Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Chocolate Caramelized Oat

Chocolate Caramelized Oat - Caramel Ice Cream with Chocolaty Oat Clusters

Today we do a fifth pint of Häagen-Dazs Artisan ice cream, Chocolate Caramelized Oat.    For the Artisan line, Häagen-Dazs commissions a specialty bakery to come up with their own ice cream flavor.  This time we go to an Irish-themed bakery called Clairesquares in San Francisco where Claire Keane has incorporated chocolaty oat clusters based some of her desserts into a caramel ice cream base.

Removing the lid and the extra plastic seal from the pint shows the expected beige color of the caramel base with some darker spots which I presume are the chocolaty oat clusters.  Digging in, the caramel base was good.  The caramel flavor is not too strong, but it is a common alternative to vanilla when they decide the base ice cream should be slightly richer and without as much bright flavor. The chocolaty oat clusters were small, but they were relatively numerous.  As you bit into the chocolate cluster the fresh oat was underneath and provided a bit of a crunch.  The chocolate coating prevents the oatmeal from getting soggy in the ice cream.

This was an interesting flavor.  It was the first pint I've had which has had oatmeal in it and I can't recall seeing many other flavors which that mix-in.  That said, a recent Ben & Jerry's survey has awarded Oatmeal Cookie Chunk as their most-missed retired flavor and I'm sorry that I did not get a chance to try that flavor before it was retired.  If you miss that flavor and are looking for a substitute then you could give Chocate Caramelized Oat a try.  But you may have to act quickly as I am noticing that the Artisan flavors are starting to disappear from freezer cases.

Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Banana Rum Jam

Banana Rum Jam - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Banana Rum Swirl

It is March 14th, Happy Pi Day everyone!  If I had thought ahead, I'd be reviewing a 'pie' flavor today like Key Lime Pie or Caramel Apple Pie but I did not plan ahead and today is a review of a
Häagen-Dazs Artisan flavor -- Banana Rum Jam.  I guess my favorite kind of pie is banana cream, so maybe there's a connection?  That's a bit of a stretch, but I'll go with in in the spirit of Pi Day.

For the Artisan line, Häagen-Dazs commissions asks specialty bakeries and confectionaries to come up with their own ice cream flavor.  This time, they go to Brooklyn again and asked Jessica Quon and Sabrina Valle from the The Jam Stand and they came up with a flavor incorporating their Drunken Monkey Jam as a swirl.  As mentioned above, I do like banana so we'll see how this goes.

The top of the pint looks like vanilla.  There are small specks visible and it is a vanilla bean base so I figured they are vanilla bean specks.  That said, the first scoops had banana flavor in them.  Although there are some darker swirls visible in the pint, the banana rum is blended into the base as well.  The banana flavor was good.  Its was more earthy banana-bread type of banana flavor and not a sweet flavor like a banana pudding.  The rum was noticeable only once in a while -- every third or fourth scoop I'd feel a mild kick of in the back of my throat.   So the rum is just an mild accent and not a primary component.

I enjoyed this flavor quite a bit.  The earthy banana flavor worked well for eating the whole pint in one sitting.  There were no extra mix-ins though.  If you want chocolate & nuts too then I guess you should stick to Chunky Monkey but today's flavor is pretty good if you just want banana.

Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Tres Leches Brigadeiro

Tres Leches Brigadeiro -
Tres Leches Ice Cream with a Brigadiero Swirl

Today is another Artisan review: Tres Leches Brigadeiro  As a reminder, for Artisan flavors, Häagen-Dazs commissions a specialty bakery to concoct their own ice cream flavor.  The result is usually an eclectic mixture of ingredients which seems fitting for the types of ice cream reviewed here.  Today's flavor is crafted by Paula Barbosa of the My Sweet Brigadeiro bakery in Brooklyn and she has worked her specialty, the brigadeiro, into the flavor.

A brigadeiro is a Brazilian dessert made with cocoa and condensed milk which was invented during World War II -- possibly due to shortages of regular milk during the war period but the creamy sweetness of condensed milk helped make a tasty dessert which survives to this day.  They are small golfball shaped confections which are often individually wrapped and frosted.

The base ice cream derives from the popular Latin American Tres Leches cake.  I took French in high school so I want to pronounce it <tray lesh> but it is Spanish, so it is pronounced <trace lay-chase>.  It means "three milks", usually condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream.  With Tres Leches cake, you bake a regular cake and then a half an hour after it comes out of the oven you poke holes in the top of the cake and pour the three milks over it so that cake absorbs it and becomes moist with the three-milk mixture.  Here the three milks are just incorporated into the base ice cream.  Note that both the base and the swirl of this pint have condensed milk.

