The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

I finally have a review of Chillin' the Roast, the last of the three new Truffles flavors from Ben and Jerry's. Chillin' the Roast is cold brew coffee ice cream with chocolate cookie-covered coffee liqueur truffles and fudge swirls. Before I get to the review I just have to ask WHAT is up with the name of this flavor? Is it supposed to be a pun on something? A pun on what? Ruling the roost? Chillin' for cold brew? I don't get it. Chillin' the Roast suffers from the same shortcomings as Chocolate Shake It and Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake. In all three flavors the base is great, the mix-ins are great, and the truffles are just weird. The cheesecake base of Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake is far beyond the base in Ben and Jerry's other cheesecake flavors. The chocolate malt base of Chocolate Shake It could have a stronger malt flavor, but is still tasty and unique within Ben and Jerry's line up. The cold brew coffee base of Chillin' the Roast is F...

Leave it to my trusty Tim and Tom's Speedy Market to be the first place in town I found the new Ben and Jerry's truffle flavors! I picked up all three new truffle flavors (Chillin' the Roast, Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake, and Chocolate Shake It) and let Kyle choose which one to crack open first. He chose Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake, caramel cheesecake ice cream with graham cracker-covered cheesecake truffles & chocolate cookie swirls. Even though Ben and Jerry's has a history of sub-par cheesecake ice creams, I was HYPED for this flavor, because the chocolate cookie butter in Ben and Jerry's Boom Chocolatta! is perhaps my favorite ice cream mix-in of all time. ALL TIME! And I've eaten a lot of ice cream mix-ins. I was hoping that would get re-used here. I was pleasantly surprised by my first bite. I got a big shock of cheesecake flavor, so it seems Ben and Jerry's took some steps to remedy their frankly pitiful previous attempts at chees...

While waiting (not so) patiently for new flavor releases, I decided to keep the Kemps frozen yogurt streak alive and bought Kemps Frozen Yogurt Shop Chocolate Hazelnut thinking it would be a delicious, Nutell-y delight.  Chocolate Hazelnut is Vanilla hazelnut frozen yogurt with chocolatey hazelnut swirl topped with chocolatey chunks and truffles. I love Nutella second only to peanut butter.  I survived an entire summer in Morocco on peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches on Moroccan bread for at least every other dinner.  Did you know that in Morocco (and probably other countries) there are Nutella variations? I  think  the brand I bought is called Penotti. There's a hazelnut Penotti swirled with strawberry, a hazelnut Penotti swirled with vanilla, the list goes on. Somehow, Kemps figured out a way to fuck up chocolate and hazelnut and they fucked it up in a big way.  WHY, KEMPS WHY? First, the base. Why, oh why would you make a vanilla ha...

When Madeline and I ventured to Jeni's last week, we drove by the St. Louis grocery store Straub's. Neither Madeline and I had ever visited this local chain, known to be quite swanky. I was pretty sure Straub's carried New Orleans Ice Cream Co. and Madeline was pretty sure they carried McConnell's Fine Ice Cream, two brands neither of us had tried. Yes, yes, say what you will about us being terrible ice cream bloggers, but Straub's is the only store in St. Louis with these brands and I haven't seen either of them anywhere in Iowa! Although, I guess I can't vouch for Madeline.  (Madeline says she hasn't seen them in Minneapolis and is 99% sure they aren't distributed there.) While eating Jeni's we decided to swing by Straub's by our way home and see what they sold. Luckily for us, Straub's sells both New Orleans and McConnell's. After almost hyperventilating with joy in the ice cream section (Madeline says: You think we're j...

For me, this is THE ice cream flavor. I don't necessarily think this is the best ice cream flavor of all time. However, this ice cream flavor sort of opened my eyes to ice cream being more than Moose Tracks, cookie dough, mint, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. This flavor showed me ice cream was something you could have a lot of opinions about; you could be passionate about it. This might be the first flavor I was ever truly passionate about. So it is about damn time I review it. The description reads White chocolate ice cream swirled with tangy raspberry ribbons and satisfying chunks of chocolate fudge truffles . I'm going to enter into my review with the word tangy . I don't know if I can describe to you the difference between tangy and tart. Possibly tart is more sour, while tangy has more of a kick? I'm not sure, but this swirl is definitely tart and tangy. More so than actual raspberries. However, this swirl also tasted like real raspberries and wa...

When I went to Casey's General Store not too long ago, the other 2nd Street Creamery flavor I picked up was Copper Kettle Caramel. I bought the Cannoli di Nonni because I was really excited about it, and I bought this flavor because I had read a really amazing review of it on the blog The Ice Cream Informant. Not that I wasn't excited about this flavor or anything, but so many people are doing salted caramel flavors these days that I am just skeptical about all of them. I have had some bad salted caramel ice creams. But cannoli isn't done much so I have instant respect for a brand that decides to tackle it. But I generally trust The Ice Cream Informant reviews so I was excited for this pint. As you know from Madeline and I, what makes this brand special is that amazing stories inspire their flavors. The description of this flavor is Caramel Flavored Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon and Sea Salt Fudge Truffles The short version, found on the pint, of this flavor's s...

Even thought I haven't had much Graeter's, there is i special place in my heart reserved for the brand, so I was excited when they recently launched a gelato line, which right now consists of 4 flavors.  I, of course, decided to try out the chocolatey flavor, Dark Chocolate, for my first taste of this new gelato.  It was awesome.  I mean was there any doubt. The description of this flavor on Graeter's website cracks me up: Chocolate fanatics, your gelato has arrived.  Graeter's Dark Chocolate Truffle Gelato!  Dark chocolate gelato is paired with dark chocolate truffles that have dark chocolate cream centers, resulting in a decadent, "extra noir" gelato crafted in true Italian fashion. I mean, how many times can you say the words 'dark chocolate'? Graeter's Ice Cream is known for using the French Pot process to make small, 2 gallon batches of ice cream.  It seems they've stuck to this trend and make their gelato by hand, the It...

Literally the day before Kyle and I were driving back to Minnesota we stopped at Walgreens and I left with Ben and Jerry's Walgreens exclusive flavor Truffle Trifecta.  Luckily Kyle and my dad helped me polish off this pint in a single night.  This flavor is described as Chocolate ice cream with Marshmallow, Fudge, and Caramel Truffles. I bought this flavor because I thought it was a Ben and Jerry's exclusive flavor that I hadn't tried before, but as I was eating it I started to get feelings of deja vu.  I think I tried this flavor a few years ago before I was really into the ice cream scene. On to the review! I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but Ben and Jerry's normal chocolate base really annoys me.  I realize that is a really weird verb to use regarding an ice cream flavor, but hear me out.  B&J's chocolate base isn't bad, by any means, but it also isn't great.  I could live with this because their mix-ins are so fantastic,...