Last night I was at a friend’s helping him pack for his move to the Netherlands next week.  He had to run out and buy more packing tape and guess what- he came back with some ice cream!  It’s been a long long time since I’ve had Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey.  I used to order it accidentally thinking it was Chubby Hubby (they sound kind of similar).  I’ve never been a huge fan of banana flavored things.  I like bananas, just not anything that’s flavored like banana.  So, I haven’t purchased Chunky Monkey in awhile.  But, I actually really enjoyed it last night.  It won’t ever be one of my favorites, but it’s not as bad as I remembered.  The banana ice cream is smooth and there are lots of chocolate chunks.  The only disappointment was the lack of whole banana chunks.  I like chunks of banana and there just weren’t enough.  If you like bananas definitely give Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey a try.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4

I got my butt kicked today at an Intro to Thai Kickboxing class at Results the Gym on U Street.  It was supposed to be an INTRO class, not one that left me wanting an ice bath at the end. However, afterwards I rewarded myself with a smoothie from Health Bar (next to the gym at 17^th and U NW) in hopes that the pain would subside.  Berry Berry Coconut has coconut milk, pineapple juice, blueberries, strawberries and frozen yogurt.  The pineapple juice and coconut milk were probably the strongest flavors.  It was tasty and smooth and made me feel much less hypoglycemic after my workout.  I would recommend Berry Berry Coconut for a post-workout treat; though I imagine some of Health Bar’s other smoothies aren’t bad either—just try to avoid the kickboxing class first and you might enjoy the smoothies a little more.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $4.68

Alright, I’m back to posting. Sorry I’ve gotten a bit behind. In the next few days I’ll get all my ice cream reviews from the past week listed (yes, I’ve still been trying something new each day!).

As I have enormous amounts of unconsumed ice cream in my freezer, I have decided to do some more “homemade” ice cream recipes, using store bought ice cream and other commonly found ingredients. (Oh, and I’ve realized buying new ice cream each day isn’t very economically feasible for someone who has recently returned to grad school…). Since not everyone has an ice cream maker or the time to make homemade ice cream, I’ll experiment and review these pseudo-homemade recipes.
Today’s choice was a raspberry shake. I blended:

• 1/3 cup unsweetened frozen raspberries
• ¾ cup Turkey Hill Vanilla Ice Cream
• A few tablespoons of skim milk.

It was delicious. I like my shakes a little on the thin side (malts should be thick, not shakes) and so I used a little more milk than some might. I think the quality of the vanilla ice cream was what made this recipe so good. It was sweet and fruity, but not overwhelmingly so.

As you can see from the picture, my cat was a big fan of this dessert!

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 2.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Ease to make: 1.5

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

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

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

Sweet cream with walnuts, cherries, and brownies.  Mmm.  I saw someone walk out the door with an ice cream cone with giant chunks of brownie I knew I had to have it.  When I looked at the flavors I knew it was Black Forest.  It has a flavor with a hint of cherry with chunks of walnut and brownie and a few pieces of cherry.  Unfortunately, there were no giant chunks of brownie like I wanted.  I guess it was just an unlucky scoop.  But, it really was amazing.  It was subtle and sweet, but not sugary.  The ice cream had a god mix of flavors and textures with none being overpower.  Very very impressive.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.50

Wow. That’s what I have to say about Ben and Jerry’s new American Pie Ice Cream. I was very skeptical about trying this. Apple pie flavored ice cream? Not your typical flavor. It’s not even something that sounds good. But I thought I’d give it a try since I read about their American Pie Program. I did the online “allocation pie” and couldn’t even believe how different my pie looked than the federal government’s. But no need to go there.

I went to the Ben and Jerry’s store south of Dupont Circle last night where it was extremely crowded. While I was there I learned something new and interesting: they don’t seem to have all of the prices listed on the board. On the wall behind the counter it is listed that a regular cone costs $4.25 and a large costs $5.25. It also says that an extra scoop costs $1.50. Anyhow, I noticed that everyone seemed to get two scoops on their regular cone. When I ordered mine I unintentionally said, “I’ll have a scoop of American Pie on a cone.” Well, the woman only gave me one scoop, not two like everyone else. I didn’t want to raise a ruckus about this, since I did only say a scoop. But, it turned out that they charged me a price that isn’t listed on the board! My cone only cost $3.58 (which is $3.25 plus the outrageous 10% DC tax). Now, it seems like a little false advertising to me since they don’t list a small on their price board. Or I guess it could be called good marketing. Either way, not one of the approximately 11 people in line ahead of me got only 1 scoop. Amazing.

