Talenti - Hazelnut Chocolate Chip

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip - Hazelnut Gelato with Roasted Hazelnuts and Chocolate Chips

While I am waiting for new Talenti flavors to hit my local freezer case, I found an older flavor which I have not had before which looks interesting.  It is called Hazelnut Chocolate Chip.  Hazelnuts (known in my area as filberts) are famously one of they key ingredients of the Nutella spread, but this flavor looks to emphasize the flavor of the nut itself.  There are chocolate chips in here but the clear jar shows plenty of light brown color.  I am looking forward to checking this out.

Unscrewing the distinctive Talenti jars shows the light brown color of the hazelnut base with lots of speckles of chocolate.  Digging in, the hazelnut flavor is quite delicious.  There are quite a few chocolate chips in every spoonful, but the chips are small and chocolate plays just a supporting role.  There are small hazelnut pieces in the mix as well and these are quite crunchy.  Because of the crunchiness, I notice these more than the chocolate, though I'm sure that they are outnumbered.

This is good stuff!  I enjoyed this pint much more than I thought I would.  It is a simple hazelnut-flavored ice cream with delicious hazelnut pieces and chocolate chips and it is done quite well.  Hazelnut bases are not that common -- they are either included as a nutty mix-in or blended into the chocolate like the Nutella spread.  The one hazelnut base I could find in my review archive is Ample Hill's Baby I was Churned This Way.  This Talenti flavor is better in my opinion.  If you're a fan of hazelnuts themselves -- and not just Nutella -- then this is the flavor to try.

Jeni's - Boston Cream Pie

Boston Cream Pie - Salted Vanilla Custard Layered with Yellow Cake Pieces and Darkest Chocolate Fudge

The fourth pint in my recent shipment from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams is called Boston Cream Pie.  This is her take on the popular filled pastry -- one of my favorite things to get at a donut shop, actually.  I have had an implementation of this flavor once before from Ben & Jerry's -- a flavor that they have since retired.  It should be interesting to see how Jeni's compares.

Removing the lid, I see the white color of the vanilla custard base.  A lovely drizzle of fudge can be seen right away as well as crumbs which appear to be hints of cake pieces.  Digging in, the base has a delicious vanilla flavor, yet it is ice-cream-like.  It is not like eating a full bowl of the creamy filling to the pastry -- that would be too sweet.  The cake pieces are dispersed through the pint and they are fairly substantial.  They are soft and chewy.  The cake pieces are drier than I expected.  Not that they are dry.  They are still soft and moist like cake, but a lot of times cakey mix-ins soak up the surronding cream.  These pieces must have been added later in the freezing and churning process.  The fudge swirls are quite good.  Both the cake and the fudge do an great job of reproducing the flavor of their counterparts in Boston Cream Pie.

This is a solid implementation of a Boston Cream Pie flavor.  It was uncanny how much the cake and chocolate each make the ice cream taste like the pastry.  It was not as creamy, though.  Ben & Jerry's had a swirl of cream, so even though their cake and fudge were not as good it reminded me a bit more of the donut because it's all about the cream for me.  For some, too much cream might be too sweet -- though if that is the case you probably are not too much of a fan of the dessert.  Anyhow, this is still quite good and the Ben & Jerry's flavor is retired, so check it out if you like Boston Cream Pie.

Izzy's - Norwegian Chai

Norwegian Chai - Chai Tea Ice Cream mixed with Finely Ground pieces of Cardamom Toast

Today I review a flavor from Saint Paul's Izzy's Ice Cream called Norwegian Chai.  My ancestry is half Norwegian -- my father's father and mother's mother were both 100% Norwegian, so both of my haplogroups come from Norway.  So, I just had to get this flavor.  Izzy's has me covered for the inner parts of my family tree as well.  I have already reviewed Irish and Swedish flavors, so this flavor finishes off my ancestral flavor tour.  This is a chai tea flavor which is blended with finely ground cardamom toast from the local Wuollet's Bakery.  Here is a link to the specific toast -- it looks like a Norwegian version of biscotti.  Cardamom always intrigues me, so I am looking forward to this.

