Ben and Jerry's: Peanut Butter Half Baked
I know I'm sort of late to the party with this one, but I live in rural Missouri and it takes us a while to get flavors out here. In fact, I didn't even get this flavor in Mid Missouri, I just finally got an opportunity to go to Target when in St. Louis.
This flavor came out in December and it is a limited batch flavor. Everyday that ticked by without me finding it in a store caused me great anxiety. What if it disappeared forever before I got a chance to try it?!?! The original Half Baked was really truly my first Ben & Jerry's love. I was pretty sure that a peanut butter version would be like that first significant other you have that actually tops your crush from 4th through 9th grade that you really should have gotten over when you were 10 but you secretly thought you would love forever. Meeting that person that trumps that is a big deal, and I thought this flavor would be the ice cream equivalent of that. I was really scared I would miss it.
But don't worry Dearest Hopeless Romantic Reader. My friend, Bronwyn, told me she found all of the new Core flavors at the Target by her apartment. I stopped by this past weekend and almost cried/passed out in the ice cream isle when I saw they also had Peanut Butter Half Baked. (I actually had to steady myself when I saw this Target also had all the new Haagen Dazs Artisan flavors and Edy's Frozen Custard flavors. I legitimately said out loud "Lizzy, you are not spending $100 on ice cream today" in order to not buy all of those B&J, HD, and Edy's flavors. I got some major judgy eyes from other shoppers.)
I bought all of the Core flavors and Peanut Butter Half Baked and I am definitely planning on going back as soon as I get all of that eaten to try the Haagen Dazs and Edy’s flavors.
Peanut Butter Half Baked is described as Chocolate & Peanut Butter Ice Creams Mixed with Gobs of Peanut Butter Cookie Dough & Fudge Brownies.
I’ll start with the base flavors. After eating this flavor I am realizing how mild the Ben & Jerry’s peanut butter base is. In a flavor like Peanut Butter Cup, where the peanut butter base doesn’t have much to compete with, the mild flavor is fine. However, in this pint it was definitely overpowered by the chocolate ice cream. After having the Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae I wish they could somehow get the very strong, salty, peanuty, peanut butter flavor from the swirl in that flavor into their peanut butter base.
Next the mixins. Do I even need to say anything about the Greystone Bakery Brownies? Probably not, but I will, because nothing is more fun than writing about tasty food. They were super dense, chewy, and fudgey. They seemed more moist and dense than they were in my pint of Chocolate Fudge Brownie I had not too long ago. There weren’t as many brownie chunks as there were peanut butter cookie dough gobs, but I thought that was okay. We’ve all had Greystone bakery brownies, and not that we don’t love them, but the peanut butter cookie dough gobs are sort of like the guest of honor, so it is okay to let them have the spot light a bit.
However, I was teeny bit, and only a teeny bit, disappointed by the gobs. They varied in size from the diameter of a penny to even as big as a quarter. You could easily get 2-3 of these big guys in each spoonful. They were a bit drier and grainier than Ben & Jerry’s normal cookie dough, which is perfect, as peanut butter cookie dough is a bit drier and granier than normal cookie dough. However, like the base ice cream, these gobs could have had a stronger and saltier peanut butter flavor. The last thing about them that I thought was kind of weird (but this is totally a minor point) was the shape. The cookie dough gobs were a regular, as opposed to irregular shape. They were very short and wide cylinders. When you make cookie dough, unless you are making it in a factory, you aren’t going to get perfectly regular gobs. Other cookie dough by B&J is more irregular, which I like better. I can’t really put my finger on why this bothered me, but it just did.
Overall I really liked this ice cream. It could have been bit more salty and peanut buttery (the chocolate ice cream was a bit overpowering), but definitely a worthwhile purchase.
This flavor came out in December and it is a limited batch flavor. Everyday that ticked by without me finding it in a store caused me great anxiety. What if it disappeared forever before I got a chance to try it?!?! The original Half Baked was really truly my first Ben & Jerry's love. I was pretty sure that a peanut butter version would be like that first significant other you have that actually tops your crush from 4th through 9th grade that you really should have gotten over when you were 10 but you secretly thought you would love forever. Meeting that person that trumps that is a big deal, and I thought this flavor would be the ice cream equivalent of that. I was really scared I would miss it.
But don't worry Dearest Hopeless Romantic Reader. My friend, Bronwyn, told me she found all of the new Core flavors at the Target by her apartment. I stopped by this past weekend and almost cried/passed out in the ice cream isle when I saw they also had Peanut Butter Half Baked. (I actually had to steady myself when I saw this Target also had all the new Haagen Dazs Artisan flavors and Edy's Frozen Custard flavors. I legitimately said out loud "Lizzy, you are not spending $100 on ice cream today" in order to not buy all of those B&J, HD, and Edy's flavors. I got some major judgy eyes from other shoppers.)
I bought all of the Core flavors and Peanut Butter Half Baked and I am definitely planning on going back as soon as I get all of that eaten to try the Haagen Dazs and Edy’s flavors.
Peanut Butter Half Baked is described as Chocolate & Peanut Butter Ice Creams Mixed with Gobs of Peanut Butter Cookie Dough & Fudge Brownies.
I’ll start with the base flavors. After eating this flavor I am realizing how mild the Ben & Jerry’s peanut butter base is. In a flavor like Peanut Butter Cup, where the peanut butter base doesn’t have much to compete with, the mild flavor is fine. However, in this pint it was definitely overpowered by the chocolate ice cream. After having the Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae I wish they could somehow get the very strong, salty, peanuty, peanut butter flavor from the swirl in that flavor into their peanut butter base.
Next the mixins. Do I even need to say anything about the Greystone Bakery Brownies? Probably not, but I will, because nothing is more fun than writing about tasty food. They were super dense, chewy, and fudgey. They seemed more moist and dense than they were in my pint of Chocolate Fudge Brownie I had not too long ago. There weren’t as many brownie chunks as there were peanut butter cookie dough gobs, but I thought that was okay. We’ve all had Greystone bakery brownies, and not that we don’t love them, but the peanut butter cookie dough gobs are sort of like the guest of honor, so it is okay to let them have the spot light a bit.
However, I was teeny bit, and only a teeny bit, disappointed by the gobs. They varied in size from the diameter of a penny to even as big as a quarter. You could easily get 2-3 of these big guys in each spoonful. They were a bit drier and grainier than Ben & Jerry’s normal cookie dough, which is perfect, as peanut butter cookie dough is a bit drier and granier than normal cookie dough. However, like the base ice cream, these gobs could have had a stronger and saltier peanut butter flavor. The last thing about them that I thought was kind of weird (but this is totally a minor point) was the shape. The cookie dough gobs were a regular, as opposed to irregular shape. They were very short and wide cylinders. When you make cookie dough, unless you are making it in a factory, you aren’t going to get perfectly regular gobs. Other cookie dough by B&J is more irregular, which I like better. I can’t really put my finger on why this bothered me, but it just did.
Overall I really liked this ice cream. It could have been bit more salty and peanut buttery (the chocolate ice cream was a bit overpowering), but definitely a worthwhile purchase.
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