“Peanut Butter and Cookies.” Did you just smile? I know I did. That’s because peanut butter and cookies are two of life’s simplest and finest pleasures. Comfort foods, if you will. Show me a person who doesn’t love peanut butter or cookies and I will show you a liar. Ben & Jerry’s has combined these two pleasures in straightforward fashion with their new limited batch, Walmart-exclusive Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter & Cookies Ice Cream, which could have just as easily been titled: “Ben & Jerry’s Why I Was An Obese Child Ice Cream.”
I weighed 225 when I was 14.
There are no bells and whistles here, and perhaps that’s for the best. Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter & Cookies Ice Cream features a sweet cream ice cream with chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos!) and a crunchy peanut butter swirl. I can’t possibly be the only person who has spread peanut butter on top of their Oreos as a child, or perhaps I was and that would explain why I had to purchase all of my clothes at the “Big & Tall” store, in the “Big but not Tall” section. But Peanut Butter Oreos exist for a reason, dammit, and maybe I was just ahead of my time. I’m hoping Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter & Cookies can capture the magic of this delightful combination through a third fattening vehicle – ice cream.
“Do you guys sell XXXL shirts for Juniors?”
The sweet cream base in Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter & Cookies Ice Cream isn’t all that different than Ben & Jerry’s vanilla base. Satisfying enough. It has more of a milky taste and obviously less vanilla bean flavor. It’s particularly difficult to pick up on these subtleties because there are so many GD cookies in here. Even when you don’t get a huge chocolate cookie chunk, of which there are many, there are miniature bits and pieces in every bite. The chocolate cookies aren’t crunchy, and they carry a deeper, bitter cocoa flavor versus a sweet one. Though not nearly as good as Oreos, it’s significant that these are entire chocolate sandwich cookies blended in – creme filling and all. A fun mix-in, but they didn’t produce enough flavor for me to get excited.
Huge chunks, though.
Now, let’s talk peanut butter. Or lack thereof. The above photos of Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter & Cookies are a bit misleading. There isn’t much peanut butter swirl here. When you’re lucky enough to get a bite with enough density to that swirl – it’s pretty damn good. The salty flavor really pops up against the sweet cream ice cream. These bites are the most satisfying. But working through the pint, I got a lot more bland bites without any peanut butter component whatsoever. At one point, my entire spoonful was just a gigantic cookie in full. Sounds great in theory – but the cookies fell a little flat for me. Eh…
Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter & Cookies Ice Cream has some things going for it, but the execution is mediocre at best. The cookie chunks are enormous in size, but not enormous in flavor. The crunchy peanut butter swirl is tasty, when you can find it. The fat kid in me may be disappointed, but I anticipate a lot of people will enjoy this Walmart exclusive for its comforting simplicity.
How Comfortable I Was In My 3XL Shirts As A Teen Rating: 3 out of 10
How Comfortable I Am In My 4XL Shirts Today Rating: 4 out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 out of 10
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