Tag: Dairy Queen

What is it?

A new Blizzard gracing the menu for September, snickerdoodle cookie dough and cinnamon sugar mixed with vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

The Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Blizzard reminds me of the fantasy football draft I participated in while eating it. The prospect of cinnamon sugar cookie dough leaves me salivating just as a new season’s roster full of fantasy goodness does. Unfortunately, both end the same way as well —- with me chagrined.

Dairy Queen clearly spent its first pick on cinnamon sugar rather than invest in a bell-cow cookie dough. The base presents a heavy cinnamon flavor that pervades throughout in spite of DQ fumbling at thoroughly mixing my Blizzard. Meanwhile, the promised sugar teammate provides the distinct crunch and fun grit that one expects to find in a snickerdoodle.

Despite the hot start, the cookie dough fails to impress. While it contains the standard soft and gritty DQ texture, whatever innate flavor the dough possesses is entirely overwhelmed by the cinnamon sugar ice cream. Furthermore, the pieces lack any hint of the tanginess found in a traditional snickerdoodle cookie. Rather than serving as a star player, this relegates the dough to a flex spot. This predictably caps the Blizzard’s upside. And I realized this as I was being kicked out of a league for trying to draft Cookie Monster at QB.

Is there anything else I need to know?

The Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Blizzard is the only new offering on Dairy Queen’s Fall Blizzard Menu. Also available are the returning Oreo Hot Cocoa, Dipped Strawberry with Ghirardelli, and September’s Blizzard of the Month, Pumpkin Pie.

Conclusion:

Dairy Queen replicates the superficial elements of a snickerdoodle cookie, but it fails to capture enough of its spirit to truly impress. The end of the cup didn’t leave me dejectedly crying in the shower like this year’s draft, but it isn’t taking home the Shiva Bowl Trophy either.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: Mini
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Mini) 400 calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, .5 gram of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 56 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 42 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

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What is it?

One of two 4th of July themed treats, the limited release Star Spangled Blizzard mixes blue candy with cherry flavored soft serve topped with a signature DQ ball and curl; red, white, and blue DQ Stars; and a Stripes StarKiss frozen treat.

How is it?

The saying beauty is only skin deep applies to ice cream too apparently. The StarKiss bar is a clever marketing gimmick that adds nothing to the taste experience while making it more difficult to actually eat the Blizzard.

Its rapidly melting form forces you to consume it immediately. Ironically not the star of the show, I’ll briefly say that beyond the cherry stripe there is only a nondescript artificial and substandard sweetness.

After extracting the not so bomb pop, the cherry syrup flavored soft serve is buried beneath the vanilla curl where I wish I had left it. While visually striking, the cherry substrate’s flavor is, in a word, bad. In more words, it is as authentic to cherry as Robitussin watered down with corn syrup.

While the plain, but classic, vanilla helps, at no point did the cherry component enhance the Blizzard. Meanwhile, the blue candy provides a fun crunch but no discernable flavor of its own. Probably a good thing if the rest of the Blizzard is any indication.

Is there anything else I need to know?

I was asked what size I wanted despite the website and menu listing mini as the only option. It could have been asked out of habit, but I also paid $3.99 whereas the menu listed $4.29. Still a premium, but clearly there was a discrepancy.

Conclusion:

It’s a bad sign when I find myself wishing upon a StarKiss bar that this Blizzard was only plain vanilla and blue candy. As I learned with fireworks as a kid, some things are better seen than eaten.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: Mini
Rating: 3 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: Unavailable on DQ’s website as of July 4, 2018.

What is it?

July’s Blizzard of the Month, the Oreo Firework Blizzard does not include actual Firework Oreo cookies. Rather, it combines the standard Dairy Queen Oreo cookie pieces with red and blue popping candy in vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

The classic Oreo Cookie Blizzard flavor serves as the night sky to the carbon dioxide based confectionary “fireworks.” The popping candy is abundant without seeming to come at the cost of the cookie mix-ins. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam-themed light red and blue “candy white coating” prevents premature detonation of the pressurized cores. Initially a bit odd to bite into, the almost squishy sheath is starkly contrasted against the crisp crunch of cookie bits and rock centers alike. Once the fuse is lit by puncturing the shell, the candies pop with aplomb.

Unfortunately, I prefer fireworks lighting the night sky to launching from my spoonful of ice cream. What begins as an interesting novelty grows tiresome by the bottom of the cup. To its credit though, the popping candy is more than just a marketing gimmick to elicit “oohs and aahs” from the crowd. The protective candy coating itself is infused with a delicious creme flavor. This is sure to please all of the crème loving Oreo “Twisters” out there, you know who you are.

Is there anything else I need to know?

I almost died bringing you this review. Well, the slick popping candy coating led to mild choking anyway. If you properly chew your treat rather than inhale it like Kirby coming off a 6-month juice cleanse, you should be fine.

Conclusion:

While the creme-flavored candy coating is delicious, I’d rather leave the accompanying explosions to the firework displays than my ice cream. For Oreo and Pop Rock lovers who don’t chase sparkler wielding kids off of their lawn like me, this may be a perfect 10.

Purchased Price: $3.39
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small)  660 calories, 25 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 320 milligrams of sodium, 98 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 78 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

What is it?

An unceremoniously introduced new Blizzard on the Candy Classics Menu. The Twix Blizzard combines Twix cookie bar pieces and caramel topping in vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

I felt like Charlie Brown trick-or-treating as the candy mix-in was paltry and rock hard. For me, caramel candy bars in ice cream are the concoction of a dentist with kids to put through college. While the chocolate and caramel candy pieces possess the chewing charm of fossilized Grape-Nuts, the travesty is that some bites show the promise of what might have been.

The caramel topping does an adequate job of punching up the base just enough to become more than the standard vanilla fare. The flavor comes alive though when the otherwise subdued ice cream provides the caramel element missing from the milk chocolate and crunchy cookie only pieces of candy. Those infrequent bites deliver on the promise of the Twix Blizzard name with a delicious Dairy Queen spin. With perhaps twice the amount of chocolate and cookie-only candy bits that I received, and with a little more caramel topping, it would be destined for greatness.

Is there anything else I need to know?

They apparently forgot to put Twix in my Twix Blizzard. Maybe that is a bit of sour grapes on my part as Twix is one of my favorite candy bars. But, as you can probably surmise from the photos of the dish itself, the loaded spoon was the only one of its kind. When simple but delicious is your goal, you can’t skimp on the delicious.

Conclusion:

The Twix Blizzard commits the cardinal sin of being stingy with the eponymous mix-in and is further hindered by tooth chipping caramel pieces. The chocolate, cookie, and caramel topping combo proves authentic to the beloved candy bar, but it does not occur often enough to make me channel a nostalgic Yello “Oh Yeah!”

Purchased Price: $3.39
Size: Small
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small) 630 calories, 21 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 96 grams of carbohydrates, 0 gram of dietary fiber, 77 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.