REVIEW: Van Leeuwen Lovely Day for a Guinness Ice Cream

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Van Leeuwen Lovely Day for a Guinness Ice Cream pint

With so many ice cream brands out there, it’s easy to forget how genuinely good Van Leeuwen ice cream is. I’ve been to its NYC and LA scoop shops and have enjoyed numerous pints from the grocery store—particularly its Earl Grey tea flavor.

It went on a tear of chaotic collab flavors for a while that I just wasn’t that into, like Hidden Valley Ranch andGrey Poupon Mustard, but Van Leeuwen caught my eye again with the new beer collaboration with Guinness.

There’s no splitting the G with its “Lovely Day for a Guinness” ice cream, but I’d be splitting hairs if I said this wasn’t a fantastic drop.

Van Leeuwen Lovely Day for a Guinness Ice Cream top off

Technically, it’s a re-release. It first dropped last year at its scoop shops, but it was good enough to bring back for a full rollout at Whole Foods. Whole Foods coming in clutch! The name itself is also a re-release – it’s a nod to Guinness’ classic 1950s tagline “Lovely Day for a Guinness.” The flavor features roasted Guinness stout ice cream with dark chocolate chunks.

Many chocolate chunks in the ice cream

First test of any pint: scoopability. Rock hard and bending my spoon makes me sad. Happy to report this scooped easily. The base is a consistent light brown – think the color of the dome on a freshly poured Guinness – flecked with chocolate chunks.

The first bite made me stop and audibly “mmm” in both delight and genuine ponderance because it’s a fascinating flavor. The immediate word that popped into my head was “malty”; I don’t even like malty things like Whoppers or malted milkshakes, but this was dang good. I didn’t have a Guinness on hand for a side-by-side comparison, but it’s pretty spot-on to the one I had last week – except sweeter with zero bitterness. Apparently, they use Guinness 0, the non-alcoholic version, to nail the roasty flavor.

With Van Leeuwen’s French ice cream having double the egg yolks of standard ice cream, means it doesn’t need guar gum or other stabilizers to get its texture. The result is a gelato-adjacent creaminess with a luxurious mouthfeel. This one was no exception!

The sweetness takes over on the finish, so it lands fully in ice cream territory rather than anything bitter or beer-adjacent. The dark chocolate chunks are a perfect textural foil with Ben & Jerry‘s-caliber chunks. It all works better than expected as an ice cream.

At $7.99 a pint, Van Leeuwen is premium, but worth every spoonful. If this was sold this year-round, it’d be my permanent upgrade in the freezer.

The stout verdict: go get this one!

Purchased Price: $7.99
Size: 14 fl oz
Purchased at: Whole Foods
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup – 108g) 310 calories, 22 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 100mg of cholesterol, 135 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 25 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Choco Frosted Donut Blizzard

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When my kids were little, they would sometimes ask for candy, ice cream, or donuts for breakfast. As a semi-responsible parent, I, of course, said no. Instead, I provided them with a healthy alternative, like syrup-covered pancakes or Cap’n Crunch, which probably had just as much, or perhaps even more sugar.

So maybe I need to call them up and take them to Dairy Queen for its new “Breakfast Collection,” which includes the Fruity Pebbles Shake, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Dipped Cone, and Choco Frosted Donut Blizzard. But after trying the latter, I’m going to suggest they have one of the first two options.

The new Blizzard creation is not bad, but it is not worth setting your alarm for either. As an aside, I was today years old when I learned that Dairy Queen does indeed serve breakfast, and that they have a chicken and gravy burrito, which I now have a burning desire to try. Sadly, and in defense of my ignorance of said breakfast offerings, many Dairy Queen locations do not serve the most important meal of the day, apparently including any in my area.

But back to the review. This new Blizzard includes old-fashioned (or cake) donut pieces, chocolatey icing pieces, and sprinkles mixed with vanilla soft serve. To put it simply, nothing stands out about this Blizzard. The donut pieces are fine, and actually, they are powdered sugar donut pieces according to the ingredient list on the DQ website, but I would have a hard time distinguishing them from a bland, store-bought vanilla cake. They were quite firm and held up well in the ice cream, but they didn’t make much of an impression on my taste buds.

