The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

I'm about a month late with this blog post. I ate this pint of ice cream only recently, but February 1st was Baked Alaska Day. Who knew that Baked Alaskas have their own day dedicated to them. I didn't, and next year I will have to celebrate it, seeing as I haven't ever had a Baked Alaska. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this crazy dessert, a Baked Alaska is sponge cake topped with ice cream, topped with meringue and baked in a very hot oven for just long enough to firm the meringue, but not long enough to melt the ice cream. Baked Alaskas can also be called Norwegian Omelettes, and were probably originally called Alaska Floridas by the chef who invented them. The turn-a-dessert-into-an-ice-cream-flaor motif is a common one, but New Orleans takes this to another level. I mean, everybody's got a cake flavor. Everybody's got a cookie flavor. Everybody's got a brownie flavor. But Moon Pies and now Baked Alaskas? I was super excited to try this ...

Sweet Science introduced Polar Plunge Peanut Butter in January as a collaboration with  Buddy's Nut Butter  and the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics.  Every pint purchased gave $1 to the Special Olympics.  What's better than a combination of ice cream, peanut butter, and good citizenship? Nothing. I'm a month late to the game with this flavor, but that's never stopped me from eating and reviewing an ice cream.  This is described as We're proudly partnering with the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics Minnesota (SOMN) for a very special flavor and cause.  We made this flavor with help from our buds at Buddy's Nut Butter.  Rich peanut butter ice cream with chunks of chocolate ganach throughout.  Two kinds of pb, two kinds of chocolate, all kinds of delicious. Whoa.  Both the chocolate and the peanut butter were almost bitter, but in the best way possible.  Ganache is made by pouring heated cream over chocolate, typically bitt...

These past few weeks have been quite exciting for me on the ice cream front. I received my first ever free ice cream as a blogger from New Orleans Ice Cream Co., I got some coupons from Luna and Larry's, I finally found Cake My Day last night at HyvVee and three of the Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy flavors!! In addition, you may remember that not long ago I hit up New Pioneer Co-Op for the first time, and when I reviewed Ciao Bella Sea Salt Caramel Gelato Squares I mentioned seeing a new brand of gelato. Well I've finally eaten that gelato and did the research on what brand this was. This is not any old gelato brand, this is gelato from a gelateria right here in IOWA! I've tried all of the local frozen desserts around Iowa City, but I haven't yet expanded my sights to the greater Iowa River Corridor region, including Cedar Rapids and North Liberty. In fact, I haven't even done research on what exists. So of course when I picked up this pint of Turtle Mocha, ...

I need to get something out of the way at the beginning of this review.  I dislike both cranberry and grapefruit.  I hate cranberry juice and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving (ok, the homemade stuff isn't terrible, but the canned stuff is atrocious).  I cringe at the thought of grapefruit for breakfast.  I decided to grab this flavor anyway because I can't resist a unique dessert.  My boyfriend Kyle loves cranberry, so I've enlisted his help to give this flavor a more fair review. This flavor is described as The sweet of cranberry.  The tart of grapefruit.  Delicious. My thoughts: The woman who gave me a sample of this at the recent Sweet Science tasting told me that people either love or hate this flavor.  Those who love it often claim it tastes just like Thanksgiving.  Just from the tiny sample I could tell I would not like this flavor.  No surprise.  Because I'm a masochist I took home a pint anyway. Surprisingly, thi...

AND SO IT BEGINS. If you were not already aware, New Orleans Ice Cream Co. sent me 14 pints of ice cream and 4 ice cream sandwiches. This is the first time Big Muddy has received for real frozen ice cream in the mail for free. This may be revealing our n00b status in the ice cream blogging world, but I also think Madeline and I are a bit more shy about asking for free ice cream than others are. Also neither of us have a ton of money for extra freezer space (dat grad school lyfe), and I do want to shout out right now to my roommates for graciously letting me take up way more than my part of the freezer space. The first flavor I tried was Mardi Gras Pie. I had no real system for picking out which flavor I wanted to eat first, this was simply the one at the front of the freezer. And this means I get to reveal myself as totally not a southerner. I have no idea what a Mardi Gras Pie is. The description of this flavor is It's Mardi Gras in Your Mouth With This Parade Favorite. Gooey Ma...

