Top Ten Most Popular Reviews of 2013

Based on bloggers built in tracking, these are the top ten eleven reviews that have picked up the most traffic. If you want, try to guess a few before clicking ahead.

#11 McDonald's Pralines & Cream McFlurry
McD's broke into the top ten... until I double checked my list and realized it's actually #11. Oops. Maybe next year one of the big fast food chains (besides DQ) can break in to our top ten list.

#10 Retiring Ben & Jerry's Creme Brulee
Man are people super upset about this flavor retiring. Traffic on this post beat out several of the new 2013 B&J flavors.

#9 DQ Lemon Meringue Pie Blizzard (July BotM)
I'm hoping everyone that read this post avoided this particular blizzard

Front Porch Happily Pineapply Ice Cream

[New for 2013] Ok, continuing with our end of year clear out, there is one Front Porch sample that I forgot to show you guys. Wait, quick refresher: Front Porch is the premium pint lineup from Mooresville Ice Cream out of North Carolina. They added four new flavors this year and sent them all over for review. They've all been tasty with my only minor compliant being that the other three pints where all light on the mix-ins.

Front Porch Happily Pineapply Ice Cream

cake ice cream with brown sugar pineapple swirl and cake pieces with red cherries

2013 Review Cleanup

Remember how I was going to do family friendly ice cream of the week? yeah, well, my family and I are out of sync a bit, and I've wound up with a mish-mash of partial reviews. So, rather than letting them suffer in the queue for all eternity, let's do a quick wrap up instead. Hopefully the freezer aisle will perk up soon. It seems like several stores aren't even bothering to restock right now.

Why waste time with four posts? Let's run through these quick!

Homemade Brand Santa's Cookies Ice Cream

[By Nick]
T’was the night before Christmas and heard all through the house,

was young Nicholas’ stomach rumbling, he needed ice cream in his mouth.

Nicholas went to satisfy that noisy hunger

but choosing a flavor was turning into a blunder.

No simple vanilla or chocolate would do, those flavors are so bogus.

Thankfully Nicholas was a good boy this year and the elves at Homemade Brand took notice.

See, the elves have been busy throughout the year

creating a flavor they knew would bring cheer.

It’s a well-known fact that Santa loves a good cookie,

but when it comes to ice cream, he’s also no rookie.

So the head elf said “Why don't we combine the two?

            Sugar cookie ice cream is well overdue!”

As the midnight hour grew near,

a bright red package did magically appear.

More Gelato Fiasco Sorbetto Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar & Dark Chocolate Noir

The best part about getting free samples from a company is that it gives me the chance to expand my horizons without denting my wallet. Case in point, I've had my eye on similar flavors from other companies for awhile now, but I just couldnt' get past the price hurdle. Well, Gelato Fiasco is here to show me the light on two flavors: balsamic vinegar in a frozen treat, and the curiousity that is chocolate sorbet.

Gelato Fiasco Strawberry Balsamic Sorbetto (discontinued)

Gelato Fiasco Dark Chocolate Noir Sorbetto

My First Smashburger Shake ! Nutter Butter !!

So there I was Thursday night, waiting in the crazy long line to get in to the mall. The light was red, I was looking around... and that's when something new caught my eye. Smashburger? That wasn't there before! The light turns green, I pull into the mall, and quickly grab my phone to check their menu... oh yeah! Haagen-Daz premium shakes! Oreo! Butterfinger?! NUTTER BUTTER?!?!?! Forget Five Guys, I know where I'm going for lunch tomorrow.

The best part of my meal was easily this Nutter Butter Shake. It was perfect, literally just perfect. I wouldn't change it at all... except to say I wish there had been two of them. So tasty!

Walgreen's Good & Delish Ice Cream Mint Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Chunk

[By Nick] Time to look at the other pint of Good & Delish Homestyle ice cream I picked up. Unlike Banana Split, Mint Chocolate Chip wasn’t a part of the original Walgreen’s flavors so this one is in fact “new”. To be honest, I’m not too sure why they didn’t originally offer a mint flavor seeing as its pretty standard fare.