Removing the lid, the chai tea base is a fairly light beige color.  I can smell the spices right away.  Cardamom specifically is known as much for its aroma as it is its taste.  Digging in, it is quite good.  I don't know how to describe it, though.  It's like the tea and spices have blended into their own flavor.  It is not at all bitter, but not too sweet.  As described, the toast pieces are finely ground.  They are the same color as the base ice cream so they don't stick out visually, but I do feel a bit of grit in my mouth and I can see some of the crumbs on my spoon.  The flavor they provide is quite good though.  Later on in the pint, I did encounter a larger toast piece or two that was not fully ground.  Those were fun, but fairly rare.

I liked this pint quite a bit.  This is fun spicy tea flavor.  It's actually the second spicy tea flavor that I have had from Izzy's -- the first was Blue Mountain Spice which I reviewed a couple of years ago now.  The flavors are similar enough that it's difficult to judge them without retrying them side-by-side.  I think I like this Norwegian Chai flavor a bit better, but that could be personal preference.  If I had to describe a distinction between the two flavors, I'd say that Norwegian Chai has a sweeter and blended flavor and did remind me of pieces of cardamom toast dunked in tea while the Blue Mountain Spice had more of a pronounced herbal tea flavor and had stronger spices like cinnamon in the mix.

Jeni's - Savannah Buttermint

Savannah Buttermint - Buttermint-inspired Ice Cream with White Chocolate Flecks

Today is the second pint from my recent six-pint shipment from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.  This flavor is called Savannah Buttermint.  From the flavor page, we learn the Jeni is not a fan of mint -- *gasp* -- but she knows that many of her customers love mint (me! me! me!).  To resolve this, she often tries to find a unique twist on mint flavors so that it is something that she would love, too.  Here, she models the flavor after buttermint candies -- those soft mints that you'll often find in a dish on the way out of a restaurant.  Why Savannah?  Well, Jeni pictures these has the mints of the ladies of high society and Savannah has one of the oldest cotillion clubs in the nation.  This should be interesting.

The carton itself is beautiful.  It has a lot of soft pastel colors.  Opening the pint, the ice cream is a very light milky yellow color.  With the first scoop, the ice cream does taste exactly like those soft mints!  It's uncanny!  Now, we all might have personal associations with this kind of mint (a certain restaurant, grandma's house, Savannah debutantes, etc) but once you get past those associations, this is indeed pretty good peppermint flavor.  Each spoonful also contains lots of small white chocolate flecks.  These are small and teardrop shaped.  White chocolate never provides much flavor by itself -- at least not for me, but it does have a hard and crunchy texture.  It actually adds to the illusion of eating the buttermint candies because as soft as those are, you do have to bite them to get into them.  I like it.  The texture makes it much more interesting than if the pint was just homogeneous peppermint.

I liked this ice cream quite a bit.  It is basically just peppermint ice cream with some texture from the flecks of white chocolate but it is uncanny how much this specifically tastes like buttermint candies.  So, this is a fun flavor for mint-lovers to try.

Milkjam Creamery - Toasted Coconut

Toasted Coconut - Non-Dairy Ice Cream with Toasted Coconut

Today's flavor is Toasted Coconut from the Minneapolis-based Milkjam Creamery.  This is one of their core flavors which is always on the menu.  You can tell because they have pre-printed labels for their pints.  They label the flavor as 'vegan' on their website.  The chefs at Milkjam are actually lactose-intolerant, so they although they have many dairy flavors on the menu, they are known for their non-dairy flavors.  I hesitate to call this a 'sorbet' though because being a coconut flavor it likely utilitizes coconut milk.  Though, if the core flavor is coconut, is it cheating to use coconut milk in a sorbet.  Perhaps not!

Removing the lid, the coconut base is expectedly white and looks creamier than your average sorbet.  Digging in, the coconut flavor is delicious and the 'milk' in the coconut has indeed added creaminess.  Quickly I notice there are very large coconut pieces.  These are flat and rectangular in shape and are the largest coconut pieces that I've ever encountered in an ice cream.  There is some orange coloring on them which tells me that they've been lightly toasted.  They are quite good and fun to eat.

