Ben & Jerry's - Empower Mint

Empower Mint - Peppermint Ice Cream with Fudge Brownies and Fudge Swirls

It is an election year and Ben & Jerry's has a special flavor to celebrate - Empower Mint.  Ben & Jerry are well-known Bernie Sanders supporters (they are also left-leaning and from Vermont) and for a special event they created hand-packed pints of a flavor called Bernie's Yearning which was a "mint chocolate chip flavor where all the chips have somehow floated to the top" - I guess there was solid chocolate disk on top of a pint of peppermint ice cream.  Amusing as that was, the flavor never made it into mass production.  But they have stuck with the mint chocolate theme for a more general election year flavor.  Here it is a mint and brownies combination.  Such a natural combination, I'm not sure why no one has thought of it before.  I can't wait to dig in.

But before we do, a quick tangent.  This happens to be my 100th ice cream review!  100 pints! To celebrate that occasion, I made a cool collage:

100 reviews! (click to enlarge)

That's a lot of ice cream.  Or is it?  100 pints is 12.5 gallons.  It has been entertaining hunting down one hundred different pints of ice cream.  That has been the most fun.  Trying different flavors.  Anyhow, a special Ben & Jerry flavor seems like a fitting choice for this milestone review.

On to the ice cream!  Opening the pint, you see the white color of the peppermint base (no green food coloring here) and right away there are lots of brownies visible.  Digging in, the peppermint base is bright and flavorful as it in my old favorite Mint Chocolate Cookie flavor but instead of a sandwich cookie mix-in it is soft, chocolatey brownies -- and there are more brownies mixed in than I expected.  These are the same Greyston brownies that they've been using in their Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor for over twenty five years and these brownies are famous for a reason - they are quite chocolatey and remain soft and chewy despite being immersed in a pint of frozen ice cream.  The soft brownies go really well with the smooth mint base.  Empower Mint also features some fudge swirls which did add to the general chocolatey-ness but the brownies are the star of the show here.

Perhaps I am a bit biased as mint and chocolate is my favorite combination, but this was an amazing pint of ice cream.  I hadn't thought of a mint and brownie combination before, but it seems so obvious in retrospect.  I'm actually a little sad that this is only an election-year flavor.  Maybe they'll bring it back every four years, or every two years to get people interested in off-year elections.  Come to think of it, there's usually a vote for something going on -- mayor, school board, etc -- any excuse to put this flavor into stores would be welcome. 

Talenti - Caramel Cookie Crunch

Caramel Cookie Crunch - Dulche de Leche Gelato with Chocolate Cookie Pieces

Today, I am trying another pint of Talenti gelato -- Caramel Cookie Crunch.  As I've noted recently, I am a bit of a sucker for the cookie flavors.  The caramel swirls are visible through the clear Talenti jar.  Checking the website link, it turns out that it is a dulce de leche gelato.  Dulce de leche is a soft and creamy type of caramel made from heating milk and sugar.  I could not wait to dig in.

Unscrewing the lid, the top of the gelato is quite beautiful as the swirls of dulce de leche are quite visible and pronounced.  Often you have to dig in a bit to see the swirls but here they are quite exaggerated on the surface.  Little black specks are also visible, I assume those are the cookie pieces.  Digging into the pint, the dulce de leche is quite delicious.  The swirl is thick enough in many places where you really get a rich caramel-y flavor in your mouth.  The cookie pieces are numerous but are actually quite small.  They tasted a bit like the outer cookies of an Oreo-like sandwich cookie (no cream fillings), but so small were the pieces that they were basically little pieces of crunchy chocolate candy.  I never got a cookie sensation like when the pieces are larger and/or chewier.   

So, it was a little different than I anticipated but I still enjoyed the pint.  It's more of a caramel-centric flavor than a cookie-centric flavor.  That caramel swirl is quite good, though.

Magnolia - Lychee

Lychee Ice Cream

Occasionally when hanging out with my Thai-American pals in Southern California, we will eat a tropical fruit that was unfamiliar to me growing up in the upper Midwest.  The lychee is one of those tropical fruits.  The lychee is colorful and spikey on the outside, has a soft grape-like pulp with a tropical flavor and a hard pit in the middle.  It's a fun and rare treat.  So, when I saw a lychee ice cream flavor from the northern-Californian-based Magnolia brand, I jumped at the chance to try it out.  The Magnolia brand has an interesting history.  It was started in 1969 by a group of Filipino Americans and inspired by the ice cream that they ate back in the Philippines.  It turns out that the company making the ice cream that they ate back in the old country since 1925 had the same name and the same logo!  But by the time the courts inevitably intervened, both brands had established their trademarks in their respective countries so no name changes were necessary.  Anyhow, what we are eating here is the northern California version.

