Haagen-Dazs Artisan Collection Hitting Shelves Now

[for 2015 only] For an ice cream enthusiast such as myself, what's better than waking up to pictures of new ice cream  in your email? Come on, it sure beats bills and spam. Big thanks to Miguel for sending over a picture of something he found in NYC.

Tres Leches Brigadeiro Ice Cream (collaboration with my sweet brigadeiro)

sweetened condensed milk and cocoa sauce swirled into creamy tres leches ice cream
(update: read my positive review here)

I did a quick internet search and found the announcement video here. It says the official release date is February 2015 and that there will be at least three other flavors that combine small shop expertise with Haagen-Dazs experience. It's a great idea and all the participants seem psyched to be part of the program.

Update 3/3/15 : photo of GMC and SPT hitting Stop & Shop

Ginger Molasses Cookie Ice Cream (orange label, with the good batch)
ginger molasses cookie pieces are mixed into gourmet vanilla cinnamon ice cream
(update: read our spicy dual review here)

Spiced Pecan Turtle Ice Cream (red-ish label, with christopher elbow artisanal chocolate)
chocolaty spiced pecans and swirls of caramel blended into rich chocolate ice cream
(update: read Nick's review here)

Banana Rum Jam Ice Cream (green label, with the jam stand)
a banana, rum and lime swirl into smooth vanilla bean ice cream
(update: read my review here)

Chocolate Caramelized Oat Ice Cream (blue label, with clairesquares)
chocolaty, caramelized oat clusters and mix them into rich caramel ice cream
(update: read my positive review here)

Unfortunately that's all we have at the moment, but thanks to Miguel for the tres leches picture because now we know to look for. So, are you excited to see H-D branch off like this? I am!

Update: Big thanks to everyone who has been sharing their initial impressions with us!

Yet Another Update: Haagen-Dazs Applewood Smoked Caramel Almond Ice Cream is listed as a "regional" thing.... which I've found in Mass on 3/25, not sure where else it will be. It's smoked applewood caramel sauce swirled into a sweet cream ice cream (collaboration with praline patisserie). My positive review is here.

New Orleans Ice Cream Co. Mississippi Debris

[By Nick] Awhile back, New Orleans Ice Cream sent me a shipment of flavors to try for fun knowing that Dubba had reviewed a large portion of their offerings. Thankfully there was one flavor in the shipment that has yet to be covered

New Orleans Ice Cream Co. Mississippi Debris

chocolate ice cream with brownie pieces, chocolate flakes, truffles, malt balls,

chocolate almonds, cherry cups, marshmallow and a fudge swirl

Gelato Fiasco Darkest Chocolate Peppermint Sorbetto

[2014-2015] Amongst the free samples of new seasonal flavors that Gelato Fiasco was cool enough to send over, there was one pint in particular... that managed to fall behind the frozen veggies and tater tots in the freezer downstairs. Hehehehe, sorry about that GF.

Gelato Fiasco Darkest Chocolate Peppermint Sorbetto

dark chocolate sorbetto with a "hint" or peppermint

Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Toffee Bar Crunch Ice Cream

[By Nick] While Dubba was able to acquire all three new cookie cores from Ben & Jerry's, I couldn't find a single one. Wanting to add to my list of Ben & Jerry's flavors tried and not wanting to come up empty handed, I decided to grab the new heath-less...

Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Toffee Bar Crunch Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge-Covered Toffee Pieces

The Nosh Show - Episode 47 Making 2015 Predictions

Hello Nosh Show listeners!! After making several 2015 predictions on Nerd Lunch Ep162, it's time to focus in on food predictions with Eric, Ryan, and Marvo. The funny thing is, after recording the episode, Nick showed me the photo below, and according to the source, at some point we will see Magnum Double Peanut Butter Bars (my review here) and Girl Scouts Thin Mint Frozen Dessert Bars here in the states. Nick can confirm the Magnum bars are already hitting shelves and JFG has a shot of the thin mint bars on shelves.

photo courtesy of @sandraortiz84

Also available on iTunes, Stitcher or download as an MP3

Ok, so back to Episode 47, we do followup, a few Nosh or Nots, and then dive in to our thoughts for 2015. If you have some hopes (or just wishes) for 2015, please let us know in the comments.

Ok, to my fellow Northeastern neighbors, be safe. To everyone else, have a good week!

Hood Cape Cod Fudge Shop Ice Cream

Oh geez, I could have sworn I wrote some notes on this flavor.... where oh where did they go.... uggg, can't find them anywhere. I guess we start over then. I think I said something about the blog having some pretty good luck with these Hood "New England Creamery" flavors, so it just seemed right to try another one of them during these quiet winter months.

