Who’s ready for a bit of Magnum math? Magnum’s new Duet bars come in a trio of flavors. Each package contains three ice cream bars, and each bar is dipped in two different kinds of chocolate. Two flavors are fully dipped in white chocolate and half dipped in milk chocolate, while the third is fully dipped in milk chocolate and half dipped in dark chocolate. One flavor also contains a chocolate ganache swirl and dark chocolate cookie pieces. If you eat one of each flavor bar and white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate, how many different types of chocolate did you just consume? The answer is…four? Oh, I thought that would be more impressive. Let’s forget the math and focus on the ice cream.
Magnum is known for its high quality Belgian chocolate and the signature cracking layer/shell on its pints and novelties. According to Magnum, Duets are the first ice cream bars to be dipped in two different kinds of chocolate. I accept this as truth because I can’t recall having one that was twice dipped, and I applaud Magnum for taking ice cream bar dipping to new heights. The double-coated bars come in Cookie Duet, Chocolate Duet, and Almond Duet varieties. This was my first experience with any Magnum products, and I began my journey with Cookie Duet.
Emerging from its swanky brown and gold wrapper, the bar looks just like the picture on the box. This one is fully dipped in white chocolate that’s studded with dark chocolate cookie pieces, half dipped in milk chocolate and features vanilla ice cream with a chocolate ganache swirl. I was pleasantly surprised to find the swirl more prominent than expected. Both coating layers have a nice thickness, and they do taste like a better quality chocolate than you’re used to finding on an ice cream bar. The bottom portion has a cookies ‘n cream vibe, and the cookie nuggets have stayed crunchy, which gives some textural interest. The ice cream itself is rich and creamy.
If I had any complaint, it would be that biting through the chocolate, while not challenging, resulted in pieces breaking off and sometimes falling. As a subscriber to the five-second rule (or more accurately, just someone who doesn’t care if their food falls on the floor as long as it didn’t fall in anything gross), this wasn’t really an issue, and I just started to pull off and eat the pieces I knew were likely to drop. I enjoyed everything about Cookie Duet, and it set the bar high for the rest.
Next up, Chocolate Duet. It also features vanilla ice cream enrobed fully in white chocolate and half dipped in milk chocolate. This time the ice cream contains a raspberry swirl. After experiencing the thicker-than-pictured swirl in the Cookie Duet, I was hopeful that the raspberry would be the same and lend some welcome fruitiness. Unfortunately, I had to get several bites in before any berry stripes appeared, and while there’s a hint of raspberry flavor, it’s so slight that I almost wonder why they bothered.
In Magnum’s defense, the thin lines of berry swirl look like they do on the box, so it isn’t like they claimed to be bursting with berry, but I don’t understand the point. Raspberry doesn’t get mentioned in the flavor name and shouldn’t since it’s barely detectable. With a name like Chocolate Duet, I think they should have leaned into it and used chocolate ice cream or something to set this apart from the rest. It just seems like a more plain version of Cookie Duet.
The last of the group is Almond Duet which stands out for having almond ice cream, a full milk chocolate dip, and a half dark chocolate dip. The ice cream has a brown sugar almond butter swirl, and there are almond pieces in the coating. I enjoyed the dark chocolate dip and the almond ice cream but again was disappointed to find the brown sugar almond butter swirl (which sounds delicious!) to be almost nonexistent. At one point, I thought I was about to discover a bigger pocket of almond butter, but it sadly turned out to be just the wooden stick. The almond pieces are small and nice for texture but don’t add much almond flavor. This was the only bar for me where no coating pieces ended up on the ground.
Eating any of these bars is a pleasurable experience because it’s hard to argue with good quality ice cream and chocolate, but for me, the only Duet to really sing was Cookie. With more pronounced swirls, the other varieties could be something special, but in their current state, I don’t think they’re as exciting as some other options in the frozen novelty section. The bars do hit a nice sweet spot in serving size as they’re more substantial than something mini but having one or two doesn’t seem as heavy as a bowl of ice cream. I would purchase Cookie Duet again but pass on the rest.
Purchased Price: $4.79 each
Size: 3-pack box
Purchased at: Mariano’s
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Cookie Duet), 6 out of 10 (Chocolate Duet), 7 out of 10 (Almond Duet)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) Cookie Duet – 240 calories, 15 total grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 20 grams of total sugars includes 15 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein. Chocolate Duet – 230 calories, 15 total grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 19 grams of total sugars includes 14 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein. Almond Duet – 240 calories, 16 total grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 17 grams of total sugars includes 13 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.