Today's Review: Häagen-Dazs Coconut Chocolate

I like a new Häagen-Dazs flavour, even if every time I write about one I have to look up how to type an "a" with an umlaut. Here we have coconut chocolate, which is capitalising on that coconut craze but, you know, with chocolate. Not much to say to describe this. It's coconut ice cream with chocolate pieces in it.

This is pretty good, if a little boring. But hey, it does what it says on the tub. The ice cream is creamy and coconutty, with a few pieces of the shredded stuff thrown in for a bit of extra flavour and texture. It's perhaps a little too sweet, but there's a nice amount of chocolate shrapnel thrown in to break it up a little and provide a nice crunch. So the flavours are all there, but it's all a bit too sweet, and a bit boring. A good effort, but not their best flavour.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Gianni's Cheeky Monkey Ice Cream

Anyone who reads my reviews is likely aware of my unwavering love for Ben & Jerry's, so I was excited when someone told me Aldi were offering something pretty similar for a smaller price. This appears to be the Aldi answer to Phish Food, but with pretty much the same name as Chunky Monkey, which was a little confusing. It consists of chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and caramel swirls, and little chocolate monkey faces. Aww.

Well, whoever told me this was just like Ben & Jerry's, they lied. I mean, it's not a bad tub of ice cream, it's supremely chocolatey, but the texture is somewhat moussey. The swirls and chocolate pieces are plentiful, it's just all the ingredients are a little off, clearly not the best quality. Definitely good for the price, but not quite a patch on Phish Food.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Asda Retro Rippled Ice Cream Lollies

There have been a few of these popping up lately, in various stored with various names. But as catchy as "Retro Ripple Ice Cream Lollies" sounds, these all have one thing in common. They're basically a Vienetta on a stick. Now, there's something about Vienetta. It's no more than ice cream and chocolate, but there's no denying that it's a magic combination that is tastier than most combinations of the two ingredients. It seems the supermarkets are trying to cash in by shrinking it down and whacking it on a stick. 

It took me a while to get home from Asda, so sadly my ice cream didn't look quite as sophisticated as the one in the picture. Still, I could easily make out the layers of ice cream and chocolate, with the stuff on the bottom being sort of a thick chocolate tray. It has something of a satisfying snap to it. and paired with the creamy ice cream it actually does provide something of a Vienetta experience. It's not quite as good, obviously this ain't on Walls ice cream, and I think it could do with a bit more chocolate. But it's a decent attempt at something a little different. Move over Magnum, it's time for Vienetta on a stick.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Halo Top Cinnamon Roll

I just had to give some more of this Halo Top a try. After all, it's the only way I can eat an entire tub of ice cream and not feel guilty. Well, not too guilty anyway. Most of the flavours I wasn't overly fussed about, especially vanilla, but this one definitely caught my eye. Cinnamon rolls, in low calorie ice cream form! I have lamented the loss of the cinnamon buns Ben & Jerry's for a while, so I was hoping this would fill the void.

Well, there are no chunks in this tub, I'll get that out of the way first. I mean, I didn't expect any, but a few chunks of something would have really kicked it up a notch. As it is though, this is a nice creamy ice cream, with a sweet and slightly spicy kick of cinnamon. It leans a little too much on the cinnamon side, but the ice cream itself does a good job of emulating that cinnamon roll icing, and it all pulls together really well in the end. A warming tub of ice cream, if that makes sense. One for the cinnamon lovers.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup 'Wich

It was a dark day in history when the Ben & Jerry's 'Wiches left the shelves, but a brief hiatus and they returned as good as ever, with a new variety to boot. Now there's another addition to the range, a 'Wich featuring the awesome Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, sandwiched between two chocolatey cookies. I couldn't wait to try these as soon as I saw them, so I ended up paying the full price, which is something I really don't like to do.

