Van Leeuwen - Hazelnut Fudge Cookie

Van Leeuwen - Hazelnut Fudge Cookie - Hazelnut Ice Cream with Swirls of Fudge and Spiced Speculoo Cookie Pieces

 

Today's flavor is from the Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and is called Hazelnut Fudge Cookie.  I bought it at Kowalski's on Grand in Saint Paul.  This flavor has a hazelnut base with spiced speculoo cookie pieces as a mix-in along with swirls of fudge.  Speculoos are a Dutch/Belgian spiced biscuit which I have seen a few times in other ice creams - a cookie butter core flavor from Ben & Jerry's, a retired Tillamook flavor and another Van Leeuwen flavor called Mocha Cookie Crumble.  Let's check it out.

I see quite a bit upon removing the lid.  The hazelnut base has a light tan color.  Some of the fudge swirl is visible on one of the side and there is a grainy texture within the base which I am guessing is crumbs from the cookies.  Digging in, the ice cream is thick yet easily scoopable which is consistent with other Van Leeuwen pints.  As mentioned in previous reviews Van Leeuwen's is a "french" ice cream which means that it is made with extra egg yolks.  This gives it a custard-like texture.  The hazelnut flavor in the base is not too strong but still good.  I like when hazelnut appears by itself instead of being fully blended into a nutella-like fudge.  There is a separate fudge swirl here and it is quite delicious.  The cookie pieces are soft and of variable size.  That is, some of the small crumbs have effectively blended into the base ice cream but some of the pieces are large enough to chew on.  I do not specifically taste the speculoo spices (such as cinnamon or nutmeg) but with cookies and fudge in every spoonful, it is quite delicious.

This Van Leeuwen pint is a very delicious and appealing blend of hazelnut, fudge and soft cookie pieces.  I specifically liked how the hazelnut and fudge were in every spoonful yet they were still distinct flavors and not fully blended.  My lone critique is the same one that I had for the previous Van Leeuwen flavor that included speculoo cookie pieces, Mocha Cookie Crumble.  That is that the spices in the speculoo cookies are too faint to taste amidst all the fudge.  It is still very tasty, just don't expect a lot of cinnamon or nutmeg in the mix.

 

 

 

Sweet Science - Hazelnut Brownie

Hazelnut Brownie - Hazelnut Cocoa Ice Cream with Chocolate Brownies

 

The third March flavor from Sweet Science Ice Cream of Saint Paul is called Hazelnut Brownie.  The other two flavors I reviewed last week (Black Sesame) and a few years ago (Earl Grey with White Chocolate).  The instagram link for these March flavors is here.  Today's flavor features a hazelnut cocoa base with chocolate brownie mix-ins.  Looks promising.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the hazelnut cocoa base has a light brown color and I can see a couple of the brownie mix-ins right away on top.  Digging in, the hazelnut cocoa base is thick, creamy and delicious.  You can taste the hazelnut in the mix which I like.  Some 'hazelnut chocolate' goes heavy on the chocolate so as to simulate the flavor of nutella.  This does not do that.  The brownie mix-ins are excellent.  They are soft, chewy and quite chocolatey.  I have seen Sweet Science do brownies a few times before (here, here and here) and they are always quite good.  I think the brownies stand out a little more in this pint because of the lighter flavor of the base.

This is another excellent brownie-based flavor from Sweet Science.  As noted by my links in the previous paragraph, they have done several brownie-based flavors and all of them are quite good.  What I like about this one is the hazelnut-heavy hazelnut cocoa base which is quite good by itself and provides greater contrast with the delicious brownies.  If brownies are your thing, then check this flavor out.

