Ben & Jerry - Chip Happens

Chip Happens - A Cold Mess of Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Chips & Crunchy Potato Chip Swirls

Ben & Jerry's has a new flavor!  I was surprised, but I checked their available list of pints and there is was.  It turns out their their Netflix & Chilll'd flavor from earlier this year was not a one-off collaboration with the streaming network.  They are planning multiple flavors based on specific Netflix programs.  I found their page of Netflix flavors here.  This flavor is called Chip Happens and is based on the Netflix show Nailed It! -- the reality show where amateur bakers try to recreate a complex professional desserts.  I have never seen it, but the premise sounds rather amusing.  Anyhow, the artwork on the carton shows a cow-chef holding up a "Limited Botch" sign -- ha ha -- and describes the flavor as a "Cold Mess" with chocolate ice cream and potato chip and fudge chip mix-ins.  I am excited about the potato chips.  I have not seen them from Ben & Jerry's since their retired Late Night Snack flavor -- the Jimmy Fallon flavor from when Jimmy Fallon hosted Late Night instead of the Tonight Show.  Now the Jimmy Fallon flavor is the Tonight Dough and is cookie-dough based instead of potato chip based.

A note to local readers, I bought this pint at the Midway Target in mid-May.  As I type this a week and a half after eating it, I'm not 100% sure if that store is open because of the unrest in the area, but a lot of Target stores have the same stocking patterns so perhaps another Target will have it.  Also, this is not a Target-specific flavor so it will likely show up in other grocery stores with extensive Ben & Jerry selections.

OK, on to the ice cream!  Removing the lid, I see the brown color of the chocolate base with several fudge chips visible right away on top.  Digging in, the chocolate base itself has a muted flavor -- almost as if it is malted.  I have written before about how Ben & Jerry's has much better chocolate mix-ins (chips, chunks and brownies) than their chocolate base and that is true here.  The fudge chips here are excellent -- as I just said.  The chips are very crunchy and deliver a lot of chocolate flavor.  As I dig in, I start to encounter the potato chips.  They appear completely crunched as a gritty and salty swirl.  It is not that great by itself by I like the salt that it delivers to the spoonfuls that contain it.  The chips were smaller and crunchier in Late Night Snack -- they were fudge-covered to preserve the crispy texture.  Without the fudge-covering here they decided to grind them into finer particles which is why I used the word gritty above instead of crispy.

This is an interesting limited botch batch flavor from Ben & Jerry.  Although imperfect, I applaud the use of potato chip mix-ins.  I understand it's hard to blend them into the ice cream at the factory without them getting soggy.  As I ate my way down the pint, I got used to the gritty swirl and appreciated the salt that it was delivering into the pint.  If you like salty mix-ins, this is a fun flavor to try this summer.