Taste Test - Ice and Pan Rolled Ice Cream

I'm a little bit late on this trend but I was in the area and there was a place that makes one of the new hot trends of the dessert world, rolled ice cream. Rolled ice cream is cool mainly because of the way it looks both as its made and as you take it and eat it. I wondered if there was any noticeable difference in taste and I will say not particularly.

Ice and Pan is in Town town center locally and they also have smoothies and bubble tea. I was there for one reason and chose to get strawberry cheesecake flavored ice cream. The biggest fun is watching them spread and mix the cream and items together on the cold drum. My daughter got a birthday cake flavor and they mixed in vanilla base and sprinkles. The proces takes about 5 minutes and then you're allowed three toppings from the bar. I got strawberries and frosted flakes.

The ice cream itself is fine. It's nothing great and it's not bad. It's just regular ice cream and while the products may be somewhat freshly made, the freezing process makes a lot of that not matter. At the end of the day, it was a decent cup of ice cream, it looks cool and it's not too expensive at 5 bucks.

Rating:3/5

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Taste Test - Cool Haus Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Sandwich

Coolhaus is one of the hippest new craft ice cream companies and as they grow, items that have been maybe in other locations are starting to make their way here. Enter the Coolhaus Ice cream sandwich, which I must say is a pricey summer treat if you can find it. In my area, they are only at Harris Teeter and regular price for a single one is over 5 dollars! Catching it on sale I had to grab one and give it the once over and see what it tastes like.


The Ice cream sandwich is actually a nice size upon further reflection on it. It is packed with more ice cream than a traditional chipwich. The ice cream layer is nice and thick and it is high quality vanilla bean ice cream. The cookie is thin and chewy, which is good. Some of the cookie ice cream sandwiches can be too hard and thick to be useful. However, it's not all good. The cookie is pretty much flavorless as are the chocolate chips which means you don't get anything to enhance, or balance the vanilla ice cream. That leaves me with a treat that is 85% of the way there but missing one thing that would make it really stand out and that's a little bit unfortunate. Truthfully for the price, the cookie needs to be a little bit more special, with some chunks and sea salt to enhance the ice cream.

Rating: 3/5

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Taste Test - Jeni's Splendid Ice cream

It's been way too long but I'm back and with a good one. The small batch ice cream wars are in full effect. Much like the boom in micro-brews in the beer space, small artisan ice cream manufacturers are around in a great abundance. Using better, more local ingredients, they often have more unique flavors and less of the 'bad' things in them. I mean it is ice cream so it isn't going to be 'healhy' per se, but their size allows them to focus more on each container. Jeni's is a brand from Ohio I have always wanted to order but haven't just because of the logistics and timing of an ice cream delivery. Thus i was incredibly excited when I saw it in my local Wegmans.

Now the flavor selection of course is smaller in Wegmans than if I went directly to the site and ordered it but that's fine. Now the one thing that I might have done is chosen a flavor that seemed to be the hardest one to really rate, Vanilla. See for the most part vanilla is kind of the same everywhere and somewhat plain, however, as a base you can learn a lot about a brand with this one simple flavor. No one dislikes vanilla and some of the other flavors can sometimes lead to decisions based on that set of flavors and  I wanted to get a feel for how Jeni's just tastes on it's own. Also, be clear, this isn't just plain vanilla, this is Ndali Estate Vanilla.

Now, this one pint is a bit expensive at 7.99, but it is a premium brand and needs to be compared as such. To compare, the same size container goes for $12 on Jeni's website, which has an absolute smorgasboard of flavors. So with this I'm comparing Jeni's to Ben and Jerrys and Haagen Daz's for example. This is a good vanilla ice cream. It's not overly "vanilla beaned" where you see beans all over the place. It is strong in the beginning yet it fades nicely and gets really subtle at the end with a hint of nuttiness. It has a nice texture as well. Let me compare to Haagen Daz which can be slightly overwhelming and too sweet and strong. They are overly rich, while Jeni's gives you a nicer balance. Now trust me, I wasn't born knowing the difference, but just tasting Jeni's, some haagen daz recently, and my old mainstream favorite Green's ice cream you start to be able to pick out some things.


For myself, this is one of the better premium ice creams out there. I think it would pair well in a cherry coke float (yeah I don't drink root beer) and some kinds of apple pie. I was impressed at how it didn't coat my tongue over like some other premium brands do with extra richness. There was a good balance of flavors here which leads me to be sure I'm going to try the other flavors that are available locally.


Rating: 4.5/5

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Taste Test - Blue Bunny Bunny Snacks

With Spring right around the corner, Blue Bunny has brought out their latest creation, a set of ice cream treats perfectly made as individual servings for parties or just to hang out and chow down on as a little treat now and then. Blue Bunny mixes their high quality ice cream with hard shell toppings and cookies for a sundae experience within a couple of bites.

