ice cream

REVIEW: Gelato Fiasco’s Mascarpone Pistachio Caramel

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Gelato Fiasco are a Maine-based gelato company who began scooping to locals in 2007 and have since found distribution in over 2,000 grocery stores in the United States. They’re one of those East coast companies who’s presence has been pretty meager in the Bay Area, but as with many smaller brands, 2018 has seen a rise in their visibility and some of the more unique flavors are starting to pop up on my side of town. As a company that strives to “offer bold, intense flavors with a dessert whose commitment to quality and integrity is unmatched” I’m pretty stoked to delve into their creamy universe. Mascarpone Pistachio Caramel combines a mascarpone gelato with pistachio nuggets and a caramel sauce.

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I was really looking forward to scooping this flavor and I’ve gotta admit, I’m fairly bored with it. The mascarpone base is relatively thin and lacking any of the rich cheesy funk that I’m looking for. It has a decent sweetness and isn’t bad, but it just isn’t exciting in any way. I know it’s a gelato so I’m not expecting a heavy fattiness, but the big pop of flavor I want, or even a subtle nuanced finesse simply isn’t there. It does have a good texture, although it finishes a bit thin, and is light years away from similar bases made by companies like Coolhaus.

The second letdown for me in this pint are the “pistachio nuggets” which to be quite honest are much more like pistachio flakes. I love pistachios, both poppin’ them out of their shell for a snack and as an ice cream mix-in, and they’re so finely chopped here that I barely get any of their unique fatty flavor or texture. They’re about the same size as the chopped peanuts that come with a McDonald’s sundae, which might work if they were sprinkled heavily on top, but they’re so thinly dispersed that I miss any real pistachio presence.

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The best part about this flavor by far is the caramel sauce, which once again isn’t too prominent, but is very delicious. Thin and sweet with a slight touch of salt it has the consistency and flavor that I crave in a great swirl and the bites with a nice glob helped elevate the experience to something pretty enjoyable. Had there been some bigger pieces of pistachio to go along with the sauce I would have ate this one in sheer glee.

For an introductory review to the skillet this is a pretty mediocre outing, but I haven’t lost faith in Gelato Fiasco and will try a couple more flavors before moving on from the brand. I will never judge a company on one flavor alone, and this might just be a rare miss for a generally well regarded churner bursting their way into the west coast mainstream.

Rating: 6/10

Found at: Sprouts ($5.99)

Note: you may have noticed the wild lack of photos in this review compared to my usual posts – somehow my other two or three pictures of this ice cream vanished 😦

REVIEW: Blue Bunny’s PB ‘N Cones

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There are little things in life that shouldn’t make me as happy as they do but I can’t deny the legitimate excitement they bring me. Finding my first pint of Blue Bunny is one such thing, and I am gleaming. Ice cream is at the top of my “I could eat this forever” pyramid, but I love variety, and as such, I prefer pints over all other sizes of larger containers. Blue Bunny usually comes in much bigger tubs, and since I barely get a chance to come across BB in San Francisco anyway, I’ll take whatever I can get. But a pint? Of Blue Bunny? This is amazing. PB ‘N Cones combines vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirls and dipped cone pieces.

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The vanilla ice cream is exceptionally smooth and creamy with a beautiful light and refreshing mouthfeel. Not light in a bad, fluffy, low calorie kind of way, but light on the tongue like a perfect soft serve with more richness. The vanilla flavor is subdued but present with a classic sweetness that’s just right for putting back in joy without blinking an eye.

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The chocolate covered cone pieces are executed flawlessly. They’ve kept all of their crunch and pop through the smooth dairy with a wonderful brown sugar flavor accented by creamy milk chocolate. Waffle cones are one of the most iconic ice cream accompaniments, and their success being a mix-in relies almost exclusively on their execution. With no soggy-ness in sight Blue Bunny really nailed it.

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Peanut butter will always be a welcome addition to any pint in my freezer and that rule of thumb is no different here. The swirl is present but not dominant with a nice saltiness that cuts through all the other predominantly sweet components. It isn’t the saltiest peanut butter swirl I’ve had but brings the necessary contrast and wonderful fatty nutty notes that make it one of the greatest things ever. Since I’m such a fiend I wouldn’t mind a little more ribbon action, but it weaves in and out of bites pleasantly, perfectly tempered and creamy without seizing up.

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Once again Blue Bunny have shown that they are the kings of the lower calorie ice cream game. No, it’s not light ice cream, but it’s a far cry from the 300 calorie per serving offerings from Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs; and eating BB is just as enjoyable as the more fattening options with lotsa fun factor to boot. PB ‘N Cones doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to overall flavor profile, but it delivers exactly what it promises and makes me a real happy bunny, er…boy.