Described as “mint ice cream with chocolate chips” It’s pretty much just your basic mint chip flavor, nothing more and nothing less. That shouldn’t be all that shocking seeing as it’s a store brand ice cream and all though the picture on the pint does show a white base so if anything it is kind of straying from the norm and not being the token green mint products seem to be associated with.

Ciao Bella montebianco gelato

[2013 Seasonal Batch] Dear ice cream nation, let me steal a page from Junk Food Guy's playbook and bring you a public service announcement during this busy time of year. I know we all have way too many expectations of what needs to happen, but this doesn't give you the right to park 3 inches from my car door and force me to climb in the other side, nor should you cut me off in the checkout lane because somehow your items are more important than mine. Be nice.... until it is time to not be nice. Anway, Ciao Bella has a few limited edition items at Whole Foods this year, and while I shied away due to pumpkin overload on the first flavor, I think it's time to try one of the other two. (Did I mention they were on sale for $4.59?)

Ciao Bella montebianco gelato

Delicate chestnut cream laced with organic dark chocolate

The Nosh Show - Episode 19

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas Season to all, and to all a good Nosh Show! That's right, episode 19 is ready and waiting for you. Oh sure I was tired beyond belief, but hopefully most of the nonsensical stuff is on the cutting room floor. You know, like when it sounds like I've never had sugar cookies (as opposed to never having sugar cookie peeps), or how I didn't have any followup, but I really did, and then had some more followup on top of that. Oh yeah, I am the master of babbling! (What can I say, my daughter's fractured ankle has kind of thrown a wrench into our holiday season. At least the doc says she is doing well!)

Ok, so we made this our holiday themed episode, so I figured I'd throw up this snickerdoodle snowman ice cream sandwich I made this weekend. Yeah, sometimes I think I try to hard. See, way back during episode 13 we talked about Carl's Jr test marketing a snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich so I thought I would be sneaky and make them myself... that was until I lost the cookies in the back of the cabinet. It's now a month past the "Best By" date, but I gave it a whirl anyway. Ahhh, it was still fun, though in hindsight I should have rolled this bad boys in mini chocolate chips for good measure.

Anyway, enjoy the show. Nosh or not is there, our picks of the week (mine here), our fun holiday question section, and as always, there are more download/listening options on the nosh show website. Everybody have a great holiday and we'll see you back here in two weeks for our end of year wrap-up!

Spoonable Sundae Sunday Brooklyn's Saucy Caramel

Alright, time for another sponsored Sundae Sunday, this time by our new buds at Spoonable. You may remember Junk Food Guy's review of several of their sauces at the beginning of October. Afterwards, I was joking on twitter that they lost me at spicy, and then what happens? Well, they contacted me and offered to send over their entire lineup of flavors for testing.

Free fancy caramel sauce samples? Yeah, I'm game, but where to start?

Steve’s Salty Caramel Ice Cream #34

[By Nick] I must have been good this year because I received an early Christmas present from the folks over at Steve’s Ice Cream (founded 1973). For those who don’t know, Steve’s is basically the New York version of Jeni’s with the price tag to boot. Steve’s is all about making small batch ice cream with only the highest of quality of ingredients. They also source ingredients from local artisans such as Pies & Thighs to make their ice cream a true representation of the City in which it was crafted. I truly enjoy companies like this. It’s all about the ice cream for them and they take such pride in what they produce. It’s quite remarkable as well as respectable if you ask me.

Now seeing as everyone has been putting out a salted caramel product as of late, let’s start with the free sample of Steve’s Salty Caramel ice cream. It's "Sweet Caramel Ice Cream Rounded Out by a Savory, Sea Salted Caramel Swirl".

Friendly's Vanilla Alpine Bar

[New for 2013, short lived] Ok, these have been hanging out in the basement freezer awhile now because I was very much afraid that they would be as terrible as the new Hood (fake-klondike) bars. Thankfully, they are not.

