Tag: Blue Bell

I must admit that I know precious little about the city of St. Louis. I know that arch thing is there, and…well, that’s about it. I did not know what people from St. Louis were called until just now, and even after finding out they are generally referred to as St. Louisans, I’m not sure exactly how to pronounce that. But I am proud to say that I have expanded my base of St. Louis knowledge a bit more, thanks to the new Gooey Butter Cake ice cream from Blue Bell.

It turns out that gooey butter cake, which are three words I’ve previously never typed together in my life, is a delightful, sugary treat that is native to St. Louis. I cannot explain why Texas-based Blue Bell decided to use it as its newest concoction, but I’m glad it did.

For those of you who are not St. Louisans or not well-versed in Midwestern culinary culture, gooey butter cake is a somewhat thin yellow cake that is dense like a brownie and often has a layer of cream cheese on top. The Blue Bell label describes this version as “cake batter ice cream combined with a luscious cream cheese swirl and rich gooey butter cake pieces.”

I would not have known the ice cream base was cake batter-flavored if not for the label, as it seemed to me just like the regular Blue Bell vanilla flavor. But the important parts of this ice cream are the cream cheese and gooey butter cake pieces, and they really deliver a home run. The cream cheese swirl is wonderfully silky and creamy with a strong cheesecake-like flavor, and you never know how much you will get because the color blends in almost seamlessly with the ice cream.

The cake pieces are a mixture of small, crumb-size morsels and larger square chunks, and that’s another mark in the plus column in my book. When you get a spoonful with just the crumb pieces, there is more than enough flavor to satisfy. And then, when you luck out and get a big nugget, you get to enjoy the chewy, buttery, sugary bliss it provides. After one bite, I regretted buying the pint size instead of the half-gallon, and I’m pretty sure the contents of my pint are not going to live to see tomorrow.

Having never eaten real gooey butter cake, I cannot say whether Blue Bell nailed the flavor profile with this ice cream. But it certainly nailed a delicious, creamy treat, and you can bet that if I ever find myself in St. Louis, that I’ll be hunting for some gooey butter cake. In the meantime, I’ll probably head back to the store and pick up a half-gallon.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: One pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 280 calories, 13 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 27 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

Life is full of difficult decisions. For me, few are harder than…pint or half-gallon? Yes, I’m talking about ice cream container sizes. It’s quite a conundrum when I see a new flavor in the grocery store freezer. Should I save a few bucks and just get a pint, or be a high roller and pay up for the half-gallon? It’s not even the money so much. Anyone can power through a subpar pint, but if you get a half-gallon that is filled with disappointment, then it just sits in your freezer until that day many months later when you finally open it again to see it has turned an odd color and looks like the landscape of Siberia. The reason for this review’s unnecessarily long introduction is that I faced that decision when buying Blue Bell’s new Cinnamon Twist ice cream. I’m happy to report that I wisely chose the pint-sized version.

If you love cinnamon, as I do, you might think this is the perfect concoction with, according to the package, “brown sugar cinnamon ice cream with cinnamon bun dough pieces in a cinnamon icing swirl.” This ice cream is certainly not bad, and if you break into my house in a couple weeks to steal it from my freezer, it will probably be gone by then, but I don’t regret not going all in on the half-gallon.

The highlight of this ice cream is the cinnamon bun dough pieces. They are about the same size and shape as the various types of dough pieces that Dairy Queen uses in its Blizzards, and they are quite tasty. They are soft and chewy and have a touch of granular texture that really says sugary cinnamon bun dough. However, its friends, cinnamon ice cream and cinnamon icing swirl, sort of miss the mark. Luckily, the dough pieces were plentiful, but the flavor was lacking when I got a bite without one of those wonderful nuggets. And a taste of just ice cream with no bun pieces and no icing swirl had only a faint hint of cinnamon flavor.

