Ben & Jerry's - Thick Mint

Thick Mint - Mint Ice Cream with Chocolate Cookie Swirls & Mint Chocolate Cookie Balls Topped with Chocolate Cookies and Chocolatey Ganache

 

Ben & Jerry's has new flavors for 2021!  All seven new flavors have a common theme as well -- Topped flavors.  I went to the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop on Excelsor Blvd in Minneapolis to find these.  I imagine they will start showing up in other grocery stores soon, but I have not spotted them yet.    These new flavors all are "topped" with a hard layer of either chocolate or white chocolate.  This looks similar to what the Magnum ice cream brand does with their pints.  Magnum is not on my brand rotation (yet?) so this topping is relatively new to me.  I have had a few Tillamook pints (two examples here and here) that have put all the mix-ins in a hard-top layer.  Here, Ben & Jerry's loads mix-ins in the ice cream below as well -- so the top layer seems like more of a bonus layer instead of splitting up the pint.  For the first flavor, I am trying their Thick Mint flavor.  This is a mint chocolate chip theme.  Peppermint ice cream, chocolate cookie swirls, mint chocolate cookie balls and topped with chocolate cookies embedded in chocolate ganache.  I like mint chocolate chip, so this should be fun.

Removing the lid, I see what looks like a bunch of chocolate chips on top.  They are sitting on a layer of chocolate.  This layer does not fully cover the top of the pint, but it is close.  It takes a bit of effort to dig my spoon through this top layer, but once I get through it is easy to break and the layer gets quite soft when I put it in my mouth.  You could consider a knife to make the initial cut but it is not necessary.  The ice cream below reminds me a lot of Mint Chocolate Cookie with its peppermint ice cream and cookie swirls but instead of large cookie pieces they have the mint chocolate balls from the old retired Chocolate Peppermint Crunch flavor.  Mint Chocolate Cookie is one of my old favorites that I used to eat regularly before I started writing these reviews, so I am pleased with the similarity.  The top layer adds extra chocolate which is fun.

I liked this new "Topped" flavor from Ben & Jerry's very much.  A hard top can be cumbersome and gimicky but here the top layer melts in your mouth pretty easily and the ice cream below is loaded with mix-ins.  Instead of just mint and chocolate, it is mint and several-different-kinds of chocolate.  I would recommend this for Mint Chocolate Cookie fans who want to try a suped up version.  It is fun.