2013 New Frozen Product Guide

Welcome to On Second Scoop's 2013 Frozen Treat Product Guide. If it's tasty and frozen and new then hopefully you will find it below. Now this post will get updated with better photos and more products as the year progresses, so feel free to bookmark it and come back often.

So who remembers the early release of Ben & Jerry's flavors in 2011? Or the (non)surprise of their Greek yogurt in 2012? Well, through either dumb luck or some seriously strict controls, Ben & Jerry's has managed to keep it's new 30 Rock inspired flavor a secret until it's January 31st announcement this year. Oh sure I was hoping a local grocery store would mess up, but I'm proud of B&J for keeping a tight lid on the news....

Ofcourse, now that we all know that the newest flavor is Liz Lemon as many had guessed (Nick's review here), I'm not really excited anymore. I mean, lemon greek frozen yogurt with a blueberry lavender swirl? Lavender? really? I mean I'm happy they are spicing up their greek froyo line, but the flavoring hasn't moved any closer to my little realm of happiness. The good news is that like other celebrity flavors, this one benefits Jumpstart. The bad news is that this flavor will be joined by Pineapple Passionfruit (Nick's review here) and Vanilla Honey Caramel (my review here), neither of which excite me.

Breyers BLASTS! Strawberry Waffle Cone Review

[Walmart first in 2012, widespread in 2013, cancelled before 2016 season]
I know a lot of you don't understand my affinity for berry flavored ice creams, but I've always had a soft spot for them. I just love the change of pace they provide from the otherwise routine vanilla-chocolate cycle. So, well, let's break that cycle.

This is the new Strawberry variation of the Breyers BLASTS! Waffle Cone. I enjoyed the regular flavor so I'm hoping this one might work too. Ok, I'm also a sucker for anything with fudge covered waffle cones bits, though I don't think that I've ever seen anyone try to mix them with a fruity base before. 

Sundae Sunday with Rice Krispie Treat Sundae Bowls

Now rice krispie treats are nothing new with so many of us having eaten the homemade kind since we were little kids (so much better than the pre-made kind). Even rice krispies and ice cream is nothing new since we've seen this idea executed both poorly and wonderfully, but what if we took thinks up another notch?

You see, last week while everyone was mesmerized by the AFC and NFC playoff games, I was messing around trying to make chocolate chip cookie dough sundae bowls. I had stumbled across the idea here. Now while my attempt wasn't a complete and utter disaster that took hours to clean up, it was still a disappointing failure (yes, there had been something in the middle of the these to help keep their shape but I forgot to weigh them down).

Now during this same weekend, Nick was experimenting with slicing open store bought rice krispie treats and using them to make ice cream sandwiches (photo here). I told him about my failed exploits when a stroke of genius hit him, something to the effect of "What if you made sundae bowls.... out of rice krispies?" Dude.... GENIUS!

Haagen-Dazs Dark Chocolate Chip Gelato Review

So what's the first big news of 2013? No, it's not Ben & Jerry's, it's quiet and reserved Haagen-Dazs that has taken the lead this year with their new lineup of Gelato! Who'd a thunk it? The infamously troubled five product line is going away and being replaced with 7 new flavors of gelato. We've got pints of black cherry amaretto, cappuccino, dark chocolate chip, limoncello, stracciatella and then there are pints and single serve cups of sea salt caramel and vanilla bean. That's a pretty fancy sounding line up but remember, Talenti has set the bar pretty darn high, so H-D needs to bring there A game.

Now I've been on the hunt for these bad boys for the last fews weeks now and where do I finally find them?  Walmart! I honestly wasn't expecting to find cappuccino and dark chocolate here. I did do a quick search through the back of the shelf hoping for more options but this is all that they had. Well, I do adore dark chocolate, so let's start there.

Edy’s Maxx Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk Review

[By Nick, discontinued after 2013] Ah, it’s the age old question of what came first, the chocolate or the peanut butter? Wait that’s not how it goes? Moving on then…

It is one of the greatest combinations in the sweet and salty world and one of my favorite food combinations as well. So it was pretty easy for me to pick up this container of Edy’s Maxx Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk.