Back to the ice cream. It tasted just like apple pie. There were small bits of apples and crust throughout the smooth creamy ice cream. It was fruity and creamy and not at all sour (a lot of apple flavored things are sour). I’m going to say it again because I am still in such shock: Ben and Jerry’s American Pie ice cream tastes just like the real thing. I may have to try to make something like this at home. Maybe pureeing some homemade apple sauce with cream? I’m not a food scientist, but I might be able to make it. The trick is being able to come up with these ideas…

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 5
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.58

There is nothing like being home from a trip and being able to make ice cream again. Unfortunately the hot weather followed me back to DC. So it sounded like Key lime would hit the spot.
This recipe sounds a little odd, takes some work, and has few strange ingredients; but trust me, it tastes wonderful. The best thing about this ice cream is it is so creamy and smooth. I think it’s the Cool Whip that adds the smoothness. Even with the gelatin and Cool Whip, it is still fairly sour. But, I like sour things. And what’s better than sweet and sour? (As a kid I used to eat a lot of Sour Patch Kids.) No tricks to this recipe. Just follow it and it will taste amazing. (I did put it in the freezer for a little while as it needed more time to freeze after the ice cream maker.)

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 3

Sorbet doesn’t get much better than this.  Sweet and sour, smooth, fruity, and intense, Sonny’s Blood Orange Sorbet is fantastic.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4

• Overall: 5

I remember when Isee Icy first opened.  Two summers ago I was living on R Street in Georgetown when I noticed the shop starting up.  I frequently visited Thomas Sweet and was excited to have something even closer to my house.  (Yes, it was only a block closer, but a block is a block).  When they opened I became hooked on the Sorrento Lemon.  I occasionally had the Chocolate Hazelnut.  I loved them both and never felt compelled to try anything else.  Tonight, I was really craving the Sorrento Lemon.  But when we got to Isee Icy, which has since been renamed Dolcezza, something told me I should try something new.  The Local Peach with Ginger looked like something different, so I ordered a small cone.

Local Peach with Ginger has a kick.  The ginger is strong and leaves a lasting zing in your mouth.  But it is an excellent zing.  The peach flavor is subtle, almost overpowered by the ginger, but not quite.  There is just enough peach to compliment the ginger.  Which is really what is happening in this ice cream.  It should almost be called Ginger with Local Peach.  Almost.  But, it’s peachy enough and I’m a fan.  Also, it was a sorbet.  For a sorbet it had a remarkably smooth texture.  It was still a little coarse, though I can’t remember a smoother sorbet than Dolcezza’s Local Peach with Ginger.  Finally, the cone was good.  Not stale and not burned: not bad.

As a final note, when I came home from Dolcezza I Googled them to see if they had a website.  Not only do they have a website, but they have a blog.  Normally this wouldn’t be that exciting, but yesterday they posted about the peaches.  Looks like I may have gotten one of the first batches of the season.  Here’s to trying new flavors!

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 5
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $4.40

When you take the two fattiest fruits and use them both in homemade ice cream what do you get? A tasty treat that makes you extremely happy there isn’t a carton to tell you the caloric content. I was a little skeptical when I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. Avocado and coconut ice cream? It sounds interesting; I usually don’t mean that in a good way. But, I had both avocados and coconut sitting around my house and I decided to give it a try.

First, the recipe is really easy to make. There are few ingredients and there isn’t any cooking. Removing the pit from the avocado is the most difficult part (which should give you an idea of how easy the recipe is). The one modification I made was adding about 3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes during the blending process. The ice cream is a pale green flavor that looks a lot like pistachio ice cream. It’s very pretty.

The flavor is amazing. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. It is not a sweet ice cream, but sweet enough. The avocado flavor is clearly defined, but not overpowering. And I like the added flavor and texture of the additional coconut. This is something I will make again.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 1

Nothing says 4th of July like ice cream. Add angel food cake and it’s even better! Using a recipe from Spaghetti Ice Cream Company I made the best dessert ever. For the recipe I used unsweetened frozen raspberries instead of fresh raspberries to save on costs. So, I didn’t use the lemon juice but did still add the sugar. Let me say, this is the best ice cream I’ve made yet. It was so creamy. It was sweet, but not too sweet. And it was very raspberry without being overly fruity. I will definitely make it again!

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 2.5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 2