Hood Cape Cod Fudge Shop Ice Cream

fudge-filled chocolate cups in vanilla flavored ice cream with a thick fudge swirl

Coolhaus "Louis Ba-Kahn" Ice Cream Sandwich

[By Nick] If you recall, I mentioned grabbing a couple of Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches along with the two pints from the Niskayuna Co-op that I already reviewed. I couldn't decide which one to review first but when it doubt, go with the bacon one.

Coolhaus "Louis Ba-Kahn" Ice Cream Sandwich

Chocolate Chip Cookie + Brown Butter Candied Bacon Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry's Boom Chocolatta! Cookie Core Ice Cream

[New for 2015] Ok, with the peanut butter and speculoos cookie cores reviews out of the way, it's time for the last one... I know, I know, some people get frustrated when we try stuff that we probably won't like, and we don't mean to frustrate, but sometimes the brand or the individual components in a flavor compel us to try things out of our comfort zone. Case in point, it's time for that burnt/bitter mocha funk.

Ben & Jerry's Boom Chocolatta! Cookie Core Ice Cream
Mocha & Caramel Ice Creams with Chocolate Cookies,

Fudge Flakes & a Chocolate Cookie Core

Walgreens Good & Delish Cinnamon Bun Blast Ice Cream

[By Nick] As most of you know, I'm a sucker for cinnamon. Heck, my favorite flavor that Ben & Jerry's makes it Cinnamon Buns. When I saw that Walgreens was making their own version under their super premium house brand line, I knew I had to pick it up.

Walgreens Good & Delish Cinnamon Bun Blast Ice Cream

cinnamon honey vanilla flavored ice cream with a caramel swirl and mini cinnamon rolls

Star Wars Lightsaber Ice Pop Maker and Nerd Lunch Episode 162

Hello Nosh Show listeners! Hehehehe, just kidding, there's no new Nosh show this week but I did get to hang out with our podcasting buds CT, Pax, and Jeeg for their annual Nerdstradamus episode. We made 2015 predictions for TV, fast food / junk food, celebrities, and then we mix things up by doing some under/overs on Star Wars VII.

Speaking of Star Wars, I told the guys I would be reviewing the Star Wars Lightsaber Ice Pop Maker as part of my Nerd To-Dos. What? It was a Christmas present!

Ben & Jerry's Spectacular Speculoos Cookie Core Ice Cream

[New for 2015, Discontinued] You know, it's a good thing I went back to Target this morning because the selection of cookie cores was already pretty well picked over... ok, technically it was a good thing / bad thing as I fell on the stupid black ice, but I'm fine since the car partially broke my fall. Anyway, let's check out the speculoos one first since that seems to be grabbing everyone's attention.

Ben & Jerry's Spectacular Speculoos Cookie Core Ice Cream
Dark Caramel & Vanilla Ice Cream

with Speculoos Cookies & Speculoos Cookie Butter Core

Gelato Fiasco Spiked Eggnog Gelato

[By Nick, left after 2015] Time to give my uneducated opinion on another eggnog flavor! Not only that, this one is mixed with alcohol. We all know I'm not too familiar with alcoholic products but I have encountered both marsala and bourbon in other products so let's see how this goes.

Gelato Fiasco Spiked Eggnog Gelato

"This eggnog gelato is a throwback to merry days of olde.

It's laced with just a splash of marsala and bourbon to keep it real."

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Buttah Cookie Core Ice Cream

[New for 2015, Discontinued] I'll admit it, when I saw all three new core flavors in front of me, I wanted them all. How can you not want to be one of the first to just sit in front of these glorious sounding creations that have cookie butter cores? I am beyond stoked.... must keep calm and realistic.... let's pick the one I can't bring home.

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Buttah Cookie Core Ice Cream
Peanut butter ice cream with crunchy peanut butter sugar bits,

peanut butter cookies & a peanut butter cookie core

Yuengling Vanilla Fudge Chunk with Pretzels Ice Cream

....and I just deleted the post I had written... really? 'cause the last two weeks haven't been busy enough, I have to delete all my thoughts from a few hours ago? Well, that's what I get for taking notes in notepad without saving. Oh well, we all do it, so let's try this again: I went off looking for the new cookie cores at lunch but instead I came back with some Yuengling's ice cream that was on sale.

