Purchased Price: $6.99
Size: 3-pack
Purchased at: Safeway
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) 280 calories, 150 calories from fat, 17 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.
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If you think about it, cereal and ice cream are like kindred spirits. They’re both eaten in bowls with spoons, they’re satisfying while watching cartoons or high, they aren’t as good if they sit in a bowl for too long, and they both have the letter C, two E’s, an A, and an R.
Ben & Jerry’s Cereal Splashback Ice Cream pays tribute to childhood cereal favorites. Of course, not MY childhood cereal favorites, like Banana Frosted Flakes, Waffelos, C-3PO’s, and Rainbow Brite Cereal. They’re currently Scoop Shop exclusives and the idea is to recreate cereal and milk with ice cream and Ben & Jerry’s magic.
The three Cereal Splashback flavors are:
Froot Loot — cereal milk ice cream with a crisp fruity cereal swirl.
Frozen Flakes — cereal milk ice cream with a crisp cereal swirl.
Cocoa Loco — chocolate cereal milk ice cream with a crisp chocolate cereal swirl.
The only one that really tastes like its cereal counterpart is Froot Loot. Every time I eat it, its aftertaste reminds me of Froot Loops. But it’s a bit odd that it doesn’t happen once I put it in my mouth.
As for the other two, the Frozen Flakes swirl has a sweetened corn flakes vibe to it, but it doesn’t make me think of Frosted Flakes. And while Cocoa Loco has a nice malt flavor that goes well with the chocolate ice cream, it doesn’t taste like Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Krispies, or Cocoa Pebbles. This disappoints me because chocolate cereals are my favorite.
With that said, these flavors do please my palate. Well, to be more exact, the swirls bring me joy. The cereal milk-flavored ice cream tastes like a sweeter, richer vanilla ice cream and the chocolate cereal milk one is like a slightly toned down chocolate ice cream. They’re good, but not great. But also, let’s be real, they’re there to complement the swirl.
The cereal swirls are gritty like a cookie butter swirl. There aren’t any whole cereal pieces, but when you scoop out a portion of the swirl and chew on it, it crunches like a cereal piece. And depending on the spoonful, you’ll get one of two textures, either slightly soggy cereal or crispy cereal. That is some crazy Ben & Jerry’s voodoo.
If I had to rank the three Ben & Jerry’s Cereal Splashback flavors, I’d put Froot Loot number one, Frozen Flakes would come next, and Cocoa Loco would be last.
While two out of the three didn’t truly taste like the cereals they’re trying to emulate, because they’re all really sweet, all three did something else for me as I ate them.
They took me back to what I like to call The Golden Age of Breakfast Cereals. A time when cereals were super sweet and they probably had as much sugar as a candy bar. A time when cereals with movie tie-ins weren’t all oat pieces with marshmallows. A time when cereals came in shapes like Gremlins, Batman signs, Nerds candy, ice cream cones, and something Mr. T would wear around his neck. A time when a dog and cat kibble maker also made human kibble, but called it cereal. A time when cereals were, as Tony the Tiger says, gr-r-reat.
Disclosure: I received samples of all three Cereal Splashback flavors from Ben & Jerry’s. It was not required by Ben & Jerry’s to write a review and receiving free samples did not influence my review in any way.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 scoop – Cocoa Loco – 230 calories, 120 calories from fat, 13 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein. Frozen Flakes – 230 calories, 120 calories from fat, 13 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein. Froot Loot – 240 calories, 140 calories from fat, 15 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: FREE
Size: N/A
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Froot Loot)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Frozen Flakes)
Rating: 6 ouf of 10 (Cocoa Loco)
Pros: Froot Loot’s aftertaste taste like Froot Loops. Frozen Flakes comes close to tasting like Frosted Flakes. The different textures of the swirl. Ben & Jerry’s magic. Banana Frosted Flakes. Reminds me of The Golden Age of Breakfast Cereals.
Cons: Cocoa Loco not tasting like any chocolatey cereal. Disappointing for those who like a lot of mix-ins. Available only at Scoop Shops. Banana Frosted Flakes being discontinued.
In preparation for my wedding in May, I’ve been on a self-proclaimed dessert detox. There are some exceptions of course… like writing reviews for the lovely readers of the Impulsive Buy. Because it’s all in the name of research!
So imagine my excitement when I unwrapped one of the Hostess Ding Dongs Frozen Dairy Dessert Sandwiches. Oh glory, my first sweet in about two weeks! I was hungry, ready and so pumped, and I’m pleased to report that I was not disappointed.
Each sandwich is individually packaged, and on first glance, it’s about the size and thickness of a hockey puck. It does, in fact, look the ice cream version of a regular Ding Dong.
Now, if you’re looking for a neat and tidy eating experience, this is not for you. I cut open the Ding Dong, and the chocolate outer layer did not hold together well. Nor did the chocolate stay together as I ate each half. But I was impressed with how well the ice cream stayed solid and did not melt.
Cutting apart the Ding Dong revealed two things: 1) A glorious, pretty thick chocolate coating and 2) A crunchy, cookie-esque layer between the chocolate coating and ice cream that I was not expecting and It. Was. Epic. Best way to describe the Ding Dong is having the crunch of a Thin Mint with the taste of a Klondike Bar.
