Talenti Peppermint Bark Gelato #23

So you guys know by now that I'm a huge Talenti Gelato fan boy, but I don't always have access to all of their flavors. In particular, I was pretty bummed to miss their limited edition Peppermint Bark gelato last year. Well, guess who got lucky at lunch today? wait, strike that, guess who found a grocery store with an early supply of seasonal talenti on sale?   >> this guy <<

Talenti Peppermint Bark Gelato #23

(peppermint gelato with chocolate chips)

I wouldn't say no to a.... Klondike Classic Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich

Let's be honest here. If you offer me an ice cream sandwich, I'm not going to say no. If you offer me a box of ice cream sandwiches, I may or may not drool on myself. See, I work for a small company, and once a week this very nice coworker goes out at lunchtime and does our shopping for us. She gets the usual office stuff: coffee, tea, milk, hot chocolate, plus any rogue requests that pop up, like say a giant bag of jolly ranchers. Now before she leaves, she always asks one more time if anyone needs anything, and for whatever reason, I threw out "ice cream sandwiches!". Well as a fellow fan of ice cream, she decided to bring us back a big box of....

Klondike Classic Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches

(wait, am I the only one who had one yesterday?)

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Ice Cream

Or should I say Pilgrim Joe's Pumpkin Ice Cream? It comes out once a year and despite an overload of pumpkin products this year, I'm going to give this super premium ice cream a shot.

Pilgrim Joe's Pumpkin Ice Cream

"Made with nearly 30% pumpkin puree"

Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream

[By Nick] Looking over the Ben & Jerry’s flavors the other day at the store I had a revelation. I’ve never had their Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch. I’ve mentioned my love for heath bars on multiple occasions so you’d think this would’ve been a flavor I tried ages ago. Maybe because it’s such a simple flavor I’ve just overlooked it. Whatever the case may be, I checked through our archive to see if Dubba covered it already. Seeing as he didn’t, I thought it was a prime opportunity to try another Ben & Jerry’s flavor while also working to review all of the Ben & Jerry’s flavors on the market.

This flavor is a basic as Ben & Jerry’s flavors come. It’s just their vanilla ice cream with heath bars thrown into the mix. That’s not necessarily a bad thing seeing as I do enjoy their Coffee Heath Bar Crunch (Why haven’t I reviewed this yet?) and it’s essentially the same thing just a change in base flavors. I do remember reading somewhere that Jerry would throw cases of Heath bars off of a ladder to turn them into chunks. Yeah, I’m running out of things to say so let’s just move onto the actual product.

Turkey Hill Lady Liberty Mint Ice Cream

[Discontinued???] Next up is something that I've always had my eye on, but I have hesitated on because... well, I mean the only excuse I have is the container is a very bright green copper color. I know it's dumb, but it made me hesitate. I mean it's cool and all for Lady Liberty to have her own ice cream flavor, but the packaging just doesn't hook me in... ofcourse, that was until I read the description, and I realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake by waiting.

Turkey Hill Lady Liberty Mint Ice Cream

Mint ice cream with chocolate cake crunchies and crunchy chocolate cookie swirl

Flavor Watch: Ben & Jerry's Ron Burgundy's Scotchy Scotch Scotch Ice Cream

Update: For my actual review, go here

For the last few days, Ben & Jerry's has been teasing a new flavor. I'll admit that the squirrel didn't make much sense at first, but if you paid attention to all the clues (and if you've seen Anchorman), then you may have guessed the new flavor is....

photo from Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's Ron Burgundy's Scotchy Scotch Scotch Ice Cream

Butterscotch Ice Cream with Butterscotch Swirls

(Nick notes this matches a scoop shop only flavor from last year)

photo from Ben & Jerry's

This was the first clue from Ben & Jerry's facebook page on 10/22. I think everyone's general thought was that there had to be some kind of nut in here because 1) squirrel! and 2) it looks like some kind of nut cluster thing inside the pint. The squirrel is really a reference to the skiing swirl seen in anchorman. All I can say is.... well played Ben & Jerry.