These are 'Wiches, so I knew they were gonna be good, and this is indeed a great combination of flavours. The chocolate cookies are great, soft and chewy with a nice smattering of chocolate chips. The peanut butter ice cream is smooth and creamy with a lovely nutty flavour, and there's yet more chocolate in the form of the cups spread throughout, which are in turn filled with more peanut butter. So yeah, there's a lot going on, and it's all delicious. There is perhaps a little too much chocolate, I wonder if these would be better with the regular cookies, the chocolate is a little overwhelming in places, detracting from the peanut butter experience. Still, these are great, and I'm hoping they're a sign of more flavours to come.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Häagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Crunch

I saw this flavour a few weeks back, but didn't want to bite until it was on offer. Thankfully it just dropped to £2.50 at Tesco, so I was ready to pick me up some decadent peanut butter ice cream. At least, I hoped it would be decadent. This tub is all peanut, consisting of peanut butter ice cream, a peanut butter swirl and caramelised peanut pieces.

I'll start by saying this is perhaps a bit too much peanut. I know I should've expected that from the flavour, but other peanut butter ice creams I've tried usually have a little something to break it all up, like a bit of chocolate. It's a minor gripe though, as this is some great quality stuff. The ice cream itself has a creamy, smooth, somewhat muted peanut butter flavours, with a generous smattering of sweet peanut pieces that add a satisfying crunch and another burst of natural peanut flavour. My favourite part, though, is the swirl. While most would settle for a somewhat sickly sauce, this is a thick swirl of proper peanut butter, running through the entire tub and raising the whole experience to another level. It's like eating peanut butter from the jar, but not as bad for you. A great Häagen-Dazs tub that may be a bit overly peanut buttery, but tastes great.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Halo Top Peanut Butter Cup

This Halo Top stuff has caused quite a stir since it landed in shops, mainly because you can eat an entire tub in one go and not feel too guilty about it. I mean, I can polish off a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's, and while it's totally amazing, the regret isn't too far behind. But look at this stuff, 320 calories for the entire tub, and it's peanut butter flavoured! So what's the catch?

Well, there are a few sweeteners shoved in there, but none that are overly controversial (not yet anyway). There's a fair amount of erythritol,but aside from that the main ingredients are what you'd expect to find in ice cream. But I'm not going to ramble on about the composition, not when I can talk about the flavour, and it's pretty great. It's a pretty authentic peanut butter ice cream, a bold peanut flavour with a lovely creamy texture. It's not the greatest straight out of the freezer, it's a little hard and gets much better when it's softened up, but they know that already as it says so on the tub, so I can't be too harsh on them for that. Basically, this is a bit like eating peanut butter out of the jar, but much more healthy and socially acceptable. Sure, it can be a little on the watery side once it's softened up enough, but the peanut butter flavour is pretty top notch, and I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another tub. A great little tub of almost guilt-free ice cream, I'll definitely be trying the other flavours.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Magnum Chocolate & Hazelnut Praline

Another day, another Magnum. Well, this is one I hadn't tried before, I have no idea how new it is. But I couldn't resist the call of chocolate and hazelnut in Magnum form. Here we have chocolate hazelnut ice cream, coated in more chocolate with more hazelnuts embedded in it. So basically, it's a bit nuts. Also quite chocolatey.

This is a good Magnum. I'm glad when they try something other than the classic vanilla ice cream, because they normally do it very well. I'm looking at you, pink raspberry. This is cream is smooth and creamy, with a rich chocolate tone and a great nutty flavour mixed in. Almost Nutella-like in a way. On top you've got your classic a Magnum chocolate, which has a lot of satisfying crunch packed in, adding to the overall hazelnut flavour. It's a great balance that makes this a pretty perfect Magnum. Another great addition to the range.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Topped Pretzel Palooza

You wait ages for a new Ben & Jerry's flavour, and two come along at once. Yes, I made a special trip to Sainsbury's just to spend £7 on ice cream, and no, I don't regret it. The birthday cake tub is good, and I also picked up this new variety of Topped. Underneath that oh-so-fantastic spoonable chocolate topping is a malted vanilla ice cream, embedded with chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate chunks, finished off with a chocolate hazelnut swirl. I mean, just the pretzels was enough to get me interested.