This is quite a good pint of toasted coconut.  The extra large coconut pieces make this flavor really stick out compared to other coconut flavors.  It is non-dairy, so keep that in mind when you are setting expectations -- some people prefer dairy, others don't mind -- but this is one that coconut-lovers should try if they are in the neighborhood.

Jeni's - Blackout Chocolate Cake

Blackout Chocolate Cake - Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Cake Pieces, Extra Bitter Fudge and Chocolate Pieces

Jeni's recently reshuffled their menu for the spring season.  I could not resist and picked up a half of a dozen pints.  Some new flavors and some older flavors which I have not tried before.  I usually buy from Jeni's on Black Friday, so I usually see their fall/winter line when I am selecting pints.  These spring flavors look quite fun.  The first pint is a new chocolate-themed flavor called Blackout Chocolate Cake.  Blackout cake was developed by Ebinger's bakery in Brooklyn in the 1940s in honor of all the mandatory blackouts required by the area around the Brooklyn Naval Yards during the World War II.  Ebinger's bakeries closed in 1972, but recipes for the chocolatey cake live on in cookbooks everywhere.  I have actually reviewed a blackout cake themed pint before from Steve's Ice Cream before.  The review is here.  Jeni's bills this as a 'quadruple threat' of chocolate.  Chocolate in the base, chocolate in the cake pieces, chocolate in a swirl of fudge and chocolate chips are added for good measure.  Sounds chocolatey!

Removing the pint, I am immediately struck by the image of a beautiful swirl of fudge right on top!  It's a nice touch when a brand knows how to make the top of a pint look gorgeous.  The base looks chocolatey as well.  Digging in, there is indeed a lot of chocolate.  The base has a rich chocolatey flavor which is sweet and not at all bitter.  The fudge swirl reminds me of chocolate syrup, but again this is not at all bitter.  No kick in the back of your throat like chocolate syrup sometimes has.  Then there are the chocolate chips.  They are small, but fairly frequent.  They provide the crunch in an otherwise soft pint.  Ironically, the last thing I notice is the namesake chocolate cake itself.  It is soft and chocolatey and quite tasty but it can get lost amid the chips and the fudge swirl.  Somehow, it isn't all too much, though.  I was able to eat the whole pint in one sitting without getting a chocolate-headache.

This is quite a chocolatey pint of ice cream!  Quadruple threat is correct.  There's so much chocolate that I have trouble keeping track of it all in my mouth.  It's good though.  Every brand seems to have a 'chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate' flavor to appease the chocoholics and this pint does a fine job of that.  I liked this flavor a bit more than Steve's blackout cake flavor, but Jeni's is a more premium brand, so that does not surprise me.  The cake pieces can actually get a bit lost in all the other forms of chocolate.  That was not an issue for me, but if cake pieces is what you are looking for, it could be a concern.  Otherwise, enjoy all the chocolate!

Ben & Jerrys - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core - Cookie Milk Ice Cream with Fudge Chips & a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core

Today I review, the third and final of the new Cookie Dough Core flavors from Ben & Jerry's.  This one is simply called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core.  The name of this flavor is a bit simpler than I expected -- Ben & Jerry's loves to use puns for flavor names.  This simple name is especially surprising because it is so similar to the non-core version of the flavor:  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough which is still one of their most popular flavors.  So, keep an eye out if you are looking to try this mind.  Check for the 'core' in the name.  What is the difference?  The old flavor is very simple:  vanilla ice cream and cookie dough.  Here, in addition to the cookie dough being delivered in a central cylindrical 'core, there are a few other twists.  A 'cookie milk' base is used.  This is ice cream made with milk which has had cookies soaking in it.  Also, fudge chips are added.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I immediately see the large core of cookie dough -- slightly off center, but still in the middle.  There are many fudge chips visible right away as well.  As I eat my first spoonful, the cookie milk aspect of the base is quite subtle.  The base is evidently here to support the mix-ins and not stand alone.  The fudge chips are distributed throughout the pint. They are excellent as usual.  Thick and chunky and providing quite a bit of chocolatey flavor.  Ben & Jerry's does these fudge chips quite well.  The cookie dough in the middle is a bit harder and grittier than normal cookie dough.  It still tastes good, but it is easier to eat when it is already in bite-size chunks rather than in a large cylinder in the center of the pint.

