Author: Denis

REVIEW: Blue Bell Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream

Denis 7 Comments

I must admit that I know precious little about the city of St. Louis. I know that arch thing is there, and…well, that’s about it. I did not know what people from St. Louis were called until just now, and even after finding out they are generally referred to as St. Louisans, I’m not sure exactly how to pronounce that. But I am proud to say that I have expanded my base of St. Louis knowledge a bit more, thanks to the new Gooey Butter Cake ice cream from Blue Bell.

It turns out that gooey butter cake, which are three words I’ve previously never typed together in my life, is a delightful, sugary treat that is native to St. Louis. I cannot explain why Texas-based Blue Bell decided to use it as its newest concoction, but I’m glad it did.

For those of you who are not St. Louisans or not well-versed in Midwestern culinary culture, gooey butter cake is a somewhat thin yellow cake that is dense like a brownie and often has a layer of cream cheese on top. The Blue Bell label describes this version as “cake batter ice cream combined with a luscious cream cheese swirl and rich gooey butter cake pieces.”

I would not have known the ice cream base was cake batter-flavored if not for the label, as it seemed to me just like the regular Blue Bell vanilla flavor. But the important parts of this ice cream are the cream cheese and gooey butter cake pieces, and they really deliver a home run. The cream cheese swirl is wonderfully silky and creamy with a strong cheesecake-like flavor, and you never know how much you will get because the color blends in almost seamlessly with the ice cream.

The cake pieces are a mixture of small, crumb-size morsels and larger square chunks, and that’s another mark in the plus column in my book. When you get a spoonful with just the crumb pieces, there is more than enough flavor to satisfy. And then, when you luck out and get a big nugget, you get to enjoy the chewy, buttery, sugary bliss it provides. After one bite, I regretted buying the pint size instead of the half-gallon, and I’m pretty sure the contents of my pint are not going to live to see tomorrow.

Having never eaten real gooey butter cake, I cannot say whether Blue Bell nailed the flavor profile with this ice cream. But it certainly nailed a delicious, creamy treat, and you can bet that if I ever find myself in St. Louis, that I’ll be hunting for some gooey butter cake. In the meantime, I’ll probably head back to the store and pick up a half-gallon.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: One pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 280 calories, 13 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 27 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sonic Pulled Pork BBQ Cheeseburger

Denis 1 Comment

There are many things that pop into my mind when I think of Sonic: their magical, perfectly chewable ice nuggets, the amazing variety of drink and frozen treat options…and the time my wife spilled an entire Route 44 Cherry Coke on herself when she snagged the lid on the car door. Thankfully, she doesn’t read my reviews. She does not find nearly as much humor in that memory as I do.

One thing I don’t associate with Sonic is BBQ because, well, it’s Sonic. So I wasn’t sure what to expect when I ordered the new Sonic Pulled Pork BBQ Cheeseburger. To my mild surprise, it was quite good. Mind you, it’s not good like one of those BBQ places where you wait in line for 45 minutes and pray they don’t run out before you get to order, but if you have a hankering for some pulled pork and are pressed for time, this gets the job done.

This sandwich contains what you would expect based on the name — a burger patty, cheese, and pulled pork. The pork didn’t really wow me, but it was juicy and tender as it should be. It’s the little extras that make this shine. The meats are nestled in a pillowy, slightly sweet brioche bun with a blanket of pickles to add some crunch and acidic kick. Sonic claims it has “cherrywood smoke sauce,” which I quite enjoyed, despite detecting only the slightest hint of smoke flavor and certainly not enough for my palate to detect the type of tree from which any smoke might originate. The sauce did have a more complex flavor than what you might expect from a typical fast food BBQ condiment.

The end result was a juicy tag team of beef and pork with some tasty sauce that paired nicely with the pickles and mild cheese flavor. The great-tasting bun holds it all together beautifully. My only quibbles are that this thing is pretty salty, as the 1,590 milligrams of sodium confirms, and the $6.39 price tag seems a touch pricey, especially since mine wasn’t overflowing with pulled pork as the Sonic app led me to believe.

Sonic says this is a limited time item, so I plan to get it at least once or twice before it disappears. It’s also available as a simple pulled pork sandwich without the burger and as Totchos with cheese sauce, shredded cheese, pulled pork, and sauce on top of tots.

Purchased Price: $6.39
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 700 calories, 40 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 100 milligrams of cholesterol, 1590 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, and 38 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Blue Bell Cinnamon Twist Ice Cream

Denis 2 Comments

Life is full of difficult decisions. For me, few are harder than…pint or half-gallon? Yes, I’m talking about ice cream container sizes. It’s quite a conundrum when I see a new flavor in the grocery store freezer. Should I save a few bucks and just get a pint, or be a high roller and pay up for the half-gallon? It’s not even the money so much. Anyone can power through a subpar pint, but if you get a half-gallon that is filled with disappointment, then it just sits in your freezer until that day many months later when you finally open it again to see it has turned an odd color and looks like the landscape of Siberia. The reason for this review’s unnecessarily long introduction is that I faced that decision when buying Blue Bell’s new Cinnamon Twist ice cream. I’m happy to report that I wisely chose the pint-sized version.

