Ben & Jerry's - S'mores

S'mores - Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks, Toasted Marshmallow & Graham Cracker Swirls

Ben & Jerry's introduced their S'mores flavor back in 2002 and its ingredients are self-explanatory -- chocolate, toasted marshmallows and graham crackers.  S'more is of course a contraction of "some more" so called because the treat was so tasted that you always wanted some more.  The s'more itself originates from the 1920s when it first showed up in their camping cookbooks.  By the 1970s, the treat was popular enough that "s'more" made it into Webster's Dictionary.

Opening the lid, I notice that this is a very chocolatey pint.  In fact, the pint is gooey already right away.  Sometimes I leave the pint on the counter for a couple of minutes to soften it up before eating and I may have overdone it this time.  I noticed this before with the Phish Food flavor.  The marshmallow swirls make the ice cream gooier.  Digging into the pint, the roasted marshmallow swirls were golden in color and did have a small burnt flavor which is different from the regular marshmallow swirls.  The fudge chunks were small but relatively numerous.  They added the occasional chocolatey crunch.  What was not very noticeable was the graham cracker swirl.  I actually had to look at the close-up images later to see that they were indeed there.  A graham cracker swirl has been successfully used in other flavors to create a pie-crust-like fill-in.  Perhaps they added something subtle to the greater mix but I think a thicker graham cracker swirl would have made it more like the campfire treat.   This is actually much chocolatier than I remember the campfire treat.  At the campfire, the roasted marshmallow was supposed to melt the little chocolate square but it never really worked and the chocolate didn't mix in and always felt like it was on the side.  This extra chocolate is a welcome variant as when you get a fancy s'more from a bakery they use a soft chocolate.

S'mores is basically a Phish Food variant.  Gooey Chocolate and marshmallow ice cream is a winning combination.  S'mores has toasted marshmallow and fudge chunks while Phish Food has regular marshmallow and fudge fish (and a caramel swirl).  So if you are a Phish Food fan and are looking for a twist on that, then try this flavor.

Ben & Jerry's - Chunky Monkey

Chunky Monkey - Banana Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks & Walnuts

Today's review is the classic Chunky Monkey flavor which dates all the way back to 1988.  It is a relatively simple flavor by Ben & Jerry's standards -- banana nut and fudge.

Opening the pint, you see the very light colored banana base with one of the fudge chunks visible.  It is not until you dig in that you appreciate the banana flavor.  It was a rich banana flavor which reminded me of banana bread.  The fill-ins were rather old-fashioned.  The walnut pieces were fairly large.  They were also peeled walnuts so there was none of the strong bitter taste that you get from a walnut peel.  The fudge chunks also seemed a bit retro, they were rectangular chocolate tablets dispersed throughout the pint.  Occasionally two of them would cluster in the pint oddly -- I think a reimagined version of this flavor would use the more square fudge chunks used in newer flavors -- but that's a cosmetic issue.  The fudge chunks were quite flavorful and introduced a lot of chocolate into the mix.

I really liked this flavor, but I'm a bit of a banana nut, or I guess even a banana-nut nut.  The simpler old-fashioned fill-ins were both nostalgic and quite flavorful at the same time.  Along with the Banana Split, this is Ben & Jerry's banana flavor.  So, if you are a banana-nut nut like myself, then you should check it out.

Ben & Jerry's - Save Our Swirled

Save Our Swirled - Raspberry Ice Cream with Marshmallow & Raspberry Swirls & Dark & White Fudge Ice Cream Cones

Save Our Swirled is a brand new flavor released this spring in coordination with the Ben & Jerry's summer tour.  The theme this year is climate change and the flavors initials "SOS" are cleverly placed on the lid.  I found my pint at Target but reports online are that it has also been spotted at Walmart.  The lid is usually where information about vender exclusive flavors and limited batch runs are placed, so I am not sure how long this flavor will be around.  I scooped up a pint just in case.

