Izzy's - Caramel Cookie Crunch

Caramel Cookie Crunch - Sweet Cream with Chocolate Sandwich Cookies and a Caramel Swirl

 

Izzy's Ice Cream has a new flavor!  Caramel Cookie Crunch.  I found it at Widmer's market on St Clair & Prior, but I have since seen it at several Lund's markets in the city.  They also carry them at Hyvee and Kowalski's.  If you've been following the ice cream scene in the Twin Cities area, you'll know that one of the big stories of the pandemic is Izzy's Ice Cream closing both of its scoop shops and focusing on factory-made pints for sale in grocery stores.  Back in December of 2019 (just a few months before the pandemic hit), the founders of Izzy's were featured in a local business podcast called By All Means (link here) where they discussed their goals of increasing their grocery store pint business.  It is interesting how the pandemic greatly accelerated their time scale.  I am a bit bummed that their scoop shops are no longer around because they had a much wider selection available there.  They are down to about a dozen flavors now.  That's just the selfish ice cream lover in me talking though.  I understand the business reasons why they did this.

This new flavor is called Caramel Cookie Crunch.  It is a cookies and cream ice cream with a caramel swirl.  It looks like a re-imagining of one of their old scoop shop flavors called Caramelia Cookie Crunch which I reviewed a couple of years ago.  I debated whether or not I needed to write a new review, but decided that it would be fun to write about Izzy's again.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, I see a light colored base with the finely specked cookie crumbs immersed in them -- typical of cookies and cream implementations.  Plus, I see a beautiful single swirl of caramel across the top.  Digging in, the base tastes like a good version of a cookies and cream flavor.  I can taste the sweet milky flavor of the ice cream more than the average rendition. Some versions steep the cookies in the milk for a long time before churning creating a 'cookie milk' flavor.  Here, it is a brighter sweet cream base.  The cookie crumbs are of two different sizes.  There are the fine crumbs which are blended fully into the base and then there are these large chunks which are dispersed randomly throughout like mix-ins.  Back in the scoop shop, they used Oreo brand cookies, but now that it's packaged in stores they use their own imitation chocolate sandwich cookie.  This cookies are good, deliver a lot of chocolate flavor, but you can tell they are not Oreos.  The chocolate that Oreo uses has a very distinctive flavor.  Then, the salted caramel swirl is quite delicious.  I taste it right away on the top of the pint.  The swirl does disappear from time to time -- I was not able to get the caramel on every spoonful -- but it is quite potent and delicious when I do encounter it.  I do not know if this was intentional to keep the caramel from overwhelming the pint or a mixing issue when the swirl was added.

This is a delicious new cookies and cream flavor from Izzy's.  Compared to their old scoop shop flavor, this flavor has a brighter milky flavor in the ice cream and a bit less caramel.  The caramel flavor is still very delicious at the lower levels, though.  Think of it as cookies and cream with a caramel twist instead giving caramel the top billing.  I will continue to follow Izzy's and see if they have any plans on adding more flavors.

 

 

Izzy's - Vanilla & Vanilla Bean

Vanilla & Vanilla Bean - Vanilla Ice Cream and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I heard recently that Izzy's Ice Cream is not going to reopen their Saint Paul location.  An announcement on their website is here.  That's a major bummer.  They are consolidating operations at their Minneapolis location.  I toured the Minneapolis location last year as part Doors Open Minneapolis and that location does have a larger and brighter manufacturing and storage facility so it makes sense from their standpoint but as a Saint Paul customer it means I'll have to go further to get hand-packed pints.  Interestingly, there was a comment on this review last fall -- long before COVID-19 -- wondering about this possibility.  So perhaps they had been thinking about this for a while?  I am not sure.

Anyhow, today' I'll be reviewing the last two of the pre-packed flavors Izzy's makes available to local grocers.  I got them at Kowalski's on Grand, but you can also find them at Lunds, Hyvee, Whole Foods and a few other places.  I am reviewing both Vanilla and Vanilla Bean flavors.    I combine these flavors into a single review for a few reasons.  First, I find it interesting that a implements both of these -- often they choose one or the other.  That makes me curious as to how much of a difference there is.  Next, I anticipate the difference to be relatively small, so I want to look at them and taste them side by side so I can see how the two vary on the spot.  If I were to try them a week apart then I might not fully remember all the details from the first pint as I'm eating the second.  I have done this before with Häagen-Dazs.  It turned out to be one of my top-five reviews clickwise, so I'll try it again here with Izzy's.  A reminder that the pictures below enlarge when you click on them if you a closer look.