The two varieties I grabbed this week were salty caramel pretzel cookies and cream. Let's talk about the cookies and cream first, the shell that is on the outside of the snacks is pretty good. It has a nice taste to it as well as crunch. it also doesn't melt really fast which is an excellent thing in a snack like this. The one issue that I do have is that the cookie portion over shadows the cookies and cream ice cream. It feels overdone and the balance is slightly off.

The Salted Caramel Pretzel is also pretty good. It reminds me of the older Snickers Ice Cream bars a lot. The pretzels and salted caramel do a good job of replacing the peanuts in those. In this snack the balance is a lot better to me. The ice cream fills out the snack and has a nice smoothness and flavor to it. It's nothing that's great and overwhelming but it's a solid product.

The packaging is unique as well and it is worth noting. The bags stand up in the freezer and have a zipper to close them for simple portion control snacking. that makes them good for single adults, couples, and people with kids whom they are monitoring. They could be good for a party as well as they come individually wrapped, and at about $1,25 each, it's not too bad of a price per each.


Rating: 3.5/5

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Taste Test - Egloo, Duck Donuts, BooQoo Beignets

So I'm definitely looking at interesting companies who are innovating with Donuts these days because, why not? I mean Dunkin Donuts exists as do all of the local markets in the area. The quality is pretty much iffy all of the time and none of them are really noteworthy. I tried B Doughnut earlier this year and there are a couple more Baltimore area places I would like to try, but DC is bubbling with the things. One of the companies I was interested in trying at the Emporiyum was Duck Donuts.

Duck Donuts is a company that makes cake donuts sort of like The Fractured Prune. While they didn't bring a full set up, they do something similar with toppings and flavors. We got some to go, Vanilla, Cinnamon and sugar, chocolate frosted. The ingredients are definitely of good quality and pretty fresh, even two days later when I got around to the chocolate. The cake batter itself is just good, and when heated up the cinnamon and sugar was really good. They are worth checking out.


Now BooQoo Beignets was one of the first things we checked out. I will admit, I have always wanted to have some beignets and never have had the opportunity to find a place that has them. These were good, a cross between funnel cake and a doughnut with a layering of powdered sugar on the top. We ordered the Creole Vanilla Caramel as well. Now my wife was not a fan because the caramel has a hint of pepper to it, but I loved it. The little bit of of a kick that it gives is really good and interesting. With the beignets, it works very well.



I finished up with Eggloo, a waffle dessert shop that makes a bubbly waffle with ice cream, some condensed milk, fruity pebbles and pocky. The waffles themselves were good. The texture was chewy, soft, and had a good texture and bite to it. It didn't fall apart and had a nice moisture to it. The ice cream was good and taken with the waffle it was a nice dessert. While using the pocky to taste the ice cream, the chocolate gave a nice contrast to the strawberry ice cream we chose. Overall it was a nice treat, if a bit over valued, but at this kind of event it's fine at that price.

These three places were really good and a great example of the kind of things you can find at The Emporiyum. High quality ingredients and a nice twist on what you may be used to make it worth checking out. Also, I would look for one of these spots if I was in the area and recommend others go and check them out if they are looking for a new place and an excursion on a weekend. FYI you can also order the caramel sauces from the BooQoo Beignets website.

Rating:
BooQoo Beignets  4/5
Duck Donuts 3.5/5
Eggloo 3.5/5

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Taste Test -Coolhaus Salty Smores Ice Cream

I happened across this company on the gram and put in some time looking them up. Using their search I did see they were available locally at the Fresh Market but that's not very convenient so I wasn't sure if I would be able to get a little bit to try any time soon. Then shopping in my local Safeway I saw it and figured I might as well grab it and try it now. As a side note, there are a lot of smaller boutique ice cream makers popping up now with new flavors kind of going the same way Ben and Jerry's did at their beginning.

Anyway, back to Coolhaus, this is a nice little pint of ice cream. There is saltiness in the vanilla and not the caramel which is normal, but it works out well in the flavor department. Now, I would have expected it to be slightly more creamy but it wasn't bad at all mind you. It just didn't have the richness I expected going in, which a Haagen Daz for example has. The chocolate chunks are dark but not too dark where it's extra bitter, and since it's ice cream, it works as a complement to the vanilla and the salt. As for the graham flavor, it's a marshmallow graham cookie butter and I get the graham flavor a bit but not much of the marshmallow. Put together it isn't bad the way it works but I also feel like it could have been slightly stronger in that department. The Marshmallow isn't as prominent as I would have liked it and the graham butter isn't distributed as fully as it probably should be to ensure you get some in every bite.


