REVIEW: Little G X MdoughW Red Velvet

May 19, 2017May 20, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

Red velvet cake is pretty straight forward, yet somehow easy to not do proper justice. A red colored chocolate cake adorned with cream cheese frosting. Two crucial elements that need to balance each other out to create a symphony of sweet, chocolatey, tangy, and rich. For their limited batch collaboration, Little G and MdoughW chose to take on the classic cake and smash it into a pretty pint consisting of cream cheese ice cream with red velvet white chocolate chip MdoughW pieces.

No surprise here – the cream cheese base is executed wonderfully. Incredibly smooth and velvety, it has the signature cream cheese tang that has been tempered with the perfect amount of sweetness to keep it from going savory. It channels the frosting it is emulating in ice cream form beautifully with a brilliant balance of sweet and tart that leaves a lingering cheesy flavor in my mouth. The cream cheese aids in the already decadent texture of Little G’s ice cream and makes for a very delicious and complex bite.

The red velvet pieces from MdoughW pack a serious cocoa-heavy chocolate punch that hinder on bitter with a lovely deep red velvet color. The addition of white chocolate chips give a small crunch that is welcome with MdoughW’s notoriously soft texture. The cookie pieces occupy a space somewhere between your traditional fully baked cookie and cookie dough, and are an incredibly organic fit for putting into ice cream. When the two components come together on my spoon it is spot on like taking a bite of super moist red velvet cake in melty frozen form.

This ice cream overall is much less mix in heavy than the usual offering from Little G and showcases her ability to churn out extremely high quality bases. Something that I very rarely think when getting pints from Little G is wanting more mix ins, and that might actually be the case here. While the doughie pieces are fantastic, there was only around 6 or 7 in the container, and as good as the base is, the cake pieces are essential to making the red velvet experience sing. Still, this is one of the better red velvet ice creams I have had, and the attention to detail and balance in the flavors is remarkable when they’re both actually there.

Rating: 7/10

Found at: http://www.goldbely.com (use promo code seanpancake0 for $25 off of your first order!)

REVIEW: Coolhaus Bananas Foster

May 4, 2017May 3, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Coolhaus are a small “architecturally inspired” Los Angeles based gourmet ice cream company founded on making big, craft ice cream cookie sandwiches, or, “cool houses”. While their sandwiches are the main attraction, their pints have started popping up in Northern California grocery stores, and are now getting distribution in 4,000 stores across the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. They are a quickly growing company that are simply too hot to ignore, and I was excited to find some of their flavors at my local Safeway. After perusing all of the options I decided to make my first foray into Coolhaus with something you don’t see too often – Bananas Foster – which combines banana ice cream with a rum-spiked dulce de leche swirl.

The banana base is great – smooth and creamy with a light but very authentic banana flavor that tastes natural and absolutely nothing like a banana Laffy Taffy. It isn’t over the top sweet and leaves some room for pleasant vanilla undertones to come through and round out a lovely tropical flavor. The problem is the flavor is almost so subtle that after a couple spoonfuls it fades away and I’m left with more of a clean vanilla or sweet cream taste than the banana I started with. The texture is still on point but the dwindling flavor makes it less enticing to want to eat more.

The rum spiked dulce de leche swirl is also tasty but lacking in some execution as well. What I like about it is that the texture is nice and thick like a condensed milk, differentiating it as a dulce de leche rather than just a caramel. It isn’t too sweet but there is also almost no rum flavor whatsoever. Maybe the rum is tempering the sweetness, but I was hoping for at least some amount of boozy kick and I’m just not finding it. The swirl also isn’t incorporated very much into the ice cream, predominantly running down the sides, which means I have to dig and scrape the sticky stuff rather than encounter it while eating and that takes a little bit of the fun away.

Both elements in this pint are of high quality with great texture and subtle restraint, but just missing the mark to give that wow factor I was hoping for. There’s no doubt Coolhaus makes a solid product, but this flavor needs some kind of crunchy textural element like brûlée-d sugar and/or more swirl to really take it to the next level.

