Updated 12 April 2018: Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns is back as a Walmart exclusive! Please find our original review republished below with new images and some motherf*cking editing… yeesh.
Did you guys know that buns come in more things than just butts and cinnamon?
Personally, my bun rankings go a little something like this: 1) Butts, 2) Cinnamon Buns, 3) Sticky Buns. Before you get on your high horse, allow me to get on mine.
Sticky buns are not the same thing as cinnamon buns; at least they shouldn’t be. Not only does the preparation method vary, but the recipes have key differences in the quantity of ingredients – including the thickness of the dough. The most obvious difference is that cinnamon buns are finished with a white icing after baking, and sticky buns are baked with a sticky concoction, usually a caramel sauce, brown sugar sauce, maple syrup, or honey. (Source: I’m fat.)
Why do I highlight the distinction between the two? Because Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns is its latest limited batch, Walmart-exclusive flavor, and we have serious cause for excitement.
Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns, for those unaware, is a top-notch favor that has received high praise in the industry. I can attest to its greatest. And today, I get to see how Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns measures up.
The mere thought of a Ben & Jerry’s flavor that’s somehow superior to Cinnamon Buns has me a bit sticky myself, if you know what I mean…
Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns features a buttery brown sugar ice cream, pecans, pieces of sticky bun dough, and a swirl of cream cheese frosting.
The buttery brown sugar base is the same one you’ll find in the Target-exclusive Blondie Ambition – a flavor that I have no ambitions to try again (it sucks). The base is not that special on its own, but still manages to pack more flavor than many of their bases. Granted, brown sugar in its raw form is pretty generic sweetness. What I did pick out was some of that “buttery” descriptor – there’s a light tinge of silky butteriness to this ice cream.
But all is not lost, because this base does an excellent job of letting the stars shine bright and fat.
I might have a new favorite mix-in, and it’s the sticky bun dough in Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns. Kill me now. I’ve never made snickerdoodle cookies from scratch, but this is what I expect snickerdoodle cookie dough to taste like on Christmas Eve. There’s a huge cinnamon sugar flavor unleashed from each piece, and they have the gluttonous grit of any homemade cookie dough. The dough pieces are adequately sized, evenly distributed, and just plain marvelous.
I’d also like to give a huge shoutout to Ben & Jerry’s pecan farmer, because these pecans taste better than the ones I buy. They’re enormous, plentiful, and fresh as hell. Given the abundance of pecans and sticky bun dough, every spoonful of Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns is going to have something special.
Only an expert eye might be able to spot the cream cheese frosting against the similarly colored base, but it’s mostly folded into the ice cream seamlessly. At times I tasted a tepid cream cheese tang that made me crave more, but it was soon steamrolled by more delicious pecans and sticky bun dough pieces. Can’t really complain too hard about that one.
Did I enjoy Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns? Hell yes! Did I enjoy it as much as Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns? No, I didn’t. That’s because the cinnamon streusel swirl in Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns was crafted by God himself. It runs laps around this cream cheese swirl. But by featuring the incredible sticky bun dough mix-in and pecans that are superior to most, Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Sticky Buns impressed me thoroughly.
How Much Ben & Jerry’s Pecan Farmer Deserves a Raise Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Dat Bun Dough Rating: 10 out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 out of 10
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I totally feel your intro. If I look at something I wrote a year or two ago, I get frustrated at my past self for not editing better. My comma usage in 2015 was…imperfect 😐
They all sound like drunk rambling with no punctuation, huge paragraphs, and terrible photos. Glad I’m not alone haha.