Häagen-Dazs - Dulce de Leche Churro

Dulce de Leche Churro - Cinnamon Churro Ice Cream with a Swirl of Dulce de Leche and Crispy Cinnamon-y Churro Pieces

The next flavor in Häagen-Dazs' City Sweets Collection is called Dulce de Leche Churro.  I picked it up at the CVS on Grand and Fairview in Saint Paul, but I am now seeing it available at many other grocery stores in the Twin Cities.  This flavor uses a cinnamon churro base and includes swirls of dulce de leche (caramelized milk) and crispy cinnamon churro pieces.  I am noticing more churro-based ice creams in the past couple of years.  I have had flavors from Jeni's, McConnell's, Coolhaus and the Museum of Ice Cream.  Let's see how this one compares.

Removing the lid, the top of the pint shows the light beige color which is consistent with a cinnamon base.  I also see darker hints of the mix-ins below.  Digging in, the cinnamon flavor is quite pleasant and agreeable.  This is a sweet cinnamon as opposed to a hot cinnamon.  As I eat my way further down, I find the churro pieces.  These are actually extra crunchy!  Often churro pieces get soft when immersed in ice cream, but somehow they managed to keep them hard and crispy.  Dare I saw that the pieces are almost too crunchy, but that is not really something to complain about.  Eating further down some small dollops of dulce de leche are also in the mix.  These provide caramel flavor which goes quite well with all the cinnamon.

I liked this churro-based ice cream from Häagen-Dazs quite a bit.  I don't believe they had a cinnamon-based flavor before, so this flavor would fit into their menu well even if they decide the City Sweets line is just a temporary thing.  I think I actually like this just as good, if not better than most of the churro-based flavors from the big brands listed above.  The crunchiness of the churro pieces make it stand out -- although the soft 'churro dough' in some of the other brands can be quite delicious.  Check this out if you are in the mood for cinnamon.

Talenti - Caramel Pretzel Blondie

Caramel Pretzel Blondie - Sea Salt Caramel Gelato, made with Dulce de Leche, and Salted Pretzel Gelato with Blondie Pieces

 

Talenti Gelato has a new line of flavors for 2022.  They call them Gelato Pairings.  Basically, they have one gelato on one side of the pint and a second gelato on the other and then in many cases they add some mix-ins.  This new way for them to combine multiple gelatos contrasts with their Gelato Layers flavors where the gelatos (and thick mix-ins) are horizontal layers stacked from bottom to top.  With the left-right vertical layers it is perhaps easier for someone to eat right out of the jar -- I found that the stacked layers worked well when it was gently scooped into a bowl first.  There are four new pints, the first of which is called Caramel Pretzel Blondie.  The two gelatos here are Sea Salt Caramel (pint link here) and Salted Pretzel (previously seen as a layer in the Chocolate Pretzel flavor).  The mix-ins are blondie pieces.  Let's check it out.

Unscrewing the lid and peeling off the protective seal, the I can see the two bases cut the top of the pint roughly in half (there is an extra streak of pretzel base across the top, but that does not persist as I eat further down.  The caramel base, I am familiar with, the pretzel base here is light in color with small specks in it.  It looks like this base is created by grinding pretzels into crumbs and then blending them into the gelato.  Digging in, the caramel base is good like I remember.  The pretzel base is decent.  It is a relatively mild flavor, but I can taste the salted pretzel flavor in the mix.  The two go fairly well together and it is fairly easy for me to use my spoon to scoop from one side or the other.  I usually tried to get a little of both into each spoonful.  The blondie mix-ins are relatively small but provide a bit of chewy texture from time to time.

This is a solid mix of a caramel base with a pretzel-flavored base from Talenti.  The pretzel flavor is a bit mild but still very agreeable.  There are no crunchy pretzel mix-ins, so adjust your expectations for that.  For crunchier pretzel flavors from Talenti try Peanut Butter Pretzel.  I am liking this "pairings" format.  The older layers format allows for very extra thick non-gelato layers (fudge, peanut butter, jam, etc) but this side-by-side format appears easier for simpler combinations.  I am looking forward to trying more pairings flavors this spring.