These Maxx containers are really eye catching and I like the overall design of them. There is one flaw though; there is absolutely no description of what is actually going on inside the container. What happened to the good old days when there would be a nice little description? It’s either something way too long and dragged on or it’s just not there at all. From my awesome observational skills, I’m just going to go with it being chocolate ice cream mixed with peanut butter swirls and chunks of chocolate like I've experienced in their other varieties. Let’s see if my assumption is right, shall we?

Burger King Molten Fudge Sundae Review

[New for 2013] Well, it looks like Burger King is going to continue it's new tradition of limited edition sundaes. That's cool by me because what did your parents and grandparents always tell you? Practice makes perfect.

Here's my molten fudge sundae.... my itty bitty cute sundae, awwww, don't worry little buddy, someday you'll grow up and play with all the big sundaes. (official cup size is 9 ounces). Now the official media image shows the caramel and fudge drizzled together but we all kind of knew that wasn't going to happen in the real world. Instead, we've got chocolate on the bottom and caramel on the top which is fine by me because I'm not a huge fan of BK fudge sauce anyway.

So we've got a still warm molten fudge bite on top and another down below that you can't see. Mmmmm, it's so warm that it's still giving off that freshly cooked smell (update: they are fried, not baked or microwaved). I take a bite of soft serve and caramel to prep my taste buds and then attempt to cut the fudge bite in two so I can take a picture (and spread out the flavor a bit). No go. The shell is surprisingly hard and I foresee making a giant mess if I continue my endeavor, so, I pop the whole thing in my mouth. Mmmm, so warm and smushy. I have to admit that it's fun to eat. It's like chomping down on a warm Dunkin Donuts chocolate munchkin (which is a chocolate cake donut if you've never had one).

The downside is that I wish I had waited for this big bite. There is a bit of a warm funk that has me shudder for a sec. It's hard to describe, and it could just be me, but something about a warm gooey center and melted softserve just throws me off at first. It's not like ice cream melting on a fresh gooey brownie, it's more artificial then that. I think if I had broken up that first bite and spread it around, I probably wouldn't have even noticed that much.

The sauces are a hit and a miss for me. Sure the squirt of each may look neat, but flavor is what counts at the end. That's why I would rather see a double shot of sweet caramel sauce to play off the warm lava bites. I just don't think the chocolate adds anything, in fact, I think it takes a notch off this one.

I quickly make my way to the end of the sundae and decide to take another crack at chopping these quarter size molten fudge bites in half. Doh! My spoon is stuck. Oh man, it's just one of those days. I take a bite and reveal the semi gooey insides. Sorry it didn't photograph well, but at least you can see the distinct dark outer shell, a bit of brown cake on the inside of that, and then the gooey center. You know what? I kind of prefer the bites by themselves. In fact, I think next time I'd rather just get a caramel sundae with an order of bites on the side. I think I'll enjoy myself more, plus I'll actually be full when I'm done.

So overall, I think this was a neat little three dollar break, though I don't see this as a repeat purchase. It's just not 100% there for me. In a perfect world, I would love to see a bunch of smaller bites rather than 2 big bites. I realize they wouldn't stay warm very long like that, but I just think it would be a better treat. I appreciate the effort BK, keep on trying!

Verdict?  Fun but imperfect
Buy Again?  Maybe one more time

Cals 490,  Fat 16g, Sat.Fat 9g, Carbs 81g, Sugar 59g, Protein 9g

Homemade Brand Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Review

[By Nick] The holidays might be over but that doesn't mean it's too late for some pumpkin pie ice cream, especially if you consider the fact that January 23rd is National Pie Day. In the complimentary shipment from Homemade Brand, they included a container of their limited edition Pumpkin Pie ice cream. Now I really like pumpkin pie as long as there is no disgusting crust. So many pies have been ruined by that disgusting wrapping of flour. When I was little, I would just eat the filling and leave the soulless crust behind.

Homemade Brand’s version is made up of pumpkin pie ice cream with pie crust pieces and a whipped topping swirl. Now I’m going to try to put my bias against pie crust aside for this review but I doubt that’ll be fully possible. Also, am I the only one who thinks "whipped topping swirl" sounds funny? I mean it’s swirled in so it’s not exactly topping anymore. Then again, it’s not made out of cream so I guess they couldn’t have called it whipped cream either. Eh technicalities aside, I’m ready for some pie!

