Honeycomb Pieces and Chocolate Brownie Fudge Cubes

Last month we got an email from someone at yolli.com asking if we'd like to try out their confectionery supplies. I'd never heard of them, so I followed the link, perused the site, and found they had ice cream supplies. But of course we would!

The site is out of the UK and so there were actually some items they were offering for sale that I had never heard of, including honeycomb pieces.

I asked my contact if she would mind sending me the honeycomb pieces and the chocolate brownie fudge cubes. She kindly obliged and a few weeks later I came home to a package of ice cream mix-ins.

I doubled a nice chocolate base from The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto: Bold, Fresh Flavors to Make at Home, divided the base, and froze each half with each of the mix-ins so I could try them out.

The honeycomb pieces, to begin with, aren't honeycomb or honey at all. Upon further research, I found these honeycomb pieces are actually a crumbled version of a type of toffee also known as sponge toffee or cinder toffee. Honeycomb toffee is a mix of sugars and baking soda, giving it a very airy feel, and a spongy or pumice-y look, as one might imagine. It somewhat reminded me of peanut brittle without the peanuts. It was sweet with a hint of that baking soda taste.

Mixing it in had interesting results. When I took the ice cream directly out of my machine, the honeycomb pieces had a nice crunch to them in the ice cream. However, after I put the ice cream in the freezer to ripen, and then scooped some, the honeycomb had dissolved, leaving only darker, sweeter spots of chocolate (see picture.) It wasn't bad, just not much of anything.

I suppose in the future I would suggest either putting them in ice cream you are going to eat right out of the machine or using them as a topping for interesting texture. (And as an added note, do not leave the remaining bag of honeycomb pieces on the counter for your three-year-old daughter to find and poke at while asking "what is this?" unless you want to be left with honeycomb powder!)

The fudge bits didn't do as much for me. They kind of reminded me of Tootsie Rolls. They gave a nice chewy texture to the mix-ins, but overall the taste wasn't too exiting to me, and the chocolate flavor wasn't as chocolately as the ice cream actually was, which was surprising with the fudge name.

Final verdict? While Yolli isn't known for it's ice cream supplies, but more for it's candy making supplies, I am not sure they would be my first stop shop for ice cream making, but I certainly wouldn't discount them for candy making. (Quite honestly, when I first went to their site, I was wishing I had a candy or baking blog so I would have an excuse to ask for samples of the cookie cutters or candy floss (aka. cotton candy) supplies or many of the other various supplies (ah, in my next blog/lifetime).

Thank you Yolli for the fun supplies and the excuse to make some new and interesting ice cream flavors! And P.S. your site is incredibly fun and bright and makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop!

Review: Breyers, Klondike, Reeses, and Popsicle Treats

I have an apology. I love getting samples. I love sharing samples with friends. I then have a bad habit of taking a while to actually write about the samples.

It's not that I don't want to. I do. Here's the thing. This blog, though it's a passion of mine and Tina's, isn't a paid gig. While we love samples, they don't put supper on the table -- well, once in a while we like to consider ice cream our supper, but it can't be all the time! So long story short, it's a hobby for us, and sometimes (all too often) it gets put on the back burner and then sometimes a post gets misplaced until I find the photos on the camera. So Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle and Reese’s, thanks for the treats and sorry for the delay in this post.

A few months ago, the rep for Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle and Reese’s sent us some lovely treats. We broke open the treats during one of our monthly playdates with our daughter's friend Rebecca and her parents.

My favorites were the Breyers Blasts. As Breyers describes the line, the ice creams feature "delicious mix-ins from America’s best-loved candy and cookie brands blasted into every bite." I love love love Oreo ice cream. I usually get it in vanilla or cake base, but I actually really liked the new twist on an old treat with a chocolate base. So my favorite of the bunch was the Oreo Ice Cream.

Husband was a huge fan of the Whoppers Ice Cream. I don't think he was thrilled when the rest of us dipped into the carton -- less for him! As he tasted the first bite he said "It's like Whopper Ice Cream and then there are actual Whoppers in it." Deep, husband, very deep thoughts. But it was. It was a perfect marriage of a Whopper (or malted milk) base dotted with actual Whoppers.