As far as ice creams go, I'd say I'm a pretty avid Ben & Jerry's supporter. I love all the flavours, I went to the amazing festivals they used to hold in London. But despite my love of the brand, I have to be somewhat critical about this tub. It's just not particularly exciting. There's lots of stuff packed in there, sure, but it all comes with little disappointments. I assumed the ice cream would have a bold malted flavour, but it's more the classic Ben & Jerry's vanilla, which isn't bad, but I was expecting something different. The chocolate hazelnut swirl is not as prominent as i'd hoped. There's a hint of nuttiness in the after taste, but I didn't really notice it while eating. As for the pretzels, they add a pretty satisfying crunch paired with a chocolate hit, but they could do with being more salty, as they are they don't add too much to the overall taste. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an awful tub, it's still better than a lot of ice creams out there. I was just expecting something amazing, and this is pretty mediocre by Ben & Jerry's standards. If you're crazy for pretzels, by all means give it a go. If not, there are far better Topped varieties out there.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Birthday Cake

It's Ben & Jerry's 40th birthday this year, and what better way to celebrate than with cake? Well, cake flavoured ice cream that is. Yes, now you can get cake in frozen creamy treat form, with this tub of vanilla cake batter ice cream, swirled with pink frosting and strawberry, and embedded with cake pieces. They had me at cake batter ice cream.

There are a few new elements to tackle in this here tub, but I'll start with the ice cream. It's pretty good, a twist on the classic vanilla that actually tastes like cake batter. It's got that almost doughy, gritty taste to it, while remaining a pretty smooth ice cream. I'm not sure how that's possible, but there you go. The swirls kick it up a notch, adding in some bold strawberry notes, with the frosting providing that distinct buttercream taste that blends in really well with the batter flavour. So all in all, a pretty great combination of cake-like elements, though I would say the cake pieces fall a little short. They provide a nice bit of chewy texture, but they don't really add anything to the overall flavour. Still, every Ben & Jerry's tub has to have chunks, and it pretty much had to be chunks of cake in this one. Overall, a pretty fitting birthday variety, that does a lot of things right. I hope this one sticks around for a while.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Halo Top Chocolate Ice Cream

I've heard a lot of people raving about this ice cream, and if not talking about the taste of it, they're intrigued by the idea of it. Of course it's an interesting sounding tub, only 320 calories in the whole thing. I wasn't too convinced it would translate to a tasty ice cream, but I was holding out hope that I could one day consume an entire pint tub and not feel guilty. Okay, I'd probably still feel guilty.

I went for the chocolate flavour to start out with (of course I'm going to try the others), and I have to say it's not bad. The ingredients predominantly feature milk and eggs, but there's a fair amount of cocoa in there, and it does show in the flavour. It's not as creamy as other chocolate ice creams, and the texture itself seems a little off, but considering how few calories are in here I was expecting a lot worse. It tastes like chocolate, it's pretty satisfying, and while it ain't no Ben & Jerry's, it's a great way to have a frozen treat without worrying about your waist line. Rejoice people, diet ice cream is here.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Dairy Free Peanut Butter & Cookies

They're here, they're finally here! I know there's been a lot of excitement about the dairy free Ben & Jerry's, and I have to say that despite the fact that I'm not vegan, I was very intrigued to see how these turned out. Yes, the regular Ben & Jerry's ice cream has been replace with an almond alternative, which is also reflected in the absence of those famous cows from the packaging, and their replacement by these giant sketchy almonds. 

There are a few flavours to choose from here, including chocolate fudge brownie and chunky monkey, but the former was already sold out, and the latter didn't tickle my fancy as much as this peanut butter & cookies tub. For something that is non-dairy, they sure do chuck in a lot of elements that are regularly associated with dairy. Ice cream, peanut butter, and chocolate cookies, all vegan, and all in this tub. Let's see how that works out.

Let's start with the ice cream, as that's the most glaringly obvious thing that would perhaps suffer from the lack of dairy. I must say, it's not particularly fantastic, but it does a fair job. It's a little watery, but the texture is pretty good, and it does still feel like eating ice cream. The peanut swirls are really good, I managed to get some in every spoonful, although that made it hard to tell whether the nuttiness was coming from the ice cream or the swirls. Either way, it's a very nutty tub, and I'd be interested to see how much of the almond flavour creeps into the other varieties. The sandwich cookies are extremely plentiful, sizeable chunks that can be found all over the place. They're a little crumbly, but they do add a nice chocolatey hint overall. I'd say compared to the dairy Ben & Jerry's, this tub was absolutely crammed with chunks and pieces, and that was fine by me. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did, but the ice cream kings have done it again. Vegans and the lactose intolerants rejoice, and everyone else might want to try it out as well.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Home Sweet Honeycomb

Many thanks to DestroyED, who informed me earlier today that alongside Berry Neighbourly, there's another new Ben & Jerry's flavour hitting the shelves. Naturally I went out and bought it straight away. Berry Neighbourly appears to be a Tesco exclusive, but this one lacks the type on the top of the tub, so hopefully you can pick it up anywhere. This flavour is a very honey-themed one, boasting a cream ice cream with honey caramel swirl, embedded with chocolate covered honeycomb pieces.

