Ice Cream – Page 20 – The Impulsive Buy

REVIEW: Van Leeuwen Limited Edition Pizza Ice Cream

Denis / April 4, 2022 / Reviews / 16 Comments

Yes, you read the title correctly. This is a review of a pizza-flavored ice cream, or is it ice cream-flavored pizza? Either way, the latest product you never knew you needed but are intrigued to try (or at least read about someone else trying) is from the folks at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, who are also responsible for the previously reviewed Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Ice Cream.

I imagine there was a meeting of Van Leeuwen decision-makers where someone threw out the idea of pizza ice cream, and it seems that at least some in the meeting thought it wasn’t a terrible idea (perhaps the same ones who gave the thumbs up for mac and cheese ice cream). Now, if Van Leeuwen was run by a bunch of first graders, then I could understand this flavor getting the green light, along with chicken nugget ice cream. Even though I did not do any research to back this up, I’m guessing Van Leeuwen is not run by first graders, although the company’s website refers to their products as “pints” when they only contain 14 (not 16) ounces, so I guess they do struggle with numbers a little.

So, is this a terrible idea?

Actually, no. I sort of liked it, even though it only sort of tastes like pizza. This does contain a good number of pizza-ish ingredients — tomatoes, unbleached flour, mozzarella cheese powder, and unnamed spices — but they come through with different levels of flavor. The base ice cream (the cheese) is wonderfully creamy; I suppose because it’s French ice cream, which the container explains contains more egg yolks than non-French ice cream. There’s a hint of mozzarella taste but much more of a cheesecake flavor, thanks to the decidedly non-pizza ingredient of cream cheese.

The sauce part was a pleasant surprise. Despite how mixing tomatoes and ice cream might make you cringe, it was more than palatable. That’s probably because it’s a tomato jam, according to Van Leeuwen, and, according to me, it pairs nicely with the cheesy ice cream base. It has enough tomato flavor so you know what it is, but its mild sweetness eliminates the grossness factor.

The crust, made of basil cookies, is the only part that didn’t win me over. There was not much there as far as texture or taste, but it didn’t do anything to the detriment of the ice cream as a whole. It’s like having a co-worker who rarely does any work but doesn’t screw things up either.

As has been said in other reviews of Frankenstein-inspired freaks of food folly, this product is not a great substitute for either of the items it claims to be. If you are craving pizza, then even that cold pizza in the fridge that you question if it’s still OK is to eat is probably better. And if you have a hankering for ice cream, then just about any “regular” flavor will hit the spot better than this. But you only live once, and do you really want to be sitting in a retirement home playing bingo and wondering what pizza ice cream tastes like? I certainly do not, so I’m glad I tried this.

Purchased Price: $4.98
Size: 14 fl. oz.
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 310 calories, 16 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 110 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 33 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Haagen-Dazs City Sweets Ice Cream Collection

Erin / March 29, 2022 / Reviews / 12 Comments

In its new City Sweets collection, Haagen-Dazs pairs some of its beloved ice cream flavors with classic city snacks and desserts you might eat with one hand while strolling around town. Available in Dulce De Leche Churro, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Summer Berry Cake Pop, Coffee Chocolate Brownie, and Black & White Cookie, it’s pretty clear right away that some of these flavors make more sense than others.

Black & White cookies are an iconic New York treat, and churros and pretzels are things I’d associate with grabbing from a street cart on the corner, but cake pops seem to have made their way into the lineup solely by virtue of being on a stick. I guess they have them at Starbucks, and it’s hard to walk around a city without bumping into thirty of those. Maybe San Antonio or Atlanta is known for their cake pop culture and I wasn’t aware? Coffee could certainly be something you’d walk around with, and a brownie is handheld, but that one doesn’t exactly scream “city” to me either. That being said, I’ve never been one to turn down a brownie regardless of its credibility as street fare, so let’s find out if these pints deserve a place in my bodega’s freezer.

