Tag: Dairy Queen

What is it?

One of two 4th of July themed treats, the limited release Star Spangled Blizzard mixes blue candy with cherry flavored soft serve topped with a signature DQ ball and curl; red, white, and blue DQ Stars; and a Stripes StarKiss frozen treat.

How is it?

The saying beauty is only skin deep applies to ice cream too apparently. The StarKiss bar is a clever marketing gimmick that adds nothing to the taste experience while making it more difficult to actually eat the Blizzard.

Its rapidly melting form forces you to consume it immediately. Ironically not the star of the show, I’ll briefly say that beyond the cherry stripe there is only a nondescript artificial and substandard sweetness.

After extracting the not so bomb pop, the cherry syrup flavored soft serve is buried beneath the vanilla curl where I wish I had left it. While visually striking, the cherry substrate’s flavor is, in a word, bad. In more words, it is as authentic to cherry as Robitussin watered down with corn syrup.

While the plain, but classic, vanilla helps, at no point did the cherry component enhance the Blizzard. Meanwhile, the blue candy provides a fun crunch but no discernable flavor of its own. Probably a good thing if the rest of the Blizzard is any indication.

Is there anything else I need to know?

I was asked what size I wanted despite the website and menu listing mini as the only option. It could have been asked out of habit, but I also paid $3.99 whereas the menu listed $4.29. Still a premium, but clearly there was a discrepancy.

Conclusion:

It’s a bad sign when I find myself wishing upon a StarKiss bar that this Blizzard was only plain vanilla and blue candy. As I learned with fireworks as a kid, some things are better seen than eaten.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: Mini
Rating: 3 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: Unavailable on DQ’s website as of July 4, 2018.

What is it?

July’s Blizzard of the Month, the Oreo Firework Blizzard does not include actual Firework Oreo cookies. Rather, it combines the standard Dairy Queen Oreo cookie pieces with red and blue popping candy in vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

The classic Oreo Cookie Blizzard flavor serves as the night sky to the carbon dioxide based confectionary “fireworks.” The popping candy is abundant without seeming to come at the cost of the cookie mix-ins. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam-themed light red and blue “candy white coating” prevents premature detonation of the pressurized cores. Initially a bit odd to bite into, the almost squishy sheath is starkly contrasted against the crisp crunch of cookie bits and rock centers alike. Once the fuse is lit by puncturing the shell, the candies pop with aplomb.

Unfortunately, I prefer fireworks lighting the night sky to launching from my spoonful of ice cream. What begins as an interesting novelty grows tiresome by the bottom of the cup. To its credit though, the popping candy is more than just a marketing gimmick to elicit “oohs and aahs” from the crowd. The protective candy coating itself is infused with a delicious creme flavor. This is sure to please all of the crème loving Oreo “Twisters” out there, you know who you are.

Is there anything else I need to know?

I almost died bringing you this review. Well, the slick popping candy coating led to mild choking anyway. If you properly chew your treat rather than inhale it like Kirby coming off a 6-month juice cleanse, you should be fine.

Conclusion:

While the creme-flavored candy coating is delicious, I’d rather leave the accompanying explosions to the firework displays than my ice cream. For Oreo and Pop Rock lovers who don’t chase sparkler wielding kids off of their lawn like me, this may be a perfect 10.

Purchased Price: $3.39
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small)  660 calories, 25 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 320 milligrams of sodium, 98 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 78 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

What is it?

An unceremoniously introduced new Blizzard on the Candy Classics Menu. The Twix Blizzard combines Twix cookie bar pieces and caramel topping in vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

I felt like Charlie Brown trick-or-treating as the candy mix-in was paltry and rock hard. For me, caramel candy bars in ice cream are the concoction of a dentist with kids to put through college. While the chocolate and caramel candy pieces possess the chewing charm of fossilized Grape-Nuts, the travesty is that some bites show the promise of what might have been.

The caramel topping does an adequate job of punching up the base just enough to become more than the standard vanilla fare. The flavor comes alive though when the otherwise subdued ice cream provides the caramel element missing from the milk chocolate and crunchy cookie only pieces of candy. Those infrequent bites deliver on the promise of the Twix Blizzard name with a delicious Dairy Queen spin. With perhaps twice the amount of chocolate and cookie-only candy bits that I received, and with a little more caramel topping, it would be destined for greatness.

