Market Pantry Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
I just cannot resist buying ice cream when I go to Target; it consistently way cheaper than at the grocery store. During my most recent trip to Target, one of the ice creams I picked up was Market Pantry Strawberry Cheesecake. I have tried one other Market Pantry (a Target brand) ice cream, Cinema Snack, and was impressed that they attempted a popcorn flavored base, but less than thrilled with the execution. I decided to give the brand another try to see how they did with a more traditional flavor. The Strawberry Cheesecake is described as:
Cheesecake ice cream with strawberries, Graham crunch, and a strawberry swirl.
The first thing that struck me when I opened the container was how white the ice cream was. I've never thought about this before, but ice cream is very rarely stark, bright white. Since it has cream it in it, it is more often cream colored (like, duh). This made me very wary, as the brightness felt a bit artificial.
The first bite of ice cream I had made me think, "Whoa, this really tastes like cheesecake." You could tell that there was some sort of cream cheese flavor going on there. What is interesting about this ice cream is that they went with a cheesecake base instead of going with chunks of cheesecake as mix-ins, which I feel like is the route most ice cream companies take. I have to say, I like this, and I think more brands should try it!
Although the base was great, the mix-ins were just sub-par. There is a strawberry swirl, chunks of strawberry, and chunks of graham cracker. There needed to be more of all three mix-ins. The strawberry syrup was good and tasted just like the strawberry drizzle often found adorning slices of cheesecake. Occasionally there was a large, gooey clump of syrup, which was delicious, but more often the swirl was very thin and you could hardly taste it. Give me MOAR! The chunks of strawberry were large, which is my main requirement as far as strawberry and other fruit chunks go, but there could have been more of them. The graham cracker pieces were frequent but tiny. I think having bigger graham cracker chunks would have given this ice cream some much-needed textural variation.
I definitely liked this better than Cinema Snack, but I think Market Pantry still has a lot of room for improvement, but if you are looking for a decent ice cream at a reasonable price, this would be a good choice.
Cheesecake ice cream with strawberries, Graham crunch, and a strawberry swirl.
The first thing that struck me when I opened the container was how white the ice cream was. I've never thought about this before, but ice cream is very rarely stark, bright white. Since it has cream it in it, it is more often cream colored (like, duh). This made me very wary, as the brightness felt a bit artificial.
The first bite of ice cream I had made me think, "Whoa, this really tastes like cheesecake." You could tell that there was some sort of cream cheese flavor going on there. What is interesting about this ice cream is that they went with a cheesecake base instead of going with chunks of cheesecake as mix-ins, which I feel like is the route most ice cream companies take. I have to say, I like this, and I think more brands should try it!
Although the base was great, the mix-ins were just sub-par. There is a strawberry swirl, chunks of strawberry, and chunks of graham cracker. There needed to be more of all three mix-ins. The strawberry syrup was good and tasted just like the strawberry drizzle often found adorning slices of cheesecake. Occasionally there was a large, gooey clump of syrup, which was delicious, but more often the swirl was very thin and you could hardly taste it. Give me MOAR! The chunks of strawberry were large, which is my main requirement as far as strawberry and other fruit chunks go, but there could have been more of them. The graham cracker pieces were frequent but tiny. I think having bigger graham cracker chunks would have given this ice cream some much-needed textural variation.
Unfortunately, much of the swirl was nowhere near this thickness.
I definitely liked this better than Cinema Snack, but I think Market Pantry still has a lot of room for improvement, but if you are looking for a decent ice cream at a reasonable price, this would be a good choice.
Kyle and I bought Banana Split flavored coffee at Target, and it is disgusting (sometimes there is a reason certain items are on clearance!). I had the brilliant idea to make a fake-y affogato and pour some banana split coffee over the strawberry cheesecake ice cream, and it was amazing! I'll just have to have ice cream with my coffee every day!
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