Van Leeuwen - Hot Honey

Hot Honey - Vanilla Ice Cream with Honeycomb and Swirls of Hot Honey

Today is the next of the new Walmart-specific flavors that the Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream has released this spring.  This is the second flavor of the series.  I purposely picked the boldest "try it on a dare" flavor of the set, Pizza, first to get it out of the way. Today's flavor, Hot Honey (instagram link), is more in the normal spectrum.  This looks like a spicy version of their signature Honeycomb flavor.  Here a vanilla base is used instead of sweet cream and the honey pieces contain a little bit of chili pepper.  Let's give it a try.

Removing the lid shows the off-white color of the vanilla base with many small honey pieces visible right away.  Digging in, the base ice cream appears to have absorbed some of the flavor from the honey pieces.  It is quite tasty.  It has the expected extra-creamy texture that I see in other Van Leeuwen flavors.  They make a "French-style" ice cream which includes extra eggs, so it gives it an almost custard-like feel.  They honey pieces are delicious.  The chili pepper create a very mild burning sensation in my throat when I swallow but it quickly dissipates.  It is just enough pepper to add flavor and not so much as to make it 'hot'.

This is an excellent honey-based ice cream from Van Leeuwen.  The chili pepper is fairly mild -- don't be scared by the word "hot" in the flavor name, but I really like the extra flavor it adds.  I actually like this flavor better than their signature Honeycomb flavor!  So, if you like that flavor and are curious about a slightly enhanced version of it, then give Hot Honey a try. 

Häagen-Dazs - Coffee Chocolate Brownie

Coffee Chocolate Brownie - Coffee Ice Cream with Gooey Brownies, Rich Espresso Chocolate Sauce and Crunchy Cocoa Nibs

 

After releasing no new flavors in 2021, Häagen-Dazs is back with new flavors in 2022.  They have a new City Sweets collection inspired by grab-and-go "street food" (article link here).  So four new pints and the 'street food' featured include brownies, churros, black-and-white cookies and cake pops.  Todays' flavor is the brownie flavor which is called Coffee Chocolate Brownie.  It features their standard coffee ice cream base with gooey brownie and cocoa nib mix-ins and a swirl of espresso chocolate sauce.  This looks like a more complex coffee-chocolate combination to Häagen-Dazs' standard Coffee Chip flavor.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the coffee ice cream has the expected tan color.  There are quite a lot of specks in the base which tells me that some of the chocolate mix-ins got crushed up and blended into the base as what often happens in cookies & cream implementations.  I see some hints of larger mix-ins below.  Digging in, the coffee base tastes pretty good.  The brownies here are not chewy chunks, but are stretched out into fudge-like swirls.  I think these brownie swirls are also partially blended into the chocolate sauce.  This provides a lot of delicious chocolate flavor, but it was not what I was expecting.  The cocoa nibs are crunchy and fun.

This is a fun and interesting twist on a coffee-chocolate combination from Häagen-Dazs.  It is indeed like their Coffee Chip flavor but with fancier mix-ins.  The cocoa nibs in particular are a welcome addition to the mix.  Since brownies get featured billing on the flavor name, I could see how one might be disappointed that larger chewier chunks of brownies are not in the mix.  The smeared-and-swirled versions here are delicious, though.

Bebe Zito - Slam Dunkie

Slam Dunkie - Dunkaroo Cookies and Yellow Cake Base with Frosting and Crumbled Cookies

The next flavor from the Minneapolis-based Bebe Zito is called Slam Dunkie (instagram link here).  It features a yellow-cake flavored base ice cream with dunkaroo cookies and frosting mix-ins.  I must admit that I was unfamiliar with Dunkaroo cookies before I encountered this flavor.  Dunkaroos are a product from Betty Crocker (General Mills) where you get a small package of cookies attached to a small tub of frosting with the expectation that you dump the cookies in the frosting.  When I was a kid, we used to do that manually with larger tubs of frosting and graham crackers.  It will be fun to see how this is turned into an ice cream.