Likewise, the icing pieces bring some chocolate flavor, as expected, but again, it’s nothing distinctive. The sprinkles add a bit of texture and some color if you are taking Instagram photos, but they do nothing for the taste. Overall, it’s not a memorable creation, although it is still ice cream with donuts and chocolate, so there was never any danger of me not reaching the bottom of the cup.

Next time I go to Dairy Queen, I’ll take my chances with one of the other two offerings from the Breakfast Collection, or maybe I’ll take a road trip to the nearest location serving breakfast and see what that chicken and gravy burrito is all about.

Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: Small
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 660 calories, 29 grams of fat, 17 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 300 milligrams of sodium, 89 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 66 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Kirkland Signature Caramel Churro Sundae

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Kirkland Signature Caramel Churro Sundae and its caramel swirls.

Costco’s Food Court menu is pretty consistent.

Yes, from time to time, a new item is added to the menu, but anything rarely sticks. Remember the cheeseburger? Remember the roast beef sandwich? Heck, because I need a good cry, I’m also going to mention the beloved and long-discontinued Polish Dog and Combo Pizza. Meanwhile, the cheese and pepperoni pizzas, hot dog, chicken bake, Caesar salad, smoothies, and sundaes have all been around for a long time.

Speaking of sundaes, unlike the food court menu as a whole, Costco Food Court’s dessert menu has seen a lot of change over the past six months with limited-time sundae offerings. The most recent is the Caramel Churro Sundae, which features vanilla soft serve, salted caramel sauce, and mini churro bites.

This sundae marks the return of the salted caramel sauce I first tasted with the Caramel Brownie Sundae a few months ago. In that review, I mentioned it wasn’t overly sweet, but also wasn’t salty or buttery. It’s a meh sauce, and that’s still the case here. It’s even more unnoticeable in this sundae, contributing little beyond its gooey texture.

Kirkland Signature Caramel Churro Sundae with its churro bites that are actual churros.

What dominates this dessert are the mini churro bites and their cinnamon sugar coating, which permeate the soft serve with a few gentle stirs. Seriously. I’ll scoop up a nice glob of the caramel sauce, and what I taste is pretty much just the cinnamon sugar. That’s how flavorless the caramel sauce is in this sundae, and I wish Costco used its chocolate sauce instead.

The churro bites are the saving grace of this sundae. They’re not tiny fried churro bites made by Keebler elves (or Kirkland elves), though they do leave a slight greasy taste in my mouth. They have a chewy texture that’s similar to the cookie dough gobs you’d get in chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, with a little crispiness from the cinnamon sugar coating. They carry the entire flavor of this dessert, and they’re the only reason it’s worth its inexpensive price.

If you love cinnamon sugar treats, you’ll enjoy Kirkland Signature’s Caramel Churro Sundae. But if you’re also hoping the salted caramel will tickle your sweet tooth, you’ll be greatly disappointed, which is pretty consistent with my previous experience with the sauce.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Purchased at: Costco
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 850 calories. No other nutritional information is available.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Strawberry Angel Food Cake Blizzard

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Dairy Queen Strawberry Angel Food Cake Blizzard with soft serve, strawberry topping and vanilla angel food cake

If it seems like there’s not much you can count on anymore, at least you know Dairy Queen will always deliver at least one new Blizzard every month. Sure, sometimes the “new” Blizzards are just Taco Bell-style rehashes of the same ingredients or repeats from the past, but for April, the fine folks at DQ did include something truly new in the “Countdown to Summer” Blizzard menu.

In addition to returning appearances for S’mores and Cotton Candy, the Strawberry Angel Food Cake Blizzard joins the party with, as you might have guessed, angel food cake pieces and strawberry topping mixed together with a whipped topping.

The not fluffy Angel cake pieces in the Blizzard.