OK, onto the ice cream!  Opening both pints, you can see lots of specks in the vanilla bean pint and no specks at all in the vanilla pint.  There is much more of a visual difference speck-wise here than there is in the  pints.  Both bases have a bright white color, but I do remember from working as a stockboy at a paint store in college that two things that look white can be slightly different.  I wouldn't call either of these 'off' white because they are so close to white, but I see that the Vanilla pint is a warmer white which has notes of yellow and the Vanilla bean pint has a cooler white which has notes of bluish grey.   Taste-wise, both pints get their vanilla from the Nielsen-Massey vanilla company and both taste quite good.  I found the flavors of the two Izzy's pints to be more similar than those of the Häagen-Dazs pints.  With Häagen-Dazs, I thought that the Vanilla Bean had a stronger flavor, but with Izzy's I'm not sure if I would be able to pass a blind taste-test as to telling the two apart.  The main difference for Vanilla Bean with Izzy's is the appearance and they do have a much prettier Vanilla Bean than Häagen-Dazs.  The specks are larger.  The specks in Häagen-Dazs were ground more finely and created a dirtier looking base.

These are well-done implementations of Vanilla from Izzy's.  If you frequently buy Häagen-Dazs Vanilla or Vanilla Bean pints, then you should give Izzy's a try to compare -- and you'll support the local company during these interesting times.  It is 'just' vanilla, I suppose, and not everyone buys premium ice cream for vanilla because they're focusing on the cake or the toppings.  So, I want to pass along some of my other favorites in the Izzy's pre-pack line.  For simpler flavors, I really enjoyed their Chocolate and Chocolate Chip flavors.  For complex flavors, my favorites in the pre-pack line are Midnight Graham Crunch and (if you can find it) Irish Moxie.

Izzy's - Umeshu Chocolate

Umeshu Chocolate - Chocolate Ice Cream made with Guittard Cocoa and Japanese Plum Wine

Today's flavor is a hand-packed flavor from the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  It is called Umeshu Chocolate.  It is a Guittard chocolate base blended with umeshu, or wine made with Japanese plums called ume.  They are called plums but are perhaps more closely related to apricots.  Choya is the brand of wine used here.  I got today's pint at Izzy's Saint Paul scoop shop before everything temporarily closed for the pandemic.  Sorry about the delay.  Sometimes I overload my freezer and a queue builds up before I get around to eating it.  Also, I wanted to try their regular chocolate first.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid shows a much darker base than I was expecting, especially considering that umeshu is a lighter colored wine.  Digging in, this is a deeper and darker chocolate flavor than their regular chocolate pint.  I taste the wine right away too underneath the chocolate.  There is not too much wine -- this is not at all 'boozy', it does not have enough alcohol to soften the ice cream - but the wine flavor definitely complements the dark chocolate quite well.  It is a good blend.  This is a homogeneous pint with no mix-ins.

I quite liked this flavor.  It is a unique and interesting blend of wine and chocolate which I have not seen before.  The chocolate flavor is very strong -- you could almost call it dark chocolate and the wine accents and removes any bitterness that concentrated chocolate sometimes brings.  If you like dark chocolate and this type of a wine blend intrigues you then this is one to check out when the scoop shops re-open.

Izzy's - Chocolate

Chocolate - Chocolate Ice Cream

Today's flavor is a pre-packaged pint from the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  This flavor is simply Chocolate.  The scoop shop is temporarily closed, but you can buy pre-packaged Izzy's pints at many local grocery stores.  I got my pint at Lunds, but I've also seen them at Hyvee, Whole Foods and Kowalski's.  I have reviewed most of the pre-packaged flavors from Izzy's, but I noticed I have not gotten around to doing a write-up for their implementation of chocolate.  Now seems as good of a time as ever.  The packaging proudly states that they get their cocoa powder from Guittard.  Let's see how it tastes!