Opening the pint shows a standard off-white colored base with small pink flecks visible -- these much be small lychee pieces.  Eating my way in, I immediately notice the tropical flavor and it is very refreshing.  The pieces are not all that noticeable while eating, just the occasional grapey texture but otherwise it is a homogeneous pint.  Sometimes with tropical flavors, the first bite is the best and the flavor can intensify to the point of being overwhelming.  Thankfully, that is not the case here.  The lychee flavor remains mild and refreshing all the way to the bottom of the pint.

This was a fun change of pace from the usual permutations of chocolate and caramel that are reviewed here.  It is not that decadent of a flavor, but if its a warm, summer day and you need to cool off then something like this might be exactly what you need.  If you like tropical flavors and are curious then you should check this out.

McConnell's - Sea Salt Cream & Cookies

Sea Salt Cream & Cookies - Dense, velvety smooth and creamy, Sweet Cream ice cream, a hint of local sea salt and bountiful bits of our chewy, house-made, Guittard® chocolate chunk cookies.

We return to the Santa Barbara based McConnell's to review their Sea Salt Cream & Cookies flavor.  I thought I had reviewed most of the non-homogenous McConnell's flavors carried by my local grocery store when I saw this one in the freezer case.  I'm a sucker for cookie mix-ins so I scooped this one up.  I'm excited to try this one out.

McConnell's is known for the "romance copy" that they put on the back of the pint which makes you feel like you are reading the J Peterman Catalog instead of a carton of ice cream.  The text here is fun and flowery, but with none of the wild tangents present in the other pints.  Also, the text could really apply to almost any flavor.  Still, it is fun.

Removing the lid, the top of the pint shows the sweet cream base with some of the cookie mix-ins visible right away.  Eating my way down, the sweet cream is a bit thick -- McConnell's does not inject much air into their ice cream -- but tasted good.  The sea salt is noticeable right away.  My friends tell me that there are all different types of sea salt.  This one is billed as 'local', so maybe it tastes like the surf along the coast of Santa Barbara.  Not a bad thing.  The cookie mix-ins were excellent.  Like the Ben & Jerry's Milk & Cookies flavor, these are chocolate chip cookies and not Oreo/sandwich cookies.  I actually prefer that.  These are chocolatey chocolate chip cookies, so they provide a lot of chocolate flavor but you also get the flavor of the cookies themselves.  Here the cookies are soft and almost dough-y in consistency.    The salt provided a fun accent to the cookies.  The salt flavor did build as I kept eating, so by the time I got to the bottom of the pint I had wished that I had more fully hydrated beforehand.  I'll keep that in mind for next time and its a small price to pay for a tasty pint.

I really enjoyed this pint.  I like cookies and cream and these are very tasty cookies.    Interesting to add salt into the mix -- usually salt is mixed with caramel -- but it worked here.  Just make sure you drink water instead of caffeine beforehand.

Ben & Jerry's - Pecan Sticky Buns

Pecan Sticky Buns - Buttery Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Pecans, Sticky Bun Dough & a Cream Cheese Frosting Swirl

Walmart has cycled their Ben & Jerry's exclusive flavor again!   Feels like it was only a few months ago that I reviewed their previous exclusive flavor.  Indeed it was only a few months ago!  This one sounds pretty interesting.  At first glance, it appears to be a twist on their Cinnamon Buns flavor except that this pint has pecans and frosting instead of cinnamon and streusel.  I can't wait to try it out.

Removing the lid, I see a the fluffy off-white top of the buttery brown sugar base with a couple of the mix-ins visible on top.  The flavor of the base itself is rather mild -- typical of Ben & Jerry's bases where the main purpose is to serve as a vehicle of the mix-ins.  I could definitely tell it was not vanilla.  Digging in the pecans and bun dough pieces were dispersed throughout the pint.  Those two mix-ins were about the same size so often I did not know until I bit down where I was in for a crunchy pecan or a sugary-chewy bun dough piece.  Both were quite tasty though.  The bun dough pieces outnumbered the pecans about two to one.  I did not notice the cream cheese frosting swirl at all.  It is possible that it got blended into the base pretty well.  It is also possible I mistook some of it as part of the sweetness that the bun dough pieces provided.  Either way, the pint is plenty sweet enough.

I did enjoy this pint.  The Walmart exclusive flavors are often fun twists on existing flavors and this is no exception.  If you enjoy the Cinnamon Buns flavor for the doughy mix-ins and want to see what it would be like with pecans, then see if you can find a Walmart that carries it.  Act fast though, before Walmart cycles the flavor back out again.

