Ice cream just doesn’t get any better than this.  I think Sebastian Joe’s Oreo Ice Cream may be the best ice cream I’ve ever had.  Just a few weeks ago I was comparing the Oreo ice cream at Sundae School (on Cape Cod) to Sebastian Joe’s.  But, now that I’ve had Sebastian Joe’s again, I really should go back and change my review.  Nothing can be compared to this ice cream.  It’s is so intensely Oreo with an amazingly smooth, but at the same time almost chewy texture.  I don’t know what else to say in this ice cream review.  If you are ever in Minnesota you must go to Sebastian Joe’s, get a scoop of Oreo ice cream, and walk around Lake Harriet.  There’s nothing more enjoyable in the world.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: around $4.50 for a pint; $2.35 for a scoop

I never realized that Kemps was a Midwest brand until I moved away from MN.  It’s always been decent ice cream, never amazing, never terrible.  Today’s Toasted Almond Fudge was about what I expected: not spectacular, but not all that bad.  The ice cream was just plain chocolate ice cream with toasted slivers of almonds in it.  The texture reminds me of the chocolate malt cups you can buy at baseball games.  It’s not a flavor that I would buy again if I wanted really good ice cream, but for the price it’s decent.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 2.5
• Overall: 3.5
• Cost: $2.50 at Byerly’s in MN

I don’t remember the last time I had the blissful experience of eating Sebastian Joe’s Ice Cream (I went to their location on Upton Ave).  Honestly,  I don’t think this place has a bad ice cream flavor.   Today I picked up a couple of pints of old favorites to keep in the freezer and try this week, but I also tried a flavor I hadn’t seen there before: Key Lime.  This stuff was amazingly sour.  I should preface my review by saying that I love sweet and sour flavor combinations. I know not all people do, but I adore them.  Sebastian Joe’s Key Lime was a little more sour than I’m used to in a sour ice cream, but it was oh so good.  I couldn’t believe how creamy it was.  It’s hard to imagine an ice cream that’s rich and creamy and sour, but it exists.  This was better than the recipe I made last month.  This is defiantly the best key lime ice cream and possibly citrus ice cream I’ve ever had.  I also ordered a homemade cone.  I was very impressed with it.  Other homemade cones I’ve had are usually a little chewy or not sweet enough, but this one was crunchy and just the prefect sweetness.  The only thing that I wasn’t used to is that it’s thicker than a normal cone.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $2.85

I flew into Minneapolis today and will be here through the end of the week.  I intend to go out exploring the Minneapolis ice cream shops, but with the flights today and a two hour layover I resigned myself to staying in and having a couple of Dove Miniature bars.  For only 60 calories these really are amazing.  I taste-tested both the original with dark chocolate coating French vanilla ice cream and the cherry cordial which has dark chocolate covering cherry ice cream.  Both were quite good, though I preferred the original.  The dark chocolate on both is more intensely chocolate and thus combines perfectly with the extra sweet ice cream.  One of these satisfies my craving for both high quality chocolate (well- high quality for a mass produced ice cream bar ) and creamy ice cream.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4

Today’s recipe of choice was a Williams Sonoma Recipe for dark chocolate gelato. It wasn’t terribly difficult to make, much easier than the basil recipe I made two days ago, but it still required some cooking and straining (I did discover that we do have a metal strainer which came in handy for this recipe). The flavor was extremely chocolaty. Not very sweet like most commercial ice creams. The texture was really thick, almost fudgey. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if it was supposed to be the fudey consistency that it was. I didn’t really care for the texture. Also, I should have added the cocoa powder more gradually since it ended up clumping together. For a dark chocolate ice cream this was a good choice—if I made it again I would definitely add the powder more gradually and I would probably freeze in it the freezer after using the ice cream maker to see if it would get to be a harder and less fudgey consistency.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 1.5
• Overall: 4
• Ease to make: 3.5

The ice cream section at Whole Foods was unusually well-stocked today. Every other time I’ve been there the ice cream section is chaotic with brands and flavors either out-of-stock or in the wrong place. So, while I was there I made a point to look at all of the flavors. I found Edy’s pints (again!!!), so I felt compelled to buy one. Though, like at 711, it only came in Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate. Unlike 711, the pint was labeled as costing mere $2.29 (at 711 it was $4.29). Better yet, it rang up at the register as $1.97—not a sale price.

I haven’t had plain chocolate ice cream in awhile, and forgot how much I enjoy it. The flavor of Edy’s Grand chocolate was excellent. The texture, however, was lacking. It was a little grainy and far too light and airy for my liking. It doesn’t really fill you up or satisfy a real ice cream craving the way Haagen Dazs or a homemade variety would. But, I did really enjoy the flavor.

