The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

It's about time. A review of Crown Candy Kitchen. There are so many fabulous places to get ice cream in St. Louis and the fact that Madeline and I don't actually live in St. Louis any more makes it quite difficult to review them. Yesterday, Madeline, my boyfriend, Brett, and I took a trip up to the Old North side of St. Louis to visit Crown Candy Kitchen, an adorable old-fashioned soda fountain that makes amazing candy, ice cream, and sandwiches. Crown Candy Kitchen opened in 1913 and is actually St. Louis' oldest soda fountain. Not to go into too much St. Louis history, but these days a lot more people know a thing or two about North St. Louis than they used to. I'll just say that it's kind of awkward that there are all these county white people on this one block of North St. Louis. Just look at the section of this map that says, "Out of Place White People Eating Ice Cream." That would be Crown Candy Kitchen. A sort of blurry picture of the m...

As you all know, both Madeline and I are home in St. Louis for winter break. It is very exciting. So much ice cream to be consumed. Madeline has never tried any Jeni's ice cream so we had decided one of the $9.99 pints would be a nice holiday treat. The Dierberg's in Fenton sells Jeni's ice cream, so we went to check it out. However, they only had Whiskey & Pecans and Dark Chocolate. We have heard really good things about Jeni's Dark Chocolate, but we just aren't ready to spend that much money on a plain dark chocolate ice cream. So instead of buying Jeni's we bought a pint of Steve's which they sell at Dierberg's. In addition, this pint is definitely cheaper than Jeni's, although still pricey at $6.99 a pint. Steve' is relatively new on our ice cream radar, and we had heard really good things and we'd seen some really unique flavors, like Strawberry Ricotta and Sunday Morning (maple syrup ice cream with waffle pieces). They didn't...

I was incredibly impressed by the maturity of B&J's Vanilla Honey Caramel, the first flavor of their Greek Frozen Yogurt I had tried, and I was equally delighted by the Blueberry Vanilla Graham Flavor. This frozen yogurt is described as Blueberry and vanilla Greek frozen yogurts with a Graham Cracker Swirl. Confession: I discovered Greek yogurt and am never going back to the thin watery nonsense that tries to masquerade as yogurt.  In fact the thicker and tarter the yogurt is, the more I enjoy it.  I would eat Icelandic skyr - which is to Greek yogurt as Greek yogurt is to regular yogurt - if it was easier to get and less expensive. So of course what really stands out to me about B&J's Greek Frozen Yogurts is how they let their yogurt stand out.  Too many other frozen yogurt brands over-sweeten their product and mask the delicious tartness of the yogurt.  Not only does Ben and Jerry's accentuate the yogurt flavor, they use Greek yogurt , even mor...

Ben & Jerry's recently released a new Wal-Mart exclusive flavor, Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae. I was pretty excited to hear this news, because I love peanut butter and I love brownies. Can you do better than combining them? I think not. However, I don't love Wal-Mart. I try to shop there only when I am buying ice cream that I can't get anywhere else, like exclusive flavors and Sam's Choice ice cream (I still really want to try their Coffee and Donuts flavor which Madeline reviewed here ). But no need to dwell on the negatives of Wal-Mart. Instead, lets talk about the really exciting company that makes the brownies for Ben & Jerry's, Greyston Bakery!! Ben & Jerry's and Greyston Bakery have been working together since 1988. I am pretty surprised that I didn't know more about this company up until this point; however, this is  the first Ben & Jerry's flavor with brownies I have reviewed. The company opened in 1982 and has always trie...

As you know, not too long ago, I made the trek from Eldon to the Lake HyVee to get some 2nd Street Creamery ice cream which I reviewed here . I also wanted to get some Talenti which isn't sold at any Eldon grocery store. I came to the sad realization that I haven't reviewed any Talenti. That obviously needed to change quickly. I wanted to grab something Madeline hadn't reviewed, since overall there hasn't been that much Talenti reviewed on this blog in general compared to how many flavors they have, which is 30!! Although HyVee generally has a great ice cream selection, they only had 4 Talenti flavors: pistachio, which Madeline had just reviewed, one of their sorbets, and I was looking to review a gelato, their vanilla, which I just wanted something more exciting, and the Caramel Cookie Crunch. In the store, I couldn't remember if Madeline had reviewed this flavor, and I didn't think she had. But when I got home and checked I was a little disappointed to see she...

Is chocolate good?  Yes.  Is dark chocolate better? Yes.  Is MOTHER-LOVING DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE EVEN BETTER!? Yes. My last pint of Talenti, Sicilian Pistachio wasn't as great as I had hoped, so I was praying that Double Dark Chocolate would be a more typical delicious pint of Talenti gelato.  In general I think Talenti's chocolate-y, caramel-y, really dessert-y flavors are much better than their fruity, less dessert-y flavors.  (What kind of adjective is dessert-y anyway?  It's one of those 'you'll know it when you see it' situations.)  Double Dark Chocolate was no exception. I have very few pictures of this because I at it all.  Sorry I'm not sorry. From Talenti's website this is Semisweet Belgian Callebaut chocolate morsels are united with dark chocolate gelato and a splash of vermouth.  The result: a new, tempting meaning for smooth and rich. This gelato was incredibly rich and full bodied.  Some dark chocolate is not a...

