When the snowmen in my yard light impromptu bonfires to fight the frigid cold, ice cream is the last thing on my mind. Still, the sight of Baskin-Robbins returning Bobsled Brownie made me race over for a frozen treat. January’s Flavor of the Month boasts blonde brownie pieces and a fudge crackle ribbon mixed with milk-chocolate-mousse and butter-caramel-flavored ice creams.
The dessert itself is an imposing sight with a large crag of the fudge crackle ribbon jutting out of the ice cream mountain base. The chocolate and caramel ice cream slopes are swirled together preventing one from isolating a single track. Fortunately, the two combine to provide a smooth, creamy consistency with a flavor that vacillates depending on the ratio in any given spoonful.
Depressingly, the brownie pieces that always excite me when advertised are neither large nor frequent enough to add more than a spongy textural contrast. They don’t detract from the dessert, but I would not have noticed their absence. An unexpected rider for me is the attenuated but still chewy chunks of caramel that are as commonplace as the brownie bits. The flavor works well, but I do not appreciate having to chew parts of my ice cream.
The fudge crackle ribbon, on the other hand, is bold and pervasive but also firm and difficult to break apart. Small pieces occasionally cleave off from the core and find themselves in the mix, but a pickaxe the pink plastic spoon is not. This does, however, result in unavoidably fudgy, dark spoonfuls of the crackle ribbon that my chocoholic self adores.
Despite flirting with the lip of a caramel curve, Bobsled Brownie is an enjoyable treat. While some of the elements seem as out of place as a Jamaican bobsled team, everything works well enough together to be a cool running.
Purchased Price: $2.79
Size: Large scoop (4 oz.)
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Large scoop) 310 calories, 19 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 24 grams of sugar, 2 grams of dietary fiber and 5 grams of protein.
