I could find, so I was getting a bit more texture to my bites, but I still wanted more. Maybe I'm just hard to please. So, this is a fine flavor, I just think it could be more S'morey.

Note: This is the flavor formerly known as Marsha Marsha Marshmallow. It did a two year run from 2005 to 2007. Thanks to Kimberly for the reminder!

M&M Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

As we all know, there are 3 products in the M&M family. In a curious twist, it's just a few days shy of a year since I first tried M&M Ice Cream Cones. They weren't bad, but they didn't leave me begging for more.

Now there are actually a few treats hiding in the freezer downstairs and one of them happens to be a tasty looking box of M&M Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Unfortunately, I got a little sidetracked and Ken from Frozen Food Journal posted his review first. I try not post these things so close together, but hey, we're here, so let's dig in! With any luck, it won't be bad as he says!

So here we are, a 6 Pack of decent size ice cream sandwiches.

There we go, fresh from the package. To give you an idea about size, those are mini M&Ms, not full size M&Ms. We've got a good size wallop of bright white ice cream filling. Unlike the ice cream cones, it doesn't look like we'll be finding any M&Ms buried in the ice cream (which is a shame really).

Ok, dig in, and it's not bad, not bad at all. The cookies are very soft, but thankfully they aren't sticking to my fingers. I'm definitely compressing the cookie as I hold it, but it's staying in one piece. So that's not a problem, instead, my fingers are changing colors from the M&Ms running ...Hey, I thought they're suppose to melt in your mouth, not in your hand??  You know what, I'm wondering if Ken got a bum batch of sandwiches. If I look closely at his sandwiches, and even the M&Ms,  they look extremely dry with that bizarre white dried out look. It's the luck of the freezer draw, sometimes you win, sometimes you get ....old stuff.

Taste is pleasant. The soft, almost-cakey cookies go pretty well with our "mild" ice cream filling. Almost all the flavor here is coming from the cookies. Now you get some crunch from the M&Ms, but it's not really an overpowering M&M flavor to the whole thing. I think I'd actually prefer just a bit more chocolate here.

Overall, I'm satisfied, but not overwhelmed. I'm full, yet still dreaming of how a few tweaks could improve this sandwich..... MMMMM, random thought: Make them chocolate cookies with dark chocolate M&Ms, and then add in a nice rich filling ice cream in the center, maybe a nice milk chocolate flavor... Great, now I'm hungry again.

On Second Scoop: I know these aren't perfect, but they still satisfy that cakey ice cream cookie need now and then. It won't kill you to buy a box, you just won't buy a box every week.

Next Up: Ice Cream Sandwiches!

We've been doing some hardcore spring cleaning this weekend and I'm afraid the blog has suffered a bit for it. The good news is the freezer* (and our office) looks better, but I didn't post anything terribly exciting. To make up for this, I popped an M&Ms ice cream sandwich this evening in hopes of doing a review...

I'd do the post now, but I still have a few things I need to do tonight and it's already approaching 11. Now I try not to do the same posts as fellow reviewers, but I had already bought these particular treats before Ken took a crack at them. Will I feel the same way he does? You'll just have to come back to find out.

*Side note: the freezer actually looks pretty empty. Sure there are a few things downstairs, but I don't really have any more mainstream products to review (Ok, technically I might, but I dont feel like digging through the Raviolis and frozen veggies to find them)

Ok, I'm a little confused

I was at Market Basket Thursday night and I spotted two Breyers overload flavors that were new to me. The first was Very Chocolate Cherry and it was Very hard to miss with it's red packaging. It's cherry frozen dairy dessert with cherry pieces and chocolate flavored chips. Yeah, there's nothing like REAL chocolate-FLAVORED chips (that would be sarcasm and pretty much a dig at anything that says FLAVORED, uggg, I'm just being cranky about sematics).