As a final note, I’ve realized that I like ice cream so much it’s hard for me to give any of it a bad review, and thus, my ratings may have become a little inflated recently. So, beginning today, I am going to try to hold the standard a little higher…

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 1
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $1.97 at Whole Foods

I’m going to start reviewing some homemade ice cream recipes again and today I wanted to try a lemon ice cream. I found a few recipes online and a recipe in “The Ultimate Ice Cream Book” but all of them looked too complicated. A lot of cooking, lemon zesting, and whipping involved. I couldn’t find a single recipe for just mix-it-together-and-freeze-it ice cream Well, I did find one or two but neither used an ice cream machine! Someone commented that it tasted sorbet-like—of course it would if you don’t freeze it gradually and mix it (as an ice cream machine does). So, I kind of made up my own recipe tonight. I used the recipes previously mentioned as my base ingredients but also used Cool Whip (I had it in the freezer from a previous ice cream recipe and wanted to use it up) and used lemon juice from a bottle (not fresh lemon juice). I’m not sure what the exact measurements were, I just did it to taste. It was my first time not following a recipe and it turned out pretty well. The flavor was fairly tart, but it was incredibly smooth. Next time I would use fresh lemon juice (and add some lemon zest), but other than that it was fun to mix my own recipe. Try it sometime.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4
• Ease to make: 1

I had high hopes for this Haagen Dazs. I love anything peach, especially chunky peach ice cream. But, there were few chunks of peach in this ice cream. Most of the peach flavoring came from some sort of peach swirl (which was not identified on the carton). It was a gooey marmalade; a sticky, intensely sweet swirl that clashed with the very lightly flavored peach ice cream base. I would have been ok just eating around the swirl, but the ice cream base didn’t have enough flavor. Maybe if I had expected the swirl I would have enjoyed this ice cream a little more. But, I just couldn’t move past the fact that it is advertised as “Peaches and Cream”; the picture doesn’t even show the swirl. Haagen Dazs- you failed me this time—miserably.

• Flavor: 2
• Flavor Intensity: 2
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3
• Overall: 2
• Cost: $4.29 at 711

The ice cream gods must have heard me when I remarked just a few days ago that Edy’s needs to have pint size containers. Because, I stopped in the 711 down the street from my house today and discovered pint size Edy’s. No joke! They only carry three flavors— Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry—I opted for the strawberry. (711 also carries flavors of Ben and Jerry’s and Haagen Dazs that they don’t have at my local Safeway or Whole Foods (correction: they do carry 3 flavors at Whole Foods)). So, now I can throw out only half a pint and not half a quart. But, it comes at a price: $4.29. For a pint of ice cream this is outrageous. Safeway sells quarts of Edy’s for just over $5 and when it’s on sale it’s under $4. I guess we know where my priorities lie. From now on I’ll most likely buy Edy’s wherever it’s cheapest. (At Shopper’s in VA it only costs $3.99 for a quart! Oh the joys of living in DC…)

The strawberry ice cream was very good. It’s light and not very dense, but has a nice flavor. Because it’s not dense and rich, I don’t think it was a good as the Breyers I previously tested. As I said, the Edy’s Grand Strawberry ice cream was good, but I was left feeling very confused. It’s called “Edy’s Grand” which implies that it’s rich and thus bad for you. But, this strawberry flavored Grand only came in at 130 calories and 6 grams of fat. Yes, that’s more fat than their new “Slow Churned” flavors, but not any more calories. Are all Edy’s Grand ice creams this good for you? If so, then what’s with the new Slow Churned / Double Churned craze?

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $4.29 at 711

Talk about rich.  I can honestly say that I don’t think I have ever had a chocolate ice cream as rich and velvety as Godiva’s Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Praline.  But, I wouldn’t buy it again.  You know how you can’t eat an entire box of Godiva Truffles without feeling sick?  It’s the same way with their ice cream.  It is too intense in flavor and sweetness to have any more than a bite or two.  I had four bites and the flavor is burning my mouth.  Maybe this would be good if you’re on a diet; because one bite might satisfy a chocolate ice cream craving.  But really, that takes the fun out of pigging out on ice cream.  One or two bites, excellent; more than that is just too much Godiva chocolate ice cream for me.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $3.00 on special at Safeway

As we just got back from a week long vacation in Cape Cod, I’m not completely caught up on my previous posts; but I promise to get them up in the next day or two.

Today’s ice cream is another Ben and Jerry’s flavor.  I feel the need to buy it when it’s on sale (which it almost always is these days).  Also, I feel less guilty about throwing away half a pint than I do about tossing a half a gallon of ice cream into the trash.  There’s just something inherently wrong with throwing away that much ice cream.  But, I don’t have much choice.  I can’t eat it all and my freezer is so filled with ice cream that I don’t have room for anything else.  Why don’t they make smaller sizes of Edy’s and Breyer’s and other brands that only come in half gallon sizes?  I wonder if those companies have small sample sizes that I can convince them to send me…   I’ll have to look into that.

