Honeymoon - Chocolate Laurel

Chocolate Laurel - Sweet Cream infused with Bay Laurel Leaves with Chocolate Sablee Cookie Pieces

Shopping around for new pints, I appear to exhausted all of the 'new' flavors released by Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs this year -- at least all the ones that I can find.  I was in the mood for something new, so I went to Whole Foods to see what the super-premium brands were offering.  The honeymoon brand caught my eye.  That's the Bay Area brand that comes in small glass mason jars.  I decided to go with their Chocolate Laurel flavor.  Bay leaves in ice cream?  And the mix-ins are crushed chocolate sable cookies?  Part of me thinks that just knowing that this ice cream exists will help my hipster cred.  I suppose I did find it at Whole Foods.

I was curious about sable cookies because I was unfamiliar with the term.  It turns out that I do know this cookies just under a different name.  I know them as sand cookies -- 'sable' is the French word for sand - and they are so named because they crumble like sand when you eat them.  The ones I've had before are flavored with almond extract.  Here they are flavored with chocolate.

Unscrewing the mason jar shows a white ice cream base with a lot of chocolate cookie crumbs present even on the very top.  With the first spoonful, I immediately taste the bay leaves.  It is quite good actually.  I was not expecting laurel to be a flavor that would go well in a dessert.  I guess mint comes from a leave, too, but something seems different about that.  The crushed sable cookies added a lot of crunchy chocolate flavor into the mix.  They reminded me a bit of what a thin mint girl scout cookie would taste like without the mint.  Sure enough, after some googling I found recipes for homemade thin mints which described them as 'mint chocolate sables'.  So maybe that is the connection.  If mint can go with chocolate, why not bay leaves, too?  

This was a surprisingly successful pint for me.  There was plenty of bay laurel flavor in this pint and it actually went well with the chocolate and the ice cream.  I wonder why this combination is not done more often.  Anyhow, if you have access to the Honeymoon brand and are looking for a new flavor combination then certainly give this one a try.  It was fun.

  

Häagen-Dazs - Sea Salt Caramel Truffle

Sea Salt Caramel Truffle - Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream with Fudge Truffles

I was at Target the other day checking out the freezer case and was pleasantly surprised by a limited batch flavor from Häagen-Dazs: Sea Salt Caramel Truffle.  I do not see any evidence of this flavor on their website yet, so I must have gotten an early batch.  I can tell that it is new because it is using the new 2017 packaging and I can tell that it is a limited edition because it says so on the lid.  Intriguing!  I figured I had better grab it while I could and now I am looking forward to giving it a try.

Removing the lid shows that this is a caramel base -- no caramel swirls.  Some of the chocolate mix-ins can be see right away as well.  With the first spoonful, the caramel base fairly tasty.  The salt flavor is not too strong, but it got noticeable as I ate further down into the pint.  Sometimes a salted caramel base tastes like a Sugar Daddy candy.  That did not happen here.  It is basically a caramel flavor and the salt gave it a bit of dryness.  The truffle mix-ins were dispersed generously throughout the pint.  There's nothing complex about these truffles (no caramel or nut inside), they are pea-sized hunks of fudge.  The fudge is not crunchy or chewy.  I think crumbly may be the best word for them.  They were good and provided a solid about of chocolate flavor which complemented the caramel well.

This was a decent pint.  The limited batch and the word 'truffle' had me expecting something more complex but this pint is actually quite simple -- caramel base with a fudge mix-in.  Personally, I prefer salted caramel as a mix-in rather than a base.  This is still a solid implementation of a simple flavor, though.  If that interests you, check it out while supplies last.  
  

Baskin Robbins - Rocky Road

Rocky Road - Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallows and Almonds

Today, I am having another pint of Baskin Robbins.  This time it is the Rocky Road flavor.  Rocky Road is a classic flavor combination dating back to at least the 1920s, yet somehow I missed out on trying it during my childhood.  I finally tried it recently with a Haagen-Dazs pint.  I enjoyed it so much, that I figured I would try an implementation from another brand.

The top of the pint is a solid dark brown.  This is deeper brown color than the usual chocolate base.  I am not sure if that means that it will be a darker chocolate or not.  With the first spoonful, it is a thicker ice cream.  It is definitely chocolatey but not a dark chocolate flavor.  It was not too long before I start encountering the mix-ins.  Here, the marshmallows are actually marshmallows.  It is like someone bought a package of miniature marshmallows and stirs them while they were making the base.  Because of that, they were not gooey -- they kept the spongey-chewy consistency that marshmallows have when you eat them out of the bag.  The almonds provide a little bit of crunch but are not as noticeable as the marshmallows.

This is a decent pint.  Although it was fun to try another Rocky Road implementation, I must admit that I liked the Haagen-Dazs pint better.  Haagen-Dazs has their signature chocolate base which is top-shelf on its own and the marshmallow there is delivered in these gooey pockets of melted marshmallow creme.  The whole marshmallows here felt a little old-school do-it-yourself -- but Baskin-Robbins is an old-school brand.