Rating: 7.5/10

Found at: Grocery Outlet ($1.99)

REVIEW: Baskin Robbins Oreo ‘N Cake

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Baskin Robbins have been really slackin’ off lately. I made it my mission when I started the skillet to review every Flavor of the Month and be the ultimate go-to for anyone curious about BR’s creations. You may have noticed the last two months have been silent on this site for the 31 flavored brand, and that’s not because of personal fatigue, but because of BR’s rare back to back months of repeats. May brought back the solid Mom’s Makin’ Cookies and last month saw a second dip of Caramel Macchiato. I was sure that for July, National Ice Cream Month, and a month that has become synonymous with epic Oreo collabs, would yield a new scoop for me to dig into. Nope. It’s back to back to back repeats, but there is a caveat with this month’s call back.

July 2018 see’s the return of Oreo ‘N Cake, a flavor that proceeded the birth of the skillet and one that I really enjoyed when it came out in 2015. In fact, I liked it so much that during that hot July three years ago I scooped it three times, and according to BR’s website, this is their most popular Flavor of the Month of all time. Oreo ‘N Cake combines a cake flavored ice cream with Oreo cookie pieces and a chocolate cake batter ribbon.

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REVIEW: Enlightened’s Spring Flavors (Movie Night, S’mores, French Toast)

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You would never know by lurking this site, but I actually really like Enlightened ice cream. I’ve been a fan of theirs for nearly two years but never wrote about them because I had this grand scheme of ranking all of their flavors and being a super completest about it. Problem is, their distribution in the bay area has been pretty spotty, and only a handful of flavors are available, especially since it seems like they’ve released about 43 varieties in the last year. All that hooplah aside, I would be pretty short sited to overlook one of the biggest trends in the frozen grocery game during National Ice Cream Month, so it’s time to finally break my silence. In March Enlightened made their strongest push yet, rolling out five new pints backed with a strong PR presence and inventive flavors that set the internet off with hype. While I still haven’t been able to track all of them down, and the ones I did get I had to leave San Francisco for, I’m stoked to introduce the skillet to three new high protein low fat low sugar alternatives to get your creamy fix. Movie Night, French Toast, and S’mores.

Movie Night

Popcorn ice cream with chocolate bits and a caramel swirl.

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REVIEW: Limited Edition Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake Oreo

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The music begins at a clear soft distance, your ears perk up and you stop whatever you’re doing. Once settled into your surroundings and putting the Gameboy down you can truly determine whether or not it is in fact the song or not. Yes, yes it is. My ears are hanging low. You tap your pockets. No money. You look around the room. Cushions. Crumpled pairs of pants. Stranded wallets. How can you make this happen. The adrenaline begins to rush as you see an abandoned dollar bill and some quarters laying on the kitchen counter. No need to blow your lungs yelling for mom. Money in hand you bust ass sliding on flip flops and bolting out the door before anyone can stop you. Chasing the ice cream man. A true right of passage for children across the world.

As a kid who spent five years in Nebraska in 109 degree humid as all hell summers I earned that cheap ice cream treat, and now, in 2018 I can get that fix without breaking a sweat or even opening the freezer with Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake Oreo’s.

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REVIEW: Ample Hills 20/20 The Scoop

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Journalism is important. And you know what? So is really great ice cream. As a young skillet I was Editor-in-Chief of my high school newspaper and then a staff writer at my junior college with intentions to major in the craft before swerving and landing on creative writing. Being a person that spent years of his life delving deep into the world of investigative reporting, and now spends way too many hours hunting for the most premium pints in the game, a collaboration between ABC’s 20/20 TV show and New York’s Ample Hills was made for a weird creamy word nerd like myself. To celebrate 50 years of 50/50 Ample Hills have given churn birth to The Scoop, which pairs a marshmallow ice cream with chunks of blue velvet cake.

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REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Special Stash It’s…Ice Cream

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Ben & Jerry’s have once again opened their coveted Special Stash to unleash a rare and limited edition pint only available at scoop shops and online. Much like the first release, Marshmallow Moon, which was one of the alternate ideas for Jimmy Fallon’s signature flavor, It’s…Ice Cream is one of the combinations originally considered for the now infamous and hugely popular Phish Food. Unlike its battle-winning older sibling, which swirls together caramel and marshmallow in the murky depths of double chocolate, this flavor gets a little more of a balanced lift from caramel malt ice cream with almond toffee pieces, fudge fish and a caramel swirl.

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This pint is a lot like an epic medley in the middle of a four hour Phish concert – a bunch of elements I’ve already had and enjoyed in separate instances all fusing together to create a new unique experience. We’ve got the base from Keep Caramel and Cookie On, the fish and caramel swirl from Phish Food, and some almond toffee that reminds me a lot of the terrific brittle in the Non-Dairy Caramel Almond Brittle.