Back to today’s flavor: Oatmeal Cookie Chunk by Ben and Jerry’s.  It says on the carton that it’s “by popular demand”.  I’m not sure if they mean “back by popular demand” or what they mean.  I know they carry it in their shops, but I haven’t seen it in a carton before.  It’s really good.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.  The ice cream in cinnamon (which I have had a lot of lately at Circle Bistro and The Dairy Godmother).  There are chocolate chunks and pieces of oatmeal cookie in the ice cream.  (I probably didn’t need to mention the chocolate chunks, since as I have previously commented on Ben and Jerry’s obscene overuse use of chocolate chunks.)  The chunks of Oatmeal Cookie are soft and gooey.  And they are amazing.  When I recently had Oatmeal Cookie at The Dairy Godmother, their cookies were crispy, something Ben and Jerry’s probably couldn’t pull off since the ice cream has to be stored so long.  I really enjoy the gooeyness of the cookies.  This ice cream was an excellent surprise and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an interesting, but tasty flavor.  As usual, I have a gripe with Safeway and the ice cream; the texture was terrible!  When will Safeway properly store their ice cream so it doesn’t melt and refreeze into an icy mess?!

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 2 (not to be blamed on the ice cream itself)
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $3.00 on special at Safeway

I don’t particularly enjoy fast food, but when I’m on a road trip (and more or less forced to eat it) I prefer Wendy’s.  I could tell you the whole long story about our drive back from Cape Cod and how I was holding out for a Wendy’s of which they don’t seem to have on I-95 in Connecticut, New Jersey, or New York and how it wasn’t until 3 in the afternoon in Delaware that we finally discovered one, but I won’t bore you with the details.  What’s important is that we finally found one and I got my Wendy’s.  And what’s great about it is I got a FREE Frosty.

I ordered my usual medium chocolate Frosty but when the woman poured it and handed it to me I noticed it was off-white in color.  I didn’t really think about and said, “Did they change the color of the Frosty?”  She realized her mistake and poured me a chocolate; but she also gave me the vanilla one for free!  So, I got two Frosty’s.  Surprisingly the Vanilla Frosty was quite good.  It tasted a lot like a McDonald’s soft serve cone (that artificial, but not grossly artificial vanilla flavor).  It had the same consistency as a Chocolate Frosty and all-in-all I was impressed.  In fact, I ate more of the vanilla than of the chocolate.  Next time you’re at Wendy’s give it a try.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4
• Cost: FREE (for me) usually 99 cents

Mmmmm.  That’s what I have to say about Cobie’s located on route 6A just outside of Brewster on Cape Cod.  Even though this site is about ice cream, let me tell you what I had for lunch: a fish sandwich (with lots of tartar sauce) and fried clams.  It couldn’t have tasted any better (and it was cheap!)

On to the ice cream… Cobie’s had both soft serve and hard ice cream.  I was intrigued with their soft serve since they listed 24 different flavors.  I have never seen a store with more than 4 or even 6 flavors of soft serve before.  I finally settled on cranberry (since that seemed like a Massachusetts flavor).  I watched carefully to see where they stored all of the soft serve machines (since I could only see one from where I was standing).  It turned out there was only one soft serve machine and it had chocolate and vanilla.  What they did was put some soft serve in a cup and add a few squirts of a syrup mix-in (like coffee or Italian soda syrups) and then put it all in another machine that blends it and spits it out in the typical soft serve twirl.  Very intriguing.  It tasted excellent.  The soft serve was smooth and the cranberry flavor was tasty.  The cake cone was even good (and I don’t usually like cake cones).  Moreover, it only cost $2.25.  (The hard ice cream was the same price).  I don’t know where else you can find as good of soft serve at a better price.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $2.25

I recently purchased a book called “East Coast Scoops.”   It lists all of the “best” ice cream shops on the East Coast and one of the places listed is Sundae School.  Because of the book’s outstanding recommendation I made a point to find this shop.  And it was well worth the visit.

I chose Oreo Crunch, in part because I was in the mood for Oreo and in part because I think Oreo ice cream is a good way to judge a shop.  It’s difficult to make good Oreo ice cream and I can only think of one place/brand that carries Oreo or cookies and cream ice cream that’s worth eating.  That place is called Sebastian Joe’s and it’s in Minneapolis (when I go to MN in a few weeks I will officially review the ice cream for this site).

Let me say that Sundae School’s Oreo Crunch rivals Sebastian Joe’s.  It is amazing.  It is extremely Oreo flavored, with lots of chunks of Oreo swirled throughout.  Also, the ice cream base isn’t plain vanilla (like many cookies and cream ice creams) but it is Oreo flavored.  It is smooth and rich and the cone was excellent.  If you are ever on Cape Cod be sure to go to Sundae School.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Cone: 4.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: 2.70

On the way out of Provincetown today we made a stop at Turner’s Candy and Ice Cream.  I ordered the White Pistachio and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is more vanilla flavored than other pistachio ice creams I’ve tasted and has many chunks of pistachio.  I was especially impressed with the smoothness of the ice cream.  Turner’s wasn’t quite as good as the other shops in Provincetown, but it was still much better than most store bought ice cream.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.25