 

 

Bebe Zito - Marvelous Mrs. Hazel

Marvelous Mrs. Hazel - Chocolate Hazelnut and Coconut Cream Base with Vegan Chocolate Cookie Dough

 

Today is a vegan flavor from Bebe Zito in south Minneapolis called Marvelous Mrs. Hazel.  The flavor name is a reference to the excellent Marvelous Mrs Maisel series on Amazon Prime.  They usually release seasons around this time of year, but it looks like shooting has been delayed by the pandemic.  Maybe this ice cream will tide me over until then.  The base of this flavor is chocolate hazelnut -- same ingredients as Nutella -- and vegan chocolate cookie dough is the mix-ins.  Sounds chocolatey.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the chocolate hazelnut base is very dark and I can see a couple of large cookie dough chunks on top as well.  Digging in, this is actually quite 'creamy' for a non-dairy flavor.  The flavoring ingredients help out here -- nutella is creamy after all.  Coconut cream is used to help in the base as well, but the chocolate flavor here is so strong that you do not notice.  The cookie dough chunks are a lot like brownies -- or vegan brownies, I guess.  They are soft and chocolatey and my spoon slices through them quite easily.  This is a very chocolatey point.  It is delicious.

I enjoyed this pint from Bebe Zito.  It reminds me a lot of chocolate fudge brownie flavor.  I have had their chocolate fudge brownie before and it did remind me a lot of it (without the gochujang spice, of course)  There is hazelnut in the mix, but I never taste hazelnut in these chocolate-hazelnut blends, it just adds a creamy texture for me.  The cookie dough pieces here were thick, chocolatey and chewy -- very brownie-esque.  If you're looking for a well done non-dairy version of that flavor, this is it.  It's so thick and chocolatey, you forget that it's not dairy.

 

Häagen-Dazs - Whiskey Hazelnut Latte

Whiskey Hazelnut Latte - Coffee Whiskey Ice Cream with a Hazelnut Fudge Swirl and Chocolate Espresso Flakes

Häagen-Dazs has a pair of new flavors for their Spirits Collection for this year.  I was able to find one of them at Cub Foods in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul so I eagerly scooped it up and took it home.  Tonight is the night that I check it out.  The base here listed as "coffee whiskey" while the mix-ins are a hazelnut fudge (that is Nutella-like) swirl and then some chocolate espresso flakes.  This actually sounds quite a bit like one of the other spirts flavors: Irish Cream Brownie.  What is the difference between "irish cream" and "coffee whiskey (ice) cream"?  I guess there is nothing wrong with having two flavors based on similar liqueurs (there are two 'bourbon' flavors in the collection here and here) but I find it interesting that they describe them so differently.  I guess the picture on the side of the carton shows a straight whiskey where the Irish Cream Brownie picture shows a creamed liqueur, but the whiskey is getting blended with milk and cream for the ice cream.  Anyhow, I think I am belaboring a trivial point.  The mix-ins are different.  Here a fudge swirl and espresso flakes are used instead of brownies. 

Enough chatter, let's get on to the ice cream!  Opening the pint and peeling back the label, the base has a creamy flavor a little more cocoa colored than coffee colored and I can see the fudge swirl and a few of the chocolate flakes right away.  Digging in, I taste the whiskey flavor right away.  I do taste some coffee flavor, but mainly my mouth gets flooded with the smell of whiskey.  These Spirits Collection pints do such a great job of capturing the aromatic effect of the liquors used without any burning sensation.  Also, the ice cream maintains its usual consistency -- alcohol can lower the freezing point which can result in a gooey pint.  So, all the flavor without the 'booziness'.  I approve.  The fudge swirl is delicious.  The flakes are crunchy and chocolatey and I can taste a bit of coffee in there as well.

This is a really good spirits pint from Häagen-Dazs.  One of my favorites of the series.  The aromaticity really comes through and accentuates all the chocolate mix-ins.  My opinion is that this one tops Irish Cream Brownie (but that one wasn't too bad either).  Check it out if you are a chocolate fan and like these Spirits flavors.