If you love cinnamon, as I do, you might think this is the perfect concoction with, according to the package, “brown sugar cinnamon ice cream with cinnamon bun dough pieces in a cinnamon icing swirl.” This ice cream is certainly not bad, and if you break into my house in a couple weeks to steal it from my freezer, it will probably be gone by then, but I don’t regret not going all in on the half-gallon.

The highlight of this ice cream is the cinnamon bun dough pieces. They are about the same size and shape as the various types of dough pieces that Dairy Queen uses in its Blizzards, and they are quite tasty. They are soft and chewy and have a touch of granular texture that really says sugary cinnamon bun dough. However, its friends, cinnamon ice cream and cinnamon icing swirl, sort of miss the mark. Luckily, the dough pieces were plentiful, but the flavor was lacking when I got a bite without one of those wonderful nuggets. And a taste of just ice cream with no bun pieces and no icing swirl had only a faint hint of cinnamon flavor.

Again, this ice cream is fine but also forgettable. If the label promises three different kinds of cinnamon, then it leads to the expectation of some kind of crazy cinnamon party for your taste buds. That’s where this one missed the mark a bit.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: Pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 280 calories, 13 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 27 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pie Blizzard

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The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pie Blizzard is the November Blizzard of the Month, but it is not really new. It appears to have been available in the U.S. back in 2014 and in Canada sometime last year, but I can’t remember what I ate yesterday, and I haven’t been to Canada lately, so this is new enough to warrant a review. And I’m glad to be the one doing the review.

The standard Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard has always been one of my favorites, and this version adds graham cracker pie crust and whipped topping. Neither the name of this one nor the added ingredients are particularly creative, but who cares if the results are tasty? And they are. The first bite instantly made me think I was eating a pie in ice cream form. It doesn’t taste radically different than the straight-up PB cup version, but it’s different enough to be a pleasant change, and it has a bit more texture and crunch with the pie crust pieces.

The whipped topping, however, did not add much other than a bit of drama when the DQ employee did the signature Blizzard flip before handing me the goods. I swear I saw the topping move a little, but it did manage to stay attached to its ice cream companion. That led me down the rabbit hole of what happens if a Blizzard — or some part of it — spills when it is flipped? The internet claims that you get a free Blizzard if any spillage occurs or if the employee doesn’t flip the Blizzard for you, although those rules seem to be loosely enforced. I spent more time than I care to admit doing “research” on this topic, and it’s safe to say that the new light figure I was planning to install is still sitting in its original box.

This Blizzard is quite good, but it’s akin to having your favorite burger with a pretzel bun instead of a standard roll. So there’s no need to drop everything and race over to your local DQ, but if you like the regular Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard, you are going to want to give this one a try.

Purchased Price: $4.69
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 820 calories, 40 grams of fat, 19 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 410 milligrams of sodium, 100 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 83 grams of sugar, and 16 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Royal Reese’s Fluffernutter Blizzard

Denis 6 Comments

Sometimes I really dislike being an adult. I’m not talking about paying taxes, having a job, or things like that. I just don’t like how it changes what is appropriate when it comes to food. If I were a toddler, it would be no big deal if I took off my shirt and ate mac and cheese with my hands, and people would say how cute I was when I got sauce in my hair. If I try that as an adult at Applebee’s, I’ll probably be asked to leave. If I were in kindergarten, a fluffernutter sandwich would be a perfectly acceptable lunch. But if I suggest we have peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwiches at a work meeting, then some co-workers might suggest I’m a bit immature (but I know others would secretly think it’s an awesome idea). Thankfully, Dairy Queen has the new Royal Reese’s Fluffernutter Blizzard that both mature and immature adults can purchase without being judged.

If you are not familiar with the “Royal” line of Blizzards, they have the bonus of a hidden core, which, in this case, is filled with marshmallow topping. I thought about bringing a small handsaw so I could conduct a Blizzard autopsy and show you exactly how it looks inside, but I figured that would be frowned upon and maybe a little dangerous. Besides, the DQ website features a cross-section view if you are interested. Surrounding the marshmallow core of this Blizzard are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, peanut butter topping, and, of course, vanilla soft serve. The core might be hard to see in the photos, and as the Blizzard around it melts, it all blends together, but trust me that it’s there.

I’m not sure if this is the case everywhere, but at my local DQ, the Royal Blizzards will set you back an extra $1. After having this one, I can tell you that’s a buck well spent. The standard PB Cup Blizzard is already one of my favorites, but it becomes truly glorious with the marshmallow flavor running down the center. The marshmallow topping by itself is quite sweet — almost too sweet — but it is balanced out perfectly by the decidedly less sweet peanut butter flavor. The smooth, creamy texture of the marshmallow topping also pairs wonderfully with the chunkiness and thickness of the pulverized peanut butter cups in the soft serve. I tried to think how I would improve this Blizzard, and I’ve got nothing to suggest. I think it’s my new all-time favorite.

My only disappointment is that I ordered a small, which really limits the real estate available for the marshmallow core. So my suggestion is to live like a king or a queen and at least order the medium for this one. Nah, just get a large.

Purchased Price: $5.99
Size: Small
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 750 calories, 31 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 390 milligrams of sodium, 104 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 87 grams of sugar, and 17 grams of protein.