Sweet Science - Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie - Organic Banana Ice Cream with Clusters of Graham Cracker Crust and Swirls of Whipped Cream

Sweet Science of Saint Paul has more new flavors.  They've suddenly gotten very creative during this pandemic.  They've also added the opportunity to 'choose-your-own-four-pack' in their curbside service outside the Keg & Case Market once a week.  So, I was able to select both new flavors and a regular flavor I hadn't tried yet (I had to go with vanilla!) then I could give the fourth pint to a friend.  Today's flavor is one of the new flavors -- Banana Cream Pie.  Long-time readers know that Mint Chocolate Chip is my favorite ice cream, but Banana Cream is actually my favorite pie.  (Note: that I would never mix those two desserts!)  I have actually done a banana cream pie flavor before, from Graeter's.  It'll be fun to see how they compare.  Looking at the ingredients, I think this Sweet Science flavor appears closer to the pie I usually get because it includes whipped cream. The Graeter's flavor includes caramel instead of whipped cream.  Sweet Science does make delicious pie-based flavors.  I liked their Pecan Pie, I really liked their Lemon Meringue Pie and their pie-like flavors Berry Crumble and Caramel Apple Cider Crisp are both excellent.  Without further ado, let's dig in.

Opening the pint, the banana ice cream here is very bright and almost white.  I see some graham cracker pieces right away.  If I look really close, I can see small threads of whipped cream in there.  I wonder if there is more below.  This is a much different look from the other banana-themed pint, Banana Caramel Blondie, that I got from Sweet Science just a couple of weeks ago.  Whipped cream instead of caramel is a big difference.  Digging in, this is definitely the sweeter type of banana  as opposed to 'roasted' or banana-bread type of banana.  The threads of whipped cream do not get any bigger as I eat my way down, but I really like the balance here.  The thicker swirls like in their Lemon Meringue flavor worked well because they were tart.  Here, the thin, thread-like swirls had a sweet creaminess to the banana without being too much.  It actually makes it taste a lot like the pie I usually get!  The graham cracker crust pieces are well done here.  They are well-dispersed, crunchy and of variable size.

I really liked this pint.  I did enjoy the Graeter's Banana Cream Pie pint that I had a while back, but I think Sweet Science does them one better here.  The blending of the banana ice cream with just the right amount of whipped cream makes this taste so much like my favorite pie.  So, now two good banana options from Sweet Science.  The roasted, caramel-blondie combination of Banana Caramel Blondie and this sweet cream pie version.  Yum.

Berry Sweet Mascarpone (Whole Foods Exclusive)

Berry Sweet Mascarpone - Blackberry & Mascarpone Ice Creams with Shortbread Cookies & Fudge-Covered Almonds

I was not expecting this, but Ben & Jerry's has a new flavor!  I stumbled upon it while looking at the website the other day.  It is called Berry Sweet Mascarpone and it is available exclusively at Whole Foods.  So I went down to the Whole Foods on Selby & Snelling and, sure enough, there is was!  Awesome.  This is pint has blackberry and mascarpone base ice creams and mix-ins of shortbread cookies and fudge-covered almonds.  An interesting and eclectic combination of flavors.  Blackberry and fudge-covered almonds seem like strong flavors while mascarpone and shortbread cookies seem like balancing flavors.  I am quite curious to see how this plays out.

Removing the lid, I see the fudge-covered almonds right away.  I see a light purplish tinge to the base.  Looking again I can see marbling.  Some off-white purplish sections are evidently the blackberry ice cream and some whiter sections are the mascarpone ice cream.  I like how Ben & Jerry's can marble their bases like this.  Digging in, the blackberry flavor is good, but it is quite mild.  The mascarpone is smooth as expected and it does not have that distinctive cream-cheese aftertaste that some mascarpone bases have.  The shortbread cookies provide a bit of grit from time to time.  But the stars of the pint are the fudge-covered almonds.  These are excellent.  They kind of dominate the pint which is OK in that they are excellent but they easily swamp out the mild blackberry flavor.

