Light ice cream. Some people shiver and cringe at the very notion. Some people praise it and buy it all the time. Me? I’m somewhere in the middle.
Light ice cream takes up that middle space in between Halo Top and super premium pints or trips to the scoop shop. I appreciate it for what it is, go in with real expectations, and enjoy.
I don’t follow too closely to what Dreyer’s Slow Churned line is up to, but when they announced a Peanut Butter Cookie Dough flavor that would clock in at 120 calories and only four grams of fat per serving I was intrigued and had to put my PB-expertise to the test. The limited edition Nestle Toll House-branded flavor combines sweet cream light ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough pieces and a peanut butter swirl.
The sweet cream ice cream base is generally unremarkable. It’s soft and creamy with a blanketed nondescript sweetness that acts much more as a texture than a flavor. No buttery notes, vanilla, or rich cream flavor can be found, but for a light ice cream it definitely holds its end of the bargain being a smooth and melty backdrop to the container’s mix-ins.
Fortunately for the ice cream, it doesn’t need to work too hard because there is more peanut butter swirl than I expected and the nut butter fiend in me is definitely satisfied. Although the ribbons themselves are thin, there is a solid amount of peanut butter laced throughout every bite, occasionally even coming across a massive hardened chunk of PB that explodes with salty smoothness.
The peanut butter itself is sweet and creamy, much like JIF or Skippy, and combines really well with the sweet cream to create a fluffy peanut-y experience that is much better than what I anticipated from a Slow Churned product.
The biggest issue with this flavor, unsurprisingly, is the cookie dough itself. While the taste of the dough is actually pretty good, with a unique deep fatty roasted peanut flavor and solid dough grittiness, there isn’t nearly enough of it and the pieces are quite small. Throughout the course of eating around a half of the container and digging around to try and find more, I came across less than 15 pieces of dough, which hardly lives up to its prominent placement in the flavor’s title.
Due to the low calorie count of the Slow Churned line I kind of expected this since the description and macros just seemed too good to be true. If they had to sacrifice somewhere the dough makes the most sense because if they had pulled back on the peanut butter swirl itself the flavor wouldn’t have come together at all.
(Nutrition Facts – 1/2 cup (63g) – 120 calories, 35 calories from fat, 4 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: 1.5 qts.
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Surprising amount of peanut butter swirl for a light ice cream. Fluffy creamy base. tasty nutty robust dough pieces. Solid nutritional tradeoff.
Cons: Not enough cookie dough pieces. Very basic nondescript sweet flavor in the ice cream base.
Hey Sean! Great review and i love the following sentence:
I appreciate it for what it is, go in with real expectations, and enjoy.
Thsi is what so many people do wrong when it comes to “light” versions or “vegetarian/vegan” versions. Especially the last is (in my opinion) a major problem since a lot of those products are awesome but suffer for beeing called substitute for something they can’t compete (recreate the same taste) with. So: THANKS! 🙂
But that brings me to my question:
You mentioned Halo Top, wich i just came across a couple of weeks ago. I live in germany, so i can’t get a pint of Halo Top, but i like the idea and read a lot of high praising reviews for the Halo Top “ice Cream”. With you beeing honest and without any prejudice: What is your opinion about Halo Top? Really THAT good or just hoax? ^^
Hey there! Thanks for reading 🙂 Yes, I like to go into my experiences eating and rating things based on what their competition and market is, ie, a protein bar has its own scale, as does “real” ice cream, light ice cream, candy bars, a $5 burger, or a $15 burger, etc. If I were to grade lighter ice creams against a super premium of course it would be less, but within the realm of slow churned stuff, this flavor is a solid 8!
I really like Halo Top quite a bit. For what it is it has fantastic flavor and is a great way to have some dessert at the end of the night without totally blowing your macros/diet if you’re watching that kind of stuff. Of their initial line of flavors I think the Vanilla Bean and Mint Chip are both really good, and the Lemon Cake and Strawberry surprised me as well. One of the things I really dig about it is the ability to make little sundaes or create my own mix ins with it still equaling less than your average serving of premium ice cream. Their newer flavors have finally popped up in my market and so far I’ve been really impressed with Oatmeal Cookie and Sea Salt Caramel as well. You definitely need to let it temper for a solid 10-15 minutes, as the texture much closer resembles real ice cream when it’s warm, but once you figure that all out it is very enjoyable 🙂
Hey Sean!
Just WOW and thank you so much for this great reply! 🙂
So for someone not able to taste it (and i know we don’t do this, but i have nothing else to compare it with expect real ice cream; never had those light versions… i don’t even know if we have them here in Germany ^^): For a light/diet ice cream a few flavors come really close to what you could call “ice cream”? ^^
PS: I really love your way of thinking and how you review product. looking forward to a lot from you 🙂
Yes, exactly, the Mint Chip for me is actually up there with some of my favorite mint chip ice creams – light or otherwise. It has great texture and minty/vanilla balance that I would be happy with being served at Baskin Robbins or any other mainstream scoop shop.
Thanks for reading and if you click my name you can link to my blog where I post many more weekly reviews! 🙂
Thanks mate! I’ll click your name, once i have a bit more free time to read even more reviews 😀
😉