Lizzy has this crazy idea that she wants someone to produce a Red Velvet cake ice cream that is light on the cream cheese flavor.  I think she is insane.  Without cream cheese frosting, Red Velvet cake is just oddly colored chocolate cake.  Booooorring!  If you are part of Lizzy's anti-cream cheese cabal, you will hate this ice cream.  If you are a normal, cream cheese-loving human being, you will love it! Per Dairy Queen the Red Velvet Blizzard is A mix of creamy soft serve, decadent red velvet cake pieces and cream cheese frosting.  So delicious, it's sure to be love at first bite. Before the review, an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia about Red Velvet Cake: " All [red velvet cakes] used red food coloring, but the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in cocoa and keeps the cake moist, light, and fluffy." Dutch processing, which is very common, prevents this color change. The first bite of this B...

I haven't yet found any of the new Talenti flavors for 2016, but there is a silver lining to this very dark cloud.  I love checking things off of lists and checking everything off of a list (side note, it makes me very sad that I will never be able to check all of the ice cream in the world off of my list), and not being able to find 2016 flavors means I might be able to try all of the 2015 flavors first.  I only had Tiramisu and Coffee Toffee left to try.  Tiramisu has been incredibly hard to find, but I found a single pint of it at Whole Foods this week.  This gelato is described as What do you do when you love a dessert? You make it proud.  Our Tiramisu Gelato elaborates upon its Italian foundation with hints of coffee, Marsala wine, Amaretto, mascarpone cheese and a dulce de leche ribbon.  Here's looking at you Tiramisu. I hate to break it to you, Talenti, but you did not do Tiramisu proud.  I worked in an Italian restaurant for a while, ...

I recently attended my second Sweet Science free tasting, this one held at Five Watt Coffee.  Going in to the event, I knew I would be coming home with a pint of their February flavor Lavender White Chocolate before I even tried it.  It was too unique to pass up.  Lavender is one of my favorite scents and I couldn't wait to try it in ice cream form.  I liked the small sample I tried, so I got even more excited to take home my pint and break it open.  Lavender White Chocolate is Behind the hints of white chocolate sweetness we've tossed in luscious notes of lavender to add just the right amount of flavor, giving this little number the perfect balance.  It's a blend that works together seamlessly and deliciously, and will have you coming back for more. I really liked this flavor, but it took quite a long time to grow on me.  I do not have lavender in food very often, so my brain associates the smell of lavender with things like deodorant, perfum...

No I am not in Boston. Before recently, I was under the impression that nowhere in Iowa City sold Ciao Bella. However, I finally dragged my butt to the New Pioneer Co-Op. And by dragged my butt, I mean drove 5 minutes from my house. I realize I have been a terrible Iowa City resident given that I have lived here 6 months and I am only now going to New Pi for the first time. I feel like I find myself saying this a lot on this blog, but better late than never. Of course, you can always count on local grocery stores to have unique ice cream selections, even if the selection isn't huge. In addition to these Gelato Squares, I also picked up a pint of Capanna Gelato, a brand I hadn't heard of before. So look forward to that review coming at you soon. These treats are described as Sea Salt Caramel Gelato with Caramel and Chocolate Swirl & Dark Chocolate Squares . First note. I am always underwhelmed by the size of ice cream treats. I look at the nutrition facts a...

