Milkjam Creamery - Turkish Coffee Honeycomb

Turkish Coffee Honeycomb - Coffee Cardamom Ice Cream with Honeycomb pieces

March flavors at Milkjam Creamery are named for famous women.  Today's flavor (instagram link here) is named after Deb Haaland, the United States Secretary of the Interior.  Haaland is known for being the first cabinet secretary of Native American ancestry in the country's history as her mother was Native American.  It turns out that her father was a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent ("Haaland" is a very Norwegian surname) and as I myself am a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent, I feel like I must include that factoid.  She has a lot to be proud of.  Since the women honored every March changes from year to year, these flavors have alternate names.  Today's flavor is called "Turkish Coffee Honeycomb".  It is a coffee cardamom ice cream with honeycomb pieces.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the coffee cardamom base has a dark brown color to it.  The color is almost dark enough to be chocolate, but it is coffee.  If I look really close, there are hints of a couple of honeycomb pieces, but I am not sure.  Digging in, the coffee cardamom flavor in the base is excellent!  You can really taste the cardamom and it is blended into the coffee quite well.  As I eat my way down, I see those hints that I saw on top were actually honeycomb pieces.  As I have seen with other honeycomb flavors, instead of being crunchy, the honeycomb melts a bit in the ice cream creating small liquid pools.  It's pretty good.

This is an excellent coffee cardamom flavor from Milkjam Creamery.  Flavors with cardamom can sometimes be hit or miss as sometimes the flavor is barely noticeable, but here the blend is excellent!  It reminds me a bit of an old scoop-shop-era Izzy's flavor called Dessa's Night Drive except with different mix-ins.  The honeycomb pieces here are alright, but the cardamom-coffee base here is the star of the show.  For those that like this type of blended coffee, check out Turkish Coffee Honeycomb (or TCH), the next time is returns to Milkjam Creamery.

Sweet Science - Stout Chocolate Cookie

Stout Chocolate Cookie - Stout Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Crunchy Chocolate Cookies

Today's flavor from the Twin Cities-based Sweet Science Ice Cream is called Stout Chocolate Cookie.  Since their scoop shop moved to the other end of town (Edina), I now pick up my pints at the Golden Fig market on Grand in Saint Paul.  Other grocery stores stock Sweet Science, but I think the Golden Fig as been designated as the store which will always stock the most recent limited-batch flavors on the Saint Paul-side of the metro.  Stout Chocolate cookie uses a stout-and-chocolate base with chocolate cookie pieces as the mix-ins.  Stout blends surprisingly well with chocolate and I have seen it several times before including once from Sweet Science with different mix-ins, but also from Ample Hills and Häagen-Dazs.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see the expected brown color of the stout chocolate base as well as many small pieces of chocolate cookies.  The chocolate cookie pieces are almost "chip-sized".  Digging in, the stout chocolate base is delicious!  It's just as I remember in their previous pint.  I never would have guessed that stout beer would go well with chocolate, but it absolutely does.  If you are not a fan of beer (or even stout) it is still worth sampling this flavor.  The flavor is mostly chocolate but how the stout accents is quite interesting and delicious.  The small chocolate cookie pieces add some crunchiness (and extra chocolate) into the mix.

This is a very good stout chocolate flavor from Sweet Science.  Those who have loved their previous stout chocolate flavors will surely love this one, too.  The chocolate cookie mix-ins are small and crunchy.  Texturally this pint is about halfway between a "stout chocolate chocolate chip" and a "stout cookies and cream".  Enjoy.

Bebe Zito - Beijinhos

Beijinhos - Beijinho-flavored Ice Cream with a Strawberry Lemon Ripple

The next flavor from the Minneapolis-based Bebe Zito is called Beijinhos (instagram link here).  A beijinho is a Brazilian confection made with coconut and condensed milk.  It has been described as the coconut version of a brigadiero (which I have had in ice cream here).  Here, Bebe Zito adds a strawberry lemon ripple into the mix.  Let's see how this turns out.

Removing the lid, I see quite a bit of the strawberry-lemon ripple right away -- a big glob plus a few veiny threads of it.  I also see an off-white clump which looks like it might be coconut.  Looks like there are chunks of actual beijnho mixed in.  Digging in, the beijnho pieces are sticky and sweet but quite delicious and they go well with the strawberry-lemon swirls.  Strawberry and lemon go well together (as they do in strawberry lemonade).  I am surprised that I do not see them together more often.  As I eat further down, the strawberry-lemon swirl seem to have migrated to the sides of the container (I have seen that before) but it is quite easy to get some of this swirl into every spoonful so it is not something to complain about.

This is a fun and unique combination of flavors from Bebe Zito.  The beijinho confection is not one that I was familiar with before, but now I want to try one.  Blending in condensed milk does make this a sweeter than average pint, but the extra sweetness did not bother me one bit.  Strawberry and coconut was not a combination that I had imagined before but it is quite delicious.  With Bebe Zito having a Brazilian-theme to several of their flavors (one of their owners in Brazilian) and this being a fun implementation of a Brazilian dessert, this Beijinhos flavor deserves to be one of their signature flavors.  Check it out the next time that you are there.