Removing the lid, the yellow-cake ice cream is blue!  That's fun.  There are a lot of cookie crumbs sprinkled across the top of the pint as well.  Digging in, the cake batter flavor is expectedly sweet, the cookie pieces provide the crunch and there are additional globs of pink frosting in there which provide more sweetness.  As I keep eating, there is enough creaminess in the ice cream to keep the sweetness from going too far.  It stays delicious and I do not get an ice cream headache.

This is a fun cookies-and-frosting flavor from Bebe Zito.  It reminds me of their Animal Frossting flavor a bit.  The frosting to cookie ratio is a bit higher here with Slam Dunkie but they are similar.  Bebe Zito themselves has acknowledged the similarities with a brief Neo-politan flavor (instagram link) which marbles these two ice cream together -- both cookies-and-frosting, one red and one blue.  Slam Dunkie is a fun flavor if you are in the mood for sugar.  It's also kid friendly.  I guess some kids only like homogenous flavors, but if your kid likes mix-ins they may like this.

Van Leeuwen - Pizza

Pizza - Cream Cheese and Mozzarella Ice Cream with a Tomato Jam Swirl and Basil Crust Cookies

 

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream of Brooklyn has partnered with Walmart this spring to stock seven exclusive flavors.  See instagram link here and news story link here.  I have already tried two of the flavors:  the surprisingly agreeable but rather tame Kraft Macaroni and Cheese that made national news last fall and the excellent Royal Wedding Cake.  That leaves five more me to try.  I picked them all up at the Walmart in Roseville on Cleveland and County Road C.  The first flavor I decided to try is the boldest:  Pizza!  (instagram link here).  It features a mozarella and cream cheese base with a tomato jam swirl and basil crust cookies.  So, it is mainly the tomato jam which gives it the pizza theme with some mozzarella and basil also included.  

This is the first time that I have had tomato in a pint before.  The tomato is a New World species and was brought back to Europe by returning Spanish explorers.  So, its ubiquity in Italian cuisine dates back only a few hundred years.  Botanically, a tomato is an edible berry, but the fruit contains a high amount of glutamic acid which gives it a much more savory umami flavor than most other fruits.  Because of this, the tomato is usually considered a vegetable for culinary purposes.  This umami flavor is also the most likely reason why I have not had it in an ice cream yet.  Tomatoes do not tend to go well in sweet things such as desserts.  It will be very interesting as to how Van Leeuwen blends this flavor in here.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid and peeling back the protective foil, I see mainly the off-white yellow color of the cream cheese mozzarella base.  There are a couple of small red streaks indicative of the tomato jam swirl.  Digging in, I taste mostly cream cheese.  If I focus, I might be able to detect a hint of mozzarella flavor, but mozzarella is a fairly mild flavor so it is not strong.  Occasionally, I encounter a small streak of tomato jam.  If I strategically lick, I can taste a little bit of tomato flavor but it is quickly overwhelmed by the cream cheese flavor in the rest of the spoonful.  This seems to be a common strategy in some of these bold, savory ice cream flavors.  Overwhelm the pint which a soothing flavor like cream cheese and then just dole out small doses of the bold flavor.  It is a lot like a cold, creamy 'cheese plate' that you might get as an hors d'oeuvre.  Occasionally, I run into some basil cookie pieces.  These aren't bad, but they played it safe again and were very easy on the basil.  Basil has been shown to work well in ice cream (see previous review), maybe they did not need to be so cautious.  I continue to eat my way down.  At the very bottom of the pint, I ran into a larger dollop of tomato jam.  It tasted too ketchup-y to me and made me wish I had saved more cream cheese base to balance it.  All in all, though, it was not as bold and daring as I had feared.

