Cedar Crest Turtle Sundae Ice Cream Review

[By Nick] So in my last Cedar Crest Dairy review I mentioned I order three pints from Ice Cream Source. Well when I received those pints, one of them seemed out of place. While Elephant Tracks and a flavor to be reviewed at a later date (getting the suspense building ;]) both sported their new packaging, their Turtle Sundae was still in their old packaging.

At first I thought I got sent the wrong product but once I got a closer look, I saw that it was in fact one of the Cedar Crest flavors. Well let’s just say I can see why they decided to rebrand their ice cream. While the turtle is adorable, the whole pint design is unappealing to me. The colors aren’t the most appetizing and I never liked representing the ingredients involved in cartoon form on the package. I like how the new packaging shows a scoop of the ice cream and the color scheme is far superior. I’m glad Cedar Crest decided to make the change because if I was to see these in the ice cream isle, I more than likely would have passed them up. Okay, enough with the packaging let’s talk about the ice cream.

Cedar Crest Turtle Sundae is described as “pecans blended in vanilla ice cream swirled with chocolate and caramel fudge” this is definitely a flavor that was calling my name. You guys know my love for caramel and pecans so adding chocolate only can make things better right? Wait, the lid says it’s “swirled with chocolate and caramel sauce”. I’m so confused right now; I’m just going to go with fudge because, well, I have no real reason.

Perry's All Natural Black Cherry Ice Cream

[New for 2013, discontinued] Now I'm one of those old school people that doesn't understand why all ice cream isn't just milk, cream, sugar and flavoring. I mean, I get that they add in chemicals for texture and longevity, but do we have to do these things? That's why I love it when companies have all natural lines. Sure I would prefer everything be all natural, but if I can't have that, at least give me a few flavors that I can fall back on in a pinch.

For Perry's Ice Cream of New York, this means a simple all natural line up of Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Maple Walnut, and their newest offering: Black Cherry.

It's a fairly standard offering of all natural black cherry ice cream with black cherries. Nothing crazy, just simple and straightforward. Let's see how it goes.

New Orleans Lemon Doberge Cake Ice Cream

Let's continue our journey through these free samples from New Orleans Ice Cream Company.

Lemon Doberge Cake is described as "This Twist on a New Orleans dessert classic has tangy lemon sauce & real lemon cake in our citrus lemon ice cream". That's a lot of lemon, but they say tangy, not tart, so there is definitely hope for this one.

National Bomb Pop Day

Hello! Ahhh, Bomb Pops, a treat that turns 68 years old this year. Did you know the last Thursday of June is National Bomb Pop Day? Now I'll admit that I didn't know this day existed until just recently. I was talking to the fine folks over at Blue Bunny about how the 2013 ice cream season is going. We've really enjoyed all the free samples they've sent over (like the excellent Cadbury Dark Chocolate Bar) and eventually the conversation got on to Bomb Pops.

That's right, Wells has sent over 4 boxes of pops for us to celebrate. Oh yeah, we're having a Bomb Pop party tonight! We've got original, original sugar free, new Sour Wower, and new Hawaiian Punch. There are 12 "frozen confections" in each box, each clocking in at 1.75 fluid ounces a piece.

Klondike Bar - No Sugar Added Vanilla

[By Nick] I never really realized how many different sugar free/no sugar added products there are on the market nowadays. Ever since my positive experiences with Clemmy’s, I’ve been more open to seek out these options in the freezer isle. I noticed that the folks over at Klondike make a couple of their iconic bars in no sugar added versions. So with my new found curiosity and some requests for more no sugar added products, I picked up a package of their vanilla no sugar added bars.

I do remember seeing these come in a box a while ago but I do like the change to the traditional Klondike packaging. I never liked separate packaging for different subsets of products. For those who can no longer have the original varieties, I can imagine them feeling excluded with the old packaging. With the switch, if you didn’t read the name you would think it was just a normal old Klondike bar.

Nestle CRUNCH Dipped Drumstick Review

[New for 2013] Drumsticks (and other cones) will always have a special place in my heart stomach. It's like going to a scoop shop but without all the driving. Now, factor in fond childhood memories of my grandfather bringing me a Nestle Crunch Bar (and a fresh loaf of rye bread) when he visited every week, and now we've got the possibility of an awesome treat.

Here is the 8 pack box of the new Nestle CRUNCH Dipped Drumstick sundae cones. We've got 3 Vanilla, 3 Vanilla Caramel, and 2 Vanilla Fudge treats in this box.

