Talenti Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Gelato #35

[New for early 2015, now retired] Oh man, my brain is spinning with all the new stuff I just saw at stop & shop. I think I literally saw every new product line we've been searching for, many of them on sale.... and I even saw JC Pie Pops! It took me a good five minutes to decide what I wanted. Another artisan collection flavor from HD, B&J Tonight Dough, a new Magnum bar, or ....

Talenti Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Gelato #35

gelato with sweet raisins, dark brown sugar, cinnamon and oatmeal cookie pieces

Not the most exciting looking thing at first glance, but if you look closely then you can see some spices and tiny oatmeal chunks mixed in. Kind of smells like some foo-foo oatmeal cookie. Oh, and those are raisin chunks you see.

Oh my, yeah, that tastes foo foo too. I wasn't expecting that. Whoa, that's something all right. I've totally forgotten what I was expecting because of the robust flavor of this one. It's certainly not pulling any punches. (I wonder if it's reminding me of a fancy rum raisin type flavor)

There are small raisins and cookie chunks everywhere. As I dig deeper, the cookie chunks are adding a needed balance to the base and I'm starting to settle in to this one. I think this is now more like I expected, but still bolder. I mean, Talenti has a long streak of being bold and I'm definitely being served with multiple flavors here.

I think the raisins are my least favorite part. They aren't terrible or icy or anything like that, it's just my personal preference for plain, crunchy oatmeal cookies (sans raisins). I can't tell if they are spiced or if they've just picked up some flavoring from the gelato.

Double whoa! I just had a physic vision of Talenti coming out with a carrot cake flavor. There are some similarities between this flavor and say a high end carrot cake from a restaurant. I don't think it would be a huge stretch for them (oh, and if it had a cream cheese swirl, triple whoa!)

Ok, so let's recap. Usual Talenti quality. Usual bold profile. I don't think this is a flavor I would gravitate towards in general, but I'm stoked I got to try it. 

On Second Scoop:  Well, there goes the second half of the pint.... mostly because I was too lazy to put it back in the freezer. Part of me wants to say there is a bit of raisin flavoring to the base, but it's probably just the molasses right? Iunno. I like it when it's just a standard oatmeal cookie vibe going on, but when things get more complicated, I kind of wish there were some chocolate chips in here. Pretty sure my personal bias is getting in the way of this review, but at the very least, please know that I highly doubt this will be replacing B&J's beloved Oatmeal Cookie Chunk.

Verdict?  Bold
Buy Again?  not my style