Yuengling Vanilla Fudge Chunk with Pretzels Ice Cream

Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream, Fudge Swirl, Chocolate Chips and Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Hershey's Salty Caramel Truffle Ice Cream

[By Nick] ‎Every time I go to the Niskayuna Co-op, they manage to have a new limited edition pint from Hershey's Ice Cream. My last visit resulted in the same experience and the pick up of this overdone flavor.

Hershey's Salty Caramel Truffle Ice Cream
Sweet and salty caramel sauce is swirled through creamy caramel ice cream
and packed with tasty chocolate caramel truffles

The Nosh Show - Episode 46

Alrighty, I know you've probably had your fair share of 2014/2015 countdowns and recaps and whatnot, but how about one that's actually helpful, at least for your next trip to the grocery store?

Also available on iTunes, Stitcher or download as an MP3

That's right, it's Episode 46 and it's time for each of us to pick five of our favorite new things from 2014. Shockingly(?), we couldn't agree on the best new Oreo of the year amongst other things. Actually, I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with a bunch of non-ice cream items. That said, I still called out Friendly's Ice Cream Cake Ice Cream as probably the neatest new ice cream of 2014. I'm not saying it's the only nice new product of 2014, it's just a great combo of flavor, uniqueness, and fun-factor. What, I'm seven remember?

Ok, you all have a good week, new review tomorrow!

Friendly's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Ice Cream

[New for Dec 2014 / Jan 2015, back for January 2016]
This one was hard to resist the first time, but then when I saw it again by work, and for just $2.50, I gave in. [warning, I've realized the camera has burnt out on my phone, so I have trouble in bright light and low light, it's only happy in the middle]

Friendly's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Ice Cream

Chocolate ice cream with swirls of peanut butter and chocolate covered pretzels

Tea-rrific Brown Butter Sticky Toffee Ice Cream

[By Nick, New for 2014] ‎I'm going to start this review off by saying that I'm not a fan of tea at all. Never have I liked it and I doubt that'll change anytime soon. All that said, when I heard Tea-rrific was making a limited edition toffee flavor, I knew I had to try it. It is currently a Whole Foods exclusive and lucky for me they were sampling it at my local Whole Foods a couple weeks ago.

Tea-rrific Brown Butter Sticky Toffee Ice Cream

Smoky Lapsang Souchong and Browned Butter

with a sticky toffee swirl & toasted almonds

Friendly's Party Cake Ice Cream

[New for 2014] Bummer, I really wish I had reviewed this ice cream last week because I wouldn't feel as silly declaring it as one of the prettiest new ice creams of 2014. But it's 2015 and I think we're all burnt out on countdowns by now. So, let's just review this one with the disclaimer/apology that I should have tried it sooner but I was way too amused by the limited edition ice cream cake flavor to bother picking this one up sooner.

Friendly's Party Cake Ice Cream

Cake Flavored Ice Cream with Colored Sprinkles and Swirls of Blue Icing

Ben & Jerry's adds Cookie Core Lineup!

[New for 2015] Now I don't usually post news in the main feed here, but this is too good not to share. Nick and I were pretty sure there was a peanut butter cookie core coming, and we were pretty sure there was some kind of speculoos flavor coming, but never did I dream that it would be as cool looking as this photo sent to me this morning. (note: first photo updated with a collage of my own pictures)

The New Ben & Jerry's Cookie Core Line up

Bella Waffle Bowl Maker

Awhile back, Nick sent me a present and I finally opened it during this long holiday weekend. Call it what you want: a birthday present, a blogging anniversary present, a "holy cow I get a lot of ice cream writing for this blog" thank you present. Whatever you call it, it's a present, I appreciate it, and it's time to take it for a spin!

Bella Waffle Bowl Maker

(available on Amazon and I assume in stores too)

Central Market Classics Gingerbread Cookies N' Cream Ice Cream

[By Nick] Happy New Year everyone! I hope your resolution is to eat more ice cream. My resolution on the other hand is to destroy this huge backlog of reviews I have. Lets start things off with a seasonal store brand offering that caught my eye recently at Price Chopper.

Central Market Classics Gingerbread Cookies N' Cream Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream loaded with chunks of gingerbread cookies

Fruit Dips So Fresh Strawberry Fruit Bars

[2016: some stores only carry the mixed packs of 8 now]

Ok, I had several different ideas for a post today, but I think we'll go with something that's been patiently awaiting it's turn for a review. Way, way back in the... early summer I think, I spied these fruit bars that are new to my area (if not new in general). It took awhile before I made it back to Shaw's to grab them, so I decided to grab one of each style.

Fruit Dips So Fresh Strawberry Bars

premium frozen fruit bars dipped in either milk chocolate or greek yogurt