Talenti - Chocolate Pretzel

Chocolate Pretzel - Layers of Salted Pretzel Gelato, Chocolatey Waffle Cone Pieces, Salted Pretzel Sauce, Vanilla Gelato and Chocolate Flakes

Talenti Gelato has new layers flavors for 2021!   An article about the release is here.  Their website has had these flavors for a while, but I haven't been able to find them in local grocery stores until recently.  I found this flavor at the Cub in Eagan, but since then I have started to see them pop up at the Cub in Saint Paul, the Target in the Midway and even the Lund's in Highland.  So, they should pop up locally eventually.  Today's flavor is called Chocolate Pretzel where the five layers are salted pretzel gelato, chocolate waffle cone pieces, salted pretzel sauce, vanilla gelato and chocolate chunks.  Let's check it out.

Unscrewing the lid, I see an extra seal to peel back.  This is the first time I have seen that from Talenti.  I like the extra seal, although this particular seal is a bit clumsy to peel back.  Like other layers flavors, I only see the top layer of the pint from the top which in this case is a salted pretzel gelato.  This layer looks interesting.  Not only has the base been steeped in pretzels during the processing, it looks like the pretzels have been incompletely filtered out.  There are nice crumb-sized pretzel pieces immersed in this base.  At this point, I cut out a 'slice' of the pint for the benefit on the pictures below.  Interesting in these slice pictures is how thick the two interior mix-in layers are (the waffle cone pieces and the pretzel sauce).  In many layers pints, this middle layer is very thin and blended, but here it looks like there will be quite a lot of waffle cone pieces to enjoy.

Ok, time to finally dig in!  The salted pretzel gelato is quite tasty.  The pretzel flavor is not too strong, but it is very delicious and I liked the texture of all the pretzel crumbs inside.  The waffle cone pieces are quite delicious as well.  What I noticed about the salted pretzel sauce was the primarily the salt, but that was a fun twist to the flavor of the waffle cone pieces.  The pieces on the bottom provided a bit of chocolate into the mix and the layer of vanilla kept all the other flavors from becoming too overwhelming.

This is a very successful layers flavor from Talenti Gelato which I really enjoyed.  I thought the waffle cone pieces trumped the pretzels as the dominant flavor of the pint, but it was all very delicious.  As with other layers pints, it is up to you as to how to get everything mixed up.  Cutting out the slice works great for me, but I admit that's a bit weird for those not taking pictures.  I think simply scooping it out of the jar into another bowl would work really well.  It allows you to sample all the layers without fully blending them.

 

 

 

Jeni's - White House Chocolate Chip

We have a new president and he likes ice cream!  To celebrate, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream of Columbus, Ohio made a limited batch flavor called White House Chocolate Chip to celebrate Joe Biden's favorite ice cream order: two scoops of chocolate chip on a waffle cone.  Jeni's is no stranger to politics and ice cream.  Last April, Nancy Pelosi was on the Late Late Show with James Corden and showed off a freezer filled with Jeni's Ice Cream (and sorbets) (twitter link here).  To be fair, Trump likes ice cream too, here is Obama at the local Grand Ole Creamery in 2014, and an article about presidents in general liking ice cream -- dating all the way back to Thomas Jefferson's own ice cream recipe.  Jeni's makes great ice cream, so I jumped at the chance at ordering this limited batch flavor online.  I did get my order in, but the flavor sold out before it was even shipped to me, so it's not available anymore.  I am still eager to check it out for myself, though.

On to the ice cream!  The pint somes in this nice baby blue colored carton with the flavor name in this all-caps serif font.  It reminds me a bit of the color and typeface used for Air Force One.  After removing the lid, I see the white vanilla base with lots of small chocolate chip speckles visible.  It looks like a typical vanilla chocolate chip pint at this point.  Digging in, the chocolate chip and chocolate-covered waffle cone mix-ins are larger and more dense than I would originally guess.  I can still taste the vanilla in the base, but the mix-ins deliver a lot of chocolate flavor.  The waffle cone pieces are quite crunchy as well.  This is very dense.  I find myself chewing a lot.