I liked this flavor well enough.  I don't know if I liked it better than the regular Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor though.  The cookie milk base worked quite well but that is a minor enhancement.  The fudge chips worked really well.  A "cookie dough chip" flavor similar to what Graeter's has.  I think my issue here is that the cookie dough doesn't work well as a core.  I prefer cookie dough which has already broken up a bit as it is easier to eat.  I noted something similar about the new Wake & Bake flavor as well.  My favorite of this year's new flavors is Sweet Like Sugar, mainly because it was a softer dough and also because of other flavors that were in the mix.  That does it for this year's new Ben & Jerry's flavors.  Ben & Jerry's is the brand that got me started exploring ice cream flavors, so I have a bit of a soft spot for them.  Looking forward to the next releases from them.

Häagen-Dazs - Rum Tres Leches

Rum Tres Leches - Rum-infused Ice Cream with Ribbons of Dulce de Leche and Chunks of Tres Leches Cake

Today we move on to the next flavor in Häagen-Dazs new "Spirits Collection".  This one is called Rum Tres Leches.  Tres leches is spanish for three milks -- regular, evaporated and condensed.  I will forward you to a previous review of a Tres-Leches-themed pint for a more detailed explanation.  That previous pint was part of Häagen-Dazs' Artisan line where the tres leches was the base flavor.  Here, a tres leches cake is used as a mix-in.  In a tres leches cake, the three milks are poured over the top of the freshly-baked cake so that it is allowed to absorb into the cake.  The spirits here is rum which has been infused into the base.  There are also dulce de leche (caramelized milk) swirls.  I suppose one could consider the dulce de leche a 'fourth milk'.  OK.  Enough talk.  Let's eat!

Opening the pint, the ice cream show swirls of light and dark beige on the top.  Digging in, I taste the rum right away.  It is not quite as aromatic as the stout chocolate pint from earlier this week.  It has a bit more of a kick, too, but I don't think I would go so far as to call it 'boozy'.  I think the rum has soften the texture a bit, but it is by no means too soft.  The dulce de leche swirls are blended more than I anticipated.  They are small but frequent.  The flavor of these swirls is a bit muted (dulce de leche is more mild than straight caramel) but it was good and go well with the run.  Every once in a while I come across a cake piece.  These are quite good.  They are soft, sweet and appropriately moist.  They did indeed taste like tres leches cake!

I enjoyed this pint quite a bit.  They were three prongs to this flavor.  The rum, the caramel-like swirls of the dulce de leche and the cake pieces.  At times, I almost wished each individual flavor was stronger and the cake pieces more frequent, but I suppose that would be overpowering.  So, its all about how the three flavors blend I suppose.  They went together fairly well but I didn't like this as much as the stout chocolate pint, though.

Milkjam Creamery - Chasing Marrakech

Chasing Marrakech - Milk Chocolate Custard with Ras el Hanout and a Hint of Orange

We're back to the Minneapolis Milkjam Creamery for another new flavor.  This one is called Chasing Marrakech.  This is apparently a reference to a song by Zhu was was featured last year in advertisements for the release of the iPhone XS.  I decided to listen to the song while I ate the ice cream.  It's fun.  The website is not good with ingredient lists, but I found an instagram post which was more helpful.  It lists the ice cream as a milk chocolate custard with moroccan spices (called ras el hanout) and a hint of orange.  I have never had ras el hanout, before.  It looks like a similar blend of flavors that are included in spice blends such as five-spice powder or masala, but each cuisine balances those spices different.  I can't wait to check it out

Opening the pint, the milk chocolate base is the expected brown color.  It is quite a contrast from their flagship non-dairy Black flavor which was jet black in color.  Digging in, I can tell right away that this is milk chocolate and it is quite thick, but still creamy.  They call it a custard but it's not gooey-creamy like a custard -- just thick.  I can taste the spices underneath -- and they have a bit of a gritty texture as well -- but they are not too strong.  They support the chocolate flavor rather than dominate it.  Because of this, I wasn't able to do a very good job of picking out the individual flavors included in the ras el hanout.  It's a good spice mix though.  I'll have to keep my eye out if I'm ever at a place that serves Moroccan food.  The hint of orange was even more subtle than the spices because I did not specifically notice it at all.  It likely contributed something, but this is not specifically an orange-chocolate flavor.

