Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream - Honeycomb

Whenever I get a hankering for ice cream - unless it's an extremely specific hankering - I look for something new that I've never had before.

In this case, I had never tried the brand Van Leeuwen so I thought I'd check it out. Of the flavors in the cold case, the only one that stood out to me was "honeycomb." So I snatched that one up and took it home.

When I cracked open the pint, I was hit the ever-so-familiar cold ice cream smell. (I know you know it, so don't look at me like I'm weird... well, I am weird, but you know what I mean.)

It looked like vanilla with maybe a tinge of yellow in color - I'm assuming that was due to the honeycomb.

OMFG! It's SO good! Each bite is this perfect taste of honey which was sweet but not TOO sweet. (I had to calm myself so I didn't finish the pint all in one sitting... and I mean if I had no self-control, and I could fit the whole container in my mouth, I would.) Also in reading the side of the container, there is no honey in the ice cream whatsoever. It's just honeycomb they make in-house, break into bits and fold into the ice cream.

Ohhh, this would make an AWESOME milkshake... or ice cream sandwich. OMFG! To use this in an affogato? Dear gawd, that'd be fabulous!

Needless to say, I think you get the gist that I love this ice cream.

The info on the carton says it's 14oz, and 1 serving is 1/2 cup (yielding 3.5oz per container). And each serving is 240 calories.

The ingredients are simple, and the end result is yumscious and happymaking. And they make dairy-free options - so I'm curious to give them a try.

https://vanleeuwenicecream.com/pint/honeycomb/
https://vanleeuwenicecream.com/

Later my lovelies.

Have Goodness!
Rae

Ruby Jewel Handmade Ice Cream Sandwich - Lemon & Honey Lavender

Was browsing the ice cream aisle at a nearby market. Was wanting either mochi or a flavor/type of ice cream I hadn't tried before.

Enter "Ruby Jewel."

To be honest, I didn't realize this was a regular ice cream sandwich. My brain was set to macaron ice cream sandwiches (and I've seen them in large-ish packaging before) so the main part that caught my eye was the flavor profile - lemon and honey lavender.

When opening the bag, you're greeted to that cool "ice cream that's been in the freezer" scent with just a touch of sweet... which I assume comes from the lemon cookies.

Taking the ice cream sandwich out of the package, the cookies are soft and slightly crumbly in your hands (that kind of soft that you may have cookie crumb residue stuck to your fingers... which I just had to lick off... so no biggie).

The first thing I did was take a nice big bite and was immediately in my happy place. The flavors were so well balanced and melted together seamlessly, and it was just SOOOO GOOOOOD!!! The cookies on their own were sweet and lemony. The ice cream I could eat solo as well. Ugh!!! (I just thought if there was a bag of tiny versions of this ice cream sandwich. Dear gawd! I'd eat them up like bonbons.)

There are other flavors I want to try (Brown Sugar and Oregon Strawberry piques my interest the most, followed closely by Double Chocolate and Peanut Butter), but they'll have to wait... for now.

And the packaging... so cute. On the front, there's a "seal of approval" kind of mark that says "CERTIFIABLY 1000% AWESOME" - the back says "Best if eaten by you / today" as well as "Keep frozen. Stay Cool. For maximum enjoyment, let soften for approximately 3 minutes and 47 seconds at 72 F (22.2 C) before eating." At the top of the front of the bag, it says "All natural. All good."

Per the back of the package, this item is 5oz (5.25oz per the front of the package) and is 400 calories a serving - but thankfully the package is one serving. Woot! I don't feel like a cow anymore? - though I will keep how quickly I polished that sucker off to myself.

[tiniest of moos]

http://www.rubyjewel.com/ice-cream-sandwich-flavors/lemon-cookie-with-honey-lavender/
http://www.rubyjewel.com/

Later my lovelies.

Have Goodness!
Rae

My/Mo Green Tea Ice Cream (with Mochi Bits)

During one of my cake cravings, I stopped by a market near my home on my way back from IKEA. I thought for sure they would have something, but all their desserts were either not was I was looking for or not in the portion I was looking for. I just wanted a single serving for me - just me - but it was either "buy this giant cake for several people" or "buy these cookies for a few people" and I already have sweet treats at home (mostly from baking things I'd made for potlucks and had stuff left over).

I will say the first thing I saw when I walked in was a cooler at the end of the ice cream aisle full of small pints of ice cream and some gelato tubs inside. (One of these days I'll grab some gelato, but they always have them in giant tubs. I just want a tiny pint for little ol' me.)

So I went to the bakery area to check out the desserts with the notion that if I didn't find anything there that I liked or struck my fancy, I would go back to that cooler.

Eventually returning to the cooler, I saw a lot of different brands and flavors that I had tried before, but there were a couple items that caught my eye.

The brand My/Mo makes yummy mochi ice cream that I've had before - probably every single flavor I could find in fact. But this case had pints of My/Mo ice cream with mochi bits in it. Of course, I was immediately curious and of the three in the case, I chose green tea.

When I popped the top off, I first smelled "freezing cold" - I can't be the only one that has experienced this when opening something that has been living in the freezer for a long time - and then I got hints of ice cream though not the actual flavor yet. (Again, I can't be the only one that has experienced the smell of ice cream. If you were blindfolded and someone put a pint of ice cream, I think you'd be able to say with certainty that it was ice cream.)

The taste of the matcha was delightful. Matcha on its own is bitter, and when translated into various drinks and foods, some people sweeten it up - some a lot, some a little. This was just fine. And when I eventually hit mochi? Yum! (I LOVE mochi. I always get it on my frozen yogurt and love the ice cream... and I've bought it on its own to snack on.)

I will say that a part of me was hoping for green tea mochi bits, but I suppose that was asking for a bit much. The combo of the mochi ice cream and the plain mochi bits was nice... and I ended up eating the whole thing in one sitting (which is not like me at all - my habit is usually to eat a portion and then cap and return it to freezer for future indulgence, but I guess it was just too damn good.

Also - I never understand portion notations on food containers - ESPECIALLY when they're super tiny containers. Like this pint? Half a cup is considered a single serving which means there are four supposed serving in this pint. And each serving is 200 calories.

So either the portions are trash (which I'm a firm believer of), or I'm a cow for eating the whole damn thing in one sitting.

I am cow. Hear me MOOOOOOO!!!

https://www.mymomochi.com/

https://www.mymomochi.com/ice-cream-with-mochi-bits/

https://www.mymomochi.com/our-flavors/green-tea-ice-cream/

Later my lovelies.

Have Goodness!

Rae