Review: Ben and Jerrys Vegan Peanut Butter and Cookies

It's taken a long long time for their vegan range to FINALLY find it's way down to our side of the lake, and I sincerely hope that it's been worth the wait. Starting off the taste testing of their non dairy pints with the one that appeals to me the most: the peanut butter one!

On their website, Ben and Jerry's describe this as:

Vanilla non-dairy ice cream with chocolate sandwich cookies & crunchy peanut butter swirls

What?! Swirls of pure peanut butter?! Coming from someone who lives in a country where, since the discontinuation of the peanut butter cookie core flavour, there's only one peanut butter flavour available (pb cup), this excites me greatly!

Texture: It seems to have the creamy spoonable texture of the old tubs, though I noticed it took a teeny bit longer to defrost than the swich up flavour that I was tasting at that exact same time. No matter- good things come to those who wait. This has many similarities to swich up actually texture wise. Once again its an extremely busy tub. I am not exaggerating when I say there was peanut butter EVERYWHERE. In fact I don't think I had a mouthful without any! Not complaining though- the peanut butter was exactly the right texture, a smooth sumptuous, stick to the mouth sort of texture with crunchy peanut pieces. The cookie pieces where again ginormous and abundant, giving the tub a lot of character and ensuring that every bite was jam packed with different textures.

Taste: First bite? BAM! There's the peanut butter! Strong, creamy, sweet, slightly salty. You completely forget that this isn't a regular ben and jerry's tub as you sink into a wonderworld of pure peanut heaven! The cookies are strong again, but I don't know if it was just this tub but they seemed less overwhelming than in swich up. Maybe it was the counteraction with the peanut butter. Two dominating flavours which go together surprisingly well and compliment each other. At first I wondered why they decided for the base flavour to be vanilla but now having tasted it I approve greatly. It's mild, creamy but still plays it's part, and somehow by accompanying the chunks enhances their flavour. Many different flavours going on in there but they all go together well.

Overall: You can tell by the taste of the actual ice cream that it is vegan- there's something about the creaminess that just isn't the same. saying that though, it is not unpleasant at all. In fact I'm astounded that Ben and Jerry's produced this non dairy masterpiece! Vegan? GET THIS! Not vegan? GET THIS ANYWAY!

Rating: 9/10

Review: Ben and Jerrys Swich up

Who doesn't love the classic ben and jerry cookie dough flavour? Surely, even more chunks can only mean good things right?

On their website Ben and Jerry's describe this flavour as:

Vanilla ice cream with chocolatey sandwich cookies and chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough and a chocolatey cookie swirl

Wow! There is a LOT going on in that tub right there! Lets dig in...

Texture: Sure enough, my first spoonful was a delightful medley of chunks and swirls and textures. This is an extremely busy tub, with chunks and add ins of all different shapes and sizes. You have the biscuitty satisfaction of the swirl that almost melts in your mouth, and the soft cookie dough pieces that are a delight to chew on. The main star of this tub though is of course the cookie pieces- or should I say the size of the cookie pieces. Multiple times I came across whole cookies and my oh my was it exciting. If there's one thing Ben and Jerry's boss at, it's the chunks.

Taste: You have the classic creamy vanilla of the ice cream coming through, but now with the much stronger taste of the cookies. The same shape as oreos, they don't taste dissimilar to them, however they got a bit overwhelming after a while. I thoroughly enjoy the cookie dough pieces, but the strength of the cookies and swirl take away from them a little bit so that your don't appreciate them as much. Also the creaminess of the vanilla is much less discernible. It's present, but drowned out. 

Overall: Not a bad tub at all. I really enjoyed all the textures and tastes and it was a treat to dig into. Sometimes though I enjoy the simple luxury of creamy vanilla ice cream, and that was harder to appreciate with the explosion of cookies overwhelming it.

Rating: 6.5/10

Review: Haagen Dazs Salted Caramel

Now I heard great things about this pint before first digging into it. Ah, I remember the expectation and excitement building up. I like salted caramel as much as the next person, but I couldn't help suspect that this might be an overrated flavour. Was I right? Or was I proved wrong?

Haagen Dazs describe this tub as:

Caramel ice cream combined with sweet crunchy caramel pieces then swirled with sumptuous caramel

Ooh! Sumptuous you say? Well then, let's just see about that...

Upon opening- wham! Jesus Christ that is a LOT of caramel swirl! I can already tell that this tub is NOT going to be a boring one. I could actually see more caramel than ice cream at first...

Texture: Haagen Dazs you never fail to disappoint on the creamy front, but you do sometimes do so on the number and size of chunks within. However this pint was something else. So many pieces of caramel brittle, mostly quite small but big enough to provide a satisfying crunch. The caramel swirl continued to exist throughout the tub. There was so much of it! It didn't overwhelm the ice cream but was guaranteed to feature in most spoonfuls.