Ok, the other one I saw was Peanut Butter Tracks, and this struck me as odd, you see, it's almost identical to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Overload, let's compare:

PBT: peanut butter flavored frozen dairy dessert with....
RPBC: peanut butter light ice cream with.....

PBT: peanut butter swirls and...
RPBC: fudge swirls and...

PBT: chocolate coated peanut butter filled cups
RPBC: Reese's peanut butter cup pieces

ok, it's not much of a story, and it's not like these two flavors are new (though it is weird to see them for the first time). I'll get something new on the blog tomorrow since we decided to cheat and tried to finish off a couple of older containers today.

NEW! Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Ice Cream Sandwiches

During my excited rant about all the new Spring products I saw at Shaws the other day, I mentioned that I brought one of the new ice cream sandwiches out of the store with me. Well, here is my fun new friend.

 

What can I say, I'm a huge sucker for cookies and ice cream, they just go so well together. I love creamy ice cream, I love crunchy cookies, and I really love eating them both at the same time. The chocolate chip cookie dough version is described as cookie dough flavored light ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough pieces between chocolate chip cookies. I've always been a big fan of single serve treats, and if you can bring me a quality treat that's not immensely unhealthy, well then, sign me up.

Ok, I wasn't expecting that, it's egg shaped! weird. To be honest, at first I thought there were 4 in a box since it was a square box, so when I realized there were six in the box, I couldn't help but wonder why the box was square. Well, now I know why, it's because the treats aren't the shape you'd expect. I guess they are meant to fall between a rectangular ice cream sandwich and your typical round cookie ice cream sandwich. I know it doesn't effect the taste, but it did confuse me for a second.

Whoa, now that's a lot of filling. Again, I'm a little thrown off by appearances since the ice cream doesn't go edge to edge.  It shouldn't affect the taste, but your brain starts getting a little afraid of why your treat isn't perfect. Well, perfection is relative, and taste is everything, so DIG IN!

Interesting, very interesting. The cookie is pleasantly crunchy. It doesn't taste exactly like a typical cookie, but it's definitely an enjoyable cookie wafer hybrid. It's not super chocolaty either, its cookie dough we're going for here, not chocolate cookie dough.

The ice cream? Pleasantly creamy as well, Breyers did a good job with the texture here. The flavor isn't real strong, but it doesn't need to be because we have the cookies to take care of that. We do have one problem though. Look at the picture I took: clean white ice cream, nothing in it. Now look at the box image again: cookie dough bits in the picture and the description. I have now had 3 of these things and have yet to find a single bit anywhere. Thankfully they are still enjoyable, but you have to wonder if they could be even better. I do wish there was a bit more chocolate going on here, whether it was in the cookies or in the ice cream, but I'm still happy and I've been having fun snacking on these relatively healthy-ish treats at work.

Note: Breyers has contacted me and said there definitely should have been cookie dough bits in my ice cream. In fact, the ice cream really should be edge to edge. So we're going to try and arrange a second taste test from another location (gotta check those MFG codes to make sure I don't get a box from the same day). I definitely appreciate these treats, so I'm curious to see if they get even better.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 sandwich (61g) Servings Per Container6
Amount Per Serving
Calories 160	from Fat 35
	% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4g	6%
- Sat Fat 2.5g	12%
- Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol <5mg	1%
Sodium 95mg	4%
Total Carbohydrate 30g	10%
- Dietary Fiber 1g	4%
- Sugars 15g
Protein 3g
Vitamin A 2%	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 6%	Iron 4%

Stone Ridge Creamery Denali Caramel Caribou

Poor Caramel Caribou....I keep trying to write about you but keep getting distracted. This was meant to be last Friday's treat. In fact, for a fleeting moment I thought I had bought Stone Ridge Moose Tracks and I was going to throw it in the ring to have a friday night fight with Kemp's Moose Tracks yogurt. Well, I didnt make it to the freezer 'til saturday, and that's when I realized (half remembered) that I bought Caramel Caribou, not Moose Tracks. Oh well, a flavor is a flavor, and this flavor needs testing!