Rating: 6.5/10

REVIEW: Haagen-Dazs Toasted Coconut Caramel

April 19, 2017April 18, 2017 / seansskillet / 1 Comment

Coconut is one of the most intensely polarizing flavors I have ever come across during my eating escapades. Some people love it and want to bask in its nutty glory in their coffee, on their donuts, in their curry, coating their chocolate, and on their shrimp. Others find the taste disgusting, and liken it to drinking a tub of sunscreen, with no enjoyable qualities either sweet or savory. It is for this reason, I think, that we don’t see nearly as many coconut ice creams lining the grocery freezers as any number of chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and berry varieties. Stepping up to the daring plate, much like they did with their intense Bourbon Praline Pecan flavor, Haagen-Dazs have delivered Toasted Coconut Caramel, which combines coconut ice cream with toasted coconut flakes and swirls of dulce de leche caramel.

Immediately upon scooping into this pint I’m smacked over the head with big, bold coconut flavor. The one-two punch of coconut ice cream with toasted coconut flakes leaves nothing to the imagination if you’re seeking a taste of the tropics, and I’m generally impressed with how strong the flavor is. The grittiness of coconut flakes could be off putting to some but I don’t mind the added chew and it doesn’t take away from the creamy indulgence that ice cream should be. There are so many coconut flakes that it’s nearly impossible to isolate the base and it’s unclear how much of the nutty flavor is coming from the ice cream as opposed to the flakes themselves, but it doesn’t really matter as the point is made and it is strong.

While the dulce de leche caramel in this flavor is perfectly fine and adds some extra sweetness to the equation, I can’t help but feel as though it could have been a lot better. It doesn’t really stand out much against the other two components, and even when I isolate some pure caramel on my spoon I don’t get much toasty caramel goodness – just sort of flat sugary goo. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by so much extraordinary Salt & Straw caramel recently but I would love a little bit of salt or toasty darkened caramel as opposed to the standard dulce de leche to help elevate this pint to another level and add some extra depth of flavor.

The combination of the intensely toasted and textured coconut with the pure sweetness of the dulce reminds me a lot of Samoas Girl Scout cookies, and had they thrown in some chocolate chips or a fudge swirl this could have easily been branded as such. If you’re looking for a big blast of coconut in your ice cream this will definitely leave you satisfied, but ultimately there wasn’t enough going on in this flavor to be super crave-able or warrant a repeat purchase.
Rating: 7/10
Found at: Safeway ($3.99)

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Oat of this Swirled

April 14, 2017April 13, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

Bring on the fudge flakes. Five flavors, five flakey endeavors, welcome to the modern era of Ben & Jerry’s. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever orders ingredients for B&J accidentally ordered 1,000 pounds of the flakey chocolate instead of 100, these flakes in this flavor actually have a purpose, in the form of an homage. In 2012 Ben & Jerry’s sent Oatmeal Cookie Chunk to the flavor graveyard, and although I never had it, I’ve heard of its greatness referenced more times than I can count. Oat of This Swirled is the company’s response to the fans’ dairy-soaked tears, which combines buttery brown sugar ice cream with fudge flakes and oatmeal cinnamon cookie swirls.

The brown sugar ice cream is more effective here than in Blondie Ambition, where the toffee flakes muddy some of the texture and take away from the subtle golden brown sugar notes. It’s not a mind blowing base by any means but it’s clearly not vanilla and has a richness to it that is very enjoyable and compliments the profile of oatmeal cookies well. Speaking of cookies, the swirl here is very tasty, with a slight grittiness and buttery cinnamon flavor that is straight oatmeal cookie without the chew. Some of the cinnamon flavor seeps into the base and the two work together to translate the creamy slightly spicy feeling of fresh baked cookies. I do wish there were some chunks to go along with the swirl though, to give some bigger bursts of the baked goods, because as it stands you’ve gotta dig deep and hope to find a decent strand of the ribbon (which is great when you do).

The fudge flakes, as good of quality as they are and as much as I begrudge their overuse in these new flavors, actually do work here. Their sweet yet dark chocolate notes serve as a good gap between the cinnamon and brown sugar, and even though they’re strong tasting they don’t overpower the other two elements. There’s still a few too many of them in relation to the amount of swirl, but they aren’t making me angry at all.