Black & White Cookie

Black & White Cookie combines “vanilla bean ice cream with soft cookie pieces and ripples of chocolate frosting.” Beneath this description, they encourage us to “Forget the cookie and grab your spoon,” and I agree with Haagen-Dazs here. I prefer this flavor in ice cream format more than any Black & White cookie I’ve ever eaten.

There are a very generous number of cookie pieces throughout the pint, and they mimic the soft texture of a Black & White cookie surprisingly well without ending up soggy. There are actually so many pieces that I think I got at least one in just about every bite. While you don’t really notice them tasting lemony, I did see lemon oil in the ingredients list, which I think is often typical of the cookie base in these treats. Points for authenticity, Haagen-Dazs. The frosting ripple tastes and feels like actual frosting and not just a generic chocolate sauce. I anticipated this pint being fairly boring, but it ended up being my favorite of the bunch.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 410 calories, 24 grams of total fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 100 milligrams of cholesterol, 110 milligrams of sodium, 42 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 36 grams of total sugars, 28 grams of added sugars, 6 grams of protein

Coffee Chocolate Brownie

Coffee Chocolate Brownie features “classic coffee ice cream, gooey brownies, rich espresso chocolate sauce, and crunchy cocoa nibs.” I’ve had better coffee ice creams, but I still like the base here, and while it’s not as present as some of the swirls in the other flavors, the espresso chocolate sauce does give a nice coffee flavor boost when you get some.

I have two main issues with this flavor. First, it seems that most of the cocoa nibs have been pulverized, so instead of getting a crunchy bit here and there, a lot of spoonfuls are kind of gritty (is this the city tie-in?). The other problem is the brownie pieces in my pint were almost nonexistent. For as many cookie pieces as there were in Black & White, I had to go digging to find any brownies, and when I did, they were too small to be anything but the suggestion that possibly a brownie had once been nearby. There weren’t any chunks large enough to have a gooey texture, and if brownie wasn’t in the name of the ice cream, I couldn’t have told you this contained brownies.

Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 360 calories, 20 grams of total fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 90 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 31 grams of total sugars, 25 grams of added sugars, 6 grams of protein

Dulce De Leche Churro

In Dulce De Leche Churro, “cinnamon churro ice cream and thick, gooey dulce de leche sauce” get paired up with “crispy, cinnamon-y churro pieces.” This ice cream stands out to me as creamier than some of the others, and the base does taste like cinnamon churros and not just cinnamon. I really like it. The dulce de leche ribbon is thick and gooey as advertised. The churro pieces themselves are plentiful, but unfortunately, they fall into two categories. Some are crispy, almost surprisingly so, more reminiscent of crunchy cereal pieces than the crispy outside of fried dough. There’s an audible crunch to them, and my first few bites had only these pieces.

It came as a different sort of surprise when I ran across one of the non-crispy pieces. They look the same as the crispy ones but bloated, like whatever they were coated in failed to keep the ice cream from saturating the interiors. These pieces have a chewy (not in a good way), waxy texture to them, and I was tempted to spit them out. They seem like maybe they’re not supposed to be in there, like part of the cardboard container somehow ended up getting mixed in. If you can avoid or overlook these pieces, this flavor might be the best one, but that’ll take some careful eating because there are a lot of them.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 390 calories, 23 grams of total fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 90 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 gram of dietary fiber, 37 grams of total sugars, 30 grams of added sugars, 5 grams of protein

