For as long as I have consistently perused the mainstream frozen foods aisle at grocery stores, two things have always stayed true: Ben & Jerry’s makes the best widely available pints, and Häagen-Dazs has the best bars. But that gap may be closing. To kick off the new year, Ben & Jerry’s has an all-new line of ice cream bars, in an array that pays homage to some of your favorite Ben & Jerry’s pints, which include Cookie Dough and Strawberry Cheesecake.
If there is any flavor that is now ubiquitous with Ben & Jerry’s, it has to be Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (I know Cherry Garcia is great too, but, c’mon!). As the first company to put dough into their pints it makes sense that this is the one it is pushing forward with the hardest, as it will be available in both grocery four packs and single servings in convenience stores like 7-Eleven. Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough bar is vanilla ice cream with gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough, dipped in chocolatey coating with cookie pieces.
Ben & Jerry’s has a good, solid vanilla base that comes through in this bar. The decently-sized cookie dough chunks pop up a respectable amount, about four per bar, which gives every other bite a hefty helping of gritty brown sugar flavor and texture. While the base and mix-in are solid, the real surprise element that brings the experience together is the cookie pieces mixed into the chocolate. The little extra bit of grit and nuanced cookie flavor, along with the melty cocoa taste, really elevates it to something more than your typical frozen confection, and it’s great.
On another band of the flavor spectrum, we have the Strawberry Cheesecake bar, which is cheesecake ice cream with strawberry swirls, dipped in white chocolatey coating with graham cracker pieces. I have never personally been a fan of the Strawberry Cheesecake pint, but this bar iteration is absolutely fantastic. The cheesecake ice cream is smooth and only subtly tangy, while the swirls provide a sweet acidity with a sugary finish that truly is a match made in heaven.
Yet again, what really makes this bar shine is the coating. Not only is the white chocolate delightfully sugary and decadent, but the graham pieces bring a bolder crunch and saltiness that make for one of the better ice cream bars from any company I have had in years.
The concept with these new novelties is simple, but they are executed wonderfully. The Ben & Jerry’s ice cream bars serve as a snapshot of what digging into one of their more storied pints can be in a fraction of the time and calories. And if you’re feeling generous, they’re easy to share, too.
DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.
Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 4 2.5-ounce bars
Purchased at: Received from Ben & Jerry’s
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Cookie Dough), 9 out of 10 (Strawberry Cheesecake)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) Cookie Dough – 200 calories, 12 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 40 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 17 grams of total sugars, and 3 grams of protein. Strawberry Cheesecake – 200 calories, 11 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 21 grams of total sugars, and 2 grams of protein.