Three Twins Chocolate Malt Ice Cream

[New for 2013] If you follow three twins ice cream on facebook, then you probably already know that this organic, California based ice cream company has five new flavors for us this year (plus one on the way). Which one will I find at Whole Foods first?

We have a winner! Looks like chocolate malt will be the first new flavor to come home with me. It's organic malt ice cream taglined with "the favorite of my brother is like no other". I didn't really expect to find any of these new flavors (or the ice cream sandwiches) since previously my whole foods only carried 3 of their earlier flavors, but hey, I'll take it!

Quick Scoop: Edy's Take the Cake

[2016 Update: Now a full time flavor named "Birthday Cake"]
[2017 Update: Has disappeared from Edy's website!]
[2018 Update: back again in a brown container but is a limited edition]

Edy's / Dreyer's Take the Cake is back! Sure it's only a limited flavor, but I know a lot of you are probably pretty stoked right now. Edy's Take the cake originally debuted as an American Idol tie-in flavor waaaaaay back in 2007. Wow, I've been avoiding this flavor for a long time hehehehe... oh, come on now. If you know me then you know I bought the following flavor for one reason and one reason only:  my daughter.

Take the Cake is Yellow cake flavored light ice cream mixed with blue frosting swirl and bursting with multi-colored sprinkles. Oh how I never like cake flavored ice creams, but my daughter, she loves 'em, so here goes.

World Famous Bassett's Ice Cream joins the blog!

[By Nick] Not too long ago, I was watching the Food Network and the show that was on was featuring Bassett’s Ice Cream. Like any ice cream fanatic, I went to my computer to find more information on the company. Bassett’s is supposedly the oldest ice cream company in the country being founded 1861. Let’s just take a second to think about that. This ice cream company started the first year Abraham Lincoln was our president. That’s just incredible and they’re still run by the same family who started it. That’s five generations of ice cream lovers; if that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.

Bassett’s is a fixture of the Reading Terminal Market in Philly but can be found elsewhere on the east coast. Unfortunately I’m not in those select markets, so I emailed the kind folks over at Bassett’s and they decided to send me over some free samples to try.

SLUSH PUPPiE Slush Bars

For whatever reason, the store shelves in my area are just inundated with all kinds of branded freezer pops this year. I've seen popsicles from baskin-robbins, jolly ranchers, and the slush puppie ones below just to name a few. I was hesitant to try them with their icky ingredient list... but when I spied this 10 pack for a dollar at walmart, I decided to give in and try them.

So I've tried all the flavors and the good news is there is a familiarity to them, especially the cherry and blue raspberry. Basically they've gummed up the ingredient list to give a bit of slush-like solidness to the product. This isn't just frozen ice. There's that bit of slush texture to them which is neat and definitely gets your attention.

Weight Watchers Red Velvet Ice Cream Sandwiches

[New for 2013] Part of the free shipment from weight watchers included the very intriguing Red Velvet ice cream sandwiches. I mean, come on, production red velvet products are rare and now to find it in a sandwich? It's the kind of product that could catch anyone's eye (well, if they haven't gotten stuck in the non-lowfat section anyway).

So here they are, a box of 8 "snack size" red velvet ice cream sandwiches clocking in at just 100 calories a piece. The description reads "low fat cream cheese frosting flavored ice cream with a red velvet chocolate swirl between two red velvet chocolate wafers". Cream cheese frosting flavored? I'm guessing that it'll either be super strong or non-existent.

2nd St. Creamery Copper Kettle Caramel Ice Cream

[2nd St has closed up shop before the 2015 ice cream season] Well it's been three months since our last 2nd St. Creamery review so I think it's high time to dig into the other free 2nd St. sample Blue Bunny was nice enough to send over. What we've got today is their very popular Copper Kettle Caramel flavor.

Billed as "caramel flavored ice cream with caramel ribbon and sea salt fudge truffles", I can only wonder if this will be as sweet, if not sweeter, then their Can't Tell Me No! Cookie Dough.

Talenti White Chocolate Raspberry Gelato Review

[By Nick, discontinued end of 2012] Out of all the products I have ordered from Ice Cream Source, this has to easily be the flavor I was the most excited to try. Be it the promise of white chocolate gelato, the minimal information I could find on it online or just my previous experiences with Talenti, this flavor is just calling to me. Heck, White Chocolate Raspberry isn’t even listed on Talenti’s website and after I made my purchase from Ice Cream Source, it disappeared from their inventory as well.

Now I was a bit worried that this flavor had been discontinued and I got an expired pint (it has happened before) but much to my surprise, this one doesn’t expire until the end of this year. I was able to find another website that carries this flavor so maybe it’s just in limited supply. We learned from Perry’s that making a white chocolate flavor can get very pricy so that could be the reason it’s so hard to find. Whatever the case may be, I feel like I possess the Big Foot of frozen desserts.

