Reader Request AND Throw Down: Blue Bell and Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
This reader request is a long time coming. A while ago a friend of mine from high school suggested I review Blue Bell's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. With all of the new flavors being released by companies since the start of 2015 has caused me to get behind on other flavors. But here it is.
On Monday, I was still in major calorie debt from running the Go! St. Louis Marathon the day before, so I knew I needed to sit down and eat at least half a pint of high butterfat ice cream. What would be a better choice than Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
After Madeline did her Blood Orange Throw Down I thought I would copy the idea! Double the ice cream reviewing means double the fun!! And double the exclamation points!!!!
Before we start: Ben & Jerry's introduced the flavor Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to the world in 1984. Yes they were THE first to put cookie dough in ice cream. Thank goodness they did this because if they had not I would have significantly less happiness in my life. Serious question though, when they first made it did they use cookie dough chunks with raw eggs? Or did they work that kink out after the fact? Who knows. I guess sometimes I just think about all the salmonella I should have from all of the raw cookie dough I have eaten in my life time. Yes I am probably the reason every person I have ever baked with wonders why the recipe they tried didn't make as much as they thought it would while I'm just over here going doodoodoo I don't know what your talking about doodoodoo.
First, I will discuss Blue Bell's version since I ate it first. This flavor does not really have a description on the pint. I was looking for one because I was wondering what they base flavor was as I took my first couple of bites. I did not taste any strong vanilla. After seeing no description on the pint, I looked at the ingredients list. Vanilla is not listed anywhere in the ingredients, although "natural flavors," which may very well contain vanilla, was in there. What I really tasted in the base flavor was brown sugar, which is definitely something you want to be tasting in a cookie dough flavor. Since Blue Bell is on the lower end of the price spectrum, it is also on the lower end of the fat/calorie spectrum. Thus, this flavor's base was a bit lighter, fluffier, and not quite as creamy. But still much better than most of it's competitors in the price range.
Blue Bell will be on the left the rest of the post Ben & Jerry's will be on the right.
The cookie dough mix ins were relatively small, but frequent enough that the size didn't really matter. They were also very, very moist. The reminded me more of the phase of making cookie dough before you start adding dry ingredients than the final product. The flavors of butter and brown sugar were strong, but they weren't exactly like what you would put into the oven to make cookies with. The other thing about these mix ins being similar to that phase of the baking process, they did not hold up to your spoon as scooped through your ice cream. They almost just sort of merged with the ice cream itself. They bits of chocolate chip were also very very small and not very frequent. They didn't contribute much crunch or chocolate flavor to the ice cream.
Now for the Ben & Jerry's. One would think, as the first to make this flavor, they would also be the best. But we shall see. The description on this pint reads Vanilla Ice Cream with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The vase is definitely vanilla, you can taste it. This is a more classic version of this flavor, but I kinda liked the way Blue Bell did it, too. Ben & Jerry's, however, had the better texture. So much creamyness and yummy fat. Yum. Fat. Cream. Yum.
The cookie dough mix ins in this version were bigger than Blue Bell's. They also resembled actually cookie dough. Not that I would know anything about that. They also held up against your spoon which led me quickly into the quite dangerous Archaeological Dig ice cream eating style. Where you dig out the chunks and get excited to find them. Because it feels like you are on such an epic quest, you can be quickly led to eating way more ice cream than you planned (but never more than you wanted because you always want more ice cream, even if you don't know it you do, because I say so, this is the problem with writing in the 2nd person that my 8th grade English teacher warned me about). The chocolate chips were also actually present in this flavor. Some of them I might even describe as chunks! They were pretty dark and crunch, and added some nice texture to this ice cream.
Alright, drum roll pleeeaaaassseee.
The winner is Ben & Jerry's!! Although I kind of liked the lack of vanilla in the base flavor from Blue Bell, their cookie dough chunks didn't really resemble cookie dough as much as Ben & Jerry's and Ben & Jerry's definitely won in the chocolate chip arena.