Milkjam Creamery - XOXO

XOXO - Dark Chocolate Ice Cream w/ Hazelnut Praline, White & Milk Chocolate Flecks

The two Valentine's Day flavors that I found this year are both from the Minneapolis-based Milkjam Creamery.  So I will have one the day before Valentine's Day and one the day after.  The first flavor is called 'XOXO" -- which we all know means "hugs and kisses".  It is a dark chocolate ice cream with hazelnut praline and flecks of both white and milk chocolate.  Sounds very chocolatey.  I am very curious about the hazelnut as well.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see a deep brown color.  It looks chocolatey.  Not anywhere near as dark as their famous Black flavor but darker than the average chocolate ice cream.  If I look closely, I can see a fleck or two of white chocolate right away on top.  Digging in, the chocolate ice cream is quite good.  It's always interesting when a dairy flavor bills itself as 'dark chocolate' -- there's gotta be milk and cream in there after all, right? -- but this is a very rich and chocolatey base.  I note the two fleck mix-ins -- both white and milk chocolate -- as I eat my way down the pint.  Adds a little crunch from time to time.  I looked but I could not find the 'hazelnut praline'.  The word 'praline' is something that I see used mainly candy-coated pecans, so I sort of expected candy-coated hazelnuts, but I did not see those.  Perhaps what happened is that a Nutella-like goo of hazelnut chocolate is in the mix and it got blended into the chocolate base.  That would help make the chocolate extra rich without adding any crunch.

This is a decent flavor from  Milkjam.  As far as chocolate-chocolate chip implementations go, this is excellent, but the 'hazelnut praline' on the flavor description page had me thinking there was more.  So, expect chocolatey goodness which is probably enhanced with a hazelnut spread with chocolate chips and don't expect a chocolate pralines & cream.

Tillamook - Oregon Hazelnut Chocolate

Oregon Hazelnut Chocolate - Hazelnut Gelato with a Fudge Swirl and Oregon Hazelnuts

Today's flavor is another special-batch pint from the Oregon-based Tillamook Creamery.  This flavor is called Oregon Hazelnut Chocolate.  I bought it at Kowalski's on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul.  Hazelnut and chocolate is a well-known combination -- it is the basis for Nutella after all.  I have seen this combination before from a now-retired Ben & Jerry's core flavor, a Coolhaus sundae flavor, and a Talenti Gelato flavor which is probably the closest.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid shows another one of those fun and cheeky phrases on the protective foil between the lid and the ice cream.  Coolhaus was the first brand I saw that was having fun with these, but now it seems like several places are joining in.  Peeling back this foil shows lots of chocolate and lots of nuts.  As I dig in, I observe that all the mix-ins are piled on top and most of the pint consists of the homogeneous hazelnut base.  The mix-ins are quite good -- crunchy hazelnuts immersed in rich chocolate sauce -- and I employ a strategy to make this top layer of mix-ins last as long as I can.  Similar to how I eat Ben & Jerry's core flavors, I will take a big spoonful of the base and then scoop in a little bit of the chocolate and hazelnuts into it.  This works for about a third of the pint, but then I am left with just the base.  It's a good base, though.  It is soft, rich and creamy.  Then as I near the bottom of the pint, I notice an additional layer of chocolate (no nuts).  The chocolate has clumped a bit on the sides and I have to scrape it off with my spoon.  That is a bit annoying but in some cases it worked out because I ended up with some big chunks of chocolate at the end.

This pint from Tillamook had all the ingredients, but like other recent pints of theirs I found it a little frustrating that all the mix-ins were bunched on the top and bottom leaving a bunch of relatively plain base in between.  These layers didn't lend themselves to blending themselves as I was eating the pint like many of the recent Talenti layers releases do.  So, for this flavor combination I prefer a pint from Talenti's non-layered line called Hazelnut Chocolate Chip.  The nut pieces there are a little smaller and the chocolate chips more subtle than the chocolate sauce used here but everything was fully blended.  Of course, if piling all the mix-ins on top appeals to you, you could give this a try.

Izzy's - Nut Crazy

Nut Crazy - Maple Syrup flavored Ice Cream with Almonds, Brazil Nuts and Cashews

Today I returned to Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul for a flavor called Nut Crazy.  This is not an award winning flavor or anything, I'm just a big fan of nuts and felt like I needed to give it a try.  On closer inspection, it looks like a twist on their Maple Nut flavor which I reviewed a couple of years ago.  Both have maple syrup flavored bases.  Maple Nut just has walnuts while this flavor has almonds, brazil nuts and cashews.  Lets check it out!