Summer Berry Cake Pop

In Summer Berry Cake Pop, we’re given the duo of strawberry ice cream and sweet cream ice cream with “perfect, fluffy cake pieces” finished with “tangy raspberry sauce.” I like the strawberry ice cream, and the sweet cream flavor, while not particularly noticeable as sweet cream, is fine enough. When it comes to the cake, though, this is another instance of the mix-in being a dud. There are more cake chunks than there were brownies, and the cake pieces don’t detract from my enjoyment like the weird churro ones did. Instead, they’re just kind of there. They don’t really taste like anything, and there’s definitely nothing fluffy about them. Are cake pops ever fluffy? They’re kind of an underwhelming dessert to begin with. When you take fluffy cake, tear and smoosh it to pieces, then smash those pieces back together, you’re left with a denser and arguably less enjoyable product than you started with. So if you take this into account, the cake pieces here probably do taste like what you might expect from a cake pop. The best feature of this pint is the raspberry sauce thickly swirled throughout, and it delivers the tanginess it claims.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 320 calories, 20 grams of total fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 100 milligrams of cholesterol, 65 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 29 grams of total sugars, 23 grams of added sugars, 5 grams of protein

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel

For Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Haagen-Dazs says, “our incredible chocolate ice cream and thick, creamy peanut butter are complemented by crunchy, lightly salted pretzel pieces.” As a huge pretzel person, I was eager to dig into this one but immediately realized I’d have to exercise some patience. It was clear upon opening that it needed some time to soften up, and even after a few minutes when I tried to spoon some out, I basically picked the top third of the pint up in a solid piece revealing the peanut butter to be totally in the center, more like what you’d find in a pint with a “core” than one with peanut butter dispersed throughout. This core is solid, and I had to hack at it to distribute it throughout a serving. Otherwise, it’s all chocolate ice cream with no peanut butter flavor.

The pretzel pieces are individually coated in chocolate which keeps them enjoyably crunchy and adds a deeper chocolate flavor than the ice cream alone. There are a lot of them, and you’re likely to have one in each spoonful, so you know this is a pretzel ice cream. While not mentioned in the description, there are also fudgy chocolate pieces that don’t have pretzel centers. When I’m getting sad that I don’t taste any peanut butter, one of these fudgy pieces shows up to make me forget I’m missing a component.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 450 calories, 30 grams of total fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 90 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of total carbohydrates, 3 gram of dietary fiber, 28 grams of total sugars, 21 grams of added sugars, 9 grams of protein

There was potential with this series, but most of the flavors missed the mark. Black & White Cookie does its namesake proud and is way worth picking up, but most of them melted under the bright lights. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to get the others, but none of them are so bad that you’ll drop them in the park for the pigeons…except maybe those soggy churro pieces you set aside.

Purchased Price: $4.79 each
Size: 14 oz
Purchased at: Jewel-Osco

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream

REVIEW: Blue Bell Peachy Peach Ice Cream

Denis / March 25, 2022 / Reviews / 12 Comments

What is Blue Bell Peachy Peach Ice Cream?

It’s not the most creatively named ice cream, but it certainly has an accurate moniker. This newest flavor from Texas-based Blue Bell is described as “creamy peach ice cream with chunks of sweetened peaches.”

How is it?

Well, it’s peachy, as advertised, both literally and figuratively. There are no bells and whistles with this ice cream — those wouldn’t taste very good anyway — but it delivers on its promise. It’s a tasty peach ice cream base, and the peach chunks give it a pleasant boost and some extra texture. I generally find Blue Bell ice creams to be creamier than the average store brand. However, this one seemed to be a bit lacking in the creaminess department. Even so, that’s about the only mark I have against this. The ice cream flavor is pleasant with the perfect amount of peachiness while not being overpowering.

The peach chunks, which are quite large, dial up the peach flavor and the sweetness a few notches, but again, not to the extreme. I wouldn’t say you get a fresh peach flavor from the chunks but rather more of a candied peach taste. It’s hard for a somewhat basic ice cream product to be spectacular, and this one isn’t, but I did like it better than the average single-flavor ice cream.

Anything else you need to know?

You don’t need to know this in any way whatsoever, but apparently, the world record for the largest peach is 1 pound 12 ounces, and not surprisingly, it was grown in Georgia. I have to say I’m not that impressed. I don’t know what weight would sufficiently impress me — maybe if it was as big as my head — but I thought the record peach would be bigger for some reason. See, you didn’t need to know any of this, but since it’s a section of the review, I feel compelled to fill this space.

