The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

2012 was a pretty tragic year for ice cream. That year we lost not only Oatmeal Cookie Chunk from Ben & Jerry's, but also Dublin Mudslide, and Crème Brûlée. As soon as Ben & Jerry's announced their new for 2017 flavor, Oat of this Swirled, mourners of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk got excited. This new flavor is described as Buttery Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Fudge Flakes & Oatmeal Cinnamon Cookie Swirls . Now does this flavor hold a candle to Oatmeal Cookie Chunk? Well first the base of this flavor was interesting. I didn't necessarily taste buttery brown sugar distinctly, but the base did have kind of a cookie aura. It was also clear that I wasn't eating a vanilla or sweet cream base. It was overall a warmer vibe, but the buttery brown sugarness could have been stronger. The best part of this pint was definitely the fudge flakes. They were HUGE and amazing. Fudge flakes are definitely one of B&J's best mix-ins. The dark chocolate definitely mell...

Dearest readers, I've had some sort of super-virus. I was really sick for two weeks about a month ago, felt pretty much better for two weeks, and now I'm sick again with what feels like the exact same cold+fatigue thing. So apologies, I've had this post written for a few weeks, but I'm just now getting around to publishing it. Oatmeal Cookie Chunk was a popular Ben and Jerry's ice cream with somewhat of a cult following that got sent to the flavor graveyard in 2012. Oatmeal Cookie Chunk was sweet cream cinnamon ice cream with chunks of oatmeal cookies and fudge.   This sounds pretty darn close to the description of Oat of This Swirld: buttery brown sugar ice cream with fudge flakes and oatmeal cinnamon cookie swirls.  Unfortunately, Oatmeal Cookie Chunk left this world for the next before I really got into ice cream, so I know I've tried it, but I don't really remember it; however I was pretty disappointed by Oat of this Swirled, and it seems to be t...

Okay folks, the moment you have all been waiting for: Iowa City ice cream. One part about moving to Iowa City which is kind of a bummer is I'm no longer along the Big Muddy Mississippi River. The name of our blog is now slightly less relevant. When I pointed this out to my dad he responded, "But you're near the Iowa River which connects to the Mississippi!" But with that logic you could basically move anywhere in the United States and that's not what we were going for when we named this blog.  Oh well. Back to ice cream. There is one ice cream shop in Iowa City that isn't a chain or froyo or something, and it is Heyn's. My roommate and two of her friends were going a couple of days ago. Luckily, she's already got my number and asked if I wanted to join. If you remember, I tried to go to Heyn's when I visited the campus back in March, but they were closed because of a strange incident in which someone called the store and threatened the employees ...

What was I looking forward to the most about running this marathon? Pushing my body to the limit? The exhilaration of crossing the finish line? The camaraderie you experience with the other runners? The Ted Drewes frozen custard sandwiches made with Dad's cookies at the finish line? I'm going to plead the 5th on this one. Regardless, after finishing the race and downing a huge water bottle and a huge glass of gatorade within 60 seconds of crossing the line, my stomach kind of turned at all of the bananas, and bars, and snacks and other food offerings being shoved in my face as I stumbled through the finishing area. But then someone shoved a Ted Drewes frozen custard sandwich in my face. And then someone wrapped a space blanket around my shoulders. My day was complete. So at this point, hopefully all of my dearest readers know about Ted Drewes, so I won't tell you about them. But Dad's Cookies is another cool St. Louis company. According to their website , the comp...