Taste: Oh. My. God. Creamy yet substantially sweet caramel ice cream with a strong SUMPTUOUS caramel swirl. The caramel swirl was very slightly salted but mostly just added a sweet BANG to the creamy delights of the ice cream itself. The swirl is less thick in texture than that in their Dulce de Leche flavour however the strong lightly salty brittle more than makes up for this. The brittle provides a sweet and salty explosion of caramelly flavour that no other ice cream that I have ever tasted has achieved. It was salty, but not in excess- just salty enough. I can only compare their taste to softer crumblier werthers originals with a hint of salt. Wow.

Overall: Try it. I defy anyone not to fall head over heels for this flavour. I usually like the chunks bigger in my ice cream but the flavour of the brittle was so powerful and divine that this didn't matter in the slightest. This wasn't what I expected, this was better. This exceeded all expectations and has raised the bar through the roof. Haagen Dazs I salute you! Best flavour you've provided me with so far.

Rating: 10/10

Review: Ben and Jerry's Home Sweet Honeycomb

With new Ben and Jerry's flavours coming to the UK in truckloads this year, I feel obliged to catch on with them and see what all the hype is about! It was refreshing to say the least when I first heard about this flavour. No cobbling together random chocolate or vanilla combos, no rebranding an old or American flavour and launching it over here. Something new! Properly, genuinely new!

On their website, Ben & Jerry's describe this as:

Sweet cream ice cream with a honey caramel swirl and milk chocolate covered honeycomb chunks

My first thought when reading this was of a Crunchie Bar, and thought that, if the chunks in here are anywhere near as good as that, this flavour will be an absolute winner. 

Texture: as always with ben and jerrys, the texture is smooth and easy to dig into. It's at its best when left to soften- I always think that softened ben and jerrys tubs acquire a special texture and taste to them that no other softened ice cream can achieve... or perhaps that is just me. As you may be able to see by the photo, this tub was absolutely jam packed with caramel swirl. One jab with a spoon and a great glob of it came oozing out. Now I only wish I'd have captured a motion picture of that baby because it was immensely satisfying to watch. The pieces of chocolate in in are relatively small, but fortunately there are enough of them so that you don't have to dig around long for one. They are nowhere near as abundant as in the Daim ice cream tub (but that's a story for another time ;) ). 

Taste: I was intrigued by the idea of 'sweet cream' ice cream, but it merely turned out to be a slightly less vanilla-y and slightly more creamy version of their vanilla. It compared more to Haagen Dazs' cookies and cream ice cream than your average Ben and Jerry's taste. This turned out to be fortunate though when paired with the powerfully sweet caramel swirls and the explosions of mega sweet chocolate honeycomb also present within the tub- the creaminess meant it wasn't too overwhelmingly sweet. The caramel had a slight hint of honey to it, and the chocolate pieces packed a decent punch of honeycomb to them. Their taste did actually quite resemble a crunchie bar, however the chocolate to honeycomb ratio is very much a different story.

Overall: not a bad addition to the Ben and Jerry's flavour range. Had the honey been a bit more discernible in that caramel, and the pieces of chocolate covered honeycomb a bit bigger, it would have provided a much more substantial honeycomb BANG and probably scored a bit higher. Saying that, the taste was still impressive nonetheless, and my sister LOVED it.

Rating: 7.5/10

Review: Oreo ice cream

Ah oreos. Whether you dunk em, twist em, or just plain bite into them from the side like a monster, you gotta love em! Surely, in ice cream form, they have to be just as nice, right?

On the tub, this flavour is described as:

Vanilla flavour ice cream with oreo biscuit pieces

A simple enough combination I guess? Upon opening the tub it was confirmed that all this ice cream would provide is that very combination. No fancy swirls, or brownies, or caramel add-ins. 

Texture: surprisingly easy to dig your spoon into! Dare I say even easier than the more 'luxury' brands. Biscuit pieces throughout, and quite a lot of them too (because nothing is more disappointing than an ice cream tub with about 2 biscuit pieces in. Yes Haagen Dazs Cookies n' cream, I'm looking at you!) The biscuit size ranges from tiny little crumbs to decent sized dig-your-teeth-into-it pieces.

Taste: again, this came as somewhat of a surprise. After having misgivings that this flavour was going to be 'boring' with not a lot going on, I was pleasantly startled by the flavour of the cream. The best comparison for it of course would be the vanilla cream filling that regular oreos have. It's quite a strong vanilla taste, but in a pleasant way so that it doesn't take away from the biscuit pieces. Naturally, the biscuit pieces are oreo. They taste like oreos, they have the same crunch as oreos- so I don't think there's any further explanation needed.