This is an amazing pint of ice cream.  I was just expecting vanilla chocolate chip, but Jeni's went overboard with the mix-ins.  There are packed in very densely and they are delicious. But, alas the flavor is gone already.  I am very happy that I was able to get my order in before they sold out, but I think this should be a regular flavor.  Even if they had to rename it to make it less 'presidential'.  Whatever your politics are, this is good stuff.

 

 

 

Museum of Ice Cream - Cone Zone

Cone Zone - Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Coated Sugar Cone Pieces and a Fudge Ribbon

Today we move on to the second new flavor released this summer by the Museum of Ice Cream.  This first flavor was called Queen Bee.  This flavor is called Cone Zone.  I got this flavor at my local Target.  The name of the flavor made me laugh because one of the local television stations has a weekly feature called "Cone Zone" where they discuss road construction projects in the area and how it might affect your daily commute.  Now, I am imagining that this flavor is the favorite of that local traffic reporter.  Who knows, perhaps it is?  Of course, the cones are ice cream cones and not construction cones!  The sugar cone pieces are chocolate-coated and then mixed into vanilla and chocolate ice creams along with a fudge fudge ribbon.  Let's check it out!

Opening the pint, I see the marbling of the vanilla and chocolate bases along with hints of the fudge ribbon.  Two distinct bases of vanilla and chocolate is a simple combination but it is often a very successful one.  Ben & Jerry's Half Baked is a famously successful version of swirled chocolate and vanilla bases.  As I dig in, that flavor combination works well here as well.  Soon, I encounter the fudge ribbon which is quite good.  The chocolate-covered cone pieces were more chocolatey than I expected , but the cone pieces inside were not very crunchy.  All the extra chocolate without the crunch inside made it taste like an extension of the fudge ribbon.

This is a decent flavor.  The chocolate and vanilla bases went well together and there were two chocolatey mix-ins which were quite delicious.  The flavor is named "Cone Zone" though and the cone pieces did not contribute enough to warrant top-billing in the flavor name.  If you can overlook that, you can enjoy the big chunky chocolate mix-ins.  If cone pieces are important, you should try Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream for its light crunchy cone pieces or the darker cone pieces of Häagen-Dazs' Caramel Cone which also features decadent amounts of caramel.

Talenti - Vanilla Fudge Cookie

Vanilla Fudge Cookie - Layers of Double Dark Chocolate Gelato, Chocolate Cookie Chunks, Fudge Sauce, Vanilla Gelato and Chocolate Waffle Cone Pieces

Today we move on to a pint from the new Layers Collection from Talenti Gelato.  This flavor is called Vanilla Fudge Cookie.  The two gelato layers here are Double Dark Chocolate and Vanilla.  The layers in between are chocolate cookie chunks and fudge sauce and the layer on the bottom is chocolate waffle cone pieces.  It sounds like a simple mix of various types of chocolate and vanilla.  Let's check it out.

Again, the only thing I see when I unscrew the lid on a layers collection pint is the Double Dark Chocalate gelato layer.  It looks chocolatey, but it does not look to be all that dark.  I checked the online page for that individual base flavor and I don't think it is actually supposed to be that 'dark'.  I dip my spoon in for a taste and it is quite good, but it tastes like regular chocolate ice cream.  OK, now to try to extract the layers.  It is a challenging, but fun task to try to dig out a wedge with reasonable layer integrity for the photos.  The results are below.  OK, on to the ice cream.  I was distracted by the 'double dark' name of the chocolate above, but it is quite good.  I have not reviewed the standalone version of this base yet, but it would work quite well.  It has a frozen hot chocolate flavor to it.  The chocolate cookie and fudge sauce layers blended together a bit -- the cookies seemed to be immersed in the fudge.  I liked that.  The cookies tasted like cookie part of an Oreo -- crunchy and chocolatey.  The chocolate waffle cones on the bottom here not that bad.  They were a bit like the cookies but less crunchy and sweet.  The vanilla gelato acted a bit like a palate cleanser here -- to keep the pint from getting too chocolatey.  It fulfilled that role quite well.