Finding information on this flavor is pretty hard but I was able to find a description of this gelato. It is  “White chocolate gelato with ripples of fresh crushed raspberries and a hint of cinnamon.”  White chocolate and raspberries is a classic combination but the addition of cinnamon has me a little confused. I can’t say I’ve ever had cinnamon combined with either of those two ingredients by themselves, let alone with them combined. I’m all for more cinnamon in frozen desserts though. I’m anxious to see how this will all work together.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love Talenti’s packaging. The clear container prominently shows the ribbons of raspberry as well as the white chocolate gelato with little specks of cinnamon strewn throughout.

McDonald's new Dulce de Leche shake and the Nosh Show Episode 6

So, are ya ready for the next Nosh Show? Episode 6 of The Nosh Show is now available! Head on over to The Nosh Show website to listen and to see a complete rundown of everything we talked about. It's an interesting episode that delves deep into my inner crankiness. Sorry, but seriously, we cover the usual gamut of upcoming craziness but also take the time to point out some of the majors winners and failures of the first half of the 2013 noshing season. Hopefully you'll enjoy this latest episode. Please feel free to leave comments here or on the nosh show website.

As always, we try to jam in some product testing between shows and so for this one let me share with you the new McDonald's Dulce de Leche shake. If you're like me and can't say Dulce de Leche, have no fear, McDonald's has subtitled this new treat as the "new Caramel shake" on their menu board.

McDonald's Dulce de Leche shake

Pint Pal

So the President and CEO of the company that makes Pint Pal asked me if I'd give Pint Pal a try.

"Don't hold the cold" - Sounds good to me.

Ha, with a little bit of extra tugging, it fits on a cylindrical Talenti container as well.

Verdict? Well, it works as advertised, plain and simple. My hand is nice and warm as I devour this pint of ice cream. I know it might look a little small, but it leaves a little space between itself and the potentially messy edge. Even if you do get it messy, you can just throw it in the washer.

It's nice not having a frozen hand.... though that frozen hand is what keeps me from eating the whole pint sometimes. I don't usually share stuff like this but I know a lot of you guys are pint eaters and I think something like this might really come in handy for you. You can pick them up for $3.50 plus shipping and handling from pint-pal.com or you can order them from amazon for just a little more.

Disclaimer:
I was not compensated for this post, I was only sent two review samples to try out.

Front Porch My-O-My Peanut Butter Pie Review

[New for 2013] One of the downsides to Nick and me being in the Northeast means that we have very limited access to some of the great stuff coming from our southern friends (like New Orleans Ice Cream company). Sure we share national brands with you guys, but there's a reason there's never any Blue Bell reviews on our site. The good news is, things might be looking up.

I received an email from one of the new kids pints on the block, Front Porch ice cream, created in 2012 by Mooresville Ice Cream of North Carolina (who has been making ice cream since 1924!). Do yourself a favor and take a quick look at all the flavors that can now be found across 14 states. Gets your attention doesn't it? Good, cause we're about to dig into a free sample of one of their new 2013 products.

I can't help myself,. I gotta start with the My O My Peanut Butter Pie. I love peanut butter and chocolate too much not to start here. It's peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter swirl and chocolate pie crust pieces. I love how it says "Carolina Churned Ice Cream" . The companies that embrace their roots always do well.

New Orleans Mint Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream

Ok, I'm still working my way through all the free samples that New Orleans ice cream company sent over. There's one in particular I've been saving for a special occasion.

Mint Chocolate Cookie

unothrodox side view (sorry, messed up the frontal shot)

So Delicious Mocha Almond Fudge Review

[By Nick] I’m still in shock that I enjoyed an ice cream made out of coconut milk, but with that positive experience of So Delicious Turtle Trails behind me, I was a lot less hesitant to pick up another one of their flavors. Knowing that their caramel is terrible and then factoring in my increasing appreciation for coffee products, I decided to pick up their Mocha Almond Fudge. I mean it’s pretty hard to mess up fudge and if any flavor could overpower coconut it has to be coffee right?

Described as “Rich and creamy coffee flavored, coconut milk based, dairy-free frozen dessert with crunchy almonds and a river of fudge” this one is pretty straight forward. I’m excited for the almonds just because their pecans were my favorite part of Turtle Trails. They seem to handle nuts pretty well over at Turtle Mountain. This one is also soy and dairy free for those with aversions to those ingredients.

