Sweet Science - Animal Circus

 

Animal Circus - Animal Cracker Ice Cream with a Pink Frosting Swirl and Sprinkles

Today's flavor is the third of the four "State Fair" flavors from the Saint-Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream.  This one is called Animal Circus (instagram link here).  This ice cream is based on the frosted animal cracker snack.  When I think of animal crackers, I think of the non-frosted version -- the ones that come in a box that feature lions and pants-wearing monkeys.  Here, the inspiration is kind with the white frosting and hard rainbow sprinkles (which in the list of ingredients is described as nonpareils).  I remember if I left them in the car on a trip to the beach that they would melt together in the bag.  They still tasted good, but eating them was much more of a challenge.  Anyhow, I am quite curious as to how this turns out.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the top of the pint features a good chunk of pink frosting right in the middle against a yellowish white base.   This base contains animal cracker flavor -- the crackers themselves must be fully blended into the milk and cream so I cannot identify them as crackers by the texture, but it has a good dough-y flavor.  It is not too strong and I think that it serves mainly as a vehicle for the frosting and sprinkles.  The frosting swirl is creamier and not quite as sweet as I was expecting.  This is actually good.  I like frosting, but with as much as is present here, most frostings would be way too sweet.  The nonpareil sprinkles provide a little bit of crunch to offset this otherwise very creamy pint.

This is a fun flavor from Sweet Science.  It did remind me a bit of those frosted animal cookies,  although it might have been better with larger cookie chunks in there.  The nostalgia factor probably would have worked better if this was served at the fair itself but unfortunately the fair was cancelled this year.  Give this one a taste the next time you are at the scoop shop and see if you like it.