Milkjam Creamery - Sarah

Sarah - Croissant Ice Cream with Black Currant Jam, Cream Cheese Mousse, and Brown Butter Streusel

 Milkjam Creamery of Minneapolis honors Women's History Month (March) by renaming all of its flavors after important women -- including their monthly specials.  The first monthly special is called Sarah (instagram link here) after the Minneapolis baker Sarah Botcher who runs the Black Walnut Bakery on Hennepin.  What is in this flavor?  It has a croissant-based ice cream with a black currant jam, cream cheese mousse and a brown butter streusel.  I have never had a croissant flavored ice cream before.  I'm guessing they soak croissants in the milk and cream to infuse it with the flavor and then strain them out.  Otherwise, it looks like and interesting and eclectic mixture of ingredients.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see quite a bit of the black currant jam right away.  A couple of darker globs but a lot of it has half-blended into the base.  Digging in, the blackcurrant flavor is quite good.  The croissant flavor in the base is not obvious -- especially with the streusel mixed in there as well -- but it goes well with the jam.  The cream cheese provides extra thickness which also compliments the jam.  Overall the flavor is quite good.

This is a solid "berry crumble" ice cream done with extra fancy ingredients -- black currant, croissant, brown butter, etc.  It is done very well, though and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The use of black currant reminds me of a couple of Jeni's flavors (Brambleberry Crisp and the limited-batch Clare's Cabinet).  It will be fun to see if this flavor returns next year.

Bebe Zito - Romeo E Julieta

Romeo E Julieta - Cream Cheese Custard and Fresh Guava Ripple. Finished with a beautiful Ritz cracker and guava sauce.

I return to Bebe Zito in Minneapolis for the first time in a while.  I have not been avoiding them, but they do not always update their pint freezer case.  I think they like to focus on manually adding toppings to their ice cream creations and that always translated to a pre-packed pint -- so they don't always make a pint-version of their limited-batch flavors.  Anyhow, last time I was there, I found several new flavors of pints in their freezer case so I scooped them up.  Today's flavor is called Romeo E Julieta (instagram link here).  It features a cream cheese custard base with a ripple of guava and is topped with Ritz crackers.  They gave me a little container of Ritz crackers to add to the ice cream when I ate it -- I guess the crackers would get soggy if they mixed them into the pints themselves.  This sounds fun.  Guava is a relatively unusual ingredient, although I have had it once before in a Pineapple Rum & Guava Jam flavor from McConnell's a couple of years ago.  Let's check out today's flavor.

Removing the lid, the cream cheese base has an off-white color to it and I see a few dollops of guava jam right away on top.  Instead of digging right in, I transfer the ice cream to a bowl, so that I can add some of the Ritz Crackers into the mix (see pictures below).  Digging in, the crackers add a nice crumbly-crunchy salty mix to each spoonful.  The cream cheese custard is very dense and thick and the guava jam adds some very delicious tropical fruit flavor.  Yum.

This is a fun and delicious fruit and crackers combination from Bebe Zito and the dense cream cheese base holds it all together quite well.  The guava has a delicious tropical flavor and the smattering of crushed crackers adds a nice touch of saltiness to the mix.  They might not always give you the crackers when you buy the pint -- it would still be good without it -- but it is a nice touch.  If you like guava, check this out the next time you are at Bebe Zito.

Pumphouse Creamery - Butter Pecan

Butter Pecan - Butter Pecan Ice Cream

 

Today we return to the Pumphouse Creamery in south Minneapolis for their Butter Pecan flavor.  Butter Pecan is one of the old classic flavors which has been around for decades -- long before the modern era of mixing flavors.  It is also one of the top-five flavors in the United States.  I had to double-check my archive three times just to make sure I have not reviewed this flavor from Pumphouse before and I have not.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the "butter" base has a white color to it.  I guess it is a little off-white, but it is definitely whiter than most butter pecan bases.  Digging in, the base has a nice pleasant flavor to it.  It's not obviously a butter flavor, but I can tell it is definitely not vanilla.  Soon I encounter all the pecan mix-ins.  These are good.  Quite crunchy and with good pecan flavor.

This is a solid and pleasing butter pecan implementation from Pumphouse Creamery.  Nothing too bold or fancy, but that matches what butter pecan delivers for most people.  If you are at Pumphouse and want something smooth and nutty, this will definitely satisfy you.

2 Scoops - Turtle

Turtle - Vanilla Ice Cream with Swirls of Chocolate Fudge, Gooey Caramel and Roasted Salted Pecans

 

I returned to the 2 Scoops scoop shop on Selby and Milton to have another pint or two packed.  Today's flavor is called Turtle.  It is a vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge swirls, caramel swirls and pecans.  It is based on the popular chocolate-caramel-pecan candy of the same name.  The candy has an interesting history.  I guess chocolate covered caramel pecans had been done before but someone on Johnson's candy (late DeMet's) in Chicago noticed that dipped candies looked like turtles -- round globs and the pecans sticking out the sides looked like the head and feet.  So Johnson's/DeMet's trademarked the name.  Anyhow, chocolate, caramel and pecans make for great ice cream mix-ins so this is a good theme to use for an ice cream flavor.  Let's check it out.

The top of the pint appears hand-packed with all of the mix-ins visible.  Digging in, this is quite good.  I can taste all three mix-ins -- chocolate, caramel and pecans -- in almost every spoonful.  The caramel is gooey which is how I like it and the pecans are crunchy.  It does taste a lot like those turtle candies.  The vanilla ice cream does a good job of holding it all together.

I really enjoyed this turtle-candy-themed pint from 2 Scoops.  Mixing chocolate, caramel and pecans into ice cream is a winning combination.  Checking my archives, I have had two flavors with turtle in the name before.  Turtle Latte from Sebastian Joe's used a coffee base and the caramel chocolate mix-ins did not contain nuts.  Spiced Pecan Turtle from Häagen-Dazs' old limited-batch Artisan line was closer.  They used a chocolate base instead of vanilla and added some spice to the mix as well.  Today's flavor is straightforward (no variations or twists) but still very successful.  If you are at 2 Scoops and in the mood for something nutty, check it out.