The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

So far I've tried three out of seven of Sweet Me's new-for-2018 flavors, Red Velvet, Lemon Bar, and Apple Pie. I have to say I think this is overall my favorite new collection of 2018. Haagen-Dazs has some individually great flavors like Honey Salted Caramel Almond, but the quality across their new releases just isn't there. One of my friends told me he was disappointed with Sweet Me's new Sea Salt Chocolate, so we'll see if my opinion changes as I eat my way through the rest of this year's new releases. Sweet Me Creamery Apple Pie is Cinnamon ice cream swirled with spiced apples, a cinnamon graham cracker swirl and pie crust pieces. As with Lemon Bar, the base was phenomenal. Although just a premium ice cream, it feels like a super premium ice cream. (Super premium ice creams have a lower overrun, and therefore a denser and creamier texture, as well as a higher butterfat percentage.) The base is heavy, creamy, and thick, and the natural dairy flavors a...

My friend, Charlie, is moving out of Iowa City! So sad, but we obviously had to go to Heyn's one last time before he left. Back in the fall, I saw an Apple Pie flavor at Heyn's but for some reason didn't get it. Then, I was worried it was a seasonal flavor, and I wouldn't have a chance to try it again. Luckily, this is not the case, and you can get Heyn's Apple Pie year round. So I decided to get the Apple Pie and Snickers Swirl! Snickers Swirl So I think the Snickers Swirl flavor was vanilla ice cream, with caramel and pieces of Snickers. There was lots of caramel, and I think that was my favorite part of this flavor. There were a decent amount of Snickers pieces of varying sizes. Some were quite small, but others were sizable enough so that you could really taste each element of the Snickers bar. This flavor was good, but maybe add some peanuts and it would be out of this world! 🍦🍦🍦/4 cones! Look at all the caramel! The Apple Pie was also awesom...

Now that primary season is just about over, I've finally made my way over to the Hamburg Inn. For those of you that don't live in Iowa or don't follow the presidential primaries super closely, Hamburg Inn is an old diner in Iowa City mostly famous for being a frequent stop for presidential candidate visits. Often presidential candidates will order a famous pie shake from Hamburg. I went this past Monday to try this concoction! The pie shakes are made by blending an entire slice of pie (or cake, they have some cake flavors, like red velvet, which I want to try) with milk and soft serve ice cream. There are a lot of different flavors of pie to chose from and I was struggling to make my decision. I was intrigued by the bumbleberry, seeing as I had no idea what it actually was. The friend I was out with said she really liked it, so I went for it. After I ordered it, I asked our waitress what it bumbleberry actually was and she told me it is raspberry, rhubarb, and apple!!! Wh...

Back in March (or so) Talenti released 3 new flavors.  They all sounded good, but only Caramel Apple Pie sounded amazing, however I hadn't found it in any grocery stores.  Last week when Lizzy and I went to Dierberg's, we finally picked up a pint of the Caramel Apple Pie gelato.  Talenti's website describes this as An abundance of real cinnamon sticks are used to make our signature cinnamon gelato.  Pieces of apple and sweet flaky pie crust are blended in to the cinnamon gelato.  Finally a caramel swirl is added for a unique take on caramel apple pie. So I had no idea caramel apple pie was an actual thing.  I thought Talenti's just decided to make an apple pie flavor and then stick some caramel in.  I was ok with this idea, but now that I know caramel apple pie exist, I want one. The first thing I noticed was the taste of cinnamon.  It wasn't overwhelming or sharp as some cinnamon flavored ice cream can be.  Rather, it was a warm, ...