If you like honey, you'll like this. Well, as long as you like ice cream as well, I suppose. The ice cream itself is lovely and sweet, creamier than the regular Ben & Jerry's vanilla, I very much enjoyed it. The swirl throughout has a fantastic natural honey flavour, alongside a sweet hint of caramel, both lending to the thick, almost syrup-like texture. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much swirl as I'd hoped, but what was there was pretty great, definitely lending to the honey theme. Where the swirl was lacking, there were plenty of chunks to make up for it. They ranged from tiny to fairly sizeable, but each one consisted of a nice thick chocolatey coating, and some satisfyingly crunchy honeycomb underneath. Pretty much like little chunks of Crunchie, swirled into some nice ice cream. Not a perfect tub, it's a little bland in some places, but a decent attempt at a nice unique tub.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Berry Neighbourly

It's been a while since I've seen a new Ben & Jerry's flavour, so I almost missed this nestled among the others. But thankfully my keen eye spied it, a new exclusive variety for Tesco. Sofa So Good and Wholly Couch were some great additions, so could they make it a hat trick? Here we have Berry Neighbourly, which is an odd pun, but contains blueberry and cookie swirls in vanilla ice cream, with "white chunks". By this they mean white chocolate flavour chunks, and not white chocolate. But I wasn't going to dismiss them based on semantics, I had a tub of Ben & Jerry's to get through.

I'll start with the "white chunks", because although they're not technically chocolate, they're not bad. They're pretty plentiful, and are thick and relatively creamy. They're not the best quality, but they do remind me of the good old Baked Alaska polar bears. The blueberry and cookie swirls complement each other very nicely, a nice bold fruity swirl alongside some nice crunchy, crumbly cookie, similar in texture to a cheesecake base. Some of the swirls were quite clumped together, leaving other areas of the tub as more vanilla ice cream, but the white chunks still made it a good time. This isn't the perfect tub of ice cream, but the blueberry is authentic and makes for a great new addition to the Ben & Jerry's range. Well worth heading to Tesco for.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Tesco Red Velvet Ice Cream

What with being caught up in all the Ben & Jerry's and Haägen Dazs flavours over the years, I seem to have neglected the less premium ice creams, and Tesco have come up with some interesting concoctions. This one especially caught my eye, a red velvet ice cream. It consists of pink and white cheese flavoured ice cream, a cream cheese sauce swirl and pieces of red velvet cake.

Sounded pretty cheesy to me, but in reality it's not particularly so. The ice cream has a sort of moussey texture, which isn't too bad, just different I guess. It's still nice and creamy, it's just the flavouring isn't quite there. The cream cheese sauce goes some way towards it though. As for the cake pieces, they're plentiful, and they're pretty nice and soft. It's not the best quality red velvet, but it does a decent job of saving a pretty bland ice cream. All in all, this isn't fantastic, but it's definitely a different flavour of ice cream that pulled off fairly well.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Mississippi Mud Pie McFlurry

McDonald's Monopoly has finished, and for some reason I didn't win a large cash prize. Oh well, there's always next year. Now we can get straight into the Great Tastes of America, which has kicked off nicely with the New York Stack. It may not be any different from last year, but it tastes great so I'm not too mad. I'm pretty happy that they've changed the McFlurry though, last year's strawberry cheesecake offering was pretty sub-par, but now we have a Mississippi mud pie theme going on. The caramel wasn't available at my local earlier, but I figured the standard was a good one to try out first. This McFlurry is swirled with cookie crumble, chocolate covered cookie pieces, and a chocolate fudge sauce. Well, I say it's swirled, but you've gotta do it yourself nowadays. Why don't they flurry the McFlurry any more?

