ice cream reviews

REVIEW: Salt & Straw Wildflower Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies

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Every May Salt & Straw dedicates the month to the magic of spring’s awakening. April showers bring May flowers and what better way to honor their beauty than by eating them? While I’m not a huge fan of floral ice cream’s I am a major mark for that sweet sweet nectar created with flowers via super buzzy bee love. Honey creates the foundation for some of the tastiest bases I’ve ever had, and while I’ll pass on Jasmine Chocolate Chip, and I can never turn my back on a pint of Pooh’s favorite. Wildflower Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies combines honey ricotta ice cream with a hint of lemon and homemade whole oat and walnut lace cookies frosted with buttery ricotta icing.

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REVIEW: Talenti’s Special Batch Almond Butter & Honey

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The similarities between two of my favorite foods in the world – ice cream and nut butters – is quite remarkable. Creamy, fatty, diverse, mix-able, and incredibly addictive, it’s no surprise that their paths often cross to create some of my favorite scoops. While peanut butter and Nutella are pretty standard fare for blending into ice cream, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a company using almond butter – until now. While I don’t think almond butter tastes nearly as perfect and sweet as my coveted PB, I’m intrigued to see what can happen when the two make a sweet ice cream baby. Talenti’s Special Batch Almond Butter & Honey Gelato combines an almond butter gelato with a swirl of wildflower honey. Simple enough.

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REVIEW: Haagen-Dazs Crispy Layer Trios (Coconut Caramel Chocolate, Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate)

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As much as I appreciate Haagen-Dazs’ dedication to lush, full fat ice cream bases, I wasn’t too hot on last year’s Trios line. While the concept was cool – layers of chocolate immersed within two flavors of ice cream, I found the execution a bit blasé and much less interesting than just a standard base, mix-in, and swirl combo. None of the flavors I tried really did much for me, and I always thought that they missed a little bit of the magic that a good ribbon or boulder of a chunk of something chewy and fun can bring to the table. Apparently the folks at HD agreed with me, as this year they decided to up the ante on the layered concept with Crispy Trio Layers, which combines ice cream with the aforementioned chocolate layers but add in a new gooey component for another level of textural excitement.

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REVIEW: Haagen-Dazs’ Banana Peanut Butter Chip

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There aren’t too many better ways to start a morning than a piece of peanut butter banana toast. Okay, actually, there are eggs benedict, chicken fried steak, huevos rancheros, fluffy ass pancakes…I’m getting out of hand. Let me rephrase. There aren’t many simple, smart, and deliciously better ways to start a morning than the wonderful combination of peanut butter and banana. The perfect balance of fats, carbs, and flavor, they combine for a super creamy sweet and salty AM treat that remains one of my go-tos whenever I’m feeling classic (and lazy). And what better way to elevate that combo than substitute the bread for ice cream? Oh yes, it sounds divine, and Haagen-Dazs’ new Decadent Collection delivers just that with Banana Peanut Butter Chip, which combines a sweet banana ice cream with bits of chocolate chips and peanut butter ribbons.

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REVIEW: Ample Hills’ Peanut Butter Munchies

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Flavor Frenzy 2018. They battled. We voted. I campaigned. Team peanut butter got the victory. After a grueling bracket filled with succulent scoops of Ample Hills’ past, the return of Peanut Butter Munchies became a reality. The nut-ified twist on AH’s classic combines a peanut butter pretzel custard with caramelized clusters of Ritz crackers, potato chips, pretzels, and Reese’s Pieces.

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REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Shake It Truffles

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Here’s a hot take for ya: I hate milkshakes. Okay, maybe “hate” is a strong word, but in most situations I find milkshakes totally pointless. I am of the mindset that we shouldn’t drink our calories, and much like soda is a silly way to take in 50 grams of sugar, I don’t want to slurp down 1,000 calories of dairy bliss.

Sure, a burger, shake, and fries is a classic pairing if you want to go into an immediate food coma, but I’d rather have my burger and fries with some water and go in on a double scoop for dessert. I also believe that well crafted ice cream is a thing of beauty and watering it down with more milk is simply sacrilege. That being said, I do like me a little maltiness from time to time, and Ben & Jerry’s are giving me the opportunity to indulge in the classic shake experience without breaking my no straw rule. Chocolate Shake It Truffles combines a chocolate malt milkshake ice cream with chocolate-cookie covered fudge truffles and marshmallow swirls.

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REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Chillin’ the Roast Truffles

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Caffeine is the most widely abused drug in the world, and I’ve got to imagine alcohol isn’t too far behind it. Most people start their day with a steaming cup of coffee and end it with an ice cold brewski or glass of wine; and the two beverages allow us to get our days rollin’ and then wind them down, respectively. In my funny little world, I would rather start my day off with the coffee and end it with a nice creamy scoop of some high quality ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s Truffles line has a new solution to all of my problems with Chillin’ the Roast, which combines cold brew coffee ice cream with chocolate cookie-covered coffee liqueur truffles and a fudge swirl.

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REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles

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In addition to dropping non-stop pun-tastic pints, Ben & Jerry’s love to work with themes. A couple years back it was the novelty-driven Cores, followed by the one-upped Cookie Cores, last year it was the “whoops we ordered way too many fudge flakes” line, and this year it’s all about truffles. All three of B&J’s new releases to kick off the coveted ice cream season revolve around the ganache-centric European staple, including Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake, which pairs a caramel cheesecake ice cream with graham cracker-covered cheesecake truffles and chocolate cookie swirls. Do you have a respirator handy, cause my breathing is HEAVY!

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REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Glampfire Trail Mix

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Until today I had no idea what “glamping” was, and there’s a decent chance you don’t either, so I’ll get ya up to speed. Glamping is short for “glamour camping” and is the hybrid of the lovely outdoor freshness of traditional camping and more posh resort-style hotel amenities of regular vacationing. It truly is the hypothetical best of both world’s, where you can go on a long mind-clearing hike and take a poop into something that flushes before roasting some marshmallows over an easy-to-ignite outdoor fire pit. Speaking of marshmallows, and similarly to my lack of knowledge about glamping, I had no clue Target was getting a new exclusive flavor from Ben & Jerry’s, and was stopped in my tracks when doing my daily perusing of the frozen aisle at my favorite red-clad establishment. Apparently inspired by faux-camping and uber decadent hiking snacks, Glampfire Trail Mix combines chocolate ice cream with crunchy pretzel swirls, marshmallow swirls, and fudge-covered almonds.

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REVIEW: Magnum’s White Chocolate Vanilla Tub

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I tend to like variety in my sweets, and especially in ice cream. Different layers, textures, and flavors that work together to create one sumptuous symphony of taste sensation. But at times there’s something appealing about excess. Tons of chocolate, tons of peanut butter, tons of caramel, or less commonly, tons of white? Magnum’s new line of pint tubs has one unexpected, and potentially one-noted offering in White Chocolate Vanilla, which combines vanilla ice cream and white chocolate shards in a cracking white chocolate shell.

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