A looooong time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) someone made a request that we review Great Value Salted Caramel Truffle ice cream.  I rarely go to Wal-Mart because Minneapolis is the land of Target and the closest Wal-Mart is still slightly far away, and when I did go specifically to pick up this flavor there was none on the shelf.  I took this as a good sign that the flavor was as great as our reader claimed.  Months later I finally returned to Wal-Mart and was able to snag Salted Caramel Truffle.  By this point, I was quite trepidatious after reading Lizzy's review panning  Great Value Coffee  ice cream.  How could a brand that produced something that bad also produce something even approaching edible?  Well, contradictions abound because this ice cream was pretty damn good. This is described as "Sea salt caramel ice cream with sea salt caramel swirl and truffle candy pieces." The base was a plain caramel, light and mild and sweet. ...

Alright, it is time to point some fingers. First, at Madeline: you need to review more Three Twins, like seriously, you've only reviewed two of their flavors. Second, at me: I need to review more Three Twins, this will be only my fifth review of a Three Twins flavor. Third, at Three Twins/my local grocery stores, more Three Twins need to be stocked where I can buy them! I was looking at the Three Twins website and there are so many delicious sounding flavors I haven't seen before, like Mocha Difference, Dad's Cardamom, Chocolate Malt, Banana Nut Confetti, Brownie Batter Chunk, Land of Milk and Honey, Caramel Truffle Swirl, and I could go on. However, you've got to do the best you can with what you've got, and for the time being I've got Three Twin's Cookies & Cream. This flavor is described as Scrumptious cookies in a madagascar vanilla base. As I mentioned when I reviewed Haagen-Dazs Cookies and Cream a while back, I love to see a more...

Am I single? No, I have a Singles Blizzard.  I mean ... I have a boyfriend.  Dairy Queen made a single people themed blizzard for Valentine's day this year, described on their website as Valentine's day isn't just for couples.  Celebrate singledom and treat yourself with the Singles Blizzard treat from DQ! A perfect blend of Salted Caramel Truffles Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Rich Cocoa Fudge, and Peanut Butter. What exactly does it mean for ice cream to be singles-themed? Single people can eat away their sorrows? Single people can rejoice in not having anyone judge them for eating a Blizzard? Both? Whatever it means, this Blizzard was awesome.  The cocoa fudge gave it a nice overall richness and helped tone down the in-your-face sweetness of the vanilla soft serve. The caramel truffles, the same used in the Salted Caramel Truffle Blizzard.  The caramel inside is more of a liquid than a sticky caramel and has just a hint of salty flavor. Sadly, I d...

Have you tried Cake My Day yet? No? SLAP. Go get some now.  Ben and Jerry's hit it out of the park with their latest limited batch flavor described as " Vanilla cake batter ice cream with vanilla cake pieces, buttercream frosting, and raspberry swirls." (Oxford comma added by me because I'm a believer, so just shut up, mom.) I've probably mentioned several times on this blog that cake is just not one of my favorite desserts.  It can be really, really good, but too frequently it is bland and dry and boring.  Luckily, that is not the cake this ice cream is modeled on.  Imagine the best vanilla cake you've ever had.  Moist and dense and maybe sliiiigggghhhhttttllly under-baked.  Thick buttercream frosting.  A sweet raspberry filling between layers.  That is the cake this ice cream is modeled on. The vanilla cake batter base is divine.  On the 'cake batter' to 'cake' scale, it was maybe a bit toward the 'cake' end (for comparison, m...

I'm going to start this review by letting you all, Dearest Readers, know that I feel perfectly fine. I am not sick and I obviously have not keeled over and died. I was at HyVee the other day and found these ice cream sandwiches from Whitey's. I don't remember seeing them in my HyVee before then. They are, however, quite clearly a fall themed dessert. The description of this treat is A delicious SEASONAL blend of our famous pumpkin ice cream sandwiched between two Homemade Spice cookies!  (emphasis in original). I was, to say the least, a bit surprised to find these in stores in February. I was also excited. In my opinion, it is a bummer pumpkin is relegated to a seasonal dessert flavor. Pumpkin is great, and I would like to eat pumpkin ice cream all year long. I would even take simply being able to eat pumpkin all year long. A few days after purchasing this ice cream sandwich, I was trying to find some canned pumpkin to make pumpkin curry, and couldn't find any. W...