I liked this layers pint.  This is the probably the simplest flavor in the layers line -- chocolate and vanilla.  Perhaps I should have tried this one first.  It is still quite good, but it wasn't a 'wow' flavor for me due to its simplicity.  I could be a great first flavor to have if you are curious about the collection though.  Chocolate lovers should enjoy this and the layer of vanilla keeps the chocolate from becoming overwhelming.

Häagen-Dazs - Caramel Cone

Caramel Cone - Caramel Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Cone Pieces and a Caramel Swirl

Today we try one from Häagen-Dazs' regular line up: Caramel Cone.  My sister requested this flavor.  She was telling me "Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream is pretty good, but Häagen-Dazs' Caramel Cone is actually better!"  Could it be?  My hero, the great Stephen Colbert is outdone by Häagen-Dazs?  The challenge is accepted. 

Showdown!

It had been been over a year since I reviewed Americone Dream, so I snuck in a pint a couple of days ago to refresh my memory.  Reading the labels, I see one significant difference.  Americone Dream uses a vanilla base while Caramel Cone uses a caramel base.  Otherwise, the both have chocolate-covered cone pieces and a caramel swirl so its still a good match for a head-to-head comparison.

Focusing now on Caramel Cone.  Removing the lid shows the distinctive beige color of the caramel base.  There's also quite a bit of chocolate pieces and caramel swirl visible on the very top as well.  Digging in, the cone pieces are quite numerous and provide quite a bit of chocolate flavor.  These cone pieces are a bit different than those in Americone Dream.  Americone Dream had crunchy sugar cone pieces covered in chocolate so they had a bit of a bright airy crunch to them.  Caramel Cone's pieces were more like those from a dark-colored waffle cone.  A bit softer but still good.  The caramel base here is good but the star of the pint is the caramel swirl.  It is quite flavorful and there is quite a bit of it.  Caramel Cone is indeed very caramel-ly!

I really enjoyed this pint.  I hate to say it, but I think my sister is right!  Caramel Cone does beat Americone Dream in the head-to-head showdown!  Individually, I did prefer Americone's crunchier sugar cone pieces, but Caramel Cone's pieces were still good and its pieces were quite a bit more numerous.  Most importantly, while Americone had a lot of vanilla ice cream and just a tease of caramel from time to time, Caramel Cone had so much caramel in both the base and the swirl and it was really good.  So, that's that.  If you like Americone Dream and wish it had more caramel, then you need to check out Caramel Cone.  Don't worry, Stephen.  You're still my favorite late night talk show host and I still watch you every night.

Ben & Jerry's - Americone Dream

Americone Dream - Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge-Covered Waffle Cone Pieces & a Caramel Swirl

Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream was introduced back in 2007 with great fanfare on Stephen's TV show "The Colbert Report".  At the time, it was noted that "dessert had a well-known liberal agenda" and that Stephen was going to "bring some balance back to the freezer case".  Eight years have passed and the flavor is still going strong.  It is still one of B&J's top-ten-selling flavors and has outlasted the two flavors that Stephen "dueled against" on The Colbert Report -- both Willie Nelson's Peach Cobbler and Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack have since been retired.

Vanilla, caramel and fudge has always been a winning combination -- Ben & Jerry's even has a flavor called "Vanilla Caramel Fudge" -- but the variation here is the waffle-cone pieces.  It gives you the feeling that you are eating an ice cream cone out of a pint.

Opening the pint, you see vanilla ice cream with several fudge chunks sitting right on the top.  Even some of the caramel swirl is visible on the very top.  As you eat into the pint, the vanilla flavor of the base sticks out, of course, but there is quite a bit of caramel swirl to accompany it.  The fudge chunks were numerous and of healthy size but when you bit into them you got the surprise... each fudge chunk was covering a waffle cone piece!  The cone pieces were light and airy.  The fudge covering must keep them from getting stale.  :-)

A very successful flavor and it is not just the Colbert brand which makes it so popular.  The waffle cone pieces are a nice touch but you really cannot go wrong with vanilla, caramel and fudge.  It will be interesting to see what will happen when Stephen Colbert moves to network television this fall and changes his persona.  Will they give him a new flavor to compete with Jimmy Fallon's new "The Tonight Dough" flavor?  I think they will stick with Americone Dream as long as it remains popular.