Opening the lid, the chocolate brown has a solid brown color as expected.  I don't usually comment, on the surface texture, but it looks really good.  You can almost tell that it'll be extra creamy just by looking at it.  Digging in, the ice cream is indeed thick and creamy.  It is surprisingly easy to scoop despite still being firm and frozen.  The chocolate flavor is quite good, there is very little bitterness but not overly sweet, so the cocoa/sugar balance is very well done.  It does not have the taste of a frozen hot chocolate like some bases do -- this is more the taste of a very good chocolate bar.

This is a very well done and delicious implementation of a simple chocolate ice cream from Izzy's.  Since scoop shops are closed these days, buying pints is a way to support your local brands.  If your grocery store carries Izzy's and you are in the mood for chocolate, try this pint and see if you like it.

Izzy's - Black Licorice

Black Licorice - Black Licorice Ice Cream

Today's flavor is from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul.  This is their Black Licorice flavor.  I have not had licorice in ice cream before.  Licorice is an interesting flavor.  It comes from root of an Old World plant called Glycyrrhiza glabra.  The flavor of licorice is similar to the spices of anise, star anise and fennel (see label tags on the sidebar for ice creams that I have tried which include those ingredients), but the plant whose roots give us licorice is not at all botanically related to the plants which give us those spices, but they all contain a chemical called anethole which is responsible for the distinctive flavor.  You can read more about licorice and anethole in this interesting NPR article from ten years ago.  Licorice is one of my mother's favorite candies, so I plan on sharing this pint with her and getting her feedback to help me with this review.

Popping off the lid, the ice cream is brown!  It is not jet black like a piece of black licorice candy.  It is brown.  At first glance, it almost looks like chocolate.  Digging in, this is definitely black licorice!  It tastes exactly like it!  It's a rich, creamy base -- I get the impression that Izzy's has a high buttercream content -- but underneath all of the creamy texture, I would swear that I was tasting black licorice candy.  You can smell it as you are eating it and it has the exact same aftertaste.  I gave my mother a healthy serving and she loved it!  She's biased of course because she loves licorice, but it does say that she greatly approves of how the flavor was incorporated into the ice cream.

This is an extremely well-done implementation of a black licorice ice cream from Izzy's.  The color is not what you would expect but I guess that's what happens when you add milk and cream. It proves they did not try to use artificial flavors.  Now, I do understand that black licorice is not for everyone.  Some people love it and some people hate it.  But if you one of the people who love this flavor, you should try at least a scoop of it the next time that Izzy's has it available.

Izzy's - Chocolate Chip

Chocolate Chip - Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips

Today's flavor comes from the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream, but it is not a hand-packed offering from one of their scoop shops.  This is Chocolate Chip -- one of their pre-packed 'tall cups' that you can get in local grocery stores.  I got it at Lunds & Byerlys in Highland Park.  It looks like a simple vanilla chocolate chip implementation with the chocolate chips made with Callebaut belgian chocolate.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the vanilla ice cream is a bright white color and the many chocolate chips can be seen right away.  Digging in, the vanilla is rich and creamy and has a bright vanilla flavor.  The chocolate chips are excellent.  They are flake-shaped and provide very good chocolate flavor when as I crunch into them and they melt in my mouth.  They remind me of the flaky chips that I had in chocolate chip ice creams when I was a kid, but I can tell that the Callbaut chocolate is a higher quality that what I had back then.

This is excellent ice cream.  Vanilla chocolate chip is a very basic flavor which might not be too exciting for everyone but this is very well done in every way.  It reminds me a lot of Häagen-Dazs' basic flavors -- although I do not appear to have reviewed their chocolate chip flavor quite yet.   These pre-packed tall cups from Izzy's are becoming increasingly available in grocery stores in the metro area.  Check them out if you see them.

