The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

Earlier this year I tried Sweet Science's Dark Chocolate Sorbet .  A few days later I found out Chocolate Sorbet was one of Talenti's new 2016 flavors.  I was obviously excited to try this and compare to the Sweet Science version, and  I finally managed to get my hands on a pint.  This sorbetto is described as We took everything we loved about our deepest chocolate gelato and took out the milk.  Turns out, chocolate is pretty amazing on its own in this super-smooth, low-fat cocoa sorbetto. I'll review this sorbet on it's own and then give some comparisons to Sweet Science. The texture of this sorbet was awesome.  It was very fluffy and soft, bordering on mousse-like, yet still dense enough to feel decadent. Often chocolate sorbets/sorbettos taste like straight-up cocoa powder because there is no dairy to smooth and mellow things out.  Talenti mostly avoided this issue.  The chocolate was very rich and dark without being bit...

While Madeline is giving you reviews of all the new and exciting stuff that ice cream companies have released recently, I'm slowly but surely working my way through the New Orleans Ice Cream Company shipment I received. I'm totally loving everything they sent me, but I am currently being forced to face a serious existential dilemma. But before I let you in on my current life crisis, a bit of back story. In the shipment of free ice cream I received from NOLA Ice Cream Co, besides their seasonal flavors, but including their ice cream sandwiches, I got every flavor except Creole Cream Cheese. Luckily for me, one of their ice cream sandwiches uses the Creole Cream Cheese as a base, so I got a taste of it when I had those sandwiches. However, in the blog post about those sandwiches, because the taste I got of that flavor was so good, I lamented not getting a whole pint! Well, unbeknownst to me, the fabulous people at NOLA read my review of the sandwiches and decided to send me...

Magnum is entering the new ice cream for the new year fray with their new Double Raspberry bars.  These bars are Raspberry ice cream dipped in a chocolatey coating, raspberry sauce with other natural flavors, and milk chocolate. I didn't love Double Peanut Butter, Magnum's 2015 new flavor, so I was a little hesitant to pick up Double Raspberry, but decided to do it when I saw they were on sale.  I'm glad I did, as I feel like Magnum is back on track with the Double Raspberry bars after an off year in 2015. These reminded me a bit of the divine Haagen-Dazs Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Bars (which at one point were limited edition, but now look like they are part of the main line) with the tart berry flavor against the rich chocolate. The raspberry ice cream gave off a mild, but present raspberry and cream vibe, and was the perfect ice cream bar texture.  It was airy enough that I could bite through it, as opposed to very dense ice cream where it is dif...

For many people, March is one of the best months of the year because of March Madness. Now that I live in Iowa, I would count myself among this group. And no, this is not because of the basketball tournament, seeing as Iowa was trounced by Villanova in the second round. The reason I, as an Iowa resident, now love March is because Yotopia has their own March Madness. I topped my froyo kiwi, strawberries, and butterscotch chips, which went great with the Bourbon Caramel. But I mostly ate the toppings separately from the froyo so I could truly appreciate and evaluate the flavors! Every two days, Yotopia is having two battles between two flavors. They started with a total of twelve flavors, Irish Mint vs. Irish Cream Cupcake, White Chocolate Raspberry vs. Cherry Vanilla, Taro Root vs. Honey Lavender, Chai Tea Spice vs. Ginger Lemongrass, Hibiscus Guava vs. Peach Tea, and Nutella vs. Bourbon Caramel. The first two match ups passed and I didn't get a chance to try them and Yotopi...

What am I doing writing a review of a Ben and Jerry's classic in the midst of a veritable STORM of new ice cream flavors?  I don't really know, but I saw a pint of Cinnamon Bun and had to pick it up and now I'm writing about it. Cinnamon Bun is one of Ben and Jerry's most underrated flavors.  I think it's one of the best, and fellow ice cream blogger  Powered by Ice Cream  (well, vlogger not blogger I guess) ranks this as the second best Ben and Jerry's flavor.  Despite this, I NEVER see it in stores, but thanks to Tim and Tom's (and their dairy manager who must be somewhat ice cream aware), I found a pint! Honestly, I didn't remember how good this flavor was.  Back in the summer of 2012, inspired by my sister and her roommates' quest to try all the B&J's flavor, I started keeping a list of the flavors I had tried.  Looking at that list, Cinnamon Bun was checked off so I've definitely tried it, just not recently, and I've definit...

I bet you ten dollars that you've never heard of Belmont ice cream before.  So, what is it? Belmont is the in-house ice cream brand of ALDI grocery stores, and sells for something like $3 for 1.5 qts.  I guess I would describe ALDI as a discount grocery store, but discount isn't really the right word.  It's owned by the same company that owns Trader Joe's and keeps prices down by, among other things, selling mostly in-store brands and stocking a limited number of items.  I feel like calling it a 'discount' grocery store is selling it a bit short, but this is an ice cream review blog not a grocery store review blog. First things first, this is cheap ice cream.  This raises the philosophical issue of how to review cheap ice cream.  We mostly review ice cream and frozen desserts that are on the ~fancier~ side.  Discount ice cream is certainly not that.  So, do you review it objectively, or do you only compare it to other discount ice creams? What...

