Friday, February 8, 2013

State of the Freezer Address
Snowmaggadon 2013 Edition


Greetings from the snow covered northeast!
This shot deceptively unimpressive because this storm has only just begun

Let's start with the upstairs freezer. Notice anything funny in this picture? look closely....  yeah, there's no ice cream in this picture. Between the year end purge, the weekly eating, and the impending blizzard, there is almost nothing going on at the moment upstairs except for the healthy choice greek froyo who's review should be up shortly (I just tried it last night). We better head downstairs.

Well, what can I say, apparently 2013 is going to be a very efficient year as there's not a ton going on down here either (unless you recognize what might be in that box in the top middle of the picture). One of the goals for this year is to really balance things out in terms of brands, flavors, styles, everything. I want everyone to feel like their favorites are getting the attention they deserve.

Now I wasn't really sure what to post today for a review but then I realized I could do my store brand cookie dough showdown as part of this post. See, I've been keeping my family at bay with random brands of cookie dough and cookies and cream, but that doesn't always make for the most exciting posts... so, we'll keep this short and sweet.

Hannaford ( Food Lion ) has their own line of Frozen Dairy Dessert and it takes a page from the old Breyers and Edy's moniker of "OVERLOAD". This line isn't new, it's just the first time I ever noticed that Hannaford's had different styles of ice cream from premium to regular to overloaded (frozen dairy dessert). What can I say, I don't shop there often.

So here's the patient and while it looks ok (complete with giant frozen dairy dessert air ripples), it was just so-so in my book. Edible, cheap, but nothing to write home about. I mean, I just had this last week and I've already completely spaced on how it tasted. I remember being bored, oh so bored. I thought Target did a nice job with their in house cookie dough so I thought maybe lightning would strike twice. Not so much. It's got a soft frozen dairy dessert texture but it wasn't real gummy. No, it was the base flavor that was boring me.....  and the boring chips.... maybe even boring cookie dough.... but, I shouldn't give up.


The other store brand we have is some Stop & Shop Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. Now some of you might be going "Ummm, Dubba, Why doesn't it say Stop & Shop?" but then there's another group of you going "Ummm, Dubba, that's not S&S, that's Giant brand". Well, both groups are right. Both grocery stores are owned by Ahold. Wait, you don't care do you? Ahhh, that's ok, but I feel better knowing why there's no S&S branding on this itty bitty 48 fluid ounce treat (What happened to 56 oz??)

I grab a giant bite that has four cookie dough bits in it (because I'm crazy) and my gut reaction is "wow, that's some cheap, dry cookie dough", but let's not panic. Let see if the base is really cookie dough flavored... hmmm, hard to tell actually.

There are plenty of cookie dough bites, but like I said, they have this funky dry texture to them. The cookie dough flavor is alright, but it's not nearly as fun as many other cookie dough bits that might be sweeter or have better texture. The tiny chocolate chips are a giant non-factor. They are too small to add serious crunch or add any flavor. I'd almost rather have them not here at all.

You know what I do like? The texture. It almost reminds me of some nice old school Breyer's, plus there is something sweet about the base. I can't say I taste cookie dough, but it just has this subtle swagger that blends well with the texture of the base. It's mild, but it's that bit of effort that says "hey, I'm trying here".

So, not a total loss, especially at $3.19 a container. It's definitely a positive experience for my first Stop & Shop purchase. I've got some of their greek froyo to try next, so watch out for that.

On Second Scoop: Just a quick note to down a couple of cookie dough bits before having a bowl of this one. It will trick your taste buds into thinking the base is more flavored than it is


(un)official 2013 Snowmageddon Sundae

Update: Well, the sun is out, and I need a little fuel before I go power through two feet of snow. First we've got a fresh from the over "supreme" brownie, you know, the one with cookie dough mixed in. Then we've got the Stop & Shop cookie dough ice cream slowly melting on top of that. A sundae isn't a sundae without some (all natural) whip cream. Now, you need to sprinkle on some kind of final visual element if you really want to win people over, so in this case it's brownie brittle crumbs and I gotta say I love how it looks. Actually, maybe I should say it tastes even better then it looks.

10 comments:

  1. I had the same experience with Giant brand Caramel Caribou...it said toffee flavored ice cream but I'm pretty sure it's vanilla. Good to know that seems to be a common theme for them.

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  2. As someone who cites Cookie Dough as my favorite flavor but doesn't want to break the calorie bank, what's the best low-fat or reduced fat cookie dough ice cream, in your opinion?

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  3. Try Edy's/Dreyers slow churned...I haven't had the pure cookie dough but I've had the triple chocolate sundae (1/3 of it is their cookie dough ice cream) and I like it!

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  4. Adam, if you're willing to go with frozen yogurt, TCBY's version is pretty good especially for the calorie count http://www.onsecondscoop.com/2012/09/tcby-chocolate-chunk-cookie-dough.html

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  5. Adam, I'm wondering if you might enjoy Turkey Hill's light cookie dough flavor. Edy's might work too now that they've gotten away from frozen dairy dessert (like Sam mentioned).

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  6. Good suggestions. I've had the Edy's Slowed Churched, Turky Hill, Breyers Original (not reduced fat but still reasonable) and the Blast Chips Mrs. Fields. So far I think I like the Mrs. Fields cookies best, but the frozen dairy leaves something to be desired. I though TH was pretty good, but I'd prefer a cookie dough without partially hydroginated anything. Has anyone ever just stuck like raw Nestle ready to bake dough into a good light vanilla ice cream?

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  7. hehehehe, but now we have to have the "best lowfat vanilla" debate... I sense a new topping craze, frozen cookie dough chunks.

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  8. Adam, I'm with you on the no trans fats. I don't believe a company would use real cookie dough just for fear of someone getting sick and then the lawsuits to follow. I see these in gas stations but haven't tried them myself http://www.cookiedoughbites.com/products/ Maybe they'd make for a good topping for a cookie dough sundae. I see a review of these in my future now.

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  9. Nick, I've seen those at (walmart?) and I want to say the nutritional info is terrible on them.

    Some prepackaged cookie doughs don't have eggs I believe.... they always seem to have milk though... or be made near nuts

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  10. I've had those cookie dough bites (the cinnamon and the cookies & cream flavors) and yeah, they are pretty bad for you...but they do have the gritty cookie dough texture going and and they're quite tasty!

    I got mine at Giant, incidentally.

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