  

Talenti - Vanilla Blueberry Crumble

Vanilla Blueberry Crumble - Vanilla Bean Gelato with Blueberry Sauce and Brown Sugar Oat Crumbles

This week, I decided to try another pint of Talenti gelato.   The flavor is Vanilla Blueberry Crumble.  It turns out that this is a new flavor for 2017 which might be why it seemed to catch my eye in the freezer case.  I don't see a lot of other blue flavors in their line.  This flavor basically duplicates a slice of blueberry pie with a scoop of vanilla.  Let's dig in!

Unscrewing the lid of the signature plastic Talenti jar shows a milky white vanilla base with some clouds of blueberry sauce visible.  The blueberry sauce appears to be half-mixed into the base -- it is more blended than a swirl, but not so blended that it is homogenous.  Eating my way into the pint, I do notice the vanilla flavor in the base.  Sometimes vanilla will get overpowered by the other ingredients but not here.  The blueberry sauce is relatively mild but a little bit of blueberry goes a long way.  The combination is delicious.  The oat crumbles are dispersed throughout the pint.  They simulate the 'pie crust' of this slice-of-pie themed pint.  They are quite good, not that soft in texture but not really crunchy either.  I did not notice the brown sugar, but it could have gotten lost in the sweetness of the rest of the pint.  It was good as well, though.  More fruit-themed flavors should have a crust-like mix-in like this.

I enjoyed this pint.  I just noticed that this is basically the same flavor as a Gelato Fiasco pint which I reviewed last year.  How does this flavor compare?  The Talenti pint has a lighter texture with better oatmeal crumble, the Gelato Fiasco pint was thicker and had larger blueberry chunks.  I do like both.  Talenti is definitely carried by more vendors.  If you like blueberry pie, I wouldn't hesitate to try out this Talenti pint.  Keep in mind that it is Vanilla-Blueberry and not Blueberry Vanilla, so it won't be as intense as an actual slice of blueberry pie.

  

Häagen-Dazs - Peanut Butter Salted Fudge

Peanut Butter Salted Fudge - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Swirls of Salted Fudge and Chocolate Covered Peanuts

The next new Häagen-Dazs for 2017 is Peanut Butter Salted Fudge.  This appears to be a standard combination of chocolate and peanut butter which is pretty common across all brands.  It turns out that Häagen-Dazs already has a classic flavor with this combination called Chocolate Peanut Butter.  How is this flavor different?  Well, the classic flavor is a chocolate ice cream with a peanut butter swirl, the new flavor is a peanut butter ice cream with a chocolate swirls -- plus chocolate covered peanuts.  So the new flavor is sort of the old flavor turned on its head.  I'm looking forward to checking it out.

After removing the lid, the top of the pint shows the expected creamy color of the peanut butter base but with lots of fine chocolate swirls.  It is an almost marbled look.  The peanut butter is relatively mild.  It does taste like peanut butter but it has a light texture to it.  Some peanut butter bases are quite heavy, not this one.  The fudge swirls have a soft texture to them.  They were billed as being salted fudge but they did not seem noticeably salty.  The crunch is saved for the mix-ins.  The chocolate covered peanuts are quite good, I like peanuts.  Extra pictures were taken of these which you can see below.  The nuts created a little bit of a candy bar sensation but it not as much as pints which also contained gooier chocolate or caramel.

All in all, it was a pretty good pint.  It is hard to go wrong with the chocolate-peanut butter combination.  It is not quite my favorite of that combination.  For this combination, I prefer McConnell's and Jeni's, but those are also twice the price and the way that chocolate and peanut butter are mixed is a bit different for each.  I am always amazed at how many ways similar ingredients can be combined in ice cream.  If this particular combination intrigues you, then check it out.

  

Tillamook - Speculoos Cookie Caramel

Speculoos Cookie Caramel - Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce and Cinnamon Spice Cookie Crumbles

We return to the Oregon-based Tillamook brand today for their Speculoos Cookie Caramel flavor.   As mentioned in a previous review, speculoos are a type of Dutch or Belgian cookies.  These crunchy cookies are so loaded with spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg that they a great basis for cookie butter.  Cookie butter is an interesting concoction made by crushing cooked cookies into a fine powder and then mixing with just enough condensed milk so as to form a spreadable paste.  This is actually a thing!  You can buy cookie butter at Trader Joe's.  Anyhow, Ben & Jerry's has a speculoos flavor in their line of cookie core flavors.  This Tillamook flavor will be interesting as they have mixed the cookie butter into the base ice cream instead of using it as a core or a mix-in.  Enough chatter, on to the ice cream!

