Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Chocolate Caramelized Oat

Chocolate Caramelized Oat - Caramel Ice Cream with Chocolaty Oat Clusters

Today we do a fifth pint of Häagen-Dazs Artisan ice cream, Chocolate Caramelized Oat.    For the Artisan line, Häagen-Dazs commissions a specialty bakery to come up with their own ice cream flavor.  This time we go to an Irish-themed bakery called Clairesquares in San Francisco where Claire Keane has incorporated chocolaty oat clusters based some of her desserts into a caramel ice cream base.

Removing the lid and the extra plastic seal from the pint shows the expected beige color of the caramel base with some darker spots which I presume are the chocolaty oat clusters.  Digging in, the caramel base was good.  The caramel flavor is not too strong, but it is a common alternative to vanilla when they decide the base ice cream should be slightly richer and without as much bright flavor. The chocolaty oat clusters were small, but they were relatively numerous.  As you bit into the chocolate cluster the fresh oat was underneath and provided a bit of a crunch.  The chocolate coating prevents the oatmeal from getting soggy in the ice cream.

This was an interesting flavor.  It was the first pint I've had which has had oatmeal in it and I can't recall seeing many other flavors which that mix-in.  That said, a recent Ben & Jerry's survey has awarded Oatmeal Cookie Chunk as their most-missed retired flavor and I'm sorry that I did not get a chance to try that flavor before it was retired.  If you miss that flavor and are looking for a substitute then you could give Chocate Caramelized Oat a try.  But you may have to act quickly as I am noticing that the Artisan flavors are starting to disappear from freezer cases.