Three Twins Sea Salted Caramel Ice Cream Sandwich

[New for 2013] Things certainly are looking up for three twins ice cream as they continue to grow one of the nation's few widely available organic ice cream companies. They've got two new ice cream sandwiches and 5 new pint-sized flavors available (6 if you count today's Sergio Romo's Mexican Chocolate announcement). You can buy the sandwiches in boxes of four (approx $6.99) or as singles for around $1.99.

Ok, time for "an alchemy of cream and sugar that's worth its taste in gold" which translates to "organic caramel ice cream with sugar cookies". Now don't forget that three twins started as a scoop shop, so they've been making these sandwiches fresh for years. It's only now that they are growing that they can offer them nationally.

Edy's German Chocolate Cake Grand Ice Cream

[New for 2013, returning 2014 (May-Aug), back in 2015] I had no intension of releasing this review today, but seeing as how June 11 is National German Chocolate Cake day, I kind of feel obligated to do so. You know I'm not a big fan of coconut, but after trying the excellent Talenti German Chocolate Cake and more importantly the respectable Edy's Caramel Coconut Cookie, I think I might be ok with this one.

"Chocolate ice cream with caramel coconut swirl and brownie pieces" makes up Edy's / Dreyer's german chocolate cake spectacular! grand ice cream. I'm not a big fan of exclamation points in names because I think it sets the bar too high. I also have no idea what any of this has to do with fireworks, but I dig the colorful packaging none the less.

Dunkin Donuts Raspberry Lime Coolatta

[New for 2013] Sorry, no new Nosh Show today, that's next Monday, but can we talk about Dunkin Donuts anyway since my nosh show cohorts Junk Food Guy, GrubGrade, and the Impulsive Buy have all posted glazed donut breakfast sandwich reviews. See, I love Dunkin Donuts, and not just for their donuts and strawberry coolattas. I love them because it's realistically the only place I can walk to for lunch. No, I don't eat donuts for lunch (at least not on a weekday), instead, I grab one of their sandwiches. So far their ham and cheese on a french roll is my favorite, but that might change.

I walked over to Dunkin for lunch on Thursday (about a mile and a half round trip) and grabbed myself the new Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich and the new Raspberry Lime coolatta. I tend not to drink things that are green, but after reading reviews of how terrible the hot chocolate coolatta is (a.k.a. the old frozen hot chocolate), I decided lime was the way to go.

Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar Review

[By Nick] Okay, time for a quick review of a bar I picked up at a gas station not too long ago. I was craving chocolate and when I saw this bar I knew what I was picking up. That was actually the first time I’ve seen a Haagen-Dazs chocolate dark chocolate bar in person. I know they’re carried in packs of 3 in grocery stores but the ones around me only carry the vanilla versions.

The box says that this bar is “chocolate ice cream dipped in, then drizzled with fine dark chocolate”. Seems pretty straight forward but Haagen-Dazs does do a better job at hyping this one up on their website. The site states that “between the classic rich and creamy chocolate ice cream inside, and the thick and crunchy dark chocolate coating finely drizzled on the outside, this is a chocolate connoisseur's delight.” See that descriptions sounds way more enticing. While I wouldn’t call myself a chocolate connoisseur, I do enjoy a quality chocolate from time to time.

Side note: Am I the only one who is bugged by the name of this product? I know they have a vanilla bar named “vanilla dark chocolate” but in my mind I feel like the name of the shell should come before the name of the ice cream. Eh I’m just weird I guess.

Haagen-Dazs Raspberry & Vanilla Milk Chocolate Ice Cream Bar Review

[By Nick, discontinued] Hey look, it’s another product that got lost in my backlog!

These are the new (for 2012) Haagen-Dazs Raspberry & Vanilla Milk Chocolate bars. I’m a sucker for novelty bars and you don’t see raspberry used all that often when it comes to novelties so I easily picked these up when I saw them.

Turkey Hill Fried Ice Cream a.k.a. Mmmmmm, Breakfast Sundaes

Turkey Hill Fried Ice Cream has been the limited edition April flavor of the month for several years now, but somehow I've always missed out on it (blame the fact I live at the end of their delivery area I guess). Now I'm not the only one trying it for the first time this year, you may have already read that Junk Food Guy tried it for the So Good blog. I got the distinct impression that he was kind of misled by the name. Let's dig in and see if we can figure out why.

limited edition Turkey Hill Fried Ice Cream

Cinnamon ice cream swirled with cinnamon sopapilla and sweet tostada pieces

(We can never have enough cinnamon ice creams, so I'm totally psyched on this one)

Hood Greek Frozen Yogurt Reviews Double Chocolate Chip, Blueberry & Vanilla Honey

[2013-2014] After my positive experience with the new Hood Raspberry Granola greek frozen yogurt, I was sent free samples of their other three flavors for comparison. I do like to keep something light in the freezer, so let's see how these stack up.

