Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops aren’t as prevalent as McDonald’s restaurants, Starbucks locations, or mattress stores. But if you happen to live within a reasonable driving distance from one, you can try three Scoop Shop-exclusive flavors this summer, all inspired by the candy aisle — Nutty Caramel Swirl, Toffee Break, and Caramel Crisp.

Nutty Caramel Swirl

As you can guess, since this flavor has nougat ice cream, peanuts, fudge flakes, and a salted caramel swirl, Nutty Caramel Swirl honors the iconic Snickers bar.

But it’s not a new variety. It made its debut back in 2013 as a 7-Eleven exclusive. We reviewed it back then, and you can read that review by clicking here. If you want an updated version, please read on.

Packed with peanuts, Nutty Caramel Swirl satisfies. Okay, not as much as an actual Snickers, but this flavor does a good job at paying homage to the candy bar. First off, that nougat-flavored base is spot on. If you want cold nougat in your mouth, you could freeze/refrigerate a Snickers or Milky Way bar, or you could buy a scoop of this ice cream.

The caramel added a gooey texture and a buttery and salty flavor. The peanuts were everywhere in the pint. It was as if Marcellus Gilmore Edson’s lab was in it. The legumes don’t have the same crunch as peanuts in a Snickers bar; they were slightly dull, which was a bummer.

As for the fudge flakes, they were the least impressive component. They didn’t make themselves known too often. With every spoonful, I thought to myself that it could’ve used a little more chocolate flavor to capture the spirit of a Snickers. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I feel as if it could’ve been better.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 scoop/85 grams) 230 calories, 13 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber 19 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Toffee Break

If you want my recommendation for which of the three flavors you should try, which you might since this is a review site, go with Toffee Break.

When I first tried this and started jotting down my thoughts, that was my opening sentence. It’s now crossed out because after eating a second scoop (and a third), I don’t believe it anymore.

Toffee Break features buttery brown sugar ice cream with almond brittle and a toffee caramel swirl. It tries to capture a Heath Bar in ice cream form. What got me loving this at first was the combination of the buttery flavors with almond peeking out every so often and the super crunch of the brittle. But after dipping my spoon into the pint for a second time, those flavors didn’t seem to pop as much as they did when I first dug into it.

When that happened, I thought maybe it’s not the ice cream. Instead, it’s me. So I rinsed my mouth with water and scraped off whatever build up there was on my tongue. But I still couldn’t recreate the euphoria I had when I initially dug into this flavor.

The buttery brown sugar base tastes more like vanilla, while the caramel still brings the butteriness, but it’s not as intense as before. At times, spoonfuls with just the base and swirl remind me of birthday cake. The almond is still there whenever I bite into a piece of brittle, which has a jaw-shaking crunch that’ll appeal to ice chewers and helps those spoonfuls that have it taste somewhat like a Heath Bar.

Toffee Break is a fine ice cream, but it doesn’t stand out among the other two.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 scoop/85 grams) 220 calories, 12 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, 135 milligrams of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 20 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Caramel Crisp

Finally, we have Caramel Crisp, a flavor that has milk chocolate and caramel ice creams with mini caramel-filled cups and crispy bits. The combination makes it sound as if the pint honors Nestle’s 100 Grand Bar, one of my favorite candy bars.

Like a 100 Grand Bar, my pint was loaded with crispy bits. Unless you have extreme precision with a spoon, there’s no way to NOT get at least one in a spoonful. They provide a crunch that’s slightly better than Rice Krispies. Although, I did get my pint within days of coming out of the factory, so that might contribute to their freshness.

While it’s hard to miss the crispy mix-in, there weren’t a lot of the caramel-filled cups in my pint. It took a lot of digging before I got my first one. It’s an issue because the gooey caramel inside each chocolatey cup is the key to making the flavor similar to my favorite candy bar. The caramel ice cream doesn’t do that for me. When I’m able to get all the ingredients together on one spoon, it’s grand.

There’s a part of me that wishes this came with a caramel swirl instead so that there’s an even distribution of the buttery confection, but I understand why it might not have one since the other two varieties do. So if you do try this flavor at a Scoop Shop, be THAT customer who asks for a scoop that has a lot of caramel cups.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 scoop/85 grams) 230 calories, 13 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

I know it might seem like I’m a little down on these, but I really enjoyed all three flavors. They all do a decent to good job at emulating the flavors of their respective candy bars. Which one you choose should really come down to which candy bar you prefer — Snickers, Heath, or 100 Grand.

Are these flavors worth the trip to a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop?

Well, it’s getting warmer, which means you’re getting warmer, and ice cream is cold, so eating ice cream will make you less warm. That’s physics or thermodynamics or both. I don’t know. I barely passed every science class I took. But if you’re looking for a sweet treat to help you beat the heat for a brief moment, any of these three would be fine.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free sample of each flavor from Ben & Jerry’s (Thanks, Ben and Jerry). Doing so did not influence my review in any way.

As spring winds down and electricity bills ramp up from air conditioning, grocery stores nationwide are busy curating their ice cream supplies to make room for this season’s newest releases.

Walmart is no exception, and it’s entirely appropriate that it, as the most distinctly “American” superstore, be the exclusive distributor of Ben & Jerry’s two newest pints celebrating summer in the USA.