Anyway, the clues piled in but it wasn't until the last photo that I realized what was going on. I did some digging to double check my answer and everything seemed to be lining up. So, we had some fun over on our facebook page as we counted down to the 5 pm announcement.

Before I go, can I nitpick for a sec? Why aren't there three butterscotch components to match the three scotches in the name. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Ben & Jerry's has given this a silly name, I just don't know why they didn't bother to add some kind of butterscotch cookie, chunk, or chip  to really seal the deal.

Anyway, stay tuned while Nick and I search high and low to bring you guys this new flavor.

Cedar Crest Caramel Collision Ice Cream

[By Nick] Last up from the trio of Cedar Crest pints I ordered from Ice Cream Source is Cedar Crest Caramel Collision ice cream.

This one is made up of caramel ice cream, a caramel swirl and chocolate covered caramel cups. I’m not going to lie, after my lackluster experience with the caramel in their Turtle Sundae, I was a bit hesitant in trying this one. I couldn’t taste the caramel at all in that flavor and every component of this one involves caramel.

Hood Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Review

Ok, time for a real another quick review (because this one disappeared pretty quickly).

Hood Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

Strawberry Ice Cream with Strawberry Swirl and Shortcake Pieces

I'll wouldn't say no to a bowl of.... Edy's Cookie Dough Grand Ice Cream

Ok, time to try a new feature here on the blog. People tend to ask me "what's your favorite this" or "what's your favorite that?", but another way to look at it is, what do I pick up for my family when I'm not discovering new pints to share with all of you. These ice creams tend to be main stream, possibly on sale, and have a minimum safe flavor factor. They may not be the best of the best, but their reliable. In other words, I wouldn't say no to a bowl of....

Edy's (Dreyer's) Cookie Dough - Grand Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream with cookie dough pieces and chocolate Toll House morsels

Einstein Bros Frozen Pumpkin Pie Drink

[New for 2013] Yesterday, it was time to make my first second third trip to Einstein Bros Bagels. Now our buddy Adam from theimpulsivebuy.com sent me an email about a month ago saying that Einstein Bros had unleashed a bunch of fall products, including the very tempting sounding Frozen Pumpkin Pie. Ok, I know I should have went sooner, but the socially anxious side of me hates going in this particular store because the cashier has to make the drink, meaning all the hungry people behind me have to wait like two minutes while he stops what he is doing to make it for me. I know that sounds dumb, but it's nerve racking for some of us. Anyway....

So here's my lunch. Ham and cheese on a potato bagel, the Sun Chips version of Doritios, and my well-blended drink. The official description for Frozen Pumpkin Pie is "An indulgent blended frozen drink that tastes just like a pumpkin pie. It is topped with whipped cream pumpkin and sauce drizzle." There's nothing pretty on top like the advertised pictured, but whatever, taste is my concern today.

Taco Bell Dessert Kits Cinnamon Nachos & Chocolate Taco

[New for 2013, short lived] Today, October 14th, is National Dessert Day, and ever since we recorded episode 11 of the Nosh Show, I've been searching high and low for these new Taco Bell dessert kits. Between my love of all things cinnamon and my fascination with chocolate choco tacos, I had nothing but high hopes for these treats. Ok, technically I knew my hopes were probably unrealistic even before reading all the so-so reviews, but hey, you have to hope for a winner anyway right?

Taco Bell Chocolate Taco Dessert Kit

Chocolate Sauce, 6 Chocolate Taco Shells & Sprinkles

(just add ice cream & whip cream)

Taco Bell Cinnamon Nachos Dessert Kit

Cinnamon Tortilla Chips, Caramel Sauce & Toffee-flavored bits

(just add ice cream)

Clemmy's All Natural Coffee Ice Cream

[By Nick, discontinued / out of business]
You guys asked for more sugar-free ice cream reviews, so here you go!