Removing the lid provides us an odd look of the top of the pint.  You can see the base ice cream with small cookie crumble pieces in it but there are clumps of cookie-crumb-laced caramel bunched up around the rim on the very top.  Tillamook often layers their pints and and put an extra layer with mix-ins on top.  Here there wasn't enough caramel to cover the top and it looks a bit strange.  Eating the first spoonful, though it is quite delicious.  The cookie butter and cookie crumbles make for a sweet, spicy and delicious combination.  The caramel is tangy and accents the spiced cookie flavoring quite well.  So, the visual oddity is gone once I got past the top layer and had no effect on the taste whatsoever.  There was another layer of caramel about halfway down. In the past, I've had issues with Tillamook's layering (too much ice cream between layers) but it didn't bother me at all here.  The cookie butter ice cream was excellent on its own and it was excellent when mixed with caramel as well.

I really enjoyed this pint.  This was a pleasant surprise.  I actually enjoyed this better than the Ben & Jerry's cookie core flavor -- which I did like for what it was.  It was great having the cookie butter blended into a soft and creamy ice cream.  I ate the whole pint rather quickly and it left me wanting more.  Check it out for yourself and enjoy.

  

Häagen-Dazs - Espresso Chocolate Cookie Crumble

Espresso Chocolate Cookie Crumble - Coffee Ice Cream with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl and Chocolate Espresso Flakes

We return to Häagen-Dazs today to discuss another one of their new flavors for 2017: Espresso Chocolate Cookie Crumble.   It is a classic coffee and chocolate combination.  As mentioned in previous reviews, the key ingredients of coffee (caffeine) and chocolate (theobromine) have similar chemical structures.  Coffee has the stronger stimulant but a lot of why we like chocolate is because of its similar effects.  Because of this, coffee and chocolate are often paired together as they are here.   Häagen-Dazs has a classic flavor called Java Chip which is a simpler combination of these two.  For 2017, they are using more creative ingredients.  Here it is espresso beans and chocolate cookies.

Removing the lid shows the creamy beige color of the coffee base which a chunky dark brown swirl visible right away.  As I eat my way down into the pint, the coffee base is a bit mild.  Some coffee ice creams are geared to overpower you with strong coffee flavor, this is not the intent here.  In fact, you probably get more coffee flavor from the mix-ins.  The chocolate-covered espresso beans tasted a bit like if you grabbed a roasted coffee bean from the manual dispenser at the supermarket and started chewing on it as you continued browsing the aisles.  I sometimes do that at the supermarket.  The pieces are fairly small but it doesn't take much bean to provide a strong flavor.  The cookie pieces are mixed in with the espresso pieces.  They are both chocolate based so it is not always obvious which is which.  Its a good mix, though.  There's lots of chocolate mix-ins with the occasional coffee bean kick.

This was a pretty good flavor.  Fans of the Java Chip flavor will definitely want to see this more deluxe implementation of that flavor combination.  I am not a coffee drinker so in the past, super-potent coffee flavors are too overpowering for me.  I will often defer judgement on those types of flavors because I am not the target audience.  That said, I still enjoyed this flavor.  Perhaps because it fits my habit of chewing on beans at the supermarket.

  

Ben & Jerry's - Keep Caramel and Cookie On (Target Exclusive)

Keep Caramel and Cookie On - Caramel Malt Ice Cream with Shortbread cookies, Fudge Flakes & Caramel Swirls

I was at Target the other day and whenever I am at Target I always pay a visit to the ice cream section to survey the contents.  Much to my surprise, I found a new Ben & Jerry's flavor!  This new flavor is a Target exclusive.  Target has four exclusive flavors:  Blondie Ambition, Brewed to Matter, Peanut Butter World and now this one Keep Caramel and Cookie On.   From the signage at Target, it looks like A Swirled of Difference (formerly known as Peanut Butter Jam Session) might be on the way out.  If that was a favorite of yours, run to Target and grab a pint while supplies last.  Keep Caramel and Cookie On appears to be a play on the classic motivational poster issued by the British government back in 1939 in anticipation of the Second World War.  The inclusion of shortbread as an ingredient also adds to the British vibe to the flavor.  Ben & Jerry's long lost Cool Britannia flavor also contained shortbread.

On to the ice cream!  Removing the lid shows the light color of the caramel malt base with some of fudge flakes visible and hints of the caramel swirl can be seen as well.  I am always curious when malt is included in the base flavor.  As a kid, I was turned off by malt flavoring because my local ice cream parlor overused the malt powder but in practice Ben & Jerry's uses malt to numb a base flavor so as not to distract from the mix-ins.  We'll see if that holds here.  Eating into the pint, the caramel base is indeed mild, but immediately encounter the shortbread cookie mix-ins.  They are soft and chewy -- they almost blend in with the ice cream texture wise.  They have a little bit more sugar in them than the shortbread pieces that Häagen-Dazs uses in their shortbread flavor.  I think that explains why they numbed the caramel base with malt -- there is enough sugar in the shortbread.  The caramel swirls were appropriately thick and flavorful.  The fudge flakes were smaller in size which seems appropriate with the other mix-ins.  It is a good combination.

All in all, a successful new pint from Ben & Jerry's.  Shortbread lovers will be happy that this ingredient has returned to the Ben & Jerry's product line.  Interestingly, it is mixed with chocolate and caramel here -- usually shortbread is mixed with fruit -- but it still worked.