Ben & Jerry's Topped
Strawberry Topped Tart Ice Cream
sweet cream ice cream with strawberry swirls & pie crust pieces
topped with white chocolatey ganache & candy sprinkles
I had seen a picture of the candy bits, but it's still surprising to see them
in person.
I dig in an I like it! It's sweet and strawberry and reminds me of this
strawberry whipped cream topping that my mom puts on angel food cake
sometimes. It's tasty. Ok, technically it's going to be a bit much for some
people, but on the whole it's tasty.
That said, let's talk about those sugar candy bits. My first question is
"Why?" Is it to be different? I just did a quick check on B&J's old Cotton
Candy flavor and those colorful sprinkles were squishy, not hard like these
are. We're talking crunchy crunchy. I don't think calling them candy sprinkles
is fair really. What they are is rock candy (like literal rock candy, they
even look like rock candy!).
Anyway, I continue on. Unlike my first topped experience, I'm trying harder to
stretch out the top layer as much as possible by scooping down rather than
across. Granted, the top is sweet enough that it's encouraging this method of
consumption.
All the components are nice. The pie pieces seem a little dry maybe, but
that's fine with me. I like that contrast in comparison to the ice cream and
scoopable ganache.
I like strawberry flavors and this is a really fun, sweet example of a
strawberry flavor. I will recommend this one with the caveat that those top
sprinkles are really hard.
On Second Scoop: I really enjoyed this one and wound up stretching out the experience as long as I could. While delicious to me, it was easy enough to enjoy a small serving and save for the rest for the later because I didn't want this one to go away. There actually wound up being a fair chunk of topping left in my last serving, so I mixed it with some vanilla ice cream and that was tasty too (and is something I might do again). I would definitely pick this one up if you are interested.
Verdict? tasty! quite sweet!
Buy Again? Yup!!
I agree that the topping on this (as well as the white chocolate topping of the Whiskey Biz pint) was a bit much!... I would have actually preferred a straight pint of the ice cream, swirl, and crust. Just a PSA: If you haven't yet, do NOT get the Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough. The quality control is an embarrassment! I'd at least wait awhile until they've adjusted their production line so you actually get the mix-ins they promise you.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone tried them all? My rankings:
ReplyDelete7. PB over the top: To be fair, I've never really liked peanut butter/chocolate ice cream. I like other peanut butter and chocolate products...but just not in ice cream. This flavor did nothing to change my mind. There's just nothing very interesting with this flavor...it's all dark, earthy flavors with nothing to counterbalance it.
6. Strawberry Topped Tart: This is one where I think reasonable minds can disagree. It is just way to sweet for my personal tastes. You've got sweetness (sweet cream ice cream) on top of sweetness (strawberry swirls) on top of more sweetness (white chocolate ganache) on top of even more sweetness (Pop Rocks candy without the popping). The pie pieces do their best to try to provide some balance...and I liked the pie pieces, but they just get overwhelmed with all of the sweetness.
5. Salted Caramel Brownie: I think I had the same experience as May above with this pint in terms of quality control. I had almost no brownie pieces within the vanilla, very little salted caramel and a grand total of 2 of the salted caramel cups on top. So, it may not be fair to judge the pint I got, but even if it did come as advertised, the flavor strikes me as a little boring.
4. Tiramisu: I liked this one a lot. The mascarpone ice cream can be a bit much at times and the shortbread pieces get somewhat lost in the shuffle, but overall I liked the espresso flavor which was not too little and not too much.
3. Thick mint: Really solid flavor with a refreshing mintiness and a good amount of mix -ins that provided texture.
2. Chocolate caramel cookie dough: I must have gotten a much better pint than the first commenter....or maybe I just got all of the mixins which were supposed to go into her pint. A ton of cookie dough, a ton of caramel, a ton of caramel cups. For me, this was great.
1. Whiskey biz: This was one of my favorite pints I've had from Ben and Jerry's in a long time. Don't let the Whiskey scare you; I didn't feel the alcohol taste was overwhelming at all. The brown butter ice cream was spectacular and every spoonful was chockful of blonde brownie pieces and caramel swirl. A great combination of flavors for me.
Strawberry with pie crust pieces brings back memories to the B&J's Strawberry Shortcake Greek Froyo that is no longer available. Is the name supposed to a fun word play on Popped Tarts?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wooderson that it's just too sweet. If it didn't have the candy or ganache topping and was just the base/swirl/pie pieces, i think it would be much better. Also i didn't get much swirl in the pint I got, so I got almost a birthday cake flavor from it.
ReplyDeleteI was excited to try it. Enjoy the fruity flavors . Anything with strawberry especially. Mine did not have much strawberry swirl either. The white chocolate and candies were too sweet. The ice cream tasted like birthday cake flavor. Have been disappointed with Ben & Jerry's the last few times I have purchased. Doesn't taste the same. Maybe my tastes have changed.
ReplyDeleteHaven’t y’all ever had a Pop Tart? The candy bits on top are sprinkles. The pie crust pastry is just like the dry shortbread Pop Tart crust. I found this pint to be more fun and satisfying when I thought of it as Pop Tart ice cream, rather than evaluating it on its independent merits as an ice cream flavor.
ReplyDelete