Removing the pint and the maple base has a light beige color.  Digging in, the maple flavor is quite noticeable.  I think it is actually a bit stronger than the flavor of the previous Maple Nut pint.  I expected that flavor to be more maple-y while this flavor would be more nutty.  This is definitely more maple-y!  Checking the ingredient list, this pint lists "maple background flavor" while Maple Nut lists an organic maple syrup from a local brand.  So perhaps maple syrup connoisseurs would prefer that pint.  I was raised on the name-brand artificial syrup, so I do not mind. As I scoop further down, I quickly encounter the nuts.  Boy, are there a lot of nuts!  I taste the brazil nuts and the cashews right away.  The almonds are not as easy to spot, but on further inspection, I do see them.  I got a few hazelnuts (a.k.a. filberts) too, which I was not expecting as the flavor description on their website did not advertize though.  That's great though.  I absolutely love mixed nuts -- the 'deluxe' kind with no peanuts -- and this pint has just about all of them.

This is an excellent nut-based flavor from Izzy's Ice Cream!  There is just about every deluxe type of nut in the mix and there are quite a lot of them, too.  This is definitely the nuttiest pint I have ever had.  Nut lovers should not hesitate to try this flavor.

Talenti - Hazelnut Chocolate Chip

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip - Hazelnut Gelato with Roasted Hazelnuts and Chocolate Chips

While I am waiting for new Talenti flavors to hit my local freezer case, I found an older flavor which I have not had before which looks interesting.  It is called Hazelnut Chocolate Chip.  Hazelnuts (known in my area as filberts) are famously one of they key ingredients of the Nutella spread, but this flavor looks to emphasize the flavor of the nut itself.  There are chocolate chips in here but the clear jar shows plenty of light brown color.  I am looking forward to checking this out.

Unscrewing the distinctive Talenti jars shows the light brown color of the hazelnut base with lots of speckles of chocolate.  Digging in, the hazelnut flavor is quite delicious.  There are quite a few chocolate chips in every spoonful, but the chips are small and chocolate plays just a supporting role.  There are small hazelnut pieces in the mix as well and these are quite crunchy.  Because of the crunchiness, I notice these more than the chocolate, though I'm sure that they are outnumbered.

This is good stuff!  I enjoyed this pint much more than I thought I would.  It is a simple hazelnut-flavored ice cream with delicious hazelnut pieces and chocolate chips and it is done quite well.  Hazelnut bases are not that common -- they are either included as a nutty mix-in or blended into the chocolate like the Nutella spread.  The one hazelnut base I could find in my review archive is Ample Hill's Baby I was Churned This Way.  This Talenti flavor is better in my opinion.  If you're a fan of hazelnuts themselves -- and not just Nutella -- then this is the flavor to try.

Ample Hills - Baby, I Was Churned This Way!

Baby, I Was Churned This Way - Salty Hazelnut Ice Cream with Chocolate-Covered Rainbow-Colored Sunflower Seeds

Yesterday, I went to the Gotham West Market in New York City and picked up two limited batch pints from Ample Hills.  The first pint, I ate yesterday in the market and the second pint I took back to my sister's apartment.  So, today I am ready to eat that second pint which is called Baby, I Was Churned This Way! in honor of Pride Month.  I did not get a chance to see the parade but I did see a lot of the barricades that were put up before.  Of course, the flavor name is a pun on the Lady Gaga song Born This Way.  In the spirit of Pride Week, I will link to her video of that song here.  The flavor itself is quite interesting.  It has a salty hazelnut base with chocolate-covered rainbow-colored sunflower seeds.  I don't think I've ever had hazelnut by itself, I usually only see it blended with fudge (Nutella-style).  Also, I have never had sunflower seeds in ice cream before.  So, this should be interesting.

