Ben & Jerry's - Minter Wonderland

Minter Wonderland - Dark Chocolate Mint Ice Cream with Marshmallow Swirls & Chocolate Cookie Swirls

There is a new Target-exclusive and presumably-seasonal flavor from Ben & Jerry's!  It is always exciting to return to the brand that started off these reviews.  The flavor is called Minter Wonderland -- an obvious pun on the classic holiday song.  Now, British readers may recognize Minter Wonderland as a holiday flavour from Ben & Jerry's on the other side of the pond.  Interestingly, these are not the same.  The flavour is not the same as the flavor!  The 500 ml tub is not the same as the pint!  The British flavour is a mint ice cream with chocolatey chunks while the American flavor is a Dark Chocolate Mint Ice Cream with Marshmallow Swirls and Chocolate Cookie Swirls.  So, while the Brits have what appears to be a chunkier version of the classic Mint Chip flavor the Americans are getting a more complex chocolate mint mixture with a dark chocolate base and swirls of both marshmallows and chocolate cookies.  I am only having the American flavor today, but it does look quite interesting!

What strikes me first as I remove the lid is that the dark chocolate base is indeed quite dark.  And a hint of the marshmallow swirl can be seen right away.  Digging in, the dark chocolate & peppermint flavors are both present.  This is a combination I have seen before from Jeni's and it works quite well.  The Jeni's pint was homogeneous, but Ben & Jerry's adds a couple of swirls. The marshmallow swirl here is a bit stronger and potent than the usual Ben & Jerry's pint.  I expected it to be like Phish Food where the swirls mainly acts to create a goopier, faster melting texture (I actually quite like this effect).  Here the marshmallow-y texture stays distinct from that of the base and I taste more specific marshmallow flavor.  Perhaps this was needed because the dark chocolate and peppermint are both so overpowering.  So, I can taste the marshmallow but it is still certainly a minty-chocolatey pint.  Then there is the chocolate cookie swirl.  This is one of my favorite Ben & Jerry's swirls and has been used several times.  Here it does not deliver much additional chocolate flavor as the base is already so chocolatey but it does add some gritty texture which is nice in an otherwise creamy-marshmallowy pint.

I liked this pint.  Long-time readers know that mint chocolate chip is my all-time favorite flavor so it is always fun to see imaginative variations on those two ingredients.  It was more chocolatey than minty and with a bit of marshmallow in the mix as well.  If dark chocolate and peppermint is your thing, then head to Target and check it out.

Footnote:  Ben & Jerry's has released a politically-themed flavor this fall called Pecan Resist.  I don't mind politics as long as the ice cream is good.  The trouble here is that it is not a new flavor.  This is just a temporary re-packing of their classic flavor New York Super Fudge Chunk -- you can even see that the ice cream in the pint images for the two links above is identical, the pint labels are swapped with photoshop.  From my old review you can read that New York Super Fudge Chunk has an interesting backstory of its own and I quite liked the flavor.