This is a good pint with a misleading name.  I opened it up thinking I'd have a lot of blackberry flavor balanced by mascarpone and what I got was delicious fudge-covered almonds.   I could taste the other flavors from time to time, but this pint is all about those almonds.  As fans of Häagen-Dazs' classic Vanilla Swiss Almond flavor would know, chocolate-covered almonds are amazing.  These fudge-covered almonds are on par with those.  But I am scratching my head a little bit because the flavor name implies that there'd be more berry.  Anyhow, Vanilla Swiss Almond fans who want a twist on their favorite flavor might want to trek to Whole Foods to check this one out.

Sweet Science - Chocolate Caramel Brownie Cashew

Chocolate Caramel Brownie Cashew - Chocolate Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Chunks of Chewy Brownies and Cashews

Today's flavor is the third pint from my recent curbside purchase of a "Salted Caramel 4-pack" from Sweet Science Ice Cream at Keg & Case in Saint Paul.  The fourth pint, Salted Caramel itself, I have reviewed before so this is the last new review from this particular purchase.  Today's flavor is called Chocolate Brownie Caramel Cashew.  Here, instead of a swirl of salted caramel sauce the caramel is blended into the base ice cream as a chocolate-caramel flavor, then there are brownie and cashew mix-ins.  Looks interesting.

Removing the lid, I see the brown color of the chocolate-caramel base and a few brownies are visible right off the bad.  I can tell from the hue of brown that this is different from their regular chocolate base.  Digging in, the chocolate-caramel base is quite delicious.  I have mixed feelings about blending caramel and chocolate bases.  On one hand, I am often expecting a swirl of caramel and I am disappointed when it is not there.  On the other hand, the caramel makes the chocolate taste really good.  The brownie pieces are thick, rich and chocolatey.  I don't see a lot of cashews, but I bite into them quite frequently.  They seem to hide in the ice cream.  They are fun.

I enjoyed this point quite a bit.  This is a like a suped up version of chocolate fudge brownie with a tasty chocolate-caramel base and lots of cashews added in for extra crunch.  I just need to set my expectations that the 'caramel' here is blended and now swirled like it was in the previous two pints (here and here).  With that expectation, I enjoyed this very much.

Talenti - Banana Caramel Crunch

Banana Caramel Crunch - Layers of Banana Pudding Gelato, Pie Crust Pieces, Dulce de Leche, Banana Pudding Gelato (again) and Pie Crust Pieces (again)

Today is the fourth and final new flavor for 2020 in the Layers Collection for Talenti Gelato:  Banana Caramel Crunch.  In a previous review, I noted that I saw a placeholder tag in the freezer case at the Midway Target for this flavor but that there was not any there yet.  Well, sure enough, the next time I went to the Midway Target it was there and I grabbed it and took it home.  As mentioned in previous reviews, theses 'layers' pints stack the ingredients into horizontal layers rather than mixing them or swirling them together.  Typically five layers are used.  Here the five layers are banana pudding gelato, pie crust pieces, dulce de leche, more banana gelato and more pie crust pieces.  Banana and caramel make a good combination, so I am looking forward to this pint.

Unscrewing the lid on the distinctive jars that Talenti uses, I see only the top layer of banana gelato.  Next, I take a knife and extract out a vertical slice for the photos below.  I realize that most casual ice cream eaters won't do this but it has the added benefit of making it easier to sample all the layers once I start diving in with my spoon.  Here I see the two banana gelato layers take up the most room, the dulce de leche and pie crust layers between two gelato layers are thin enough so as to have effectively mixed -- this happens a lot in these layers pints and it's usually a good thing.  Then the final layer of pie crust is on the bottom.  Digging in, the banana gelato has good flavor.  Since it based on banana pudding, it has a sweeter type of banana flavor as opposed to the more earthy flavor of banana bread.  Eating more, the dulce de leche and pie crust layers are quite delicious.  Unmixed, the dulce de leche has a burnt caramel flavor to it which I really like.  Often when Talenti swirls their dulce de leche, it gets half blended into the base ice cream which greatly mutes the flavor.  That does not happen here.  The pie crust pieces are crunchy and taste like, well, like pie crust.  Not too exciting, but they add texture and complement the banana and caramel well.

