Ben & Jerry's - Cannoli

Cannoli - Mascarpone Ice Cream with Fudge-Covered Pastry Shell Pieces & Mascarpone Swirls

I have been waiting to see what the new flavors from Ben & Jerry's would be this year.  Last month, I reviewed Netflix & Chilll'd, but I figured that could be the only one for this year.  In recent years we've seen Core flavors, Cookie Core flavors, Truffles flavors, Cookie Dough Core flavors, what could be next?  It turns out that they've decided to bring back three recent and particularly successful limited batch flavors as fan favorites:  Gimme S'more (previously reviewed here), Peanut Butter Half Baked (previously reviewed here) and Cannoli (not previously reviewed, so today's flavor!).  I have had one cannoli-themed pint before -- from Coolhaus.  It will be interesting to see how this one compares.  Note to local buyers, I saw this flavor first at the Hyvee in Eagan, so I bought it there but I am starting to see it appearing in other grocery stores like Lunds.  I imagine that will spread to places like Target and Lunds soon.

Popping off the lid, I see the marscarpone base is a bright white color and I see quite a few fudge-covered pastry pieces right away -- including one piece where the fudge has not completely covered the pastry.  Digging in the mascarpone base is delicious.  I am a big fan of mascarpone... the 'dessert cheese'.  It is a sweet creamy cheese which does not have the aftertaste of cream cheese.  Next I encounter the fudge-covered pastry pieces.  These are crunchy and the fudge delivers quite bit of chocolate flavor.  These remind me quite a bit of cone pieces -- not exactly, but quite close.  So this flavor might have a similar appeal to Americone Dream.  There are some key differences -- mascarpone is a richer base than vanilla and there is no caramel -- but the mix-ins are quite similar.  The pastry shell pieces here might be a little bigger and crunchier.

I really enjoyed this pint from Ben & Jerry's.  Mascarpone is one of my favorite ingredients, so I'm quite happy to have another way of enjoying it.  I liked this pint slightly better than the Coolhaus implementation that I tried last year (I enjoyed that pint, but it was a bit sweeter than I was expecting).  Even during these interesting times, I am starting to see this flavor being rotated into local grocery store freezer cases.  So fans of cannoli and/or mascarpone can try out this flavor at home soon.  Keep a lookout for the other two new flavors (Gimme S'more and Peanut Butter Half Baked) as well.