Popping off the lid, the brigadeiro swirl is quite evident on top and creates a very marbled appearance.  Eating into the pint, the base was very sweet and creamy.  I definitely noted the absence of vanilla and it was a bit sweeter and heavier than sweet cream.  The brigadeiro swirls added chocolate flavor.  The chocolate had a bit of a kick to it, not unlike chocolate syrup.

A fairly interesting pint.  It was fairly good, but I did not love it.  It was quite educational reading about the ingredients, it really made me want to go out and have some tres leches cake and brigadeiros!  I think some of the unique texture is lost when swirled up into an ice cream.  The result is a condensed milk base with a chocolate swirl.  That said, those ingredients are certainly tasty enough for what they are. 

Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Ginger Molasses Cookie

Ginger Molasses Cookie - Vanilla Cinnamon Ice Cream with Ginger Molasses Cookie Pieces

Next we review one of the flavors from Häagen-Dazs' Artisan line: Ginger Molasses Cookie.  For each flavor in the Artisan line, Häagen-Dazs commissioned a different independent specialty baker to design a flavor.  This Ginger Molasses Cookie flavor was designed by Anna Gordon of The Good Batch bakery in Brooklyn.

Opening the pint, I see a pale beige color of the vanilla cinnamon base with some of the cookie pieces evident even on the very top.  Digging in, the cinnamon flavor in the base was quite noticeable and the cookie pieces revealed themselves and were fairly numerous.  There was quite a bit of a kick to the ginger cookies.  As we saw with the Spiced Pecan Turtle flavor, the artisan line does not hold back with the spices.  It wasn't too much while I was eating it, but feeling of ginger lingered on my teeth for an hour afterwards (that's not a complaint, I kind of like that).  There was something a bit odd about the vanilla cinnamon base, though.  It tasted alright but the texture stayed tough and crumbly almost all the way down to the bottom of the pint.  I don't know if that was an issue with my particular pint (was it melted and refrozen) or a general characteristic of this flavor.  I'm not sure.

So, not quite a completely successful pint.  It was spicy enough but if the base had the softer texture of the Cinnamon Buns flavor then I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Spiced Pecan Turtle

Spiced Pecan Turtle - Chocolate Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl and Chocolate-covered Spiced Pecans

Trying a new brand for the ice cream reviews -- the "Artisan Collection" from Häagen-Dazs.  Much of the regular Häagen-Dazs line is dominated by simple flavors (chocolate, vanilla, etc).  In the "Artisan Collection, they commissioned six different bakers invent their own ice cream flavor.  These six flavors contain eclectic mixtures of ingredients which make for interesting reviews.  Today's flavor is Spiced Pecan Turtle which was developed by Christopher Elbow an Artisanal Chocolate specialist in Kansas City.

The first thing I noticed about the pint is that it is a little smaller.  At some point in their history,  Häagen-Dazs switched to a 14 oz 'pint' as a way of raising their price without the number on the price tag.  This is more than a little devious, but its not uncommon.   Half gallon jugs of orange juice generally contain 59 oz and cereal boxes have been shrinking for years.  The second thing I noticed opening the pint is a plastic wrapper across the top.  This is the first brand I've reviewed which has this.  Easy enough to peel off.    This reveals the chocolate base which is a more lighter shade of brown than I was expecting.  Some specks of chocolate are also visible.

Eating into the pint, the chocolate base is quite good by itself.  Ben & Jerry's has a fairly mild chocolate base (their specialty is the mix-ins) but I could tell that a little more care is put into the base flavor here.  The mix-ins here are the caramel swirl and the chocolate covered spiced pecans.  The caramel swirl is tasty though I suppose there could have been a little bit more of it.  The best part of the pint is the pecans.  There really is a bit of a spicy kick as you bit into one.  I checked the ingredient list on the side of the pint and all I could find was "natural flavor" -- sounds like Mr. Elbow doesn't want to give away his secrets.  It was a ginger, nutmeg or cinnamon type of spice.  It was good.  My first thought was that there could have been more pecans but since there was such a nice kick when you bit into one it might have actually helped that there weren't too many of them.  Plus it allowed for more enjoyment of the chocolate base. 

I did enjoy the pint (or almost pint).  If spiced pecans in chocolate intrigue you, then give this a try.