The more that I eat the more I realize this ice cream tastes almost identical to eating an original IT-S-IT, the Bay Area born oatmeal ice cream cookie sandwich dipped in chocolate. The flavors in this pint mimic that experience almost perfectly, even hitting the right balance of spices and sweetness to the degree that multiple times I walked away from the freezer thinking I had just finished eating a sando and not playing shovel with my spoon. This is both a blessing and a curse because A. IT’S-IT’s are freakin awesome I love them and B. They were invented in 1928 and I’ve had that experience at my disposal my entire life, so there’s nothing new or unique being brought to the table, even though it’s delicious.

Through and through this pint comes off as a touch lazy and lacking some pizazz but I actually really enjoy a lot of what’s inside. If Ben and Jerry’s wanted to make a simple switch that could take this to another level, cut the fudge flakes by 30% and add in some cookie chunks to compliment the swirl – boom – magic would be made.

Rating: 8/10
Found at: Safeway

REVIEW: Little G Snack Attack

March 31, 2017March 30, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

I’m a snacker. I fancy me a good breakfast and dinner but throughout the day I would much rather have a series of smaller snacks than a sit down lunch to constantly keep my food-buzz rollin. I would also rather eat ice cream than lunch, and usually at least once a week I do that, and say I ‘eff the yogurt and salad I’m gettin’ me a double dip. Understanding my heart and soul greatly, one of Little G’s signature ice cream flavors is Snack Attack, which combines vanilla bean ice cream with a crispy caramelized snack mix of pretzels, potato chips, butter crackers, peanut butter cups, and candy coated chocolate. Perfect for a snack addicts meal replacement plan. Spoons up!

This pint is dense. Snack Attack is a wall to wall mix in assault of candy that looks unlike any other ice cream container you will ever open. It’s colorful and chunky and downright wild. Dipping my spoon in it’s almost impossible to isolate the base but I get a little bit of it and it is a very sweet but tasty vanilla. There’s a hint of saltiness to it, not like the aggressive sea salt used by Salt and Straw, but like some of the salt from the pretzels and chips have soaked into the base, which balances out some of the sweetness.

The predominant flavor here is candy. M&M’s and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups take center stage as the ice cream is merely a backdrop to the junk aisle staples that make up most of the containers’ contents. It’s hard to go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter and milky creamy goodness and on those points this pint definitely delivers.

As much fun as this flavor is to eat I do have some issues with it. I really wanted big satisfying hits of salt to counter all of the sweet, and unfortunately my pint was dangerously low, almost devoid, of crackers, chips, and pretzels. Again, there was a bit of salty presence in the ice cream itself but I never got a single chip or cracker and the only pretzel piece I got was soggy and softer than any of the candy pieces. While it is insanely fun to be eating ice cream and pull out half of a peanut butter cup, which I did, twice, I couldn’t help but feel like to be paying such a premium price I want more of what the description promises.

Even though this flavor didn’t completely hit the mark for me I have to admit that I was left thinking about the eating experience right after it was gone. While it doesn’t satisfy the same part of my tongue and brain that a big creamy scoop of ice cream does, it is an incredibly unique, crunchy, and fun eating experience that every ice cream lover ought to try at least once, and very well could fall in love with.

Rating: 8/10

REVIEW: Haagen-Dazs Bourbon Praline Pecan

March 24, 2017March 23, 2017 / seansskillet / 4 Comments

Have you ever been unsure whether you wanted to cap your night off with a shot of whiskey or a scoop of ice cream? Is your inner bad boy torn between melty sweet spoonfuls of creaminess or the tummy-warming tingle of bourbon? Look no further – Haagen-Dasz has made your solution. Their new for 2017 flavor, Bourbon Praline Pecan, combines bourbon ice cream with nutty praline pecans and pools of brown sugar bourbon, to create “indulgence with a kick”.

As I begin to scoop into the container the strong aroma of bourbon wafts into my nostrils almost as convincingly as if I had just popped a fresh bottle of the hard stuff. The smell is incredibly powerful and very authentic – it doesn’t come across artificially created or in-genuine at all.