There really isn’t anything special to report about the vanilla frozen dairy dessert. The chocolate was so prevalent that it was hard to taste it on its own. The frozen dairy dessert was good, just nothing to write home about. I loved all the chocolate – it was rich and melted in my mouth.
The other thing I appreciated was the portion size and nutritional information. At under 200 calories a serving, this is a perfect dessert for when you want something quick and not too heavy. Basically, it truly is the frozen version of a beloved Hostess snack cake.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 sandwich – 180 calories, 80 calories from fat, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: $3.49
Size: 5-pack
Purchased at: Giant Eagle
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Cookie crunch and plenty of chocolate to please my sweet tooth.
Cons: Kind of messy to eat. Kind of messy to eat. Normal frozen dairy dessert.
Earlier this year Hostess turned their iconic crinkle-wrapped sponge cake into an ice cream. As good as that was, let’s be honest, it needed a bowl AND a spoon, which is so much more effort than snack cake annihilation should require.
Suffer no more America, we now have before us the Twinkies Frozen Dairy Dessert Cone. No utensils, no dishwashing, and hell, if you play your cards right you could even use the wrapper as a napkin to get the creamy fiesta off of your face. This latest and greatest piece of American innovation combines golden sponge cake crumbles and creamy frozen dairy dessert all packaged in the classic ready-to-devour sugar cone.
The initial bites are delicious and very reminiscent of the Twinkie ice cream tub that was decked out with sponge cake pieces swimming in a pool of creamy, almost greasy cake ice cream. The top of the cone is the only part of the dessert that has the cake, which imparts not only added texture but a bunch more flavor as well. The cake combined with the fluffy yellow “ice cream” is fun and very much like eating the much loved (or hated) snack cake.
Beneath the initial layer of yellow fluff is a layer of white fluff, which is noticeably less flavorful and exciting than the way the cone started. It’s hard to tell if the lack of flavor is due to a different profile within the cream itself or the absence of cake, but it’s no less much less intriguing to the tongue.
The next layer is yellow, but it coincides with the top of the cone which also has a thin layer of chocolate inside. So there’s an extra crunch and chocolate flavor that accompanies the frozen dairy, which makes it a more exciting chew. And, like all good Nestle cones, this one finishes with a piece of chocolate wedged in the bottom, which puts an exclamation mark of “YUM” on the very last bite.
This cone is good. From top to bottom it’s fluffy, sweet, and whimsical like something from an ice cream truck, albeit not the highest quality. The use of frozen dairy as opposed to real ice cream gives it a much lighter feel, both in your hand and on the palate than the usual Drumstick. It also makes scarfing more than one of these a pretty reasonable task.
Hopefully, Hostess can figure out how to put the Twinkie into pill form so I can just sit back, relax, and pop them ‘twinks on the low.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 cone – 220 calories, 80 calories from fat, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein..)
Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: 4-pack
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: No need for utensils. Instant ice cream injection. Fun sponge cake pieces. Chocolate at the bottom of the cone.
Cons: White frozen dairy may lack flavor. Needs more cake pieces.
I love a good truffle and I know that Ben & Jerry’s is most definitely referencing the chocolate kind for their new creation, Truffle Kerfuffle.
However, I also thought about the other type as well, those prized fungi that hogs sniff out from beneath the earth. I usually feel like one of those pigs when I’m eating my favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate chip cookie dough, as I always methodically seek out the glorious gobs of dough and not pay attention to much else.
Since Truffle Kerfuffle contains vanilla ice cream with roasted pecans, fudge chips and a salted chocolate ganache swirl I thought I would again be singling out one of the components and then quickly tiring of the experience once they are all gone. However, I was very pleasantly surprised as I partook in this kerfuffle.
The vanilla ice cream was a good choice for this as it serves as a nice plain base for everything that is going on around it. It adds a bit of flavor when it needs to but for the most part joins together with all the other elements and lets them shine through.
The fudge chips add great crunch as they seem to be the last to succumb to melting when outside of the freezer environment. There is also a lot of chocolate going on when you are eating it but just when you think you’ve had too much you get a pecan piece that balances out the chocolate overload while adding another flavor dimension for you to enjoy. Both the fudge chips and pecan pieces were present in healthy amounts throughout.
The star of this concoction, though, is indubitably the salted chocolate ganache swirl. It’s thick, rich and absolutely delicious. The very on-trend salt plus chocolate flavor is executed wonderfully here. It goes together perfectly with the sweet of the vanilla ice cream.
If you can’t already tell, I absolutely dug this ice cream, and yes, pun intended. However, this time around I didn’t necessarily feel like a truffle hog from just my searching expedition. Instead it was felt when I reached the bottom of the container, which meant I had just pigged out (pun intended again) on 4 servings in a matter of minutes. Whoops! Oink Oink for sure.
(Nutrition Facts – 1/2 cup – 340 calories, 220 calories from fat, 24 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 135 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 24 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: $4.39
Size: 1 pint
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 10 out of 10
Pros: Well dispersed and abundant ingredients. Salty chocolate & sweet vanilla decadence. Pecan pieces as counterprogramming.
Cons: evouring 4x the suggested amount in one sitting. Multiple commonalities to truffle hogs.