The last of Ben & Jerry’s Phase Two Topped pints to arrive at my local Safeway, and therefore find its way onto this blog, is Chocolate Milk & Cookies. This flavor is a relatively simple remix of one of B&J’s most beloved and classic pints among cookie frea—er, enthusiasts. The extra choco-fied version of Milk & Cookies pairs a chocolate ice cream with chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cookie swirls, topped with milk chocolatey ganache and fudge chips. 

Just as with all the other Topped pints, the chocolate ganache on top is great. The milk chocolate is sweet and milky while the fudge chips are slightly darker and add a little crunch. Nothing new here or particularly of note compared to the others in the lineup. It’s a fun way to start the journey — best broken into pieces and spread throughout the scooping experience.

Beyond the ganache there’s not a whole lot of excitement in this scoop. I really enjoy the original Milk & Cookies, and while I’m a fan of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate base I think it really does this pint a disservice. The beautiful contrast between the brown sugary cookie chunks and vanilla of the OG gets lost against the more dominant bitter notes of the chocolate. It doesn’t help that there aren’t nearly as many soft and chewy cookie chunks as I associate with Ben & Jerry’s. They’re there, but just as with some of the pints in the original Topped line, the mix-ins are much more sparse and hard to find.

Even more egregious is the lack of chocolate cookie swirl. I’m very familiar with this gritty Oreo-like ribbon of delight from B&J and there is virtually none to be found. It’s such a bummer because I loved Topped Dirt Cake, which has not only a wonderful vanilla pudding base but the inescapable aura of cookies in every spoonful. I dug all the way to the bottom and found mere whispers of cookie swirl — it made me very sad.

This pint isn’t bad but it’s very underwhelming. My experience may have come down to a quality control issue, because I’m sure Ben & Jerry’s didn’t intend on the mix-ins being so light. While I don’t think it could compete with the original vanilla version even at full strength, if I had had any respectable amount of swirl and some more chocolate chip cookie chunks this pint has potential to be solid.

Rating: 6/10