It's nice that they've included two varieties of cookie pieces in this one, while they may be pretty similar, the difference in texture is a nice touch, and the addition of the chocolate coating to the cookie pieces steps up the flavour a notch. The cookie pieces are plentiful, and have a nice grittiness with a bold chocolate flavour. As for the sauce, it's alright, I wouldn't say it's particularly fudgey, but it does keep the ice cream from being too bland. This is a pretty great McFlurry though, a good helping of chocolatey goodness that's a marked improvement on last year.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Topped Salted Caramel Brownie

I reviewed the Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough flavour of these new Topped tubs a little while back, and found it to be quite perfect. So, of course, I wanted more where that came from, and thankfully there are a couple more varieties on offer. Here we have the Topped Salted Caramel Brownie, which contains salted caramel and brownies, and a topping. Also, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate chunks. Sounds like another winning combination, not quite as decadent as the pure chocolate offering, but hey, sometimes less is more.

This is pretty good stuff, the topping is fantastic, much like the other tub, a thick chocolate layer that is just plain creamy and fantastic. Underneath is a healthy smattering of chocolate chunks that give a satisfying chocolate hit, and some decent sized chunks of brownie. The salted caramel is ever present, although I feel it could have been a bit stronger. Maybe it's because everything has salted caramel nowadays and the effect has worn off a bit, but the vanilla caramel combo wasn't quite as flavoursome as I'd hoped. Still, even when Ben & Jerry do vanilla they do it well, so there's not much to complain about, just a minor thing that leaves me firmly in the Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough camp. It's worth trying both flavours out though. Actually, it's worth trying all the flavours.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Wall's Cornetto Choc 'N' Ball Strawberry

It's another new Cornetto variety, at least new in the supermarkets, I found this singular box on an otherwise empty freezer shelf in Asda, with no price tag to be seen, so I don't know when it came out, or if there are any others. Anyway, these are Choc 'N' Ball Cornettos, like a regular Cornetto but with a massive chocolatey ball on top. This one has strawberry ice cream inside, so it's basically an extension of the classic original red Cornetto.

At its core (no pun intended), this is pretty much the same as the regular strawberry cone. The cone is fantastically crunchy, the chocolate tip is a welcome addition, and the ice cream is smooth and creamy. I wouldn't say it's the most authentic strawberry flavour, it is a bit too sweet at times, but it's not bad. As for the top part, it's pretty great. More ice cream, all wrapped up in a thick chocolate shell studded with almond pieces for a satisfying crunch. It's a good twist on the original, and well worth looking out for. I hope there are other varieties floating around out there.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Wall's Feast Sandwich

It's not secret that I love a Maxibon, it was a good day when they were re-introduced to the supermarkets. Now it seems there's a contender, in the form of this Wall's version. It's basically the same setup as the Maxibon, but with the classic Feast as the base. So we have half nobbly choc ice, and half ice cream sandwich, covered either side with some soft chocolate cookie.

You know, these are pretty great. I was expecting something of a pale imitation, but they do a pretty good job. We all know Feasts are great, some good chocolate with satisfying crispiness, wrapped around smooth vanilla ice cream. As for the cookie side, it's a little powdery, but it has a good dark chocolate flavour, and enough thickness to make it work pretty well with the ice cream. The only thing I would say is that these are quite small, I guess to keep in line with calorie counts per portion, so it's not completely satisfying. A pretty tasty ice cream though, a good addition to that summer ice cream lineup.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Cornetto Honeycomb Crunch

Spring is here, and the ice creams are coming out in force. Here's a new Cornetto variety, featuring honeycomb ice cream, with a caramel sauce core, and topped with a chocolate disc.

I'm glad to see the return of the disc, it's a recent addition to the Cornetto that I very much approve it. It's a nice thick chunk of chocolate, embedded with crunchy sugar pieces, and in this variety, despite the disc not being honeycomb flavoured itself, it does work well in conjunction with the ice cream to give the impression of some crunchy honeycomb. The ice cream itself is smooth and creamy, with a nice honey flavour that's sweet, but not too sickly, it's pretty good. I can't say I noticed the caramel core all that much, it's lost somewhat in the ice cream, but I can't say I missed it too much. All of that wrapped up in that classic Cornetto cone, and all in all this is a pretty good offering. A very decent, honeycomb flavoured cone, with a satisfying crunch. Definitely worth a try.

My rating: 4/5