First up is double chocolate chip which is Hood's way of saying chocolate chocolate chip. We've got live and active cultures in this "chocolate lowfat frozen yogurt with chocolate chips".

New Orleans Ice Cream Company Mardi Gras Pie

[New for 2013] When New Orleans ice cream company released the news that they were releasing a Mardi Gras Pie flavor this year, I was hoping they might contact me for a free sampling. Well,  to my great amusement, they did, and now it's time to show you what they sent over.

This may sound dumb, but I love the blue. I need to remember it for when I start up my ice cream company. Anyway, New Orleans Mardi Gras Pie ice cream is "Mardi Gras in your mouth with this parade favorite - gooey marshmallow ice cream with marshmallow swirl, chocolate flakes & soft graham cracker. you'll be hollerin': "throw me one, mister!". That is one mighty description to have to live up to.

Ben & Jerry's Pineapple Passionfruit A Greek Frozen Yogurt Review

[By Nick, 2013-2014] Seeing as Dubba reviewed the only new Greek frozen yogurt flavor from Ben & Jerry’s that sounded palatable to me, I guess I’m stuck reviewing their Pineapple Passionfruit flavor.

Ben & Jerry's Pineapple Passionfruit Greek Frozen Yogurt

pineapple greek frozen yogurt with pineapple pieces & a passionfruit swirl

Dairy Queen S'mores Blizzard The June 2013 Blizzard of the Month

[New for 2013, returns June 2014 (there's even a song for it)] In a somewhat surprising move by Dairy Queen, they've been hyping the new June S'mores blizzard since May 20th. In fact, they brought in one Mr. Warren Buffet to serve up the first one of summer (don't forget his company owns DQ).

Ok, here' the official pic and here's the official description: "We start with crunchy Honey Maid® graham crackers and rich chocolate chunks filled with gooey marshmallow, then we whip it up in cool DQ® soft serve". You're probably thinking "wait, how did we not think of this one sooner?". All I know is that I'm stoked about graham and chocolate covered marshmallows. Oh the potential is so high on this one.

Burger King Oreo Shake

With the first of the summer holidays behind us, it's time again for the nosh show!

Episode 5 of The Nosh Show is now available! Head on over to The Nosh Show website to listen and to see a complete rundown of everything we talked about. It's a neat episode that stumbles upon my love of pretzels... and ice cream... and pretzels and ice cream. I make a bad joke about oppressed bacon. I even work Jason Statham into the conversation. We may have talked about other stuff as well. Oh, and factoid correction: The average American eats 1-2 pounds of pretzels a year while the average person from Philly eats 12 pounds (reference).

BK Oreo shake

As always, I've made a few pit stops between episodes and the one I'll show you guys is my lunch time break at Burger King. $7.74 got me the new BK rib sandwich as well a medium size of the new BK Oreo shake. Let's just say it's a good thing I had the shake because I definitely got my fair share of barbecue sauce on my over-processed slab of pork. The sandwich was decent and Ryan was right, the pickles do work here. I just wish the sauce had been a little sweeter and a little less spicy.

Breyers Sundae Sunday

Hello and welcome to our first official sponsored Sundae Sunday. That's right, Breyer's has jumped into the sundae topping game this year and sent over this very official sundae kit.

Breyers Real Fruit Toppings, Breyers Sprinkles, and Breyers Ice Cream Sauce

Pretty cool right? You know I adore making sundaes as much as I adore eating them. To me it's a very creative experience and today my color palette is full. The nice thing here is that they try to keep the ingredient list fairly short, and as an added bonus, no high fructose corn syrup! You know what, let's do a little sundae tease before we start getting into specifics.

Edy's 3 Stripes You're Out Grand Ice Cream served in a coneguys Pretzel Cone

[New for 2013, May-August] So Edy's / Dreyer's has several new selection out for the summer. First we looked at the slow churned Salted Caramel Pretzel, but let's take a look at the fruitiest of the limited bunch.

This is Edy's 3 Stripes and You're Out grand ice cream.  It's vanilla ice cream with blueberry and strawberry swirls (in a nice baseball inspired design). You know I dig strawberry and now they've gone and mixed that with an elusive blueberry swirl. I'll admit that I've got decent hopes for this (while being afraid of that fake blueberry taste that is prevalent in so many products).