Fifteen month old Rebecca also gave the Whopper's Ice Cream glowing reviews. As her mom said, "Rebecca, who only likes strawberry [ice cream] now officially likes malted milk ball [ice cream]...sans milk balls." So she liked the flavor, just not the chunks. Chunks might be a bit much for a toddler. Either way, Rebecca, who is most definitely a picky eater, chose to include Whopper Ice Cream into her discerning list of foods she will eat. Husband will be hiding that ice cream next time Rebecca comes to visit.

While I wasn't a huge fan of the What the Fudge? Brownie Sandwich, the rest of the gang was. "It's like soft cookies, except they're soft when frozen. It's magic!" "The right combination of gooey and gooey." "Double gooey -- so good!" "Gooey goodness." "Like gooey brownies right out of the oven except their cold." 'Nuff said.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups fantastic. Ice Cream is fantastic. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups + Ice Cream = Super Fantastic. Quote of the evening: "Where's mine?!...oooooooooh!"

The Jolly Rancher Awesome Twosome Popsicles weren't shared that night because I think we reached our limit on treats! But, I tried those on my own. They brought back fond memories of fifth grade, where Jolly Ranchers were the candy of choice that year. I'm not a huge popsicle eater (I prefer ice cream when I go into the freezer for a frozen treat) but these popsicles made me happy in taste and in memories!

The samples I got in the mail didn't disappoint and I certainly felt like hostess of the year as I brought the treats to the table! Thanks Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle and Reese’s!

P.S. This isn't really relevant to this post, but as I was gathering the links for this post, I saw this little thumbnail of a sundae that looked super yummy. The I followed the link and there were lots of little thumbnails of sundaes that look super yummy.

Schwan's Part Deux

I'm sitting here watching the rain pound down outside. (Is this now only a tropical storm and not a hurricane? Either way, it's quite a show, Mother Nature...) I'm craving ice cream. What's new? Unfortunately, I am not sure Schwan's delivers this quickly and I'll bet they aren't even delivering in this weather...I'm particularly craving Schwan's Loaded Waffle Cone Peanut Butter Swirl ice cream.

Back in June we got an email from Schwan's asking if we'd like to try some samples of their new summer flavors. Of course. I'd never heard of Schwan's before but Husband had. I think it's from Minnesota and that's why he is familiar with it. A quick check to their "history" page confirms I am correct:

It all started back on Tuesday March 18, 1952, when 23-year-old Marvin Schwan packed up his beat-up 1946 Dodge panel van with 14 gallons of his family's signature ice cream with a plan to deliver it to rural families in western Minnesota...

It has happened more than once than we have gotten samples from somewhere I have never heard of and Husband was familiar with them because they were a Minnesotan company. 

A couple of months ago, we got a package from Schwan's Home Delivery. They sent the ice cream cake that Tina wrote about and two cartons of ice cream.

I digress. So anyway we got a carton of the aforementioned Loaded Waffle Cone Peanut Butter Swirl ice cream as well as “Monkeying Around” Banana ice cream, "the winning flavor from [their] Facebook contest last summer." 

I liked the Monkeying Around, but I am not a huge huge fan of banana ice cream, and even the chocolate covered bananas and graham cracker swirl could convince me that it was going to be a favorite. Husband really liked it though, as did a friend who is a huge banana anything fan.

For me I was taken by the Loaded Waffle Cone Peanut Butter Swirl. I loved the peanut butter swirls and the fudge covered cone. I love in ice cream how the peanut butter hardens but isn't too hard...The fudge surrounding the waffle cone kept the cone from getting too soggy, as can be a problem with once-crispy mix-ins. And "loaded" it was. Schwan's does not skimp on the mix-ins.

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed to be the polite daughter-in-law and tell my father-in-law he could finish the Loaded Waffle Cone Peanut Butter Swirl. But I was a great daughter-in-law, let him finish it, and I hope I get brownie -- er, um, ice cream -- points for that!