This is an interesting savory pint from Van Leeuwen.  I think it appeals mostly to the curious who want to see if a tomato-based mix-in could be incorporated into a pint.  In that regard, it was successful.  If you keep your eye out for larger sections of the tomato jam swirl and make sure you always have enough cream cheese to balance it, then it's pretty edible, but I doubt this would be anyone's favorite flavor.  At any rate, I can now add the 'tomato' tag to my side bar and say that I've tried it.

Sweet Science - Vegan Banana Fudge Peanut

Vegan Banana Fudge Peanut - Vegan Banana-Cashew Ice Cream with Vegan Fudge Swirl and Crunchy Peanuts

The Twin Cities-based Sweet Science Ice Cream has a new vegan flavor for the spring called Vegan Banana Fudge Peanut.  Here, Sweet Science's cashew-based non-dairy base is flavored with banana and a fudge swirl and crunchy peanuts are added as mix-ins.  Looks good.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see all of the ingredients right off the bat.  The banana base has the same color as banana bread, there are some peanuts visible right away and I see some generous dollops of the fudge swirl on top as well.  Digging in, the banana base has a dense texture.  I can tell that it is not as 'creamy' as a dairy base, but it still has a good texture and is not at all icy.  The flavor is an earthy banana-bread type of banana flavor as opposed to the sweeter banana-pudding type of flavor.  Then the fudge swirls are thick and very chocolatey -- quite delicious.  Also, it is always fun to have large peanut pieces (mostly halves) as an ice cream mix-in.  Very crunchy.

This is a very well done non-dairy banana fudge flavor from Sweet Science.  The generous fudge swirls are the star of the show here.  I think I still prefer a dairy banana, but this is still quite good.  Check it out if you are at Sweet Science and interested in a non-dairy option.

Bebe Zito - Lunchbox Hero

Lunchbox Hero - Vegan Peanut Butter and Coconut Base with a Vibrant Plum Jam Swirl

Today, I return to Bebe Zito of south Minneapolis for their Lunchbox Hero flavor.  This is a vegan (non-dairy) flavor with a peanut butter and coconut base and a swirl of plum jam.  Right now, it is only available in pints and I cannot find an instragram link with a more detailed description of the flavor.  The 'lunchbox' theme seems straightforward.  This is a non-dairy ice cream version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid the top of the pint shows an extra dollop of plum jam on top.  The peanut butter base is light in color.  Digging in, there is so much plum jam on top that it is the first thing that I taste.  It's pretty good.  Then peanut butter coconut base does a good job of holding the pint together.  As I have written before peanut butter and coconut both make for good bases for a non-dairy flavor because they each contain their own source of creaminess -- peanuts contain enough oil to be made into a 'butter' and coconut milk is also high in oil and can be processed into a cream.  I can still tell that it is non-dairy.  It's a bit denser and a little grittier than a dairy ice cream, but it is quite good.

This is a very good implementation of a non-dairy peanut-butter-and-jelly flavor from Bebe Zito.  I have had several peanut butter and jelly implementations from Milkjam, Graeter's, McConnell's, Ben & Jerry's and Ample Hills.  I believe this is the first one which is non-dairy, though.  That and the unique plum flavored jam make this a unique twist on the flavor.  When this flavor is available in scoop shops, Bebe Zito adds crushed potato chips to the top (a bag of chips is often included in lunchboxes).  They don't include those in pints as when stored for long periods in cream, the chips will get soggy.  I didn't add crunched potato chips to my bowl when I ate this, but perhaps I should have.  Enjoy.