Opening the pint, revealed a very light pink base.  The marshmallow swirls were actually quite evident on the top of the pint.  As I ate my way into the pint, I notice that the marshmallow swirls served a different purpose here than they have in previous pints (Phish Food, Roasted & Toasted).  Previously, the marshmallow swirl would soften the pint up and make it gooey.  Here, the marshmallow stayed congealed and served to mute the strong raspberry flavor.  Indeed, at times it seemed like I was eating a soft taffy-like confection rather than an ice cream.  The dark-and-white cones are a new and unique fill-in.  They are visibly very cute (a picture is attached) and dispersed throughout the pint and were very hard and crunchy.  Though other than the texture contrast, they did not provide much flavor as the hard chocolate does not get much time on the taste buds.  So they were simply eye candy.

All in all, a fun limited batch pint for Ben & Jerry's spring and summer tour.  I don't know if its quite successful enough to eventually get promoted to a standard flavor but its entertaining to see these flavor experimentations.

Ben & Jerry's - Brewed to Matter (Target Exclusive)

Brewed to Matter - Coffee Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks & a Brownie Batter Swirl

Brewed to Matter is a brand new flavor exclusive to Target.  It is the replacement for Volun-Tiramisu which has been retired.  The four flavors exclusive to Target are now Brewed to Matter, Peanut Butter World, Blondie Ambition (renamed from Rockin Blondies) and A Swirled of Difference (renamed from Peanut Butter Jam Session).

Brewed to Matter is the classic mixture of coffee and chocolate flavors.  Chocolate and coffee have more in common than one might guess.  Everyone knows that coffee contains caffeine, but chocolate contains a stimulant in the same family called theobromine.  Theobromine only differs from caffeine by a single methyl group.  The difference makes it a bit milder and less addictive than caffeine but it still has similar effects.  So the tendency of people to mix coffee and chocolate together is no accident.

Opening the pint, you see a medium brown coffee ice cream which is darker than the mocha base seen in previous pints.  The fudge chunks on the top appear to be quite sizeable.  Eating into the pint, the coffee flavor was quite noticeable but not so overpowering as to give me a headache.  The fudge chunks were much larger and chunkier than normal.  I think many of the recent pints I've eaten contains fudge flakes.  The brownie batter was much more subtle than I expected.  It was a bit of a chocolate syrup which surrounded the fudge chunks.

I did enjoy this flavor.  Brewed to Matter is fairly similar to the Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz flavor in its mixture of coffee and chocolate but the Buzz Buzz Buzz flavor contains espresso beans so it packs such a strong kick that it is really only for coffee junkies who are looking to go overboard.  I love caffeine, but that flavor gave me a bit of a headache.  Brewed to Matter was much more my style.

Ben & Jerry's - Everything But The...

Everything But The... - A Collision of Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams mixed with Peanut Butter Cups, Fudge-Covered Toffee Pieces, White Chocolatey Chunks & Fudge-Covered Almonds

Ben & Jerry's shows its sense of humor with this latest pint.  Introduced in 2000, "Everything But The..." contains as many fill-ins as three flavors put together.  There's really no theme to the mixture either.  They just threw everything in there.  Well, they did leave out the kitchen sink as the name of the flavor implies.

Opening the pint, you see the swirls of the chocolate and vanilla bases plus a few of the fill-ins, a fudge covering for something, a white chocolate chunk, the ooze of caramel that must come from a toffee piece.  Digging into the pint, the base flavors were surprisingly noticeable even with all the fill-ins.  With all the peanut butter, caramel or brown sugar bases that I've had in recent pints, I really noticed the vanilla.  The fill-ins were fairly numerous as the laundry list above implies.  The white chocolate chunks were decent enough but white chocolate does not have a strong flavor that sticks out amongst the mix.  I noticed what I thought was caramel in there and I double checked the side of the carton and did not see caramel on the list.  Perhaps that was the toffee pieces and it was a soft toffee rather than a toffee of Heath Bar-like consistency.  It was a very eclectic eating experience because you could never predict what was going to be included in any particular spoonful.