Edy's / Dreyer's Mint Cookie ice cream review

[For 2013 Only]  Dreyer's / Edy's has ended their long term relationship with the Girl Scouts. Now granted they could still be donating proceeds to the girl scouts, but all the girl scout branding is gone from their ice cream containers (but that thin mint "flavor you love!" should still be here).

Now I dont' have an official description because, well, Edy's doesn't feel the need to provide us one on the container (nor does the website's limited edition flavors sections appear to be working in any of the major browsers). Oy, let's just chalk this one up to "generic thin mint cookies in mint ice cream".

Market Pantry Cookie Dough Ice Cream

We don't cover a ton of Target stuff on the blog, and their selection is a little slim at the particular location I was at, but I gotta bring something home to the family, so that means it's time for a classic flavor.

Market Pantry Cookie Dough ice cream from Target

(not to be confused with their Archer Farms branded premium ice cream)

Jon Donaire Cookies & Cream Cake Review

One of my goals for the end of 2012 was to clear up our old ice cream stock. I'm happy to say the family did a good job pulling together to accomplish this task. We broke open this particular treat on New Year's Eve.

Jon Donaire Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Cake

Weight Watchers Divine Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Bar Review

[By Nick, new for 2012] Next up in my conquest to try all of the Weight Watcher’s ice cream products is one of their latest additions, the Divine Triple Chocolate ice cream bar. I’ve already review all of the other varieties of partially dipped bars so it’s the same make up as those bars. Weight Watcher’s takes low fat chocolate ice cream, swirl in some chocolate fudge and then dips the bar in milk chocolate. I normally stay away from things with so much chocolate just because it tends to get overbearing.

Weight Watchers Divine Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Bar

low fat chocolate ice cream with a chocolate fudge swirl

dipped in a milk chocolate flavored coating

Walgreen's REBRANDED ice cream lineup.

It's been a long time since we've had any of Walgreen's ice cream on the blog... yes, let's start with the fact that Walgreen's does actually make their own ice cream. Ok, now that that is settled, the reason they aren't on the blog much is not the fact that there stuff is bad, it's the fact that they rarely come out with new flavors.

Well, low and behold, we've got changes! During the second half of 2012, Walgreen's started re-branding their ice cream. Nick and I have been talking about it a bit as the product line slowly came out, but when I went back today I have to say that the re-branding is looking pretty complete.

So  good & de LISH  is the new inhouse brand name and here it is on their premium ice cream pints. It's a tragically black background with a variety of white writing and then some color coded larger letters for the flavor name. Notice the star design to go with the strawberry cheesecake starlet name. Let me just come out and say that I don't love the new packaging, but you have to tip your hat to the mighty description of "strawberries, pie crust pieces & a strawberry swirl in a cheesecake ice cream".

Next up is royal chocolate fudge brownie complete with crown shaped naming artistic-ness hubbub picture bedazzled thingamijig. We're talking dark purple writing on a black background, how exactly is this suppose to catch my eye?

Two more flavors: cafe amore (in the shape of a heart) and udderly vanilla (in the shape of a cow). Now I get that amore goes with cafe because they both sound kinda fancy and then amore is love is a heart, but I'm pretty sure udders don't taste like vanilla. Oh, alright, I never said I was funny, but you get my meaning, this branding is stretching the usual bounds of naming conventions.

Well, now here is something new. On top of the foo foo premium pints, we've got these new homestyle pints. I assume these are meant to replace Walgreen's blue pints of non-premium ice cream. Falling peanut butter cups onto a giant scoop of moose tracks ice cream? Now that makes me hungry. Falling chunks onto chocolate chunk ice cream? Also a win-win.

Two more regular/homestyle flavors: banana split and rich vanilla (in 1.5 quart serving sizes). Notice both of these make you hungry as well. I'm dying to know what those little strawberry candies taste like. This is how you brand!

One more foo foo pint with such a terrible design that I don't even know how to read it. Now I was going to torment Nick by picking up this butter wishes & pecan dreams with it's awesome "salted caramel butter pecan ice cream" description, but then I decided to leave this one for Nick and go for a combo I can never resist: chocolate and peanut butter!