Here's is Stone Ridge Creamery's Denali Caramel Caribou. Since the title isn't very clear, let me say the description is toffee-flavored ice cream with caramel cups & luscious Denali caramel. To be honest, I never really trust a flavor that has to tell you its delicious or luscious or tasty (think about it for a minute, you'll realize I might be on to something here).

I usually take a picture of the whole container here, but in this case I've zoomed in a bit to a most intriguing looking set of swirls. They just strike me as so immensely well spaced. Sure, it could be a fluke, but it still catches my eye none the less. You might notice a few caramel cup fragments here and there.

"Daddy, are you going to do the penny test?" --- Why yes I am.

Those cups may look like the ones from Moose Tracks, but they are actually a bit taller and (note: they are taller, but it's by a few microns....) the chocolate is a little bit thinner. (Actually, I probably should have tried a little harder to cut this one open, it got a little messed up). I had several cups and they were definitely tasty. It's a shame there aren't more of them, but that's what I always say with Stone Ridge products --- I want a cup in every 2 or 3 bites.

So, that's the picture story of the ice cream, but I need to tell you about my initial reaction. This ice cream definitely makes a statement with it's first bite. At first, I thought that statement was ***CARAMEL***. It's way stronger than I would have imagined. I expected it to highlight the caramel cups, but instead it takes over the whole show. I'm surprised, and more importantly, I'm not terribly amused. I just wasn't in the mood for that much flavor. I desperately want something to contrast it to, but I've run out of caramel cups.

I went in for the second scoop to see if I still felt the same way about the caramel now that I'm ready for it. I took some bites and then I thought about it some more. It seems unfair to just call this a caramel flavor. The way the caramel swirl reacts with the toffee ice cream is more robust than that. When I eat this ice cream, all I can think about is Werther's Originals. Ok, technically Werther's are caramels, but my brain keeps wanting to say butterscotch. Let's be honest, the worlds of caramel, butterscotch and toffee aren't light years apart. Maybe my tastebuds just aren't qualified to comment here....Actually, somebody has a bucket of Werther's on their desk, I should take one home and do a side by side comparison.

As always, Stone Ridge continues to try and put out a respectable ice cream at budget prices. As always, the texture is just fine ....As always, there aren't enough mix-ins. I wonder if a main stream brand would have more bits, and therefore a more balanced flavor?

On Second Scoop: I've tried this a few more times and I just don't like it. The toffee flavor is just too potent with the added caramel swirl.

Spring is in the air! Time for new products!!

The Shaws by my work had themselves quite a busy weekend, I can't believe how many new products I saw!! Good thing I had my camera phone (though please excuse my picture taking, I was trying to be somewhat discrete as I took multiple pictures). Not to be overly addicted to ice cream, but I think I'm just a smidge immensely giddy with the thought of new products to test.
 

I saw these first at the end of the aisle, 3 new Fruit Bars from Edy's: Pineapple Fruit Bars, and then two antioxidant flavors, Pomegranate and Acai Blueberry. Those flavors sounded familiar, and then I remembered why. $4.99 gets you six bars. The best part here is the Communities Take Root program which will donate fruit orchards to 25 deserving communities this summer.

Ahhh, looks like the Klondike brand has taken over the Oreo and Mrs. Field's ice cream sandwiches from Breyers, but wait, there's more! That knocked over box in the middle there is the NEW Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream sandwich. $3.99 will get you a box of 4 of any of these 3 treats.

In this amazingly awful shot (the first one I took actually), we see NEW Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Ice Cream bars. $4.49 gets you six chocolate coated bars of "Vanilla Caramel Chip", (Chocolate Chocolate Something), and "Chocolate Covered? Strawberry?" Sorry, I saw so many products that I took pictures so I wouldn't have to remember their names. The big yellow box on the box lists total calories and grams of fat.