Since it's delivery, it seems like their prices are a bit on the higher side than you might find for a carton you'd buy at the store, but c'mon -- ice cream delivered to your door?! I think it's worth the extra buck. I'll definitely be hitting up Schwan's again sometime in the near future. 

Storm's letting up. Do you think they'll deliver in this wind!?

Magnum Ice Cream Bars Make a "Red Carpet Premiere" in the U.S.

A couple of weeks ago, we got an email from Magnum Ice Cream asking if we wanted to try their new ice cream bars. It's funny: to me it's never a question of "Do we want samples?" (Of course we do!) but instead should be "We have ice cream to send you. What's your address? Can we send it to arrive on Tuesday morning?" (Yes. You can keep my address on file. You don't even need to ask about sending ice cream -- well actually, you do. Unfortunately with ice cream, you have to plan to be home to receive the package or you come home to melted ice cream and empty bags that once held dry ice, but you know what I mean…)

But I digress. They sent three boxes of bars to each of us: Classic, Almond, and Double Chocolate. Normally, I'm a classic girl. I love vanilla ice cream enrobed in chocolate. And the Magnum vanilla ice cream enrobed in chocolate…it was yummy. I mean, really really yummy. But then a few days later I took out a Double Chocolate bar. I can't say that's what I really wanted, but I had to try them all (in the name of fair reporting, right?). Well, wow. I hadn't really read the package and I was surprised by a layer of gooey fudge between the chocolate ice cream and the hard chocolate shell. Yum. All I kept doing was wishing my mom lived closer so I could bring her one. She's a huge chocolate fan and I could see her LOVING it.

But good news for mom and the rest of you -- even if you aren't as blessed as Tina and I to get ice cream samples delivered to your front door -- Magnum, a classic that has been around in many parts of the rest of the world for years -- is now available in the states!

If you visit Magnum via their Walmart link, you can vote for your favorite flavor (or, if you haven't tried them yet, what you think would be your favorite flavor) and get $1 off a three pack of bars.

Further news is that tomorrow at the Tribeca Film Festival, Magnum be premiering films that they have collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld -- Lagerfeld has created, produced, and directed these films and they star Rachel Bilson. If you are as curious as we are about these short films, follow Magnum Ice Cream on Facebook for updates and the consecutive release of these three short films over the coming weeks. We're hoping they are films about ice cream. Wouldn't that be sweet...

Think Cold Thoughts With Fro-Zing!

Weather Underground says is is 101.4° in Waltham right now, and it is all I can do to not have another ice crean cone today. Yes, I already had one at 11:40 today at J.P. Licks in Newton Center as I was heading back from an errand -- 8+ months pregnant and 100+° weather -- I thought it warranted a cone. OK, OK...I'm not going to lie. I don't even need either of those excuses, but it did feel extra validated today!

I guess next best thing would be to at least write a long overdue ice cream review...well, a tart frozen yogurt review...it will give me an excuse to put a couple more spoonfuls of a frozen treat into my mouth and perhaps make me think frozen thoughts! Hurrah!

Back in March (I know, it's been a while, but quite honestly, what could be better than a post about frozen ANYTHING on a 100+° day in July!), Kemps sent both Tina and I two cartons of their latest Fro-Zing! and I have to say, I was quite surprised. I am not usually a fan of tart frozen yogurt, but these new flavors have got me double thinking the whole thing!

The blueberry was quite good. The flavor reminded me of the days as kids when we used to put refrigerated yogurt in the freezer and take it out on a hot day, eagerly scraping away at the block of solid yogurt. The bonus was the air that was whipped in -- the effort of scraping away was gone, and I could enjoy the tangy blueberry taste without all the hard work. I found it to be quite refreshing on this summer day.

