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 the first in a three-part series. First up:

Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core

Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core is the most straightforward of the bunch and shares the most similarities with their traditional Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, but there is one important twist…

This is cookie milk ice cream with fudge chips & a chocolate chip cookie dough core. The core is apparently just a mass amount of their regular cookie dough, but a cookie milk base is a first for Ben & Jerry’s.

As you can see the core is off-center just like in every other Ben & Jerry’s “Core” flavor I’ve ever had, but I must admit that this one occupies the most real estate within the pint.

It’s also the most thick… the cookie dough is more frozen and tempers more slowly than the rest of the ice cream, creating a slight logistical challenge before we begin describing the taste.

It’s hard scoop it apart with your spoon initially, though it does become easier as time passes. It tastes REALLY good just like their chocolate chip cookie dough always does, and you can regulate and ration the amount per spoonful from the outset.

As I made my way down towards the halfway mark of the pint, I was pretty impressed with the amount of core that remained. This is usually where their “Core” line suffers.

Let me transition now to the cookie milk base. I actually consider it the best part of this pint! It’s like a cookies & cream flavor where the cream had chocolate chip cookies soaking in it. It’s only a modest difference but all of that difference is in the positive direction as this tastes sweeter with a bit more depth.

The fudge chips only serve to amplify the “cookies & cookies cream” vibe a little more.

As you can see from the above photo, there is adequate chocolate chip cookie dough core through the majority of this pint to make for a sexy, well-balanced scoop.

I must say, though, that organizing the chocolate chip cookie dough into a core versus evenly dispersed cookie dough chunks won’t feel like a game-changer after the novelty factor of these Cores wears off.

Of note:

The chocolate chip cookie dough core definitely faded towards the bottom quarter of the pint, but it at least had some presence as I entered the home stretch.

Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core is a very good ice cream that showcases a brand new base, coupling it with a new concept that relies on two of Ben & Jerry’s top mix-ins: chocolate chip cookie dough and fudge chips.

It is not as revolutionary as the description reads, but it is as delicious as it reads.

Frozenness of Cookie Dough Rating: 9 out of 10
Deliciousness of Cookie Dough Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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