I enjoyed this pint.  The spices were a bit more subtle than I have come to expect from Milkjam Creamery, but it was still tasty.  Since one of their most famous flavors is a Black non-dairy chocolate, it makes sense that they would add some twists into their milk chocolate so that it does not directly try to compete.  I'd recommend chocolate lovers still try their Black flavor first, but if you are there, in the mood for a milkier chocolate and curious about moroccan spices than this could be fun as well.

Häagen-Dazs - Stout Chocolate Pretzel Crunch

 Stout Chocolate Pretzel Crunch - Chocolate Ice Cream infused with Stout with Chocolate Covered Pretzels and a Fudge Swirl

Häagen-Dazs has a new line of flavors for 2019.  They call it the Spirits Collection:  five new flavors (plus one non-dairy flavor) based on alcoholic drinks.  Very interesting!  I notice that I have reviewed one of the flavors already -- Bourbon Pecan Praline -- when it was part of a limited batch release.  I started seeing the rest of the flavors (in updated packaging) in my local grocery store last week and I picked up a couple of pints.  The first flavor that I'm having is caled Stout Chocolate Pretzel Crunch.  I have had a couple of stout-themed pints (here and here).  It will be fun to see how this one compares.

Opening the pint, I see the standard brown color of the chocolate base with some small pieces and swirls of fudge visible on top.  It looks quite a bit like one of their other chocolate with chocolate mix-ins pints (such as Midnight Cookies & Cream).  With the first spoonful, I immediately notice the alcohol, though -- particularly the aroma.  It is quite fragrant and a bit sweet.  The chocolate is quite good (Häagen-Dazs' chocolate base is one of the best out there) and the fudge swirl works very well with it.  If I focus, I can sense notes of malt in there as well.  The chocolate-covered pretzels are dispersed at a moderate frequency throught out the pint.  They are crunchy with a bit of salt.  They aren't too common, though.  They only occasionally distract from the stout-chocolate combination of the base and swirl.

I really enjoyed this pint!  I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected.  To be honest, I chose this flavor to go first because I wanted to save what I thought would be better pints for later, but now I'm wondering how much better those pints could be.  The balance of alcohol in this pint is perfect.  I get a large amount of the things that I really like -- the aroma and flavor -- but it does not feel at all 'boozy'.  There is no 'burn' or 'kick' and the alcohol is not strong enough to make the ice cream soft or soupy.  I'm not sure that I would have guessed that stout was the alcohol used here, though.  It tastes a bit sweeter than that.  I guess there is plenty of sweetness supplied by the base and swirl, though.  I recommend this for all chocolate lovers who are curious about 'spiking' their ice cream.  I am looking forward to the rest of the pints in this collection.

Ben & Jerrys - Wake & "No Bake"

Wake & "No Bake" - Vanilla Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Cookies, Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Fudge Chips & a No Bake Cookie Dough Core

I tracked down the second of the three new Cookie Dough Core flavors that Ben & Jerry's has released for 2019.  The first flavor is reviewed here.  This flavor is called Wake & "No Bake".  I found it at one of their scoop shops.  The core for this flavor is a 'no bake' cookie dough.  What are 'no bake' cookies?  There are a lot of recipes online which can vary quite a bit.  The common denominators are that most recipes do not contain eggs and many don't use wheat flour.  To compensate, they'll use often use peanut butter and/or oatmeal to act as thickeners.  I suppose since they are not designed to be baked, that 'no bake' cookie dough is indeed just 'no bake' cookies.  I checked the ingredient list, the pint itself and eggs and wheat flour are listed -- but there are baked cookies in the mix which would contain both, and there are often eggs in ice cream bases.  I don't see any oatmeal listed peanuts are listed.  This unique core as well as a large number of other ingredients should make this an interesting pint.

