Milkjam Creamery - Zoë François

Zoë François - Espresso & Dark Chocolate Chips with Salted Fudge & Toasted Marshmallows

 

Milkjam Creamery of south Minneapolis has released their March flavors.  March is always an interesting at Milkjam because they rename all of their flavors for Women's History month.  That's a fun tradition, but it also means that I need to keep track of which flavors are which.  They've added 'aka' markers to their flavor page and the people at the scoop shop are also super helpful.  Of the four features flavors for March, two of them are flavors that I have reviewed before: Who Run the World (now called Abby Richardson for March) and Pink Lady (now called Megan Rapinoe).  The two flavors which are new to me are a Hibiscus Lemonade sorbet (review coming soon) and today's flavor "Zoë François".  Today's flavor (instragram link here) is a new flavor this year and will keep it's name going forward (perhaps shortened as "Zoë").  It is named for a local pastry chef and the flavor itself is modeled after the Devil's Food Cake with Toasted Marshmallows recipe on the cover of her latest cookbook "Zoe Bakes Cakes".  That explains why her name will stay on the flavor for good.  It has espresso and dark chocolate with fudge and toasted marshmallows.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, I see a few of the marshmallows right away on top of the pint.  Down because I see a complex brown base with some of the darker brown chips mixed into it.  Digging in, I taste both coffee and chocolate in the base.  The base itself is slightly soft in texture, similar to many other Milkjam bases.  Milkjam seldom produces a 'hard' ice cream.  The dark chocolate chips are very thin and have a flaky texture -- they break into little pieces when I bite into them.  It tastes like there is some espresso in these chips as well.  I am not sure if I am getting the details of which parts contain espresso/coffee and which parts contain chocolate quite right because it all blends so well in my mouth when I eat it.  It is really quite delicious.  The toasted marshmallow pieces provide an occasional variation in texture as I eat it, but they do not distract too much from all the coffee and chocolate.

This is an interesting and excellent espresso and chocolate blend from Milkjam Creamery.  Coffee and chocolate are a standard pairing in the ice cream world so it is fun to see flavors which both leverage that winning combination and provide little twists on it as well.  This is one of those flavors.  If you like coffee-and-chocolate flavors, check this one out.