Milkjam Creamery - Turkish Coffee Honeycomb

Turkish Coffee Honeycomb - Coffee Cardamom Ice Cream with Honeycomb pieces

March flavors at Milkjam Creamery are named for famous women.  Today's flavor (instagram link here) is named after Deb Haaland, the United States Secretary of the Interior.  Haaland is known for being the first cabinet secretary of Native American ancestry in the country's history as her mother was Native American.  It turns out that her father was a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent ("Haaland" is a very Norwegian surname) and as I myself am a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent, I feel like I must include that factoid.  She has a lot to be proud of.  Since the women honored every March changes from year to year, these flavors have alternate names.  Today's flavor is called "Turkish Coffee Honeycomb".  It is a coffee cardamom ice cream with honeycomb pieces.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the coffee cardamom base has a dark brown color to it.  The color is almost dark enough to be chocolate, but it is coffee.  If I look really close, there are hints of a couple of honeycomb pieces, but I am not sure.  Digging in, the coffee cardamom flavor in the base is excellent!  You can really taste the cardamom and it is blended into the coffee quite well.  As I eat my way down, I see those hints that I saw on top were actually honeycomb pieces.  As I have seen with other honeycomb flavors, instead of being crunchy, the honeycomb melts a bit in the ice cream creating small liquid pools.  It's pretty good.

This is an excellent coffee cardamom flavor from Milkjam Creamery.  Flavors with cardamom can sometimes be hit or miss as sometimes the flavor is barely noticeable, but here the blend is excellent!  It reminds me a bit of an old scoop-shop-era Izzy's flavor called Dessa's Night Drive except with different mix-ins.  The honeycomb pieces here are alright, but the cardamom-coffee base here is the star of the show.  For those that like this type of blended coffee, check out Turkish Coffee Honeycomb (or TCH), the next time is returns to Milkjam Creamery.

Sweet Science - Stout Chocolate Cookie

Stout Chocolate Cookie - Stout Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Crunchy Chocolate Cookies

Today's flavor from the Twin Cities-based Sweet Science Ice Cream is called Stout Chocolate Cookie.  Since their scoop shop moved to the other end of town (Edina), I now pick up my pints at the Golden Fig market on Grand in Saint Paul.  Other grocery stores stock Sweet Science, but I think the Golden Fig as been designated as the store which will always stock the most recent limited-batch flavors on the Saint Paul-side of the metro.  Stout Chocolate cookie uses a stout-and-chocolate base with chocolate cookie pieces as the mix-ins.  Stout blends surprisingly well with chocolate and I have seen it several times before including once from Sweet Science with different mix-ins, but also from Ample Hills and Häagen-Dazs.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see the expected brown color of the stout chocolate base as well as many small pieces of chocolate cookies.  The chocolate cookie pieces are almost "chip-sized".  Digging in, the stout chocolate base is delicious!  It's just as I remember in their previous pint.  I never would have guessed that stout beer would go well with chocolate, but it absolutely does.  If you are not a fan of beer (or even stout) it is still worth sampling this flavor.  The flavor is mostly chocolate but how the stout accents is quite interesting and delicious.  The small chocolate cookie pieces add some crunchiness (and extra chocolate) into the mix.

This is a very good stout chocolate flavor from Sweet Science.  Those who have loved their previous stout chocolate flavors will surely love this one, too.  The chocolate cookie mix-ins are small and crunchy.  Texturally this pint is about halfway between a "stout chocolate chocolate chip" and a "stout cookies and cream".  Enjoy.

Bebe Zito - Beijinhos

Beijinhos - Beijinho-flavored Ice Cream with a Strawberry Lemon Ripple

The next flavor from the Minneapolis-based Bebe Zito is called Beijinhos (instagram link here).  A beijinho is a Brazilian confection made with coconut and condensed milk.  It has been described as the coconut version of a brigadiero (which I have had in ice cream here).  Here, Bebe Zito adds a strawberry lemon ripple into the mix.  Let's see how this turns out.

Removing the lid, I see quite a bit of the strawberry-lemon ripple right away -- a big glob plus a few veiny threads of it.  I also see an off-white clump which looks like it might be coconut.  Looks like there are chunks of actual beijnho mixed in.  Digging in, the beijnho pieces are sticky and sweet but quite delicious and they go well with the strawberry-lemon swirls.  Strawberry and lemon go well together (as they do in strawberry lemonade).  I am surprised that I do not see them together more often.  As I eat further down, the strawberry-lemon swirl seem to have migrated to the sides of the container (I have seen that before) but it is quite easy to get some of this swirl into every spoonful so it is not something to complain about.