Soooooooooooo, confession time.  I've lived in Minneapolis and attended the University of Minnesota for nearly 3 years and didn't know that the U of M sold their own dairy products.  I'm a bad adopted Minnesotan.  Every week, on Wednesday from 2pm-5pm, you can go to the Dairy and Meat Salesroom in Room 166 the Andrew Boss Lab of Meat Sciences on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus and purchase cheeses, ice creams, frozen yogurts, and meats produced on campus by students, faculty, and staff.  (Side note, can I please come over and play?) Lizzy loves meat! Lizzy and I went while she was visiting for spring break.  They had about 10 flavors to choose from in both half galls ($6.75) and pints ($3.50).  We chose two flavors and have a review of the first, Coffee Cappuccino Chip for you today.  This flavor is Coffee base ice cream with cappuccino and chocolate chips Madeline's take: This was not the strongest coffee ice cream I ha...

It's officially summer!! Just kidding, that was my exasperation with the semester talking. But it is, as of today, officially spring! And that means seasonal ice cream shops are opening up, hooray! As you may know, Madeline and I spent half of spring break in Iowa City and the other half in Minneapolis. Luckily for us, Conny's Creamy Cone, over in St. Paul, opened up right when our spring break's started. At first glance, Conny's Creamy Cone, may seem like any other neighborhood soft serve shop. It's seasonal, with only outdoor seating, super cheap, and also serves lots of fried food. However, Conny's is a little bit more interesting than that. Why? Because Conny's has 24 flavors of soft serve! They also have malts and shakes, flurries (soft serve with mix-ins), and 4 different kinds of dip cones! I don't think I've ever been to a soft serve shop with more than just vanilla and chocolate. Obviously, Madeline and I had to check it out, despite ...

There's been quite a lot of hype over here as of late over all the awesome New Orleans ice cream flavors. However, we cannot forget the ice cream sandwiches they sent me. Madeline and I are both not very good about reviewing ice cream treats, like sandwiches and bars. The main reason? They're usually not big enough. I usually eat an ice cream treat and feel the need to eat a couple of cookies or something to top it off. But lots of ice cream companies have been upping their treat game, so Madeline and I were excited to try these Po'Boys. I, personally, am also much more excited about this ice cream version of a Po'Boy, as a standard Po'Boy is a sandwich made with some kind of meat (gross) served on French bread. New Orleans sent me 4 total, two each of two flavors, Vanilla Bean and Creole Cream Cheese. They are both described as All Natural Ultra Premium Ice Cream, Chocolate Cookie Sandwich Dipped in Milk Chocolate . Lizzy's take: Creole Cre...

Finally we have the last of the new Ben & Jerry's Core flavors for you, and it's a joint review!  This flavor is Chocolate and Cheesecake ice creams with chocolate cookies and a cheesecake core. Madeline's take: I don't know, guys. I think Ben & Jerry's tried really hard to top last year's cookie cores, and didn't even come close.  In concept the flavors sound amazing, but the execution was lacking.  I've read other reviews of this flavor and the main criticism is that it's not cheesy enough, and I have to say I agree but that I'm not surprised either.  Ben & Jerry's does not have a strong cheesecake game. The chocolate ice cream was their standard chocolate base; not much needs to be said there.  The cheesecake ice cream was not cheesy enough.  It tasted more like sweet cream ice cream with a bit of added cream cheese. I couldn't really taste the chocolate cookies against the chocolate or the cheesecake base, a...

Aside from some ice cream sandwiches, this review of Praline Crunch will be the last New Orleans Ice Cream Co. review that we do together.  Lizzy is on her own for the rest!  This ice cream is Our delicately flavored praline ice cream with crunchy whole caramel pecans. A N'awlins favorite. Madeline's take: I'm pretty sure the words "HOLY SHIT!" came out of both my and Lizzy's mouths the second we bit into this ice cream.  It was that good. Before I talk about this ice cream, I want to talk about what it reminded me.  To me, it tasted exactly like the cereal Waffle Crisp .  Or like waffles smothered in pecans, maple syrup, and butter.  In fact, I would totally eat this ice cream on top of a waffle and underneath some syrup. It seems a bit weird to me that the base flavor was described as 'praline ice cream.'  I've always thought of praline as a dessert involving pecans rather than a flavor, but I suppose if you've ever had the Ameri...

Our next New Orleans Ice Cream Co. review is Lemon Doberge Cake.  Now, we are not from New Orleans so had to do a bit of research into what a Doberge cake actually is.   Turns out it is a layer cake whose thin cake layers alternate with layers of pudding.  Ummmm, get at me Doberge! New Orleans Ice Cream Co.'s take on this cake is This twist on a New Orleans dessert classic has tangy lemon sauce and real lemon cake in our citrus lemon ice cream. Madeline's take: I always underestimate how well lemon and dairy go together, so a delicious lemon ice cream will always take me by surprise and New Orleans Ice Cream Co.'s Lemon Doberge is no exception.  The citrus lemon ice cream had a soft and sweet rather than sharp and tart lemon flavor.  The lemon sauce had a nice zing to it that worked really well to complement the lemon of the base.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of the sauce.  I could have done with about 5 times as much sauce in...

Lizzy and I are both on spring break this week, and I'm currently visiting her in Iowa City to help her eat some of the ice cream New Orleans Ice Cream Co. generously sent.  Over the past couple days we've been on a coffee kick and tried both coffee flavors in the lineup: Coffee & Chicory and Cafe au Lait & Beignets. Coffee & Chicory is A uniquely N'awlins twist as fresh cold brewed coffee & chicory jolts this delicious blend of ice cream. Cafe au Lait & Beignets is The famous taste of the Old New Orleans French Market, with cold brewed coffee & the toasty flavor of scalded milk, loaded with real beignet pieces & finished with a sugary swirl. Madeline's take: There is definitely room in the New Orleans line for both of these coffee flavors; the two base flavors are totally different.  First let's talk about Coffee & Chicory.  I've never had chicory alone, but I've had a coffee and chicory mix, a...