Izzy's - S'more Fun

S'more Fun - Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream with a Swirl of Toasted Marshmallows and Chocolate-Covered Graham Crackers

I recently got a Flavor Up alert from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul.  Their flavor S'more Fun was available.  I had put an alert on it as one of the flavors that I should try and when it showed up in their scooping bin, they sent me an email.  It looks like this flavor was created specifically for the 2017 Minnesota State Fair.  (Contemporary links: here, here, and here ... ctrl-F to find Izzy's in each link)  For many years, they have had a kiosk inside the Hamline Church Dining Hall at the fair and often have a new flavor created.  Last year's flavor was Dessa's Night Drive. 

S'mores is an old girl scout treat from the early 20th century that consists of a toasted marshmallow and chocolate on a graham cracker.  Many different ice cream brands have implemented an ice cream flavor based on this treat, each putting its own twist on this combination of those three flavors.  Ben & Jerry's (twice), Graeter's, Sweet Science, Milkjam Creamery, Coolhaus and now Izzy's.  I have seen each of the three ingredients as the base ice cream with the other two as the mix-ins.  Here, the base ice cream is toasted marshmallow-flavored and the mix-ins are chocolate-covered graham cracker pieces.  The other implementation with a marshmallow base is the second Ben & Jerry flavor ("Gimme S'more!")  Let's see how Izzy's compares!

Upon removing the lid, I see the toasted marshmallow base is a medium beige color.  This marshmallow base does appear to be 'toasted'.  Digging in, it is a thick, creamy base.  There is enough marshmallow in the base to affect the texture a bit.  The marshmallow parts feel a bit more frozen to me.  I can taste the caramelization of the marshmallows a bit -- created the 'toasted' flavor.  Dispersed throughout the pint are the chocolatey mix-ins.  These are much more chocolate than graham cracker.  If it wasn't for the flavor name, I would have assumed that these were just chocolate.  I had to look to find a few graham cracker pieces.  They mix-ins tasted pretty good, though.

I was slightly disappointed by this flavor.  It wasn't bad, though.  If you see it in the scooping bin and you are in the mood for toasted marshmallows with chocolate then feel free to have a scoop, but I did not think it was as good as most of the other implementations linked above.  Perhaps my expectations are too high as I have really loved some recent Izzy's flavors.  Coolhaus still has my favorite S'mores flavor.

Izzy's - Nut Goodie

Nut Goodie - Maple Nougat Ice Cream with Peanuts and Chocolate-Covered Peanuts

Today's flavor is from Izzy's Ice Cream.  I actually went to their scoop shop in Minneapolis for this flavor.  The Saint Paul shop is closer to where I live, but they have a flavor up page which lists the flavors and this flavor looked interesting enough to me to make the trek across the river.   It is called Nut Goodie -- after the candy bar from the Saint-Paul-based Pearson's Candy.  Growing up in Saint Paul, I would see Nut Goodie's and Salted Nut Rolls in the candy isle right alongside the Snickers and M&M's.  I had no idea they were local products until I moved away and could not find them anymore.  Now that I am back in Minnesota, I can enjoy them again.  Izzy's created this flavor a while back to celebrate Pearson's 100th anniversary.  It contains all the ingredients of a nut goodie: maple nougat, peanuts and chocolate.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see the maple nougat base is an off-white beige color.  I can see a few of the peanut mix-ins underneath the surface as well.  A few of them are just plain peanuts and at least one of them is chocolate-coated.  Digging in, the maple nougat base does taste just like the nougat in a nut goodie candy bar.  It is always interesting to have a nougat-flavored base.  I tend to thick of nougat as having a texture and consistency, but it has it's own distinct flavor as well.  Immersed in the ice cream are the peanut mix-ins.  About half of the peanuts are covered in chocolate while the other half are not.  This difference is quite fun.  Biting into each type of peanut is a completely difference experience so I did not know what to expect from bite to bite.

This is a good implementation of a nut-goodie-inspired ice cream from Izzy's.  There is more chocolate in the candy bar than there is in the ice cream flavor, but otherwise they nailed the flavor of the maple nougat filling almost exactly.  Izzy's has other nuttier flavors like Nut Crazy and they have a few other candy bar ice creams that they stock more often.  The appeal here is for those who have a specific affection for the Nut Goodie candy bar.