I hadn't heard of 2nd Street Creamery until back in September when Madeline reviewed 2nd Street Creamery's Black Hill Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Madeline absolutely loved the flavor, but that didn't get me too excited about the brand. In general, Madeline is a bigger fan of pie than I am. Not that I don't love pie, but I would probably rather have cookies than pie. Or cookie dough. -not very subtle foreshadowing- Not too long after Madeline posted that review, I had headed down to Lake of the Ozarks to go to HyVee to get some of Ben & Jerry's Candy Bar Pie. While I was there I saw that HyVee carried 2nd Street Creamery. I was like "Oh cool! Let me look at what flavors they have!!" My eye was instantly drawn to the Can't Tell Me No! Cookie Dough. Just from the name of the flavor I knew this was gonna be good. The title of this flavor basically sounded like it was describing my life philosophy. Am I worried about raw egg? NO!! Do I care if I end up w...

You would think after this long of being an ice cream blogger I would have figured out how to spell Haagen Dazs. But for some reason I always want to put the "s" before the "z" in Dazs. I just need to get it together. But then again, up to this point I have only reviewed 2 Haagen Dazs flavor, their Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor and their Cappuccino Gelato. I really haven't been dedicating enough space on this blog to Haagen Dazs for what they in reality deserve. So I'm fixing that. Madeline beat me to the punch on reviewing someone my favorite Haagen Dazs flavors, such as White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Caramel Cone, Midnight Cookies, and Peppermint Bark (not that I won't review those flavors another time). Butter Pecan is a totally traditional ice cream flavor and most brands have some version of this flavor in their ice cream lines. However, I legitimately do not think I have tried this ice cream flavor by any brand. I feel like I have probably t...

Yesterday, I decided to go to Paul's, the grocery store in Eldon that I don't like as much, because I was just looking for something different in my ice cream selection. Paul's does have a bigger ice cream selection than Gerbe's, but I have to say after going there yesterday, that I don't think it is a better selection. They have the same or maybe even less Ben & Jerry's than Gerbe's and NO Haagen Dazs. However, they did have Blue Bell, an ice cream brand I have seen around in stores and on various ice cream blogs. It kind of surprises me that I have never tried Blue Bell before. They are the 3rd best selling ice cream brand in America, behind only Breyers and Edy's/Dreyer's! And that is despite the fact that they only sell in 23 states!! And yes those are mostly "Southern" states. I have "southern" in quotes because I refuse to admit that Missouri is in the South. Missourah might be, but that's a different story. The...

Dearest reader, the lengths I go to in order to keep you informed about ice cream. Like spending $9.99 on one pint. Like going to McDonald's. Yes I did it. I patronized the business that basically stands for everything that I'm against in this world. But ice cream really is that much more important to me than any moral or political view that I have. I care that much about you dearest reader. To be honest, the main reason I decided to review a McFlurry is because I am on a mission to review all of the places you can get ice cream in Eldon. Which isn't really that hard because Eldon is a small town, lets be honest. Last night I went to the McDonald's drive through to grab a McFlurry as I headed home to the STL. And yes I went in the drive through because I didn't want to show my face in the McDonald's. McDonald's is like the  place in Eldon and I wouldn't really know how to face my students while purchasing a McFlurry. They all think I eat really healthy...

I feel like pistachio is a classic yet controversial ice cream flavor.  You either love it or you hate it.  I, for one, stand firmly in the pro-pistachio camp; however, this was not always the case.  I've always liked pistachios and I have fond memories of devouring monstrously large bags of the nuts with my sister and cousins, but for some reason, until recently, I did not like pistachio ice cream.  I think it was maybe one of those things that you think you don't like, but have never actually tried, and once you've tried it wish you had tried it years ago. From Talenti's website: Talenti makes this gelato classic with with whole, fresh roasted pistachio nuggets and homemade pistachio butter, lightly blended together with fresh gelato to create this all natural flavor. The first thing that struck me about this pint of gelato was the color.  It was the most lovely yellowy-green spring green maybe a shade or two lighter than the flesh of a pistachio. ...

Alright. I did it. I spent $9.99 on a pint of ice cream. My dearest reader you'd better appreciate this blog post. However, this is not actually the first time I've bought Jeni's ice cream. A way long time ago when I was a freshman in college, in reality inexperienced in the ways of ice cream and still having an unsophisticated palate. My friend Jess and I bought a pint of Queen City Cayenne and Salty Caramel at North Market. Back in the day, aka 2011, the spicy chocolate and salted caramel crazes that have hit desserts in the last few years, hadn't hit yet. One might even say that Jeni's helped start those trends, or at least they were on the cutting edge of ice cream. When I tried those two flavors, I was in love. I really truly hadn't tasted anything like either of these flavors before. The Queen City Cayenne was so rich and chocolatey and really spicy, too, and the Salty Caramel was ssaaallllty . Jeni's really did impress me back then. Now, I...

Okay, back in August when I reviewed Cree Mee Drive-In's chocolate malt, I said a review of Eldon Drive-In's chocolate malt would be coming soon. I liieeed. Unless you are thinking of time in the grand scheme of the universe then this isn't really soon after my Cree Mee review. But better late than never. I also stopped at Eldon Drive-In before hitting the road back to St. Louis a few weekends ago. Here's my review and my official decision of which place has the better chocolate malt will be at the end of this review so get excited!! I took this picture from inside my car and I have to say I felt super creepy while doing it. I don't remember the price of the small chocolate malt I got at Eldon Drive-In, but I do not think it was significantly different than Cree Mee. They were also similar in size. However, Eldon Drive-In did  serve their malt in a paper cup, not styrofoam, like Cree Mee. Much better for the environment. Eating ice cream is way more ...