Ben & Jerry's - Salted Caramel Brownie

Salted Caramel Brownie - Vanilla Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Swirls & Fudge Brownies Topped with Caramel Cups & Chocolatey Ganache

 

Today is the seventh and final new "topped" flavor introduced in 2021 by Ben & Jerry's.  It is called Salted Caramel Brownie.  I bought it at the scoop shop in Minneapolis near Lake & Excelsior last month, but I am starting to see these topped flavors all over the metro area -- Target, Hyvee, Lund's, Cub, etc.  This flavor features a "top" of chocolate ganache with caramel cups over an vanilla ice cream with salted caramel swirls and fudge brownies.  Looks like an appealing set of ingredients.  Let's dig in!

Opening the pint, my top chocolate layer looks a little uneven.  On closer inspection, I did get a full chocolate layer, but some vanilla spilled out over the top in the factory somehow.  No big deal.  Digging in, the ganache is thick and chocolatey and the small caramel cups have a high surface to volume ratio so they are mostly chocolate.  I do taste a little caramel, though.  Underneath, the vanilla base provides a lot of contrast to all the thick chocolate on top.  I found both the brownie pieces and the salted caramel swirls below.  The brownie pieces are good.  There is not as caramel as I expected, but enough that is noticeable.

This is a decent "topped" flavor from Ben & Jerry's.  It's not a slam-dunk flavor but worth checking out if you like chocolate brownies.  My favorite flavor which is similar to this would be Sweet Cream Caramel Brownie from McConnell's.

This concludes my survey of the new Topped flavors from Ben & Jerry's.  The flavors were:

• Salted Caramel Brownie (this review)
• Strawberry Topped Tart
• Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough
• Tiramisu
• PB Over the Top
• Whiskey Biz
• Thick Mint 

Whiskey Biz and Strawberry Topped Tart had white chocolate tops while the rest had regular chocolate tops.  The only one that I didn't care for at all was Whiskey Biz, I thought the white chocolate was too sweet paired with the blond brownies.  Interestingly, I liked the sweet white chocolate on the Strawberry Topped Tart -- it went well with the sprinkles and the strawberry mix-ins.  It tasted like a pop tart which was fun and unique.  My favorite flavor of the bunch was Thick Mint, but I am a mint-chocolate guy.  Overall, I liked the fact that the underneath ice cream was fully implemented flavor with its own mix-ins independent of the "top".  This took the pressure off trying to work pieces of the top into every single spoonful.  I could enjoy the top layer as a "bonus".