Opening the pint, the hazelnut base as a sandy color.  There are some splotches of yellow food coloring and hints of chocolate-covered mix-ins below.  In the first spoonful, the ice cream is soft and creamy and the hazelnut flavor is quite interesting.  It is pretty good.  You can certainly tell that it is made from crushed nuts.  The chocolate-covered sunflower seeds are dispersed throughout the pint.  These are quite good!  They deliver a bit of saltiness and the coating provides a bit of chocolate as well.  Mostly, they are fun to chew on.  I like them in salads for the same reason.  I am surprised that sunflower seed mix-ins are not more common.  The rainbow-coloring in this particular pint is a bit of a disappointment.  There were yellow splotches from time to time but very little of any other colors.  The coloring does not affect the flavor one bit, so this is just a cosmetic issue, but a colorful ice cream for Pride Week might be part of the appeal.  The pictures of scoops on the Ample Hills website are much more colorful.  I am sure this is something that varies from batch to batch and if you are at a scoop shop, then you can simply look inside the bin and see how colorful it is before you order a scoop.

This is an interesting pint of ice cream.  The hazelnut base and sunflower seeds provide a unique earthy nuttiness which I don't often encounter in other flavors.

Sweet Science - White Russian

White Russian - Coffee Liqueur and Vodka Ice Cream with Hazelnuts

We start the new year with a pint from the St. Paul based Sweet Science brand: White Russian.  This is a member of their cocktail collection, so it cost a couple of extra dollars.  The cocktail it is designed after is the flavors namesake, the White Russian.  Everyone remembers the White Russian as the favorite drink of the Dude in the Big Lebowski.  It is made with coffee liqueur, vodka, and cream.  A cream-based drink is a good basis for ice cream -- the cream is already in there!

Removing the lid shows an off-white base with two full hazelnuts visible right on the top.  They look like they were manually added just before the lid was put on.  Digging in, the texture is fairly soft.  I have heard that mixing alcohol with ice cream makes it harder to freeze.  It is still creamy but it is definitely not hard.  The spoon sliced through it pretty easily.  The alcohol is noticeable right away.  Then the coffee liqueur.  I am not all that familiar with the cocktail so I shared with a friend.  She assured me "it tastes just like the drink".  As I ate further down into the pint, I didn't see any more hazelnuts until I got to the very bottom.  There were two more hazelnuts sitting on the bottom of the pint.  They didn't hurt anything, but I'm not sure what the hazelnuts were doing here.

This was an interesting pint.  A 'cocktail' collection where they make a pint out of a mixed drink is a decent idea.  A cream-based drink like a White Russian is ideal for this because it is almost like melted ice cream to begin with.  If you like White Russians, give this a try.

Coolhaus - Sundae Funday

Sundae Funday - Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl and Salted, Roasted Almonds

It is Sunday and what better flavor for a Sunday than Coolhaus's Sundae Funday?  This looks like a standard vanilla, chocolate and nuts flavor with the added twist that it is Tahitian vanilla.  I have been aware of different varieties of vanilla for a while now, but this is the first pint that I've reviewed where the vanilla is specifically labeled as Tahitian.  As a refresher, I googled the differences in vanillas and found this useful link.  Vanilla comes from the bean of an orchid originally indigenous to Mexico but is commonly grown in any tropical climate.  Most vanilla is now grown in Madagascar or its nearby islands (including Réunion whose former name of Île Bourbon is why this is sometimes called Bourbon vanilla), but it is also famously grown in Tahiti.  Tahitian vanilla is a slightly different species of the plant and has a different flavor.  The link above says is a bit weaker but more floral and sweet.  Interesting.  I will be paying more attention to the vanilla than usual as I eat this pint.

Longtime readers may recall that Coolhaus is the brand which is "architecturally inspired" which means that a famous architect serves as the mascot for each flavor.  This flavor is nicknamed "Moshe Saf-isticated Sundae" which means that Moshe Safdie is the featured architect.  Safdie is a living architect who was born in Israel and educated in Canada.  His most famous design is one of his first, the Habitat 67 which was created for the Expo (World's Fair) held in Montreal in 1967.  He had given two TED talks which I watched to see examples of his other works.  Who would have thought that eating ice cream could be so educational.