Now, Coolhaus has several other flavors I'm looking forward to trying after this because they seem to be interesting and fun. Salty Smores is good but not "great". It is a nice treat though and if you're into trying out new flavors I think you should give it a go. I haven't seen anything like this in another place so Coolhaus has that going for them


Rating: 4/5

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Taste Test - Steve's Southern Banana Pudding Ice Cream

So in continuing the warm weather treat trend, I saw this small premium looking container and flavor of ice cream and it caught my eye. Don't let anyone tell you packaging doesn't work! There were a couple of decent flavors but this southern banana pudding caught my eye. One thing is that several of the other varieties all have different sets of ingredients to be both environmentally responsible and friendly to a variety of different diets such as gluten free, non-soy, coconut milk based, etc.

This one I chose was one made with more traditional ingredients. Now these things are high quality and the taste is really clean and fresh. Ben and Jerry's is a little heavy, and haagen das is especially rich. Steve's is in another lane of it's own, taking off from the Ben and Jerry style I would think. I could see this company expanding with their niche being the types of ingredients that are more controlled for quality and freshness as well as variety.

Now this ice cream is off the chain. It might possibly be a little bit more banana flavor than some would like possibly, but not I. I mean it is banana pudding and when you make your bowl and dig in with your spoon you can get a good balance in most every bite. There is a great mix of the ingredients into the ice cream with not too high or low a ratio of ingredients. This is definitely a personal indulgence with a regular price of 7 bucks so if you try it, and like it , keep it a secret so that no one asks for some.

Rating: 5/5

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Taste Test - Edy's Snickerdoodle Custard

Summer is just around the corner and as such it is time for the ice cream companies to bring out the new stuff to get in your wallet as you grab something to cool down with. Custard is getting big as an off-shoot of the gelato craze of the last few years and as people are looking for more unique items for their taste buds.

So Edy's has several new flavors, of course vanilla is one, but to step outside we grabbed the Snickerdoodle variety which is a nice cinnamon flavored cream, but it isn't very strong, with snickerdoodle cookie pieces in ribbons through the dessert. The custard has a nice consistency and while it isn't as hard as some ice cream can normally be, it isn't a really soft custard either. It fits in a nice little space as far as consistency.

This is a simple, review, because honestly it's a premium style of ice cream. Very creamy and made with rich ingredients, the taste is on point and it is just what you would expect. The only beef might be with the size of the container because you don't get a whole lot. You won't be giving this to the kids at their birthday parties. This is for the close family and friends only.


Rating: 4/5

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Taste Test- JC's Pie Pops

So I saw these desserts in the store a few times but I decided to bide my time before grabbing some to try. I mean they look really appealing and have all of the great buzz words on them and a premium look, but it took me a while to pull the trigger. I was leaning towards the Key Lime Pie Flavor but then only I would eat them (which isn't always a bad thing) but instead I grabbed a box of strawberry.

The outside of these reminds me of the Strawberry Shortcake Good Humor bars. It was a little smaller than I was expecting as well. The outside is really good, a strong flavor and a slightly soft consistency. I'm sure some will have a little bit more of a crunch but this was fine. The ice cream itself was a disappointment. There was little if any strawberry flavor that I could discern and while it was creamy, it wasn't much better than the run of the mill ice cream. In fact, the Safeway Lucerne brand of ice cream is preferable to this.

At the end of the day, all this is is a premium branded Good Humor bar that isn't as good. I would eat this, and I still want to try the Key Lime to see how it stands on it's own but the value or bang for the buck wasn't there with these bars. I wouldn't suggest you try them unless you are getting a more standout flavor that you can't find other places.

Rating: 2/5

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Taste Test - Wonka Peel a Pop

So my family saw these and we were very intrigued by this new product that is using the 'Wonka' branding. That's good because in the movie the Wonka company had unique and exciting treats and this popsicle/ice cream pop hybrid is a unique combination to say the least.

Let's start with the outer since that is what makes this pop so unique and different, it tastes and smells just like a regular banana's inside does. Looking at it you can see the areas where you are supposed to pull down and peel and it is suggested that you bite first to make space for your fingers. the texture is very similar to that of biting into a regular banana but it is also somewhat disconcerting. It's obvious that there is some sort of gelatin product in this part of the pop.

Inside there is a vanilla ice cream that doesn't quite taste right. Maybe it's light and I don't know it because I don't eat light ice cream but it isn't full of flavor. It has the right taste at the start but it goes away and this odd nothingness comes after. Put together things don't get that much better because the banana is overpowering the weak vanilla. Then to top it off, as the 'banana' melts it shows it's rubbery gelatinous structure and looks really creepy.

This isn't a product we will be buying any more honestly. It's novel but the flavors weren't there to compensate for the weird texture that was needed to make this pop. It's alright to take a little try on if it's on sale and you have a coupon but it's not worth the regular price.

Rating: 1/5

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