Haagen-Dazs Artisan Collection Applewood Smoked Caramel Almond
I am currently in a Haagen Dazs cycle and I see no way out of it. However, there are worse cycles to be stuck in. Almost every time I buy Haagen Dazs at HyVee, at the register I am given a $1.00 off two pints of Haagen-Dazs coupon. When I purchased the Artisan Collection Ginger Molasses Cookie, I was given a coupon. With said coupon I purchased Artisan Collection Applewood Smoked Caramel Almond and Tiramisu Gelato. When I purchased those ice creams, I was given another coupon! Ahhh it won't end!
This flavor is a collaboration with Praline Patisserie. Patisserie is the word for a shop where French pastries and cakes are sold. However, Praline Patisserie, in San Diego, does not exactly make pastries and cakes. They make tasty looking sauces, like their Applewood Smoked Caramel Sauce, for example. They also have Lavender Caramel Sauce, Espresso Caramel Sauce, Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce and a bunch of others. I want to go to there.
This flavor is described as Swirls of smoked applewood caramel sauce and almonds in sweet cream ice cream. From looking at the ingredients I discovered the almonds in this ice cream are roasted, not raw. So all around it seems this ice cream is going to the smoky flavor.
In general, I am skeptical about smoked flavor. Possibly because I am a vegetarian, and even when I know there is a smoked cheese in something and no meat, tasting a smoked flavor makes me suspicious you are trying to meat-poison me. (Yes friends all the joking you do about feeding me meat without me knowing it has made me incredibly suspicious of you at all times). Also, I find smoked flavor can taste sort of artificial when it is in something which has not actually been smoked. Weird food science craziness.
First bite, only the base. Only tasting the sweet simplicity of a sweet cream base, nothing funky going on yet. Yes ma'am this base is sweet. Second bite, the swirl. At first, I only tasted a pretty standard sweet caramel. Not to dark or complex, no saltiness (thank goodness). And then there it is. The slightest hint of smokeyness. Not my favorite flavor ever, but it is so subtle. It is so subtle, it leaves you wanting more, to get a better taste of it. The first sight of the swirl I had was thick, but through the rest of the pint there wasn't as much of it. Overall, the pint could have more of the swirl. I liked it, but I am still on the fence as to whether I loved it. However, the flavor was so intriguing I wanted more of it to be able to decide how I felt about it. Now the almonds. Roasted almonds are so far superior to raw almonds. These almonds were whole and there were a good number of them. You could have a bite with none, but usually you had one, sometimes two in a bite. The roastedness of the almonds also contributed to the overall roasted/smokey flavor of this pint. Lastly, the sweet cream base was perfect. Because the other flavors were so subtle, yet interesting, anything other than a sweet cream base would have overpowered the swirl and the almonds. Definitely an interesting and different flavor I would buy again!
This flavor is a collaboration with Praline Patisserie. Patisserie is the word for a shop where French pastries and cakes are sold. However, Praline Patisserie, in San Diego, does not exactly make pastries and cakes. They make tasty looking sauces, like their Applewood Smoked Caramel Sauce, for example. They also have Lavender Caramel Sauce, Espresso Caramel Sauce, Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce and a bunch of others. I want to go to there.
This flavor is described as Swirls of smoked applewood caramel sauce and almonds in sweet cream ice cream. From looking at the ingredients I discovered the almonds in this ice cream are roasted, not raw. So all around it seems this ice cream is going to the smoky flavor.
In general, I am skeptical about smoked flavor. Possibly because I am a vegetarian, and even when I know there is a smoked cheese in something and no meat, tasting a smoked flavor makes me suspicious you are trying to meat-poison me. (Yes friends all the joking you do about feeding me meat without me knowing it has made me incredibly suspicious of you at all times). Also, I find smoked flavor can taste sort of artificial when it is in something which has not actually been smoked. Weird food science craziness.
First bite, only the base. Only tasting the sweet simplicity of a sweet cream base, nothing funky going on yet. Yes ma'am this base is sweet. Second bite, the swirl. At first, I only tasted a pretty standard sweet caramel. Not to dark or complex, no saltiness (thank goodness). And then there it is. The slightest hint of smokeyness. Not my favorite flavor ever, but it is so subtle. It is so subtle, it leaves you wanting more, to get a better taste of it. The first sight of the swirl I had was thick, but through the rest of the pint there wasn't as much of it. Overall, the pint could have more of the swirl. I liked it, but I am still on the fence as to whether I loved it. However, the flavor was so intriguing I wanted more of it to be able to decide how I felt about it. Now the almonds. Roasted almonds are so far superior to raw almonds. These almonds were whole and there were a good number of them. You could have a bite with none, but usually you had one, sometimes two in a bite. The roastedness of the almonds also contributed to the overall roasted/smokey flavor of this pint. Lastly, the sweet cream base was perfect. Because the other flavors were so subtle, yet interesting, anything other than a sweet cream base would have overpowered the swirl and the almonds. Definitely an interesting and different flavor I would buy again!
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