Again, this ice cream is fine but also forgettable. If the label promises three different kinds of cinnamon, then it leads to the expectation of some kind of crazy cinnamon party for your taste buds. That’s where this one missed the mark a bit.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: Pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 280 calories, 13 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 27 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

What is it?

It is Blue Bell’s newest flavor featuring fruity cereal-flavored ice cream with confetti sprinkles and coated fruity cereal pieces. As you probably figured out from the photo, the cereal is a Fruity Pebbles knockoff. I guess the lawyers at Blue Bell and Post couldn’t come to a mutually agreeable collaboration on this.

How is it?

This little pint is full of surprises. I did not read the label before digging in, so it caught me off guard that the ice cream is not vanilla but rather fruity cereal flavored. And that really makes all the difference here. This has the perfect level of sweetness; it’s not too sugary, but you definitely get that distinctive Fruity Pebbles flavor.

The second surprise is that the cereal remains crunchy even as the ice cream melts, thanks to some kind of magical whiteish coating. The cereal pieces were often clumped together in groups of two or three, delivering a satisfying crunch and burst of flavor every time. The confetti sprinkles are just kind of hanging around to add some color and texture but not really much flavor. If you like Fruity Pebbles and have ever wondered what they would taste like in ice cream form, this one is for you.

I also have to give Blue Bell credit for a little creativity with the name and packaging. If you look through the Blue Bell lineup, most of their flavors are named in a straightforward manner using the same font with a solid background corresponding to the color of the ice cream. This one has a fun, colorful font with a bowl of fake Fruity Pebbles in the background. A job well done by the Blue Bell design department, although they had set the bar pretty low.

Anything else you need to know?

This is one of the few Blue Bell flavors that are only available in pint-size containers, so if you are looking to get a half-gallon of this, you’ll have to buy…umm…I have no idea how many. After consulting with my phone, you’ll have to buy four pints to get a half-gallon.

Conclusion:

I cannot remember the last time I had Fruity Pebbles, and they were never one of my favorite cereals, but this ice cream flavor really delivers what it promises. Yes, I do heart this cereal ice cream, and if there’s ever a Cap’n Crunch version, I just might marry it. Please don’t tell my wife.

Purchased Price: $3.89
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: H-E-B
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 240 calories, 13 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 65 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 26 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

What is it?

Continuing the Blue Bell tradition of generally using the most straightforward name possible, the new Salted Caramel Brownie flavor contains exactly what you would expect: chocolate brownie pieces with a salted caramel swirl in vanilla ice cream.

How is it?

It’s good.

OK, I guess I’m contractually obligated to provide a longer answer, so let me expound a bit. The brownies are the best part of this, although they seemed to be somewhat sparsely mixed into my pint. When I did get a brownie piece in a bite, it was perfectly chewy and chocolatey. The problem was most bites didn’t have any brownies.

The caramel swirl was also pleasant. It had only a subtle saltiness and a nice creaminess that reminded me of a Werther’s Original caramel, even though I can’t remember the last time I’ve actually had one of those.

The vanilla ice cream was kind of just there to hold the brownies and caramel. This might have been a bit better if the ice cream base was either chocolate or caramel, but Blue Bell didn’t consult with me for some reason.

Anything else you need to know?

The “swirl” part was a bit different than I expected. Especially with caramel, it seems like a swirl usually consists of significant pockets of the gooey stuff that looks like rivers flowing through the ice cream. But for this flavor, you don’t get those big pools of caramel in different spots. Instead, it’s more evenly dispersed, so you get some in virtually every bite, even if it’s a little hard to see the caramel. As much as I like finding those nice mother lodes of swirl, I also enjoyed this version where it’s almost blended in.

Conclusion:

This flavor falls into the broad category of PGBF, or Pretty Good But Forgettable. The brownies are good, the caramel swirl is good, and the vanilla ice cream is good, but this one doesn’t really differentiate itself from any other caramel brownie options that are out there.

Purchased Price: $3.29
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: H-E-B
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 240 calories, 12 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 25 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.