On to the ice cream!  Removing the lid shows a bunch of chocolate and nuts have been sprinkled across the top to give you an early taste of the mix-ins.  It is rather fun when brands of ice cream do this.  Digging in, the vanilla base is very soft and creamy. I was paying attention to the vanilla and it does seem a bit different.  It kind of tastes like soft-serve ice cream.  It was not quite that soft but it had the same flavor.  The chocolate hazelnut swirl was good, it sometimes had the burn that a chocolate syrup provides.  Sometimes the swirl was a bit elusive but there was usually enough it on the edges of the container so that I could always find chocolate if I wanted it.  It allowed me to enjoy the vanilla base more.  The crushed almonds were fully mixed into the base, but they were the kind of nuts that you often see sprinkled on the top of things.

This is a very simple vanilla-chocolate-and-nuts flavor but it is really well done and I enjoyed it very much.  It is not technically soft-serve ice cream but it had the feeling of cup of ice cream that you might get from a truck which has chocolate and nuts poured on top of it.  If you stumble upon this flavor, don't hesitate to check it out.

  

Ample Hills - It Came From Gowanus

It Came From Gowanus - Salted Dark Chocolate Base with Hazelnut Crack Cookies topped with White Chocolate Pearls and Orange- Scented Brownies

Today we review the last of Ample Hills' Taste of New York 4-pack that I ordered a couple of weeks ago now.   The last flavor is called It Came From Gowanus.  The flavor is so named for two reasons.  It is the exclusive flavor for their scoop shop in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn and also because one of the co-founders of Ample Hills (Brian Smith) is a former science-fiction writer so they made the flavor name sound like 1950s sci-fi movie.  I saved this flavor for last as it is the most famous of the 4-pack.  The Food Network featured it in this video where they crowned it the number one ice cream in America.  That video provides an excellent overview for the flavor.  It is a chocolate-lovers flavor with chocolate base and chocolatey mix-ins and the video shows how they make everything (including the mix-ins) by hand.

Postcard that came with the shipment that promotes the flavor as if it was a 1950s sci-fi movie

On to the ice cream!  Removing the lid shows the expected dark brown color of the chocolate base.  There is a hint of light frost on the top, but I can tell it is not enough to affect the flavor or consistency.  Digging into the pint, it is quite thick and chocolatey.  It is listed as a salted chocolate, but it is not too heavy on the salt.  Perhaps you want to drink a class of water when you are done but that is it.  Then it is just loaded with mix-ins.  The white chocolate pearls are visible in some of the pictures below.  They are about the size of BB pellets.  The brownie pieces were actually blended in pretty well.  The base ice cream is so thick and chocolatey that the brownie pieces were just chewier parts of the mix.  I did notice a hint of citrus.  It was not overly orangey -- it just seemed to brighten things up a bit and keep all the chocolate from becoming too overwhelming.  The hazelnut crack cookies were the star of the pint.  They are similar to the crack cookies in their Salted Crack Caramel flavor in that they are somehow crunchy and buttery at the same time.  I have never had crack cookies outside of ice cream before but they seem to make the perfect mix-in.  There were a lot of mix-ins in this pint, but it all seemed perfectly balanced.  That balance in most of their flavors seems to be one of Ample Hills' specialties.

This was an extremely successful pint which lives up to its billing.  I am not even a chocoholic and I liked it.  If you're in the Gowanus scoop shop, this is definitely the flavor to try.

All in all, I really enjoyed the 4-pack.  This was my first foray into ice cream by mail.  The shipping costs were not trivial here but it looks like something fun to do a couple of times a year.  How would I rank the four flavors?  As awesome as this Gowanus flavor was, I actually liked the Commodore flavor better.  Perhaps that's the non-chocoholic in me talking.  This flavor was a close second.  Then I'd put the Harry & Eigel Marbled and Malted flavor with the Floatin on the High Line flavor's niche root beer appeal coming fourth.