Overall: for a tub of quite simple composition (in that it consists of nothing more than ice cream and biscuit) it is NOT to be underestimated! A safe option, yes, for those of you who are fussier about their eating, but also guaranteed to leave a lasting impression. Turns out, when it comes to the good ol' famous oreo, you don't need to overcomplicate things to et a smashing tub.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Oppo Colombian Chocolate and Hazelnut

Oppo like to market themselves as providers of 'healthy ice cream.' As someone who tends who eat their ice cream BY THE TUB (because let's face it life's too short not to) I was intrigued by their newest flavour addition. Having already tried and approved of Salted Caramel and Mint Chocolate Chip, I have to admit I was sceptical about this one. How could a chocolate and hazelnut ice cream with only 43 calories a scoop possibly taste good? But I was willing to give it a go nonetheless.

Upon opening the tub, I saw to my pleasant surprise that there were already quite a few chopped hazelnut pieces visible. The chocolate smelled rich and promising, and I was itching to take my first bite.

Texture: though not of the standards of Haagen Dazs or Ben and Jerrys, the texture of Oppo is certainly the creamiest I've tasted among lower calorie/healthier brands. It melted quite easily and much quicker than other ice creams I've tried, meaning that the softness was on point, especially when scraped up from the sides. The hazelnuts add a depth and exciting change to the texture. They are abundant within this pint which I am very impressed by. My only complaint is that their size meant that they got stuck in my back teeth a lot- but that's hardly Oppo's fault!

Taste: now that chocolate... I wasn't sure what to expect. Would it focus more on the sweetness? Or the creaminess, perhaps, not unlike their salted caramel? But the first thing that grabbed me when I tasted the ice cream was the divine richness. It actually blew me away for a short while, as I could hardly believe that such a deep cocoa flavoured ice cream could possibly be 'healthy'. It's not as sweet as Nutella, but there is something of the nutty chocolate flavour to it that is remarkably similar.

Overall: Divinely rich, just sweet enough, and abundant in hazelnuts to satisfy the senses. What more could one ask for? Though hard to call, this may be my new favourite flavour of Oppo's. Certainly worth a pick up if you are on the lookout for healthier alternatives to your usual chocolaty treats.

Rating: 8.5/10

Review: Haagen Dazs Pralines and Cream

So continuing with my verdict on the big brand names, another line close to my heart has to be Haagen Dazs. With their intriguing name and alluring pictures on the tubs, who wouldn't be charmed by the popular chain?

On their website, Haagen Dazs describe this flavour as...

A delicious combination of smooth vanilla ice cream, crunchy praline pecan pieces, and sweet caramel swirls.

Texture: When it comes to texture I do think this flavour has the whole package. Creamy soft ice cream- such a luxurious texture- but also gooey swirls of caramel and crunchy praline pieces throughout. Now I don't know about you but I generally find that Haagen Dazs are very generous with the amount of caramel swirl in their tubs, meaning every single mouthful of this beauty is a treat for the senses.

Taste: There's a degree of creaminess in Haagen Dazs tubs that, quite frankly, cannot be matched by any other brand. I don't know how they do it, but the intense depth of creaminess within this vanilla is enough to make me want to clear out my snack cupboards and eat nothing but ice cream for the rest of my life. The caramelised pecans provide a sweet crunchy burst of divine nuttiness which, combined with the sweet vanilla, really ups the excitement of the tub.

Overall: every single component of this tub, though different, compliments each other in the best possible way to make an intensely moreish treat. The only thing holding this baby back from a full 10 is that I generally like my chunks to be bigger, plus the fact that I personally prefer the taste of Haagen Dazs's caramel ice cream to their vanilla.

Rating: So so close to a top score at 9.5/10 !!

Review: Ben and Jerry's Half Baked

Now, I'm sure most of you have had the delights of trying this classic flavour of Ben and Jerrys. If however you are unfortunate enough to have missed out... mayhaps you would be interested to know that it is their BEST SELLING flavour! So, does the taste live up to the reputation?

Ben and Jerry's description of this flavour goes as follows:

Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams mixed with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Fudge Brownies

So in other words its a delightful mesh of the two popular flavours: cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownie. Here's my verdict on the flavour:

Texture: as always with ben and jerrys, once you allow it to soften for a bit, the texture is soft, creamy, and has all the makings of quality ice cream! What is special about this flavour in particular though is the many add-ins that make this tub an adventure of different sensations for your mouth and tongue. The abundant brownie pieces are large soft and easy to bite into (as brownies should be!) and the cookie dough pieces, though a little harder and generally a little smaller, prove just as satisfying to dig your teeth into.

Taste: Oh where do I start? The balance in this tub is phenomenal, with the sweet creamy vanilla ice cream being counterbalanced perfectly by the rich chocolate, meaning that your tastebuds never get tired once you've dug in. The brownies are strong, moist, and rich in flavour, and the cookie dough provides yet another pleasant addition of sweetness.

Overall: Trust me when I say this is a fan favourite for a reason! Definitely worth a pick up when you go to your local stores, and always a winner for people who are rather fussy about their ice cream flavours. The only problem is that your may end up getting to the bottom of that tub sooner than you would have liked, because your spoon will always be routing around for one last buried brownie!

Rating: 9/10