Ok, so here is a closer look at the very foo foo-ish branding of cookie dough & peanut butter duet.  To be honest, there's very little here that makes me want to buy this pint other than the description. I appreciate the creativity, but let's really think about this. First off, it doesn't catch my (hungry) eye, especially in the poorly lit freezer. Second, it's hard to read. Oh, I get they are trying to be funny and playful, I mean duet = music = guitar = originality... but that doesn't mean I have to actually like the design. Third, there's just so much wasted space. The whole think is just chaotic and wasteful at the same time.

G.S. Mango Sorbetto Review

[By Nick] Writing for On Second Scoop does have its perks. One of those being that I’m able to try brands I never would’ve had the opportunity otherwise. G.S. Gelato is one of those companies. Out of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, G.S. was only on my radar because I saw a couple of their products on Ice Cream Source awhile back. G.S. is actually a newcomer on the frozen dessert scene when they opened up shop in early 1996. It was started by a couple who moved to Florida from Italy and was determined to bring authentic Italian gelato to America. G.S. offers their products in all different forms. From offering retail products to being able to open up your own Gelataria, they are there for whatever you need. After some pleasant emails with the fine folks at G.S. Gelato, they sent over two free pints of their gelato as well as two free pints of their sorbetto. Seeing as we don’t cover sorbetto all that often, I decided we’ll start there with their Mango Sorbetto.

A quick refresher course in sorbetto: first of all from my extensive research sorbetto = sorbet. I’m going to keep typing sorbetto though because it makes me feel fancy. In a nutshell though, sorbetto is just a frozen dessert made from sweetened water flavored with fruit. Unlike ice cream which uses dairy products and has air whipped into it, sorbetto has neither of those two elements. Okay, that’s your crash course in sorbetto, if you want to learn more go ask google or something.

Now if using the word sorbetto makes me feel fancy, the container only adds to the fancy factor. It just looks elegant with its wavy ruby red coloring. They add in a yellow stripe that works perfectly with the color of the sliced mangos on the package. Props on use of color contrasting G.S., other companies need to make their products more eye-catching.

Tofutti Hooray Hooray Bars Review

Oh, I'm such a sucker, but I mean well, I swear. I've spent a very large portion of the last several years constantly searching for allergy friendly foods for my son. It's an expensive past time, one that has found me wasting way too much food over the years, but it's not like I can give up.

One of leaves adventures involve Tofutti, the milk free company. First we tried Tofutti Pizza which had so-so results with my son. More recently we tried the Tofutti Cuties ice cream sandwiches and while my son wasn't a fan, I thought they weren't that bad, or to put it another way, they were decent enough to encourage me to purchase something that I've had my eye on for quite some time.

These are Tofutti Hooray Hooray Crispy Crunch Bars. They are Smooth Creamy Vanilla Dipped in rich dark chocolate with crisp rice crunches. Notice there is nothing between the words vanilla and dipped because these treats are milk free... in fact, they are sugar free too because they use Stevia.

Skinny Cow White Mint Cookie Shake-Stir Review

[By Nick, 2012 only] After my positive experience with BH’s mix of mint and cookies and cream ice cream, I thought it was about time to give a national brand’s rendition a try. Looking through the freezer section my selection was pretty limited but I did manage to spot the new for 2012 limited slimited edition shake from Skinny Cow. Dubba took a look at the other variety early last year, so it felt might that I should cover the mint version.

The White Mint Cookie Shake-Stir is described as “Low-fat mint ice cream mixed with chocolatey cookie crumbles” and so seems pretty straight forward. It is called white mint so I do enjoy the fact it’s not the green color that you’d associate with mint ice cream. There’s just something about green ice cream that bugs me every now and again (yes I’m talking about you pistachio).

Breyer's Birthday Blast FDD Review

Happy New Year Everybody!

Brand: Breyers Name: Birthday Blast Product:  Frozen Dairy Dessert Base Flavor:  Cake Swirl:  None Mix-ins:  Cake & Sprinkles X factor?  Cake Sealed?  Outside Size: 1.5 Quarts