Ben & Jerry's Topped -
PB Over the Top Ice Cream
chocolate ice cream with peanut butter swirls & peanut butter cups
topped with peanut butter cups & chocolatey ganache
Ummm, wait, that's not right, is it?
That's not what all the marketing photos look like!! Did it melt at one point
and some ice cream came to the top? When the pints are in those 8 pack
sleeves, half of them are upside down, so it's possible that happened I
guess... talk about a lackluster introduction.
I decided to slowly investigate what was going on. The biggest thing to
surprise me was the somewhat soft nature of the ganache. One can't help but
think of Magnum or Trio (or Dove!) and therefore expect this top layer to be
harder than it is here. I was pretty amused by how fairly easy it was to get a bit
of ganache, a pb cup and some ice cream all in one scoopful. Oh yeah, it
tasted pretty good too.
The last big hunk of chocolate came out on the spoon and I thought "I gotta
take a picture of this". Yeah, that brilliant idea was only brilliant for
about 15 seconds and then the giant chunk of chocolate fell on the not so
clean desk. You could say I was pretty disappointed at that very moment....
without that top hunk of chocolate (and pb cups) keeping things interesting,
this is just a so-so flavor. I didn't feel like there were enough pb cups or
swirl in the base ice cream to keep things interesting. It wasn't bad, it's just hard to go from the
super exciting top to the regular bottom... if you think about it. People have
long complained that the core flavors don't have enough core at the bottom, so
the Topped lineup certainly does not fix that problem.
Look, these are fun, and I look forward to trying the strawberry flavor that's in the basement freezer, but I will be thinking about a strategy of how to make that top last as long as possible.
On Second Scoop: No second scooping on this one (since I wasn't sure when I would be back in the office again). I'm sure I'll still be thinking about this for a few days though.
Verdict? top half is fun
Buy Again? will try some others
too much chocolate.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Ben and Jerry ice cream has significantly dropped in quality after being bought out by unilever...who also destroyed the quailty of Breyers.
ReplyDeleteHated the ganache, way too thick and bitter. Rest of it was good, had a ton of cups in mine.
ReplyDeleteSo much peanut buttery chocolate goodness. B&J usually gets that flavor combination right and this is no exception.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly not everyone will be getting the new flavors. There’s a dude bitching on Facebook about how they’re not coming to Texas at all according to local stores in Houston
ReplyDeleteNope, I call B.S. on that dude. I can go to the website for a couple of B&J's in Texas and I can see Topped pints available for pickup.
ReplyDeleteI went ahead and checked myself. HEB said they will not be carrying them. No stores of any kind in Houston currently have them . I directly asked Ben and Jerry’s and am awaiting a response.
DeleteI've tried a few so far, this one included. All underwhelming. The ganache layer a huge miss, just sort of there, not really fudgy like I was hoping. Salted Caramel Brownie would be better without the top layer.
ReplyDeleteI have a review of strawberry topped coming soon and I definitely am more enamored with that one than I am with this one.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I totally understand if someone is underwhelmed with these :)
WHAT???? That's crazy!
ReplyDeleteLooks like it’s just HEB that won’t be carrying them; Kroger has it (picked up the strawberry topped tart). Then again, HEB’s ice cream selection is tilted more towards their own brands.
DeleteOh, and after all of that...I ended up with a refreeze 😳
Awwww, after all that effort? not cool
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen PB Over the Top in my local stores yet but I've tried Thick Mint and Salted Caramel Brownie. The top was definitely more consistent and covered all the ice cream than the one pictured here. The mint in Thick Mint ended up being too muted for my taste by all the chocolate throughout while for Salted Caramel Brownie I would've preferred it as a normal flavor without the top.
ReplyDelete