This is a fun and unique combination of flavors from Bebe Zito.  The beijinho confection is not one that I was familiar with before, but now I want to try one.  Blending in condensed milk does make this a sweeter than average pint, but the extra sweetness did not bother me one bit.  Strawberry and coconut was not a combination that I had imagined before but it is quite delicious.  With Bebe Zito having a Brazilian-theme to several of their flavors (one of their owners in Brazilian) and this being a fun implementation of a Brazilian dessert, this Beijinhos flavor deserves to be one of their signature flavors.  Check it out the next time that you are there.

Milkjam Creamery - Sarah

Sarah - Croissant Ice Cream with Black Currant Jam, Cream Cheese Mousse, and Brown Butter Streusel

 Milkjam Creamery of Minneapolis honors Women's History Month (March) by renaming all of its flavors after important women -- including their monthly specials.  The first monthly special is called Sarah (instagram link here) after the Minneapolis baker Sarah Botcher who runs the Black Walnut Bakery on Hennepin.  What is in this flavor?  It has a croissant-based ice cream with a black currant jam, cream cheese mousse and a brown butter streusel.  I have never had a croissant flavored ice cream before.  I'm guessing they soak croissants in the milk and cream to infuse it with the flavor and then strain them out.  Otherwise, it looks like and interesting and eclectic mixture of ingredients.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see quite a bit of the black currant jam right away.  A couple of darker globs but a lot of it has half-blended into the base.  Digging in, the blackcurrant flavor is quite good.  The croissant flavor in the base is not obvious -- especially with the streusel mixed in there as well -- but it goes well with the jam.  The cream cheese provides extra thickness which also compliments the jam.  Overall the flavor is quite good.

This is a solid "berry crumble" ice cream done with extra fancy ingredients -- black currant, croissant, brown butter, etc.  It is done very well, though and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The use of black currant reminds me of a couple of Jeni's flavors (Brambleberry Crisp and the limited-batch Clare's Cabinet).  It will be fun to see if this flavor returns next year.

Bebe Zito - Romeo E Julieta

Romeo E Julieta - Cream Cheese Custard and Fresh Guava Ripple. Finished with a beautiful Ritz cracker and guava sauce.

I return to Bebe Zito in Minneapolis for the first time in a while.  I have not been avoiding them, but they do not always update their pint freezer case.  I think they like to focus on manually adding toppings to their ice cream creations and that always translated to a pre-packed pint -- so they don't always make a pint-version of their limited-batch flavors.  Anyhow, last time I was there, I found several new flavors of pints in their freezer case so I scooped them up.  Today's flavor is called Romeo E Julieta (instagram link here).  It features a cream cheese custard base with a ripple of guava and is topped with Ritz crackers.  They gave me a little container of Ritz crackers to add to the ice cream when I ate it -- I guess the crackers would get soggy if they mixed them into the pints themselves.  This sounds fun.  Guava is a relatively unusual ingredient, although I have had it once before in a Pineapple Rum & Guava Jam flavor from McConnell's a couple of years ago.  Let's check out today's flavor.

Removing the lid, the cream cheese base has an off-white color to it and I see a few dollops of guava jam right away on top.  Instead of digging right in, I transfer the ice cream to a bowl, so that I can add some of the Ritz Crackers into the mix (see pictures below).  Digging in, the crackers add a nice crumbly-crunchy salty mix to each spoonful.  The cream cheese custard is very dense and thick and the guava jam adds some very delicious tropical fruit flavor.  Yum.

This is a fun and delicious fruit and crackers combination from Bebe Zito and the dense cream cheese base holds it all together quite well.  The guava has a delicious tropical flavor and the smattering of crushed crackers adds a nice touch of saltiness to the mix.  They might not always give you the crackers when you buy the pint -- it would still be good without it -- but it is a nice touch.  If you like guava, check this out the next time you are at Bebe Zito.