Is there anything else I need to know?

They apparently forgot to put Twix in my Twix Blizzard. Maybe that is a bit of sour grapes on my part as Twix is one of my favorite candy bars. But, as you can probably surmise from the photos of the dish itself, the loaded spoon was the only one of its kind. When simple but delicious is your goal, you can’t skimp on the delicious.

Conclusion:

The Twix Blizzard commits the cardinal sin of being stingy with the eponymous mix-in and is further hindered by tooth chipping caramel pieces. The chocolate, cookie, and caramel topping combo proves authentic to the beloved candy bar, but it does not occur often enough to make me channel a nostalgic Yello “Oh Yeah!”

Purchased Price: $3.39
Size: Small
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small) 630 calories, 21 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 96 grams of carbohydrates, 0 gram of dietary fiber, 77 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

What is it?

One of two returning Blizzard Treats available on Dairy Queen’s Summer Blizzard Menu. The Cotton Candy Blizzard blends vanilla soft serve with cotton candy-flavored topping and sprinkles.

How is it?

If you love cotton candy and ice cream then you will swoon. My Blizzard was well crafted with both the cotton candy topping and sprinkles mixed evenly throughout. That said, the occasional errant sugar surge did send my sweet tooth veering into oncoming traffic on the Candy Land Super Highway.

The sprinkles are crunchy but ephemeral and remind me of Pop Rocks —- hold the pop. Not once did they become uncomfortable to bite, and they added a small about of needed textural contrast. I will say that, for some, this may fall short of their expectations. While DQ almost perfectly captures the essence of cotton candy, I wish it did a little more. Another mix-in to add just a bit more texture while also dialing back the sweetness a tad would elevate this for me.

Of course, I have probably been branded a heretic for saying so by Cotton Candy’s devotees.

Is there anything else I need to know?

Fun Fact #1: Cotton Candy was invented by a dentist.

Fun Fact #2: Like vegetables in your ice cream? No? I didn’t think I did either. Interestingly enough, the Cotton Candy Blizzard uses vegetable juice, purple sweet potato, radish, and red cabbage for color. It only takes a product 1/3rd sugar by weight to get me to eat my vegetables! 

Conclusion:

If the idea of cotton candy flavored ice creams sounds at all appealing then you will thoroughly enjoy, if not fall in love, with this Blizzard. Sometimes simple is best, and while not my favorite flavor on the Summer Menu, I have…cottoned to this candy.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: Mini
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Mini) 390 calories, 16 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 125 milligrams of sodium, 55 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 50 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.

What is it?

One of two returning Blizzards available on Dairy Queen’s Summer 2018 Blizzard Menu. The S’mores Blizzard adds marshmallow-filled chocolates and graham pieces to vanilla soft serve.

How is it?

Amazing, but I’m a sucker for seasonal flavors. Be it Starbucks’ PSL, carrot cake, or whatever the heck flavor red velvet is, I’m the reason flavor scientists can spend more time at the beach than in the lab.

S’mores in particular is a weakness of mine. Run out of new flavor ideas? Slap a seasonal cliché on the package, and I’ll devour it. Cookies, gum, hell if you made it smell good enough I’d even think about it for a s’mores deodorant.

OK, maybe not, but if my Google-fu had returned a result, I’d probably be wearing it right now.

Back to the ice cream. The graham flavor extends beyond the chunks of cracker and is exquisitely infused into the vanilla base. Graham’s golden-brown hue and gritty texture is a component of every bite. Pleasantly numerous, the milk chocolate candy is smooth and packed with gooey, marshmallow goodness. My wife says I’m crazy, in this context not just in general, but I swear I got a hint of a toasted marshmallow vibe. Maybe it was just a heavier graham presence on occasion that provided earthier notes.

Is there anything else I need to know?

There’s marshmallow topping mixed into the base as well, but it is overpowered by the graham and seems like an afterthought. If that’s a draw for you, you will probably be disappointed by the graham-first flavor. 

Conclusion:

This Blizzard has me begging for s’more as it sets the standard for s’mores-flavored ice cream. DQ nailed the rarely seen graham flavored base and, for me at least, conjured fond memories of the Hershey’s S’mores Candy Bar (R.I.P.) with the marshmallow filled chocolates.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: Mini
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Mini) 400 calories, 17 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 56 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 44 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.