Friendly's Vanilla Alpine Bar

Vanilla Ice Cream with a Chocolate Coating

(notice the sealed plastic wrapper)

Magnum White Ice Cream Bar

Alright, this is going to be a quick review of something we've been meaning to get on the blog.

Magnum White Ice Cream Bars

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream dipped in Belgian White Chocolate

Gelato Fiasco Maine Wild Blueberry Crisp Gelato

Ok, time to introduce Gelato Fiasco to everyone. Founded in 2007, they are a Maine based company that is already spreading throughout New England and into New York City. The founders, Bruno Tropeano and Joshua Davis, were just 24 years old when they started, yet claim to have over a thousand flavors in their "recipe vault". That creativity is teamed with their embrace of social media. Just consider the fact that they've got over 12,000 Facebook fans just waiting to catch a glimpse of the day's special. I know I'm excited, and now they've sent over a half dozen sample pints to help celebrate their new (recyclable) packaging design which also goes along with their pints switching to certified Maine organic milk and cream.

Maine inspired flavor from a Maine company - seems like the appropriate first sample

Gelato Fiasco Maine Wild Blueberry Crisp Gelato

Vanilla gelato, blueberries from Maine's coast, and original oat streusel

Blue Bunny Butter Pecan Ice Cream

[By Nick] Recently, I came across a gas station that carries pints of Blue Bunny ice cream. You have no idea how happy I was when I saw this. As you guys might have noticed, I don’t buy large containers of ice cream often and tend to leave those to Dubba to review. It’s not that I don’t like the more mainstream ice creams, it’s just I like a lot of variety and seeing as I’m the only one in my house who eats ice cream it takes a while for me to finish off one of those container.

Blue Bunny Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Go nuts with rich and creamy ice cream touched with a buttery essence

and loaded with lots of pecans... and a litte bit of attitude

Gifford's Flyfishing Fudge Ice Cream

Alright, it's been a really long time since we had Gifford's on the blog. So long in fact that since the last review, Gifford's (of Maine) bought Gifford's (of Maryland) to really take their operation up a notch. Now they do have several fun new flavors this year that I've been meaning to try, but I had no particular intentions of trying them today until I saw that Gifford's ice cream quarts were undergoing a rare sale for $2.99 a piece. That's too good a deal to pass up. Now to pick a flavor....

Gifford's Flyfishing Fudge Ice Cream

M&Ms, cookie dough, and chocolate chunks jump in and out

of a fudge river flowing through vanilla ice cream

The Nosh Show Episode 18

Hello! Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend (my apologies if you didn't get one). We've got a very... well, you see, we suffered through one of the worst skype calls ever, everyone was constantly breaking up and yet we pulled off a fairly normal episode of the show somehow. Apparently we're getting pretty good at this!

So, episode 18 is now available (links and download options here). Several topics are discussed like my complete and utter disregard for products that I should have tried ages ago, the tasty new IHOP raspberry white chocolate pancakes, Ben & Jerry's Mississippi Mud Pie, and all kinds of fun fictional foods. Oh, and my nosh of the week is pumpkin pie, because, well, I adore pumpkin pie in any form. I had a neat pumpkin pie with graham cracker crust last weekend, my mom made a traditional pumpkin pie (just not the same if we don't have that!), and then my in-laws spiced up the mix by ordering a squash pie. Now this was my first time with a squash pie and though I can be picky, I thought it was pretty cool. In terms of flavor, it's more subdued than a pumpkin pie, but this particular treat had a thick consistency that really reminded me of a cheesecake... I also had an excellent apple pie this week. It was a good week!

Edy's Key Lime Pie Yogurt Blend

The great thing about today's review is that I had totally forgotten about this product. Part of me thinks I've seen it on a rare occasion (aka years ago), another part of me thinks I've never seen it. Maybe it's more popular in your area, maybe you see it all the time, but for me in my area, this pint of green "live culture frozen dessert" just seemed too unique to pass up.

Edy's / Dreyer's Slow Churned Key Lime Pie Yogurt Blend

graham swirl in key lime pie flavored live culture frozen dessert