Conclusion:

For a straightforward ice cream flavor like this, your level of enjoyment will be closely tied to your affinity for peaches. For me, peaches land about in the middle of the fruit spectrum. So I’ll happily finish this pint but probably won’t buy another one. If you are a peach fanatic, this might turn into one of your favorite ice creams.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: H-E-B
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 210 calories, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 26 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Blue Bell Ice Cream

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Dublin Mudslide (2022)

Sean / March 18, 2022 / Reviews / 1 Comment

Following 2020’s “Fan Favorite” resurrection of Gimme S’more, Peanut Butter Half Baked, and Cannoli, Ben & Jerry’s has once again taken a trip to its Flavor Graveyard and used ice cream voodoo to summon a heralded classic from the dead. Previously RIP’d in 2012, Dublin Mudslide is Irish cream ice cream with chocolate chocolate chip cookies and a coffee fudge swirl.

Irish cream is one of those flavors that seems to have been around my entire life in various forms, from Milano cookies to (more recently) Starbucks drinks, but I’ve never fully understood what it’s supposed to taste like. In its purest form, it’s a mixture of whiskey and milk, but I’ve had iterations that taste more like vanilla, coffee, or even chocolate. So I went into this pint not knowing what to expect.

The base tastes like a really rich sweet cream with a hint of whiskey. The booziness is mild but it’s definitely there, and adds a faint smoky oak note that brings a little depth and intrigue to the otherwise good but tame ice cream. Its main strength is its silky smooth and dense texture, a result of the mere presence of alcohol in the mixture, and it’s fantastic. I wouldn’t mind more punchiness like I’m taking a straight liqueur swig but I can’t deny the velvety richness of the mouthfeel.

For this reinvented version, Ben & Jerry’s teamed up with Wheyward Spirit, a new liquor derived from whey, the liquid co-product of cheese and other dairy products. By partnering with domestic dairy producers they’re able to reduce waste and lower the environmental footprint of production while simultaneously creating a unique and sip-able booze. The Wheyward’s flavor is like a slightly fruity cross between sake and tequila, but in Dublin Mudslide it does a solid job of conjuring mild whiskey.

The mix-in density is excellent, and I’m really happy with the quality control compared to this year’s Chewy Gooey Cookie. The cookies add a rich chocolate flavor with hints of butter and a perfectly soft chew, accented by the crunchiness of harder chocolate chips.

Bringing some sauciness to the equation, the coffee fudge swirl is abundant and tasty with a 60/40 split of chocolate to coffee that does well to add a touch of bitterness to the succulently smooth and mild ice cream. The two components work well in a coffee-meets-chocolate mocha tandem that tastes perfectly familiar and comfortable next to the alcohol-tinged base.

It became clear to me while scooping this pint that the confusion around what an Irish cream flavored product tastes like stems from the fact that something like Baileys is often mixed with other components. You can drink Irish cream straight, but it feels so much more common in an Irish coffee, White Russian cocktail, or even hot chocolate, so this Ben & Jerry’s creation kind of taps into all the components that could be found with Irish cream and brings them together as one.

This is a well executed flavor that does everything it tries to do as quietly but effectively as possible. There’s a little bit of whiskey, a little bit of coffee, and a little bit more chocolate. I can see why this would be considered a fan favorite, and kudos to Ben & Jerry’s for the excellent quality control. I would personally enjoy a stronger handed boozy flourish but I can’t deny how lovely this one is to scoop.

DISCLOSURE: I originally purchased a pint, but also received a free product sample from Ben & Jerry’s and attended a virtual tasting hosted by the company. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 134g) 340 calories, 18 grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 34 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

REVIEW: Magnum Duet Ice Cream Bars

Erin / March 8, 2022 / Reviews / 1 Comment

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.

Ice Cream Magnum