Brigham's: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

As you can see from my post on Sunday, my Sundae-in-a-Box arrived from Brigham's last week and with coupons and toppings, so I told my daughter (V) we were having sundaes for dessert and we headed to the store to pick up ice cream.

I really like Brigham's ice cream, despite the fact that they keep getting rid of my favorite flavors.

Vanilla Bean, plain and simple. And that's not a bad thing.

What I don't like is the limited stocking at my favorite stores. I went to my local Shaw's and I had the following flavors to choose from: Chocolate, Vanilla, Vanilla Bean, Mocha Almond, Coffee, and Peppermint Stick. My husband went to our local Price Chopper and he found Chocolate, Vanilla, Vanilla Bean, Salty Caramel Crunch, Coffee, and Peppermint Stick. Yes. Seven limited flavors total in two stores -- only one flavor wasn't the same in each store. I don't like coffee flavoring and I don't really like candy canes, so that left me with vanilla, vanilla bean, and chocolate to choose from on my trip.

At the store, I knew I was on a mission to write four flavor review posts, so I bought three of the flavors, just in case I didn't get out in the next couple of days to buy more ice cream (the horror!). I chose Vanilla Bean and then, being the good wife that I am, Coffee and Mocha Almond for my coffee loving husband. (He has to review them though!)

I guess truth be told, I think vanilla is the best base for a sundae.

First I tried the Vanilla Bean alone. It was nice and light, and had a nice vanilla flavor. It was creamy and had the beautiful specks of Vanilla Bean in it. It did not compare to my favorite vanilla ice cream...Brigham's no-longer-existing French Vanilla. It did not have that rich custard flavor I loved in the French Vanilla. But that aside (since it's not one I can bring back with Brigham's flavor contest) the Vanilla Bean was really a nice flavor and made an excellent base for sundaes.

V was not complaining. (See her sundae at left)...

Nor was I when I had it plain or a few days later topped it with peanut butter sauce and whipped cream.

Well done, Brigham's!

Want to try this flavor or another Brigham's favorite? Head over to our post from Sunday and enter to win your own Sundae-in-a-Box from Brigham's!

Brigham's: What's your memory?

Part of Brigham's 100 year celebration is a "memory look-book" on their website.

“When consumers think of Brigham’s, they think of butterscotch sundaes and enjoying time with family,” said Lynne Bohan, spokesperson for Brigham’s Ice Cream. “We are so excited to encourage consumers to share those special moments with us during our 100th anniversary year.”

Here's my first Brigham's memory...

It may have been The Big Dig I went home with.
Or maybe not. Whatever it was, it was good, and got
me hooked. (Image courtesy of www.brighams.com)

My first experience with Brigham's was at the Scooper Bowl thirteen years ago. I lived in Boston's North End. I was just leaving the Scooper Bowl after attending with my co-interns from Houghton Mifflin, and a woman walked by with a container of Brigham's. She told me the people at the Brigham's booth had given it to her, but there was no way she was making it home without it melting -- would I like it? Government Center where the Scooper Bowl was being held was a short walk from my North End apartment, so I gladly carried the container home. I'd like to be able to tell you I remember the flavor, but I can't. I can tell you that by the time I got home, it was perfectly softened, and dinner that night was my first (and perfect) taste of Brigham's Ice Cream. 

I'm smiling and thinking of dear friends as I remember other times...eating at the Brigham's in the Financial District or eating Brigham's on the newly developed Greenway when I worked downtown. I also remember some great birthday parties over Brigham's ice cream cakes in the office where Tina and I met. (Those were some of our favorite days there, huh, Tina?!) That cookie crust was to die for. I think Tina and I may have sealed our friendship over that cake and our shared love of ice cream!

I'm kind of wordy, so my memory doesn't fit on their form, but make sure yours does so you have a chance to win an ice cream scoop from Brigham's!

While you are there, vote for the ice cream flavor you'd like Brigham's to bring back, then swing back over to our post from Saturday to leave a comment telling us which flavor you voted for and fill out our form for our rafflecopter giveaway for a Sundae-in-a-Box!

Happy 100 Years, Brigham's Ice Cream!

My assistant helps
me open my
Sundae-in-a-Box!

Scoopalicious is pleased to be part of the celebration as Brigham's Ice Cream celebrates their 100th Anniversary!

Brigham's announced that "since 1914, Brigham’s has been Boston’s favorite ice cream and a part of countless memories. Today, its rich, creamy flavor continues to be enjoyed in homes across New England more than ten decades later."

Brigham's is celebrating in their own way with an online "memory look-book" and a chance to vote for your favorite Brigham's "throwback flavor" to be announced in July and brought back into production in 2015!

Lynne Bohan, spokesperson for Brigham’s Ice Cream, explains why Brigham's is asking it's loyal customers to be the ones to choose which flavor will be revived: “Brigham’s has always loved introducing great flavors like Reverse the Curse to consumers. Now is the public’s chance to be a part of the tradition and vote which of their beloved flavors should be brought back to life.”

We at Scoopalicious are also partnering with New England's beloved ice cream company with some flavor reviews and ten Sundae-in-a-Box giveaways!

Let us know what flavor you voted for and be entered to win one of ten Sundaes-in-a-Box!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check back in this week for some of our thoughts on Brigham's flavors and some of our own Brigham's memories!

        

For more information about the 100th anniversary visit www.brighams.com.

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!

Get Ready for the Scooper Bowl, Boston!

We haven't been as good at posting as we would like (and we hope this changes as it usually does in the summer!), but didn't want to forget to remind our Boston friends that next week is the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl. (Non-Boston friends, too -- there's still time to get here to Boston for the biggest ice cream event of the year!)

The event runs from Tuesday, June 3 through Thursday, June 5 from noon to 8 p.m. every day at City Hall Plaza, Boston.

Read some of our previous posts here to get motivated for the event -- as if all-you-can-eat ice cream isn't enough of a motivator!