Izzy's - Blueberry Cheesecake

Blueberry Cheesecake - Cheesecake Ice Cream with Blueberry Swirls and a Graham Cracker Crunch

For the first selection of the new year, I chose Blueberry Cheeesecake from the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  It is a cheesecake ice cream base with swirls of blueberry and graham cracker mix-ins.  It looks like a standard 'piece-of-cheesecake-as-ice-cream' flavor with the graham cracker representing the crust.  I don't have blueberry-themed pints as often as the other berries, so this should be fun.

Cracking open the lid, I see a lot of the blueberry swirl!  It is a nice purplish-blue color.  The cheesecake base is an off-white yellow color and I can see some of the graham cracker pieces right away on top as well.  Digging in, the blueberry swirl is very flavorful and delicious.  Sometimes blueberry mix-ins provides more color than flavor but the flavor is very prevalent here and it is very good.  The cheesecake base is very thick and creamy with no 'cream cheese aftertaste' that you sometimes get (intentionally or unintentionally) with a cheesecake flavor.  It is thick and rich and balances the blueberry quite well.  The graham cracker pieces give you something to crunch on and go well in the mix.

This is an excellent piece-of-cheesecake flavor from Izzy's.  This is the best blueberry-based flavor I've ever had.  The blueberry swirl in particular is amazing.  This is a must for blueberry lovers.  I fully recommend.

Izzy's - Candy Cane

Candy Cane - Peppermint Candy Ice Cream 

Candy Cane ice cream seems like a great thing to eat on Christmas day.  Thankfully, I have a hand-packed 'tall cup' from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul in my freezer.  It looks like simple peppermint candy ice cream which a few brands have implementations for.  I have seen similar flavors from McConnell's and Graeter's and if you allow for a bit of white chocolate in the mix, Jeni's as well.  It will be interesting to see how Izzy's compares to those. Let's dig in!

The top of the pint has a dark pink color and I can see some specks of candy cane on top, too.  Digging in, the base ice cream is actually white with lots of pinkish red swirls in it.  I believe the top being all pink is something that happened in my freezer.  The color diffused to the surface.  I had this happen with a pint from McConnell's once.  This is not a complaint -- it is a very thin layer -- this just a scientific curiosity.  The ice cream itself has a strong peppermint flavor as expected.  Not only that, it tastes just like candy canes specifically.  I do not know how to describe that, but I can tell the difference between a candy cane and another kind of mint and this tastes like candy canes.  The red swirls are also minty.  There are no crunchy pieces in the mix.  I think peppermint candies dissolve in ice cream.  I have seen that with both of McConnell's and Graeter's brands linked above.

This is a very delicious implementation of a candy cane ice cream.  It is a thick and rich base as with other Izzy's flavors and it very accurately reproduces the flavor of candy canes.  Comparing it to McConnell's and Graeter's, this is at least as good which is high praise (I really liked both of those).  This is a great holiday flavor for kids who love candy canes and for adults that love peppermint.  I am a bit slow writing up my holiday ice cream tastings this year, so this flavor is likely cycled out by now, but next year don't hesitate to give this one a try.

Izzy's - Egg Nog

Egg Nog - Egg Nog Ice Cream with Nutmeg and Rum Flavor

 

Today is a seasonal flavor from the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  This is Egg Nog.  In the past, I have mentioned that some people (including myself) have an aversion to egg nog as a beverage, something about the texture I think.  But I really enjoy egg-nog-flavored desserts.  When you take the ingredients of egg nog, add some sugar and work them into a dessert you usually end up with 'custard'.  This is not just an ice cream thing either.  I have seen this effect with egg-nog-themed pastries and donuts -- the egg nog will manifest itself as a nutmeg custard filling.  I love custard, so I am looking forward to this.

Since I ate this (and before I wrote the review), Izzy's has been featured on a local business podcast called By All Means.  Check Izzy's blogpost about it here. (updated podcast link here)  The discussion has a business slant but there is plenty of talk of ice cream in their as well.  If you like Izzy's and are curious about their business history and where they would like to go with their business in the future, check it out.

