The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

A year late and a dollar short, but I did it! I have finally tried all of the Haagen-Dazs Destination Series flavors just in time for them to be taken off the shelves. I honestly hope that's soon, because I want my grocery store to make room for the new Haagen-Dazs flavors. Like Espresso Chocolate Cookie Crumble? Get in my face.  This flavor, on the other hand, obviously takes us to Belgium and is described as Our Belgian chocolate combines, rich velvety chocolate ice cream with finely shaved Belgian chocolate for a uniquely textured experience.  With this flavor, HD took simplicity, and mastered it. The base was somehow more chocolatey than other chocolate ice creams. It was an incredibly dense/intense flavor. It wasn't dark at all, in fact, it was very milky, but still very rich. The texture was also very smooth. It was almost gelato-like. The shavings of Belgian chocolate took the whole experience up a notch. They were like little punches of darker Belgian...

Now that I making my way through all of the new for 2017 flavors, I need to take a quick break and get the last of the destination series before they possibly go away! Yes, I know this flavor is so  2016, but I promise I'll be back to new stuff in the next review. This flavor takes us to New Orleans, featuring chicory coffee. It is described as Collaborating with the small batch artisans at CC Made, we swirl sweet cream and coffee ice cream with thick ribbons of chicory coffee caramel for an experience rich with New Orleans flavor.  Swirl magic! Okay wow, I enjoyed this. Coffee and caramel should always go together. The chicory adds a bit of nuttiness or woodiness or something to the coffee. The flavor of the coffee ice cream was rather light, and paired with the sweet cream served as a wonderful backdrop for the chicory coffee caramel. There was as much coffee ice cream as sweet cream. I liked that they did a sweet cream as opposed to vanilla or something, becau...

Dearest Readers, I know you are probably tired of reading all of these posts about flavors that were new to 2016, but don't worry, I've got some new for 2017 flavors coming at you in a few days! So just bear with me while I finish a few more blog posts about some older flavors. This Haagen-Dazs Destination Series flavor takes us to UK for tea time. The flavor is described as Collaborating with the artisans at Rare Bird Preserves, we swirl creamy vanilla ice cream with ribbons of sweet-tart tangerine curd and buttery shortbread cookie for an especially delightful treat reminiscent of tea time in the UK.  First comment, shortbread is sooooo underrated. Or this was just very good short bread. It was super moist and sweet. The pieces were medium sized and just melted/crumbled in your mouth. There weren't a ton of them, but that made them extra special when you got one. Definitely my favorite part of this flavor. The most prominent flavor here was the vanilla. Haagen...

Oh Americans. We come up with a "destination series" ice cream and Chicago gets put in the same category as South America? One is a city, the other is a continent. Oh well, mangos are tasty, so I'll set aside the anthropology less and just stick to what I do best, reviewing ice cream. This flavor is described as Our ode to the tropical flavors of South America combines sweet mango ice cream and slices of juicy mango for a simply perfect treat.  Okay, I flipping love mangos. If it were nutritionally sound, I would probably live on mangos and ice cream. But it's not so occasionally I eat a vegetable. And while I love mangos, I honestly was a little skeptical of this ice cream. I just wasn't sure mangos and cream would be a good mix. Oh boy was I wrong. The base of this flavor was honestly a bit mild when it comes to mangos. Mangos have an inherently strong flavor; super sweet and some good tangyness. I think what made the mango plus cream work  as well a...

I'm currently in this weird in-between place with ice cream. I never caught up with all the new ice cream that came out in 2016 because I was working my way through the NOLA ice cream, but the new ice cream for 2017 haven't hit the shelves yet, or even been announced as far as I know. Not that I'm going to have time to go back and review everything I missed from 2016, but while there is a lull in the ice cream world, I'm at least going to try. The brownies á la mode flavor was probably the least "exotic" of the destination series. It is inspired by Chicago and the description is Savor a special collection of new flavors inspired by some of the world's most popular travel destinations. Like Chicago (the birthplace of the brownie) our Brownies á la Mode is rich with flavor. We combine our signature vanilla ice cream with rich fudge and decadent brownie pieces, to bring this American original to life.  A quick history lesson about the brownie. The...

I love the beginning of a new year because it means that it's time to look back at all of our posts from the previous year and pick our favorite ice creams.  While looking through old posts I inevitably stumble on one or two AMAZING flavors that I had completely forgotten! To choose the award categories, I look through my old posts and say, "Ooooh, that ice cream/sorbet/gelato was great, I should give it the 'Best ______ of the year' award!"  Then I make sure I didn't forget a super obvious award like 'Best ice cream of the year." The whole process is SUPER OFFICIAL. On to the awards! Best 'Away' Scoop Shop (best scoop shop not located in St. Louis, Iowa City, or Minneapolis) Madeline: Rockwell Ice Cream Co , Provo, UT Rockwell's signature Honey Comb I spent 3 weeks in the Park City, UT area this summer and an amazing ice cream scene was the last thing I was expecting to find.  I wanted to include at least one Utah ice cream ...

So this past spring a bunch of ice cream companies released a bunch of new flavors, including the Destination Series from Haagen-Dazs. At the time I was working through a bunch of free ice cream I'd gotten and just became too overwhelmed to really try to tackle many of those new flavors. Now I'm still feeling a bit overwhelmed about all the flavors I haven't tried, but better late than never! This flavor is described as In this Asian-inspired recipe, we collaborated with the small batch artisans at Morning Glory Confections and blended toasted sesame ice cream with the delightful crunch of honey cardamom sesame brittle pieces. The result is a uniquely delicate indulgence with a sweet, clean, and perfectly balanced flavor.  Thank goodness somebody finally made a sesame ice cream flavor. Sesame brittle is one of my favorite kinds of brittle. Maybe. I actually really like brittle of all kinds. But for real, Haagen-Dazs is really adding something interesting to the ...

I've officially tried all of the Haagen-Dazs Destination Series flavors!! Hooray! I love completing lists, it's just so satisfying.  My last (but not least!) flavor in this line is Mango, described as Our ode to the tropical flavors of South America combines sweet mango ice cream and slices of juicy mango for a simply perfect treat. Mangos are very sweet, often to the point that I think they are too sweet.  They also have a bit of a sharpness or acidity that really amplifies the sweetness.  I was expecting to be able to eat only a small amount of this ice cream before it got too sweet, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The base of this ice cream was to mangos what orange dreamsicles are to oranges.  It was light and sweet, but the sweetness wasn't overwhelming because the dairy element balanced it out.  Also, the mango flavor was prevalent but not in-your-face. The mango pieces were a bit smaller than a dime and I got one every other bite or so...

It seems like Lizzy and I have been on a major chocolate and spice kick lately.  We've had Chocolate Cinnamon Pretzel at Sebastian Joe's and Thelma's Cayenne Chocolate Chip ice cream sandwich, and this week we also tried Mayan Chocolate, a new Destination Series flavor: The distinctive taste of our Mexican-inspired chocolate ice cream is balanced with a warming touch of cinnamon spice, rich fudge, and chocolate truffle chunks. The result is a deliciously complex flavor for the serious chocolate lover.  The chocolate base was your typical delicious and rich Haagen-Dazs chocolate.  Even though the cinnamon was only in the fudge swirl, hints of cinnamon bled out into the base as well.  This ice cream had one of the best cinnamon flavors I've ever tried.  Typically cinnamon falls into one of two camps: either sharp and spicy or warm and mellow, but this cinnamon danced somewhere in the middle of those two.  It wasn't particularly spicy, but was ve...