I enjoyed the pint for the humor aspect, just to say that I had had it, but once you get past the joke its kind of an eclectic mixture of flavors with no theme.  Its a funny joke, but I'm a bit surprised this flavor has lasted for fifteen years.

Ben & Jerry's - Blondie Ambition (Target Exclusive)

Blondie Ambition - Buttery Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Blonde Brownies & Butterscotch Toffee Flakes

Blondie Ambition is a flavor Ben & Jerry's produces exclusively for Target.  If you remember the "Rockin Blondies" flavor that Target had last year, this is the same flavor.  For some reason there was a name change.  Ben & Jerry's likes to include rock puns in their flavor names and this appears to reference the famous "Blonde Ambition" tour of Madonna in 1990 at the height of her popularity.  I originally thought it might be a "Blondie" (Debra Harry and company) reference, but I think its probably Madonna.

This is sort of the blonde version of the Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor.  The main ingredients of a Blonde Brownie are butter and brown sugar which matches the flavors of the base ice cream.  Also, butterscotch is just butter and brown sugar in confectonery form.

Opening the pint, the buttery brown sugar base was yellowish tinged and the butterscotch flakes were visible right on the very top.   Eating into the pint, the base flavor was not very strong.  It was a bit creamier than the average base which I guess came from the extra butter, but I barely noticed the brown sugar at all.  No matter, there were plenty of butterscotch flakes which provided lots of brown sugary flavor.  My issue with butterscotch candies is that they can be too strong and overpowering.  This was happily avoided here as the flakes were just the right size and chewy consistency.  Unfortunately the blondie bites were not implemented as well as the brownie bites that are included in many other flavors.  The brownie bites somehow stay soft and chewy despite being stored in a freezer inside ice cream.  Here, the blondie bites were frozen.  They got a bit softer at the bottom of the pint as the rest of the ice cream slowly melted, but even then a blondie does not pack the same level of intense flavor that a brownie does.

So, although I think an all-blonde pint is a decent idea for times when one is not in the mood for chocolate, there was a hiccup in the implementation here.

Ben & Jerry's - Peanut Buttah

Peanut Buttah - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Crunchy Peanut Butter Sugar Bits, Peanut Butter Cookies & a Peanut Butter Cookie Core

Brace yourself peanut butter lovers, we now review "Peanut Buttah", the third and final cookie core flavor which was introduced by Ben & Jerry's earlier of this year.  As mentioned in the other two reviews, a cookie core flavor is similar to the core flavors that were introduced the previous year in that there is a cylindrical non-ice cream "core" in the center of the pint.  Here the cylindrical core is cookie butter which is baked cookies which have been grounded up and made into a spreadable paste -- usually by adding condensed milk.  Peanut Buttah uses cookie butter made from peanut butter cookies.

Reading the list of ingredients, everything is peanut butter.  Usually the core flavors have split base flavors -- one base flavor on each side to provide a variety of complementary tastes  to the core filling -- but not here.  The base is all peanut butter.

Opening the pint, I was not surprised to see a lot of tannish orange.  The cookie butter core was visible right away as was one of the cookie pieces.  There were also little brown specks scattered across the top.  I did not know what these were at first, but these turned out to be the peanut butter sugar bits.  As I ate my way into the pint, the peanut butter base tasted a bit lighter and creamier than the peanut butter bases in other pints.  That could have been just a contrast to the even more peanut buttery fill-ins used here.  The peanut butter cookies were relatively numerous.  They were chewy and had a rich peanut butter flavor.  The cookie core was very thick and peanut buttery.  I googled for peanut butter cookie recipes and I guess there must be some flour and eggs in there too, but it just tasted like peanut butter sugar paste.  The peanut butter sugar bits were small and dispersed evenly thoughout the base.  The sugar bits acted like flavor crystals which injected the occasional sweetness into what would otherwise be a very thick and heavy pint.

I am not a peanut butter junkie, yet I still enjoyed this peanut-butter-loaded pint.  I think the sugar bits rescued it for me.  If you are a peanut butter junkie then you should at least try this flavor so you can compare it to scooping the Skippy right out of the jar. 