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I feel pretty much the same about the base here as I did in Keep Caramel, which has a solid malty funkiness and subdued sweetness compared to a lot of other caramel bases. Ben & Jerry’s don’t make the best caramel ice cream’s but they tend to surround them with things that make them work well. Cinnamon Buns is a prime example of an ice cream that’s just okay at its core but terrific taken as a whole. My favorite B&J’s caramel base is the coffee caramel in One Sweet World, and while this base isn’t as exciting, I’m getting Phish-induced flashbacks to one of my favorite Limited Batches of the last few years, and that’s a very good thing.

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The ample pools of sweet syrupy caramel all throughout the pint help elevate the base and bring out the malty funk even more, achieving a great balance of overall sweetness. There are moments throughout digging that a glob of caramel takes up my entire spoon, and I will never tire of that simple pleasure. The chocolate fish continue my theory that B&J’s chocolate is so much better in shapes than in chunks and I love their fudgey density and firm snap. Plus, it’s a helluva lot of fun popping open a pint that looks like there are fish swimming in a sea of caramel-colored delight.

The real game changer in this pint are the wonderful pieces of almond toffee, which chomp and crunch with a bold buttery flavor and sparks of salt that help temper the caramel for that lovely tandem of sweet and salty I simply can’t get enough of. The pieces are different than the chocolate covered variety in Vanilla Toffee Bar Crunch (formerly Heath) and really provide a great nutty character that brings the depth and necessary variety to bites that really set the flavor apart.

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With both of the first two entries into the elusive Special Stash collection being rejects of already existing flavors, I’m pretty intrigued to see where this line will go next. While I found Jimmy Fallon’s Marshmallow Moon to be a pretty inferior option to the chosen Tonight Dough, when it comes to this versus Phish Food it’s a much tougher debate. There’s no doubt that this one is more unique and satisfies my sweet and salty craving’s, but there’s nothing quite like diving into that dark swirly abyss of the classic Phish Food. Although it’s not as easy to get as some of the great core flavors, this one is worth the extra trip or online order, and I’d recommend grabbing an extra one to toss in your stash for a repeat scoop.

Rating: 8.5/10

Found at: Ben & Jerry’s ($6.25)

REVIEW: Vice Cream’s L’Orange A Trois

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Outside of the beloved Creamsicle, citrus doesn’t get a whole lotta love in the dairy game. Sure, there are lemon sorbet’s for days, but that combination of sweet sweet dairy and acidic punch is far less common than it should be. None of the big players in the game like Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen-Dazs ever toy with that pairing, and it’s kind of a shame. Even more uncommon is the magical combination of chocolate and citrus, which seems to be reserved for the holiday’s and those weird little jelly sticks you can buy at Trader Joe’s and other craft candy stores. It’s a combo that really works, pairing bitter and sweet and tart in a way that tickles every part of my tongue. When I came across a flavor from Vice that combines all of these elements into one during the peak of spring I couldn’t help but get pumped. L’Orange A Trois combines vanilla ice cream with an orange ripple and dark, milk, and white chocolate chunks.

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REVIEW: Humphry Slocombe’s Yuzu Cream (Whole Foods Exclusive)

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Building on the success of last spring’s Hong Kong Milk Tea and autumn’s Golden Milk & Gingerbread, Humphry Slocombe are back in the collaboration saddle with Chef Melissa King and Whole Foods to deliver another exclusive pint of seasonal delight. Yuzu Cream utilizes the bumpy-skinned and oddly shaped Japanese Yuzu fruit for a new flavor to usher in the (hypothetical) sunniest time of the year. This new flavor drops in Northern California on June 6, simply described as “a refreshingly floral citrus, is dreamy with sweet rich cream”, and we’ve got an exclusive sneak peak today on the skillet.

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REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert (P.B. & Cookies, Coffee Caramel Fudge, Caramel Almond Brittle)

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I’ll be honest – non-dairy ice cream really isn’t a priority for me. I have nothing against it, but the higher price tag and generally less delicious outcome isn’t something that I feel the need to seek out and spend my hard earned money on. The only Ben & Jerry’s dairy free flavor I really gave a shot prior to 2018 was the vegan exclusive Seven Layer Bar, but for some unknown reason the availability and price of B&J’s almond milk-based pints have become much more reasonable this year and I now feel compelled to give them their due. While vegan-ified versions of staple but subpar flavors like Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey don’t get me too pumped, these three pints that don’t exist with cows milk have me kinda stoked. Let’s spoon.

P.B. & Cookies

Vanilla with chocolate sandwich cookies & crunchy peanut butter swirls

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