When I think about all the things Ben & Jerry’s have done for us over the years, the biggest thing I can thank them for is my ass. But perhaps their greatest contribution to modern day ice cream comes by way of cookie dough.
You see, Ben & Jerry’s is the most accomplished pioneer in the cookie dough ice cream game. It’s hard to imagine a world without the flavor now, but it was only 30 years ago that such a terrible world existed. It wasn’t until a random fan walked into the original Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop and suggested the flavor in 1984 that Ben & Jerry’s got to work. After six years of science to perfect cookie dough at ice cream temperatures, Ben & Jerry’s began putting soon-to-be-global sensation into pints in 1991.
Reckless eating would never be the same.
Even in recent years, Ben & Jerry’s hasn’t stopped fooling around with cookie dough. In 2016 they teamed with New Belgium Brewing to get us drunk with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale. In 2017 they gave us handheld chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream pints wrapped in chocolate. In 2018 they just said “to Hell with it” and sold us bags of cookie dough chunks.
2019 brings us three pints of brand new Cookie Dough Cores:
This review is act two of a three part series:
Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Like Sugar Cookie Dough Core
Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Like Sugar Cookie Dough Core features sweet cream ice cream with a hint of almond & shortbread cookies, a cherry ice cream with cherries, and a sugar cookie dough core.
You’ll be hard-pressed to argue that this isn’t the most unique of the three Cookie Dough Cores. It begins with the core itself – a sugar cookie dough that isn’t featured in any other Ben & Jerry’s pint currently. Surrounding it are a bunch of flavors I don’t often associate with each other – cherry, almond, and shortbread.
I’m not knocking the variety, but it does feel a little like we’re throwing darts.
Before we even get to the core, I’m REALLY digging this sweet cream ice cream “with a hint of almond flavor.” Honestly I’m not sure why they just don’t call it almond ice cream because I’d argue that it’s more than just a hint. It’s very flavorful, deriving its flavor from the use of almond extract. The shortbread cookies’ flavor does stand out against this almondy base and, coupled with their extremely soft texture, gives the impression of almond cake.
The cherry ice cream packs no surprises if you’ve ever had Cherry Garcia. It tastes just as it should – a vibrant, fruity flavor that’s sweeter than it is tart. I was greeted with a couple of enormous cherries towards the top, but the majority are finely chopped and sporadically dispersed. This isn’t really a problem since they add such a strong flavor whenever you encounter one.
I must say when discussing the almond half and the cherry half: I felt much more like I was eating two entirely different ice creams that satisfy two entirely different cravings, rather than two ice creams that were meant to be eaten together.
The sugar cookie dough core is your standard sugar cookie dough, but it’s still a good one. Tempering this pint is to your advantage since the cookie dough freezes harder than the ice cream.
Houston, we have a problem though. I definitely got my money’s worth of core in the first half, but I felt extremely cheated throughout the second. By the bottom third of the container I was pretty much absent of any cookie dough at all. It’s such a shame that quality control and consistency continues to plague the “Core” line because this is a really fun, really interesting pint that I might have purchased again if I could depend on a solid amount of cookie dough.
Even with an especially great-tasting almond half, I’m not sure the parts here are worth the gamble if you can’t guarantee me a complete core.
Incomplete Core-age Rating: 8 out of 10
A Hint of Disappointment Rating: 7 out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 out of 10
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