Now right above the Breyers bars are the NEW Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Ice Cream Sandwiches. That's right, I'm thinking the Breyers name moved away from the old sandwiches to make way for these brandy new ones. The three flavors are Vanilla Fudge Brownie, Chocolate Caramel Brownie, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Can you guess which one came back to the office with me?

We aren't even close to being done yet fellow ice cream fans. Looks like individual servings is the way to go this summer. Up top, at a $1.25 for a 4 fluid oz serving, are NEW single servings from Ciao Bella (that price includes a spoon under the lid). From left to right we have Turkish Pistachio Gelato, Alphonso Mango Sorbet, Chocolate Alba Hazelnut, and ... Sicilian Blood Orange Sorbetto (got cut off). These little buggers look very similar to the ones handed out by the Ciao Bella van on the CB blog. On the shelf below CB are some new Haagen Dazs singles, including their foray into single serve sorbets. I'm extremely pleased to see that single servings are branching out to all styles of frozen treat.

Wait, what's this? Skinny Cow has jumped into the foray! Whoa, I didn't see that one coming --- Not only has skinny cow jumped into low fat ice cream, but they know right where to attack the dieting snacker. It's brilliant marketing actually. There's a whole section devoted to single serve ice creams but you're choices tend to be hit fat like Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerrys (yes, Edy's has their low fat stuff, but we'll ignore that for now). A dieter can wander over, drool over the good stuff, then snag one of these and hopefully leave satisfied. Smart move Skinny Cow (let's hope their ice cream isn't awful). The four new flavors from left to right are Cookie N' Cream, Caramel Cone, Strawberry Cheesecake and Dulce de Leche. These containers are the most expensive at $1.50, but notice the containers are a bit bigger (5.8 fluid ounces to be precise).

At the very bottom of this freezer section are some flavors from Edy's. You see the slow churned flavors at the top of the picture, but underneath are 5 new fun flavors they have brought to the single serve market - Apple Pie, Fudge Mocha Chip, Peanut Butter Cup, Cookie Dough and Double Fudge Brownie. 99 cents is all it takes to get you 5.8 fluid ounces of frozen relief.

Are you excited yet? Ok, two more things that pushed my excitement over the edge.

I've had the Raspberry Sorbetto before,and while $5.99 a pint is expensive, I can't wait to try the Double Dark Chocolate and Caramel Cookie Crunch Talenti Gelato. If anyone can make me a gelato fan, I'm thinking it's Talenti.

Alright, last one, and this was hard to miss with the purple limited edition lids. I don't know about you, but my brain zooms right in on the Limited Edition Midnight Cookies & Cream. I don't have an exact description, but I'm guessing it's absolutely fantastic --- OK, I may be setting the bar way too high, but come on, talk about an awesome name for an ice cream, and then to make it limited edition to really drive the point home. The other flavors from left to right are bananas foster, dark chocolate mint, and amaretto almond crunch.

More info: Looks like Midnight Cookies & Cream was an H-D flavor back in the late 90s, not sure if it's been around since then. The exact description is "smooth, chocolate ice cream seduced by buttery fudge and chocolate cookie wafers make for a perfect midnight, or anytime treat". Bananas Foster is "rich, fresh roasted banana ice cream blended with a brown sugar and rum swirl with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg that puts the classic dessert to shame." Dark Chocolate Mint is "creamy, fresh mint meets rich, dark chocolate ice cream in this sophisticated take on an old classic." Amaretto Almond Crunch is "crispy almond brittle enveloped in smooth amaretto ice cream creates a rich and crunchy sensation." Are you hungry yet???

Personal Note: BIG KUDOS to Haagen-Dazs for actually listing the new flavors on their website. Nothing drives me crazier than hearing about a new product and not being able to find it on a company's website.

Ok, that wraps up my latest trip to the grocery store. I hope this is only the beginning of another summer filled with awesome treats. Wait, one more thing --- I know that not all of these products may not be new to you, but they are to me, so I couldn't wait to share them with everyone.