Opening the pint, you can see just about everything on top.  As with many of the other core flavors,  Ben & Jerry's has split the based in half on each side of the core.  One one side, there is vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cookie mix-ins, on the other side there is peanut butter ice cream with fudge chip mix-ins and the no bake cookie dough forms the cylindrical core in the middle.  It's quite an engineering feat to get each base, the mix-ins and the core to go into their correct places, but Ben & Jerry's has gotten pretty good at this.  The peanut butter base is quite light in color.  I had to look twice to distinguish it from the vanilla.  Digging in the vanilla-peanut butter-cookie side was pretty good.  The peanut butter cookies were a little small but understandably so as to not distract too much from the core.  I could still taste them.  I had a similar reaction to the peanut-butter-fudge chip side.  The peanut butter base was a bit muted and the fudge chips were tasty as usual but there also was not as many of them   That brings us to the core.  It is quite solid -- not all gooey like most other cores.  It's quite chocolatey with some peanut butter in the mix.  It is crumbly rather than chewy.  Because of its crumbliness, it wasn't something that you could scoop into like other cores.  I often each a core flavor by scooping along side it and bringing in a bit of the core into every spoonful.  Here I ended up with a large core chunk on my spoon every once in a while.

This is an interesting flavor.  All the pieces were there and they each tasted as good as I expected, but I found that the hard texture of the core prevented it from mixing as I scooped my spoon.  These type of 'no bake' cookies would work better as a standard mix-in than as a core.  Just my two cents.  No bake cookie mix-ins are not easy to find, though -- this is my first one -- so if you really like those types of cookies, this is worth a try.

Izzy's - Cherries Jubilee

Cherries Jubilee - Cherry Ice Cream infused with German Asbach Brandy with Black Cherry Halves

Today we return to the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream for their implementation of Cherries Jubilee.  I have reviewed a pint of Cherries Jubilee from the New Orleans brand before.  Cherries Jubilee is a fruit liqueur flambé dessert which was originally invented for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and is now often associated with New Orleans.  Izzy's states on their website that they use German Asbach brandy.  Let's see how they compare.

Opening the pint, I see the dark purplish pink color of the cherry base with two quite large black cherry pieces visible.  Digging in the base has a strong black cherry flavor with a quite noticeable bit of brandy in the mix.  The flavors blend quite well -- to the point where the black cherry flavor in the base simply seems as if its spiked, but I'm sure brandy lovers would be able to taste the specific brandy flavor.  It is a good mix, though.  The cherry mix-ins are quite good.  They are juicy and flavorful.

I enjoyed this flavor quite a bit.  The cherry and brandy flavors blended together quite well.  The brandy added aromaticity and a slight kick but it is in no way 'boozy' and liqueur was not strong enough to make the ice cream soft.  I liked this much better than the New Orleans ice cream implementation.  Cherries Jubilee is a bit of an eclectic flavor, but if you like a cherry/brandy mix then try this one out.

Ample Hills - Butter Pecan Brittle

Butter Pecan Brittle - Dark Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Pieces of Housemade Pecan Brittle

The third pint from my recent Ample Hills shipment is one from their standard line.  It is called Butter Pecan Brittle.  In previous reviews, I have mentioned that Butter Pecan is one of the most popular flavors of ice cream in the United States (after chocolate and vanilla).  Some brands like to implement a straight butter pecan, while others like to throw in a twist.  Ample Hills has gone with the twist here.  A pecan brittle is used as the mix-in while brown sugar is added to the base.  Let's check it out!

Opening the pint, the brown sugar base has the expected caramel color, but the first thing I notice is the mix-ins.  The brittle has melted a bit.  This is actually quite common.  Something about being immersed in ice cream causes it to soften.  Sometimes it even goes so far as to dissolve into the surrounding base, but here it form little syrupy pools of liquid that surround the pecan pieces.  The effect is actually quite good.  Digging in, the base is quite different from the brown sugar base of their Nonna's Oatmeal Lace flavor.  The base here is less sweet and aromatic and has a strong molasses flavor.  The syrupy pecan mix-ins go well with the base.

I enjoyed this pint.  At first, I was going to write that this is an interesting twist on butter pecan, but I think it is so much of a twist that people should not expect a butter pecan-like ice cream.  I think 'molasses praline' would be a better description as the base has a strong molasses flavor and the pecans are coated with a sweet candy-like syrup.  An interesting flavor.