Going in for a taste this is without a doubt the booziest ice cream I have ever had, and I had to check the carton to see what the proof was and why they didn’t ask for my ID at Safeway (there is no proof, so no ID required). What’s incredibly impressive here is the booze on booze action between the bourbon base and brown sugar bourbon swirl, as it creates an inescapable flavor that teeters on the edge of too much alcohol. The brown sugar bourbon swirl is less sweet than your typical caramel but has a runny stickiness to it that reminds me of maple syrup. Although it has a boozy component to it, it’s noticeably less strong than in the ice cream itself and they work together in great harmony.

The lone crunchy mix in, the praline pecans, pop with a sweet fattyness that works really well with the other two elements, and they stand out more than when in the usual butter pecan or caramel ice cream you would find this type of candied nut in. Sometimes less standard bases, like ones made of bourbon, can lose their unique flair after a couple of bites, but the pecans help keep that profile in check, and after their big sweet release the predominant components of the pint go right back to tasting like they were poured from an oak barrel. Although the praline pieces aren’t terribly big there’s a lot of them so the sweetness and crunch come in and out of bites frequently.

This is a great ice cream. Although it walks on the edge of being too strong, I’ve gotta give HD props for making a flavor that really lives up to its name and smacked me in the mouth with midnight regret. I don’t know that this would be my go-to when choosing a flavor to enjoy at the store, but it’s a definite must try for anyone who is a fan of bourbon or alcohol-tinged sweets.

Rating: 8.5/10

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon

March 8, 2017April 13, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

I’m not the biggest drinker in the world but I love me some boozy ice cream. Many mainstream ice cream companies are afraid to work with alcohol, probably a little bit due to the adult social association it may carry, but also from a technical side, since hard liquor doesn’t freeze using it within ice cream takes some serious skill. Difficult execution aside, some of my all time favorite flavors meld cream and alcohol in a way that yields addictive perfection, and in the year 2017 Ben and Jerry’s are officially gunning for my heart with the release of Urban Bourbon. This brand new flavor combines a burnt caramel ice cream with almonds, fudge flakes, and a bourbon caramel swirl.

The burnt caramel base is more subdued than I expected, without any dominant sweet caramel notes or rich deep burnt flavor coming through. There’s a little bit of roasted flavor but not even a quarter of the amount as other burnt caramel bases I’ve had, like the phenomenal one from Bi-Rite. It also feels a little on the thin side for a premium scoop, with an almost watery finish that doesn’t leave a strong aftertaste. The almonds are small and integrated throughout the texture of the ice cream itself, adding a constant small chew without any almond flavor or big satisfying snap. The fudge flakes are great, big chunks of sweet dark chocolate that add good texture, but there are simply too many of them. Since they are the least unique part of this pint I want them to come in and out of the bites and they’re taking over almost every spoonful.

The biggest issue with this pint is the lack of booziness. For a flavor with bourbon in its name it’s a pretty big let down how un-boozy the overall experience of eating this ice cream is. The only element that has the bourbon is the caramel swirl and there is very little of the swirl to be found. I had a little bit towards the top and had to dig past the middle of the container to get more of the good stuff, and even then it wasn’t as bourbon-y or complex as I was expecting. A big gob of the caramel on my spoon only gave off a bit of bourbon flavor and came off more straight sweet with a slight bitter finish than booze balanced by sugar. I wish I could have had more caramel to try and critique the use of the bourbon better but it was nowhere to be found, even as I dug to the very bottom of the pint.

Overall the almonds actually hurt the flavor, taking away from the creaminess and any subtle burnt notes that should be present in a base like this. The bourbon caramel is a letdown, not only in its flavor, but in its quantity, and there is way too much chocolate to savor the little bit of liquor you might be able to salvage from digging. Interestingly, I actually get more of a roasted coffee vibe than a caramel vibe from this pint as a whole. Every time that I would start to grasp any kind of burnt quality it would immediately get washed away and blown out by the huge chocolate flakes. Maybe I’m just spoiled by great local creameries, but two of my favorite flavors, Humphry Slocombe’s Secret Breakfast and Little Giant’s Dirty South, both use the beautiful booze balance so much more convincingly that I can’t help but be very let down by Ben and Jerry’s attempt.

Rating: 5/10

Sean's Skillet

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