College Monday: More Aggies Ice Cream!

Ok, everybody, Adam is back with more flavors from Aggies Ice Cream. Big thanks to Adam for writing these posts and also big thanks to Aggie Ice Cream for hooking him up with 6 free pints of ice cream to review! (I've also got several suggestions on other campuses that make ice cream, so I need to get rolling to see if they would like to be on the blog too)

Adam Nettina is the cowriter of GrubGrade.com and a senior history major at Utah State University. While he's not savoring famous Aggie Ice Cream or making paninis, he serves as sports editor for the campus newspaper, the Utah Statesman.

Basketball and ice cream. That's what we like here at Utah State University, and now that late autumn has arrived, you can find Aggie fans cheering on our preseason WAC favorite basketball team with plenty of 1/2 pint Aggie Ice Cream containers in hand. This week we're taking a look at two more of the some 26 flavors offered by the Logan, Utah creamery: Caramel Cashew and Cookies and Cream.

Caramel Cashew : Caramel flavored ice cream with roasted cashews

One thing I like about Aggie Ice Cream is the variety of nut-based flavors they offer. While Caramel Cashew is the only one sold in the 1/2 pint container, our creamery also makes some other solid flavors, including the famous Maple Nut and Chocolate Almond. As for Caramel Cashew, this ice cream has a great initial sweetness with notes of buttercream and caramel. Thick, earthy and salty pieces of cashew accent the richness of the ice cream, and counterbalance the otherwise overly sweet caramel taste. They say salt goes a long way in bringing out the sweetness of flavors, and in that account I can't disagree. The ingredient list is pretty simplistic, and the flavors are pronounced and brought out in the creamy ice cream. There aren't many cashews in here, but I actually like that. Instead of dominating the ice cream and making for gritty chewing, the scattered and modest sized pieces play in harmony with the caramel element.

Cookies 'n' Cream : Vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces

Up next is Cookies 'n' Cream. This is actually the first time I've tried this flavor of Aggie Ice Cream, and instantly I'm loving the sweet and classic taste of cream-filled sandwich cookies within the rich vanilla base. There are lots of little cookies pieces which are moist and have a smooth mouth feel, and they aren't gritty in the least. Unfortunately, I can't help but think some of the pleasant mouth feel is created by the presence of partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list, but hey, I'm a super-healthy eater for the most part, so I subvert the thought for the time being. I encounter several larger cookie pieces, which dissolve on my tongue in a creamy blend of vanilla and cream.

I like these two flavors, but I have to admit that it's kind of a bummer to see partially hydrogenated oils on the ingredient list for the Cookies and Cream flavor. I'm a big oreo fan, and as much as I like Aggie Ice Cream's rendition of the classic, I think I'll just stick to breaking my own oreo cookies over vanilla ice cream. Trans Fat or not, I won't let that stop me from next week's flavor of the week - USU's signature ice cream, the famous Aggie Blue Mint.

Nutrional Note: Both flavors are 320 calories per serving, 160 calories from fat (18g total fat)