Clemmy’s seems to be the top tier company when it comes to making sugar-free products. I've yet to find a flavor that really disappointed me so here’s hoping we continue that streak with their coffee ice cream.

The Other JC Pie Pops : Chocolate Silk, Strawberry Cream, and Caramel Apple Crumble

Guess what? This is our 900th review post! Not just 900 posts, but 900 review posts! Now considering the fact that just 4 or 5 posts are re-reviews, and then factoring in that dozens of posts (like fights) cover multiple products means that we've covered well over 900 unique frozen products on this blog! That also means we're just a stone's throw away from hitting a 1000! Not every review is a huge dissertation, but sometimes a half decent or so-so treat only deserves a couple of pics and a few choice words. Who knows what the next review will be, but at least you can count on the fact that it won't be a repeat!

To celebrate our achievement, I've got a TRIPLE review for you guys. I was blown away by my first JC pie pop experience and so I couldn't wait to tear into their other three flavors. So, without further ado, it's time to get hungry.

JC's Chocolate Silk Pie Pop

Creamy French Silk blanketed by a milk chocolate and while chocolate sugar cookie crust

Talenti Southern Butter Pecan Gelato #25

[New for 2013] There's one more free pint from Talenti that I still haven't reviewed.

Talenti Southern Butter Pecan Gelato #25

a thick, delicious, buttery background with butter roasted pecans, 

and a ribbon of Talenti’s signature dulce de leche

Nosh Show Episode 14 and a few random thoughts

Woohoo! Nosh Show Monday Already!

Episode 14 is upon us and it's a candy drenched doozy as we welcome our second guest to the show, Cybele from candyblog.net. She's literally done thousands of candy reviews so for me it was hard to even know what to ask her in particular. We've also got some candy in our "Nosh or Not" segment. I should have picked something like my beloved Snickers bar for my Nosh of the week, but instead I went with the excellent Cookies 'n Cream ice cream from three twins.

And now for a few other thoughts...

Halo Top All Natural Light Ice Cream

[By Nick] Besides a few scandalous requests, I actually do enjoy reading our review request form. It gives me an idea of what you guys are looking to see as well as tipping me off to brands I’ve never heard of. In fact, the request form led to today’s review of Halo Top Creamery.

Never having heard of them before, I made my way over to their website to see what they were about and where I could find them. Of course, seeing as I live in the middle of nowhere, no one close carries them. A few emails later with a Halo Top rep (who's been a fan of the site for years) and every flavor in their line up appeared on my door step.

Dumb Question: Can you freeze a milkshake?

Now we've already dived into what happens if you let a fast food shake dry out, but what if you want to save your shake for later? And I don't just mean in like an hour or so, I mean like days or weeks later. Can something that was never meant to be solid recover from this condition?

This is small vanilla shake from Burger King, and it's 3 weeks old.

Three Twins Cookies & Cream Organic Ice Cream

So I had to run into Stop & Shop (Giant) to snag a few fall product photos last week and what do I see to my massive surprise? Three Twins Organic Ice Cream! Granted this particular S&S is the kind that actually has a small all natural ice cream selection, so this probably isn't in all of their stores, but I was super stoked to spy a flavor I haven't tried yet. The best part is, it's only $3.99 a pint! That's a buck better than the Whole Foods that is three minutes down the road.

Three Twins Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

scrumptious cookies in a madagascar vanilla base

What's your favorite frozen fall flavor?

Ok, over on our facebook page I've created a Fall 2013 preview album. It's got some new stuff we've seen in store, a few classics that are back, as well as news as it comes in. Let us know what you like, what you've seen, and what you're looking forward to. Feel free to submit pictures through the facebook page or by emailing secondscoop at gmail.com. So far it seems just about everything is pumpkin flavored. Come on companies, spice things up a little!

P.S. Maybe you can be the 500th person to like our facebook page!