Holiday Shopping Fuel

Cuz I deserve it...Chocolate hazelnut and Gingerbread swirl...yum!

Best office holiday gift yet

Tis the season for cookies, popcorn, fruit and more to be sent to the office. This time we hit the jackpot! A case of Graeters ice cream which I have to admit I haven't tried yet so I am pretty psyched. Happy holidays to me! Oh and the rest of the office if they manage to get the spoon out of my hand :)

To Mix-in or Not To Mix-in? Part II: To Mix-in

I wrote last time about mix-ins that I didn't think added to the ice cream. I also talked about how there was another ice cream I thought that I wouldn't like because of the mix-ins and how I was wrong.

I really didn't think that the Cannoli Ice Cream (from their site: "Mascarpone Ice Cream with Fudge Covered Cannoli Pastry Shell Chunks & a Mascarpone Swirl.") from Ben & Jerry's needed fudge when I read about it for the first time. Chocolate? I am a cannoli purist -- I lived in Boston's North End for seven years (I loved it there) and can have debates with friends over whether Maria's or Modern is better. (Ok, ok, maybe a real purist wouldn't even want to try Cannoli Ice Cream.) But I did. I wanted to try it anyway.

I looked a lot to find this ice cream. At first I was too early and it hadn't hit the shelves yet. Then, apparently, it was harder to find than other flavors and they must have gotten a lot of questions about it, because they produced a total social media driven "Cannoli Finder." My local locations weren't showing up yet, so I would just hope I'd see it at the grocery store and I would be the one to be able to add it. Finally, one day, when I thought I was out of luck at my local Shaw's, BAM!, there it was at an end cap. I bought a pint. Bad idea...*

Ok, so, um, I loved it. First of all, I realized it would only be "Marscapone Ice Cream" with out the shells mixed in, but without being enrobed in fudge, the shells would be soggy, so I think that it was almost necessary  Second, the fudge didn't take away anything for me. In fact, I hardly noticed it. It wasn't an overwhelming flavor or anything. Just enough. Finally, Ben & Jerry's is kind of defined by its mix-ins. (Their site does say, "The road to Euphoria is paved with chunks and swirls!") I don't think it would be the same if there weren't chunks to search for! The flavor itself is rich but light at the same time. Does this make sense? I think my husband says it best when we had this conversation after first breaking open the pint:

Husband: What flavor is Cannoli?

Me: Marscapone but doesn't it taste like pistachio? (I have since changed my mind on the pistachio opinion...)

Husband: No. It tastes like "good." (I agree, but I might say great!)

*So then I ran into a problem. At the time of this writing, I was very pregnant and I started to crave it. I made my husband and daughter and I go back to the Shaw's (not our closest grocery store, I might add) to go shopping...and guess what?! They were out. So, I have polished off a pint of Cherry Garcia (still an excellent standby) but I was still craving Cannoli. I'll just have to keep looking.

It's a good thing I found this. Just the other day I realized my other Cannoli supplier would never be my supplier even if they did arrive out in these parts. They no longer make it.

Ben & Jerry's...please don't do this to me and take it off the shelves in the end. Make this a permanent flavor. I would be so grateful.

So here it is. To mix-in.

To Mix-in or Not To Mix-in? Part I: Not to Mix-in

I'm having a bit of a mix-in mix-up. Usually I like mix-ins. In this way, I do not take after my mother. She's not a fan.

Here's what happened. I bought two ice cream flavors recently -- one that I expected I wouldn't like as much because of the mix-ins and another I thought I would like because of the mix-ins. In both cases, I was wrong.

My sister suggested I try Talenti's Sea Salt Caramel Gelato. Amazing ice cream. Really amazing. Creamy, smooth, and a perfect salty/sweet flavor. But, while I usually find myself searching out the mix-ins, I found myself digging around the mix-ins. First of all, I couldn't tell what they were. The container doesn't tell me a thing. I read chocolate on one site. Didn't taste that way to me. Second of all, the gelato was smooth, wonderful perfection -- smooth and creamy -- it just did not need anything else. I found my frozen euphoria broken up by chunks of...

Well, I'll be..."small sea salt caramel truffles that have been bathed in chocolate." You got it, Ice Cream Informant! I don't know why I doubted you except for the fact that  it just didn't taste that way to me.

Anyway, would I buy this again? Yes. But would I be happier without the mix-ins? Yes.

Stay tuned for my next post where I am happily surprised with the mix-in.

Recipe Repost: Apple Cider Cider Donut

I posted this recipe out of season, and now since it is smack dab in the middle of apple season, I thought it was time for a relink.

Apple Cider Cider Donut Ice Cream. Enjoy!