Although this one is not quite accurately named, it is a pleasant addition to the lineup. If you are expecting the cake pieces to be light and airy, like angel food cake, you need to temper your expectations. Likely by necessity, as real pieces of angel food cake would probably crumble and get soggy in a Blizzard, these are more like vanilla pound cake chunks and have a fairly dense texture. They taste good and hold up well in their frosty environment, but they won’t make your taste buds think of angel food cake.

The strawberry topping has a few bits of fruit in it.

The strawberry topping is deliciously sweet with some occasional chunks of soft fruit. As someone who never passes up the chance to tilt up a can of Reddi-Wip and shoot some into my mouth, I also enjoyed having a bit of whipped topping on this, even if it did taste more like Cool Whip. Not that DQ would ask me, but I cannot offer any suggestions to make this one better. It’s about as good as it can be using cake pieces and strawberry flavor, but at the same time, it’s not something that will blow your mind.

The whipped topping adds a nice touch.

If you are looking for a true strawberry and angel food cake experience, I suggest buying or baking yourself a cake and adding some ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream. But that’s a lot of work, and even though the cake texture of this is a bit different, it is still a tasty way to pass the time until the next new Blizzard flavor is announced.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 540 calories, 17 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 410 milligrams of sodium, 84 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 68 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Honey Graham Latte Ice Cream

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Ben & Jerry's Honey Graham Latte Ice Cream 1.

For its latest spring-time limited batch, Ben & Jerry’s is once again leaning into one of the brand’s undeniable strengths: coffee. Honey Graham Latte combines caramel coffee ice cream with honey graham cracker swirls and crunchy cinnamon swirls.

I won’t lie, when this flavor announcement showed up in my inbox, I was extremely excited. I love coffee, I love cinnamon, and the Ben & Jerry’s graham cracker swirl remains undefeated as one of the best mix-ins in mass-produced ice cream. So with all of that said, I’ve gotta say, I’m a bit disappointed.

Ben & Jerry's Honey Graham Latte Ice Cream 2.

Maybe I hyped up the potential too much in my own head, and don’t get me wrong, it’s still a very enjoyable scoop, but the flavors don’t pop as much as I envisioned. The caramel coffee ice cream is strong, delightfully strong, which is where the composition of this pint begins to falter. It is a great base, and when enjoyed on its own, it delivers a robust and super milky-sweet-yet-bold coffee flavor that finishes with a caramel-laden smoothness that will easily please any Starbucks fan. After a few successive bites, some cinnamon notes linger in the background to round out the coffee-forward profile.

Ben & Jerry's Honey Graham Latte Ice Cream 3.

I am a coffee freak; a day without it doesn’t exist for me, so I like the foundational flavor here, but the mix-ins beg to differ. There’s a chance it’s the composition of this particular pint, but I dug all the way to the bottom to try and find some crunchy cinnamon and had no luck. There is the spice that lingers in the background of the base, but it is subtle, and I was imagining the type of streusel swirl we got in Cinnamon Buns (RIP) that mimics the inner walls of a doughy pastry. That type of bold swirl up against this great coffee base would be fantastic, but it never appears.

Ben & Jerry's Honey Graham Latte Ice Cream 4.

As I mentioned earlier, B&J’s graham cracker swirl is one of my all-time favorites, and it’s present here. But again, the intensity of the ice cream does more of a disservice to the usually salty-sweet nuance that that mix-in brings. The graham pops up in thin sheets throughout but doesn’t come through as noticeably as in staples like Pumpkin Cheesecake, Gimme S’more, or the very delicious PB Blondie Bestie Sundae from earlier this year. You feel the gentle crunch of the graham more than you’re able to taste it, and I want more representation from that taste that I love. There’s no doubt this is still a high quality and objectively good tasting ice cream, but it could reach higher heights with some tweaks to the overall flavor balance.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Received from Ben & Jerry’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 138g) 390 calories, 24 grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 32 grams of total sugars, and 5 grams of protein.

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