Back to the Egg Nog!  The first thing I notice, is that Izzy's has changed their packaging on their hand-packed pints.  The switch from 16 ounces to 14 ounces that they made with their pre-packaged offerings.  To their credit, they are committed to referring to these not as 'pints' but as 'tall cups' -- and the price is a little cheaper.  Removing the lid, the ice cream is the expected light yellow color.  Interestingly, I can see a few flakes of nutmeg already.  Digging in, this is very thick and creamy.  Izzy's is known for having having rich, thick bases with generous amount of butterfat.  The extra eggs in the mix make this feel even thicker.  I taste the egg custard flavor, but also taste the nutmeg right away.  Good quality nutmeg, too.  The website says there is rum flavoring in the mix as well, but it does not stick out as much as the nutmeg.

This is an excellent implementation of a egg nog ice cream.  Egg nog in ice cream creates a rich frozen-custard-like base and the nutmeg here is particularly delicious.  Enjoy.

Izzy's - Mocha Almond Fudge

Mocha Almond Fudge - Mocha Ice Cream with a Fudge Swirl and Salted Almonds

Today we return to the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream for their implementation of Mocha Almond Fudge.  "Mocha" is a port city in Yemen famous for trading coffee back in the 1600s and 1700s but today it has come to mean a blend of coffee and chocolate flavors.  On the ice cream front, the mocha almond and fudge flavor combination is one of the signature flavors of Baskin Robbins -- a flavor which they call Jamoca Almond Fudge.  It was supposedly Irv Robbins' favorite flavor.  Let's see how Izzy's implements this classic flavor.

Removing the lid, the ice cream is a deep golden brown color.  The ice cream itself is thick, and creamy.  I taste chocolate right away, but then I taste coffee, and then I taste coffee again.  The romance copy on their flavor page describes it as "chocolate and coffee ballroom dancing together".  That's a little hokey (as romance copy often is) but there is some truth to it.  The almond pieces are dispersed throughout the pint and give me something to chew on while I am enjoying the ice cream.  Izzy's bases are rich in buttercream so this flavor fills me up relatively quickly.  I looked but I did not see an explicit swirl of fudge here.   Perhaps the swirl got fully blended into the base?  I have seen that a couple of times with Izzy's before.  I cannot complain too much when blended result tastes so good but it is worth noting so one is not surprised when they don't find one.

This is a good implementation of a mocha almond flavor from Izzy's.  The coffee and chocolate blend here is especially good and the almonds are fun to chew on.  The fudge swirl appear to get blended into the base here -- maybe that varies from batch to batch? -- so set your expectations appropriately but otherwise this is very good ice cream.

Izzy's - Pumpkin

Pumpkin - Pumpkin Ice Cream with Cinnamon-like Spices

I am back with another pint from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul already.  I do not usually do two consecutive reviews from the same brand if I can help it, but they had a pint sale and I was in the mood for something seasonal.  Somehow, I had not already reviewed Izzy's Pumpkin flavor so I thought I would give it a shot.

The ice cream is the appropriate dark orange (brown?) color.  It might be slightly darker than I expected but not much.  Pumpkin bread is one of our family's older recipes and I know that some pumpkin puree is darker than others and the mixture gets considerably darker once you add the spices.  Digging in, the ice cream is very thick and creamy.  It is also a bit spicier than I expected.  That would definitely explain the darker color.  This actually tastes a bit like the batter of our family pumpkin bread recipe.  I know that I said the very same thing about a recent Sebastian Joe's pint, but that was the first thing that popped into my head once again.  Makes me want to make that recipe.  It is quite delicious.  I really like the extra spiciness.  The website description in the link above lists 'cinnamon-like' spices but I'm going to go ahead and add nutmeg and cloves tags to the review as well as I recognize those flavors in the mix as well. 

This is an excellent, homogeneous pumpkin flavor from Izzy's.  I was in the mood for something seasonal and this really hits the spot.  This is indeed the second pumpkin flavor this month, the other being from Sebastian Joe's.  I really enjoyed both, but they are slightly different flavors so it is worth pointing out the differences.  The Sebastian Joe's is not straight pumpkin, but Pumpkin Salty Caramel.  So it was noticeably sweeter with a touch of caramel flavor blended into the mix.  Izzy's was more of a straight pumpkin implementation but was definitely spicier.  Not hot, but the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves were quite flavorful.  For a straight pumpkin implementation, you can't beat this pint.  Enjoy.