Tillamook - TCHO Double Dark Chocolate

TCHO Double Dark Chocolate - TCHO 70% dark chocolate gelato and thick chocolate fudge, topped with dark chocolate fudge pieces

We return to the Tillamook valley of Oregon for another premium pint, TCHO Double Dark Chocolate.  Here, the Tillamook Creamery has commissioned TCHO, a Bay-Area-based craft chocolate maker, to supply the chocolate for a pint which promises to provide a very chocolatey pint.

Opening the pint, there are chocolate pieces drizzled all over the top in a layer of fudge.  It looks like this is going to be like the previous Tillamook flavor where the mix-ins are present in layers with the based ice cream between the layers.  The dark chocolate was significantly strong, but still tasty.  Some super-dark chocolates can be bitter and leave a burning sensation in the throat.  This is just strong chocolate.  Digging in, we find the gelato base immediately under the top layer.  This is a soft and creamy chocolate and very flavorful on its own.  The fudge pieces provide a bit of a crunch.

A successful but straightforward pint.  It provides a lot of chocolate and it delivers, so if you're a chocoholic and a fan of the Tillamook Creamery, then this is a must for you.  The mix-ins appearing in layers instead of swirled in is not for everyone, but it works better this time because and base and the mix-ins are both chocolate.

 

Häagen-Dazs - Toasted Sesame Brittle

Toasted Sesame Brittle - Toasted Sesame Ice Cream with Honey Sesame Brittle Pieces

Today, we discuss the next of the new Destination Series flavors from Häagen-Dazs: Toasted Sesame Brittle.  Here they have partnered with Morning Glory Confections of Los Angeles to take us to the Destination of Asia.  I hadn't thought of sesame ice cream before so I was looking forward to checking this out.

Opening the pint, the sesame ice cream is fairly light colored with some of the brittle pieces evident right away on top.  Digging in, the base sesame flavor is not that strong.  You can tell it is not vanilla, of course, but I suppose sesame itself is not a very potent flavor.  The brittle pieces are crunchy and pack more honey and sesame flavor.  This pint actually reminded me of one of my favorite dim sum dishes: sesame balls.  The brittle pieces were like a crunchy version of sesame balls.

I enjoyed this flavor more than I expected.  Its fun to try a completely new kind of flavor and even more fun when it turns out to be quite good.  If you're feeling like something different and you aren't allergic to sesame then you should check this out.

Cafe Coyote - Fried Ice Cream

 Fried Ice Cream - Vanilla ice cream covered in corn flakes, deep fried and topped with honey, whipped cream

One of my sisters came to visit last week and we went out for Mexican in Old Town and the fried ice cream was so good that we had to make time to go back later in the week.  My sister also encouraged me to write up the ice cream in one of my reviews so here it is -- a rare restaurant edition of the ice cream reviews: The Fried Ice Cream at Cafe Coyote in Old Town San Diego!  (So kitschly amusing that their website plays Guantanamera in the background on a loop)

Old Town San Diego is referred to as the "birthplace of California" and is the oldest remnant of European settlement in the state.  It has become fairly touristy with a large collection of crafty gift shops and Mexican restaurants.  Cafe Coyote is the biggest of those restaurants.  I like to take people visiting from out of town there mainly for the touristy ambience at a decent price but the people I take there always like the food.  On thing this particular restaurant is noted for is its fried ice cream which was featured on an episode of the Travel Channel's "Food Paradise" program.

When the ice cream is delivered to your table, it looks like a golden brown ball in a bowl and is served with a crispy flavored tortilla.  The tortilla was texturally not unlike the chips that would normally go with salsa but there was a bit of sweetness to it instead of saltiness so its definitely the type of chip that would go with ice cream and not salsa.  Digging in, the ice cream was quite good.  Somehow, despite the fact that it is deep fried, the vanilla ice cream remained smooth, light and even airy on the inside, what the deep frying did was caramelize the outer layer of corn flakes, honey and cinnamon a bit.  Corn flake coatings are always a scrumptious coating to almost anything but can be overwhelming in large doses but here the ball of ice cream to coating ratio was large enough so that you enjoyed the tasty shell without it ever being too much.

To tell you the truth, of all the years that I've been living in San Diego, these were my first two times trying the ice cream.  Mexican food can be very filling so it doesn't make me immediately think of wanting dessert, but from now on when I'm taking visitors to Cafe Coyote, I'll always be saving room for the ice cream.  Yum.