But the real winner is me. Because I got to eat two pints of cookie dough ice cream. And no not in one sitting. I'm good, but I'm not that good.
On Monday, I was still in major calorie debt from running the Go! St. Louis Marathon the day before, so I knew I needed to sit down and eat at least half a pint of high butterfat ice cream. What would be a better choice than Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
After Madeline did her Blood Orange Throw Down I thought I would copy the idea! Double the ice cream reviewing means double the fun!! And double the exclamation points!!!!
Before we start: Ben & Jerry's introduced the flavor Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to the world in 1984. Yes they were THE first to put cookie dough in ice cream. Thank goodness they did this because if they had not I would have significantly less happiness in my life. Serious question though, when they first made it did they use cookie dough chunks with raw eggs? Or did they work that kink out after the fact? Who knows. I guess sometimes I just think about all the salmonella I should have from all of the raw cookie dough I have eaten in my life time. Yes I am probably the reason every person I have ever baked with wonders why the recipe they tried didn't make as much as they thought it would while I'm just over here going doodoodoo I don't know what your talking about doodoodoo.
First, I will discuss Blue Bell's version since I ate it first. This flavor does not really have a description on the pint. I was looking for one because I was wondering what they base flavor was as I took my first couple of bites. I did not taste any strong vanilla. After seeing no description on the pint, I looked at the ingredients list. Vanilla is not listed anywhere in the ingredients, although "natural flavors," which may very well contain vanilla, was in there. What I really tasted in the base flavor was brown sugar, which is definitely something you want to be tasting in a cookie dough flavor. Since Blue Bell is on the lower end of the price spectrum, it is also on the lower end of the fat/calorie spectrum. Thus, this flavor's base was a bit lighter, fluffier, and not quite as creamy. But still much better than most of it's competitors in the price range.
Blue Bell will be on the left the rest of the post Ben & Jerry's will be on the right.
The cookie dough mix ins were relatively small, but frequent enough that the size didn't really matter. They were also very, very moist. The reminded me more of the phase of making cookie dough before you start adding dry ingredients than the final product. The flavors of butter and brown sugar were strong, but they weren't exactly like what you would put into the oven to make cookies with. The other thing about these mix ins being similar to that phase of the baking process, they did not hold up to your spoon as scooped through your ice cream. They almost just sort of merged with the ice cream itself. They bits of chocolate chip were also very very small and not very frequent. They didn't contribute much crunch or chocolate flavor to the ice cream.
Now for the Ben & Jerry's. One would think, as the first to make this flavor, they would also be the best. But we shall see. The description on this pint reads Vanilla Ice Cream with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The vase is definitely vanilla, you can taste it. This is a more classic version of this flavor, but I kinda liked the way Blue Bell did it, too. Ben & Jerry's, however, had the better texture. So much creamyness and yummy fat. Yum. Fat. Cream. Yum.
The cookie dough mix ins in this version were bigger than Blue Bell's. They also resembled actually cookie dough. Not that I would know anything about that. They also held up against your spoon which led me quickly into the quite dangerous Archaeological Dig ice cream eating style. Where you dig out the chunks and get excited to find them. Because it feels like you are on such an epic quest, you can be quickly led to eating way more ice cream than you planned (but never more than you wanted because you always want more ice cream, even if you don't know it you do, because I say so, this is the problem with writing in the 2nd person that my 8th grade English teacher warned me about). The chocolate chips were also actually present in this flavor. Some of them I might even describe as chunks! They were pretty dark and crunch, and added some nice texture to this ice cream.
Alright, drum roll pleeeaaaassseee.
The winner is Ben & Jerry's!! Although I kind of liked the lack of vanilla in the base flavor from Blue Bell, their cookie dough chunks didn't really resemble cookie dough as much as Ben & Jerry's and Ben & Jerry's definitely won in the chocolate chip arena.
But the real winner is me. Because I got to eat two pints of cookie dough ice cream. And no not in one sitting. I'm good, but I'm not that good.
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