Red, White & Blueberry

This Old Glory-themed pint blends pieces of shortbread cookies with raspberry, blueberry, and vanilla ice creams. Colorful name aside, this appears woefully pale under the lid, and its taste is similarly one-note.

Rather than enhancing the more interesting blueberry and raspberry ice cream swirls, the intense vanilla base comprised roughly 70% of this pint’s volume, and almost entirely masked every unique component promised in this flavor’s description.

Granted, Ben & Jerry’s makes an excellent vanilla ice cream (so excellent, in fact, that Delish.com declared it to be the best vanilla ice cream you can buy in stores), but nobody is buying this Walmart-exclusive because they want something so…vanilla.

Blueberry is a woefully underrepresented flavor in the frozen dessert aisle, and I was hoping for this to be its moment to break out into the limelight. Sadly, the only blueberries I found were in the swirl’s light purple color. Somehow, the raspberry ice cream was even more indecipherable. I didn’t see a single trace of pink or red in my entire container.

Even the shortbread pieces seemed uninspired. Although not entirely terrible, they were soggy, lacked any notion of creativity, and didn’t seem up to par with Ben & Jerry’s usual “everything plus the kitchen sink” attitude.

Ice Cream Sammie

Supposedly a more expensive and less portable spin on the classic childhood treat, Ice Cream Sammie combines chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate cookie swirls into a base of rich vanilla ice cream.

Like Red, White & Blueberry, this flavor also failed to live up to my expectations. Unlike its sister pint, however, the issue here isn’t from lack of flavor. Rather, the true nature of this pint is misrepresented by its name. The cookies used here are basically Oreo-like, not true ice cream sandwich wafers. That difference may seem minor, but the impact it has on how this ice cream comes across is enormous.

Rather than reminding me of actual ice cream sandwiches, this is more like Cookies ‘N Cream on steroids. Is it a good version of Cookies ‘N Cream? Yes, absolutely! (And if you’re into Cookies ‘N Cream, then this is something for you to pick up on your next trip to Wally World). But is it like those unmeltable ice cream sandwiches I loved so much as a kid? Not even close.

Although those in search of the ultimate Cookies ‘N Cream may dig Ice Cream Sammie, both of these Walmart-exclusives were way off the mark for me. With so many other delicious options from Ben & Jerry’s, I’d recommend sticking to your usual favorites during your next ice cream run.

Purchased Price: $3.48 each
Size: 1 pint
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 4 out of 10 (Red, White & Blueberry)
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Ice Cream Sammie)
Nutrition Facts: (1/2 cup) Red, White & Blueberry – 220 calories, 120 calories from fat, 13 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 19 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein. Ice Cream Sammie – 290 calories, 150 calories from fat, 17 grams of total fat, 8 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 24 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.

What are the Ben & Jerry’s Snackable Dough Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Chunks?

They’re the same gritty and chewy globs of deliciousness that are in Ben & Jerry’s classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. It’s also available in vegan form, which is in the ice cream company’s somewhat new Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Dessert. There’s also a peanut butter cookie dough version. Unfortunately, Ben & Jerry’s didn’t send that to me. Sad panda.

The most noticeable ingredient differences between the vegan and regular versions are the use of coconut oil instead of butter, and there are no eggs in the vegan one.

With most other edible cookie dough out there, you need utensils to eat them, but these chunks are completely snackable.

How are they?

Wonderful.

I should preface that by saying Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is one of my top five favorite B&J’s flavors. To be honest, I’ve never taken the time to think of and write down what my favorite five varieties are, but CCCD would definitely on the list. I love the brown sugar and chocolate of every cookie dough chunk. I also love the gritty and soft texture with the snap of the chocolate chips.

While the regular cookie dough chunks vary in size, the vegan ones are more uniform and slightly firmer, but they’re just as snackable.

Actually, I don’t believe that with every fiber of my being. If I had to choose between the two, I’d prefer the regular one. It tastes a little bit better, but that’s because my taste buds think it has more chocolate flavor than the vegan one, which has a more noticeable brown sugar flavor. A stronger chocolate kick is what I prefer, but I wouldn’t complain if I won a sweepstakes for a lifetime supply of the vegan one. Both make me want to stick my hands into them repeatedly like I’m an OCD kangaroo.

Is there anything else you need to know?

If you want to upgrade crappy frozen dairy dessert **cough**Breyers**cough**, this will do it. If you’d like to create Ben & Jerry’s Xtreme Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, this will do it.

These have to be kept frozen, but if you let the regular one thaw for a few minutes, it’ll have a pleasant cookie dough-like squishy texture.

I do wish the pouches they came in were larger or had more. A serving is approximately 10-14 pieces, and there are only eight servings per bag, which doesn’t seem like much to me. I found myself quickly blowing past the serving size right after opening them.

Conclusion:

If you’re like me who goes digging into a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream like an archeologist to obtain the glob of cookie dough safely, then these pouches of snackable cookie dough are a no brainer. No digging necessary.

DISCLOSURE: I received free samples from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review in any way. Yes, this very positive review might make you skeptical. But I rest assured, I have given you my honest thoughts about them.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 8 oz. pouches
Purchased at: Received from Ben & Jerry’s
Rating: 9 out of 10 (Regular)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Vegan)
Nutrition Facts: (28 grams) Original – 110 calories, 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein. Vegan – 120 calories, 4 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 30 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.