The raspberry vanilla was my favorite though. The first thing your senses are struck by is the swirl of pink and white frozen goodness as you open the package. The pink is so bright and inviting that that alone cools you off. However, one bite of this frozen yogurt is what really got me. Yes, I was getting live and active cultures which are supposedly good for me, but there was something more to it. It reminded me of a summertime favorite from growing up in Connecticut where my dad grew rows of raspberries, with Mom and Dad collecting quarts of the fresh red berrries at the peak of the season, cleaning them and lightly sugaring them to draw out the juices and finally, adding them to a cup of vanilla yogurt. To this day, it's still a summertime treat I savor when I go home, the only thing better is the raspberry fresh off the plant, still warm from the noonday sun. But I digress. The flavor of this yogurt was just that: the vanilla yogurt mixed with the sweetened berries -- the tart so welcoming because of the nature of the fruit. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the refreshing subtle sweetness of the raspberry vanilla and find it almost to be a comfort food when I can't be home visiting Mom and Dad.

My only complaint with these frozen yogurts is they are "drier" than ice cream. Dry might not be the right word, but as ice cream melts to the spoon and curls right out to the shape of the spoon, I find tart frozen yogurt (all of them, not just Kemp's) to kind of break up more and have a less smooth texture, probably due to the absence of as much fat as ice cream has. Late breaking news (10 or so minutes after this post was finished): if you let the frozen yogurt sit out for a bit, you get a still cold and refreshing, but super light and airy almost perfect texture. So basically, my only complaint came out of my impatience.

Though I forsee the raspberry vanilla being my favorite of the Fro-Zings!, looking through their Fro-Zing! flavors, the next on my list to try is the cherry vanilla. Can't wait!

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Perry's Ice Cream Introduces a Fresh and Delicious New Gelato Line

"Dear ______, We have a a problem here, don't we? I know I was supposed to wait for Tina, but I stole a taste of the cannoli and I LOVE it...but I don't think we can get it in the MA area, can we?! OMG, this is NOT good!..."

So starts my email to the wonderful person who sent me samples of Perry's Gelato...

Perry's Cannoli Gelato may be on my list of all time favorite ice creams and as with all Perry's Ice Cream treats, it can only be found in New York state. I have been sitting here for about five minutes trying to figure out to explain it. I can't. Let's just say it's way up there with the best and most authentic cannoli I have had on this side of the Atlantic (mind you, I have never been to Italy, so I'm only counting this side of the Atlantic)...those from Modern Pastry in Boston's North End. The gelato is sweet, creamy, with just the right amount of chocolate chips. It's sitting in my freezer right now and it's everything I can do to keep from eating it -- I don't want to destroy my friendship with Tina by not sharing, so I am holding off!

The other flavors were good as well, but it is the Cannoli I am constantly craving.

The Wild Berry was the least of my favorites, at least in texture. The flavor was very good -- a fruity contrast to all the rich other flavors was a nice break. However, like many fruit ice creams/gelatos, the berry chunks were icy, but I have come to learn that this is kind of the nature of naturally made fruity frozen treats.

The Tahitian Vanilla and Pistachio were both good as well -- creamy, and rich and admittedly, even for someone like me who often over does it on frozen treats, both were very good and quite enough in small quantities due to their richness!

The Tahitian Vanilla actually reminded me of butter cream frosting, of which I am a big fan...oooh, it's kind of like they managed to turn butter cream frosting into ice cream, without the extreme density of buttercream frosting.

The Pistachio was the most pistachio flavored ice cream I have ever had. Did you know many of the recipes for pistachio ice cream actually flavor the base with almond flavoring? This definitely was more pistachio than almond, and as much as I love almond-flavored pistachio ice cream, this pistachio-flavored pistachio ice cream.

I'm packing our bags. Someone please let Husband know we are moving to New York so we can get Perry's Gelato.

Mike Brown, Perry's Product Manager, shows us how to best enjoy Perry's gelato...but honestly, with these rich flavors, who can let the carton sit on the counter for five whole minutes to soften just a bit? Um, I can't!

What really stands out about Perry's is that it is all natural and you can tell. The flavors are fresh and definitely not artificial tasting.

This sample certainly was a tease since it is truly wonderful and very inaccessible to us in the Boston area.

New Yorkers/Pennsylvanians who have access to Perry's: I have some coupons! Let us know (by Friday, April 9, noon EST) what your favorite Perry's flavor is in the comments form (be sure there is a way to contact you) and we'll choose some readers to get some coupons in the mail!