I quite liked this pint.  Banana and caramel is good combination and delivering the caramel in layer form increases its effect.   There is one other pint in the layers collection which includes a caramel swirl, Salted Caramel Truffle.  I really liked that pint, but in a lot of ways it is the chocolate truffles that make that flavor create.  Here, the caramel is allowed to stand out more.  Enjoy.

Häagen-Dazs - Rosé & Cream

Rosé & Cream - Wine-infused Sweet Cream with a Rosé-flavored Swirl

Today's flavor is a new flavor for 2020 from Häagen-Dazs in their Spirits Collection which is called Rosé & Cream.  Rosé is a reddish-colored wine that does not contain enough color to be formally classified as red.  I have had a few rosé-themed pints before.  I have to double-check the tags I'm using to make sure I'm referring to rosé and not rose(water).  I think I have them all straight.  Anyhow, this looks like the purist spirits pints yet.  There are no other mix-ins for the alcoholic beverage to blend with -- no chocolate, no caramel, no nuts, etc.  This is just rosé and sweet cream with a rosé-flavored swirl.  Let's check it out!

Opening the pint and peeling back the plastic cover, I see the top of the pint has a bright color.  Mostly white but some splotches of purplish pink.  Digging in, it tastes like wine.  I know that sounds obvious, but Häagen-Dazs does a great job with these spirits pints.  You get all the aroma of the alcohol and a lot of the flavor, but it's not boozy and the ice cream stays solid (alcohol can lower the freezing point and make ice cream soft).  Anyhow, the rosé has a fruity wine taste to it and the sweet cream is a clean and refreshing vehicle for it.  The pint is not homogeneous -- there is a swirl -- but the swirl of rosé is half-blended into the base, so it's almost homogeneous flavor-wise.

I liked this pint.  I am a fan of Häagen-Dazs Spirits Collection for reasons I mentioned above and this particular pint seems to fill a unique slot in the collection -- no chocolate, no caramel and rather fruity.  Check it out if you like a glass of rosé.

Sweet Science - Banana Caramel Blondie

Banana Caramel Blondie - Roasted Banana Ice Cream with a Swirl of Caramel Sauce and Blonde Brownie Pieces

Today is the second flavor from my recent curside pickup from Sweet Science Ice Cream at the Keg in Case Market in Saint Paul.  I got the caramel four-pack.  The first flavor was Coffee Caramel Cookie and this flavor is called Banana Caramel Blondie.  This is an interesting flavor combination, but sure enough when I do a google search I find several recipes.  In this pint, banana serves as the base ice scream while salted caramel sauce and blonde brownie pieces serve as the mix-ins.  Looks appetizing!

Removing the lid, I see a lot of the caramel sauce swirl right away.  That was my favorite part of the previous pint, so I am excited already.  The banana base is a off-white yellow color and I don't see any of the blondies quite yet.  Digging in, the banana flavor is quite good.  I have written before about how there are two types of banana -- the darker flavor of banana bread and the brighter, sweet flavor of banana pudding and banana cream pie.  The side of the pint labels the banana here as a 'roasted' banana, so I figured this might be a banana-bread banana and it does have a darker texture, but the presence of the caramel swirl adds sweetness into the mix.  The caramel swirl is sweet but also has a salty bite to it.  The blonde brownies are dispersed throughout the pint.  They are chunky and chewy and go very well with the caramel.

I really liked this pint.  Adding blondies is an interesting enhancement to the fairly common banana/caramel combination (including numerous bananas fosters).  What makes this pint stand out, though is the caramel swirl which is thicker, saltier and has more 'bite' than most caramel swirls.  If you see this one available, check it out.

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.