Ben & Jerry's - Boom Chocolatta!

Boom Chocolatta! - Mocha & Caramel Ice Creams with Chocolate Cookies, Fudge Flakes & a Chocolate Cookie Core

Boom Chocolatta!  Such a fun flavor to say!  Its an obvious play on the "Boom Shakalaka!" phrase basketball announcers like to say when they are describing a particularly noteworthy slam dunk.  Where sportscasters got the phrase I am not entirely certain.  There is an old early-90s Apache Indian song with that name and there is a Shakalaka Boom number in Muppet Treasure Island from around the same time period but I have a feeling the expression is older that that.

Boom Chocolatta is the next of the 'cookie core' flavors that were introduced in January of this year.  In a core flavor there is a central non-ice cream section of goopy filling (fudge, caramel, jam, etc).  The cookie core flavors fill that central section with cookie butter which is ground up fully-baked cookies which is made into a spreadable paste (usually by adding condensed milk).  The previously reviewed Spectacular Speculoos flavor used the standard speculoo cookie butter which can be found at Trader Joes, here the Boom Chocolatta flavor uses a chocolate cookie butter.

Opening the pint we see the standard split base of the core flavor.  Mocha ice cream on one side of the pint and caramel ice cream on the other side.  The solid chocolate cookie core is also visible right away on the top of the pint.  Digging into the pint, the two base flavors were each noticeable but not in themselves very strong.  Those averse to strong coffee flavors need not worry, the mocha base is a fairly mild chocolate/coffee mix.  The chocolate cookie core dominates the pint.  Its basically the same as the common chocolate cookie swirl but unswirled and concentrated in the center.  The chocolate cookie swirl is perhaps my favorite swirl so I enjoyed this.  The common practice when eating a core flavor is to eat around the core and incorporate a little bit of it into each spoonful.  I would still recommend that here, but you don't have to worry about getting too much core into one mouthful.  There were other fill-ins.  The cookie pieces appeared to be isolated to the caramel base side while the fudge flakes were on the mocha side.  They were tasty, but they were hard to notice because they were greatly outnumbered by the core.

Boom Chocolatta! is a successful flavor and I enjoyed it.  I wanted to like it even more than I did though.  Perhaps the awesome name set high expectations?  Thinking about it, maybe I prefer my chocolate cookies swirled into the pint.  With the core flavors, you have to do your own mixing.  A minor quibble though, with a core flavor you know to expect that.  Still, if you love chocolate cookies, this flavor is a must try.

Ben & Jerry's - Peanut Butter Jam Session (Target Exclusive)

Peanut Butter Jam Session - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with a Crunchy Peanut Butter Swirl and a Raspberry Swirl

Peanut Butter Jam Session is the other peanut-butter-centric Target-exclusive flavor from Ben & Jerry's (the other being Peanut Butter World).  Here they mix the peanut butter with jam instead of which chocolate.  Ben & Jerry's actually tried a Peanut Butter and Jelly flavor way back in 1989 but it flopped and only lasted a year.  This is a reimagining of that idea and it also allows them to create another music pun for a flavor name so they could feature a cow with a guitar on the side of the carton.

Opening the pint, I was surprised to see mainly the peanut butter base.  One of the peanut butter swirls was evident on the very top as well as a hint of purple from the raspberry swirls that lie below.  Digging into the pint, the peanut butter base itself was subtle and not too thick.  The peanut butter swirls provided a thick and nutty double dose of peanut butter on top of the base.  This combination had the danger of being overwhelming but the raspberry swirls provided the light and sweet relief from all the peanut butter.  Perhaps this is what peanut butter and jelly is all about?

After my troubles with the "That's My Jam" flavor last week, I was happy to have enjoyed "Peanut Butter Jam Session".  I am not anti-jam, I just like my jam in moderation.  If you like peanut butter and jelly -- specifically a three-to-one ratio of peanut butter to jelly -- then hop down to your local Target and give this flavor a try.