Final thoughts
Cost: $4.59 (48 ounces)
Calories: 200 per 2⁄3 cup serving Scoopability: Fair. Needed a little extra muscle but manageable.
Base ice cream: It leans more to the French vanilla vein. Creamy and rich.
Cookie dough: Generic with minimal cookie dough flavor.
Cookie dough to ice cream ratio: Heavily ice cream. Had bites without noticing any cookie dough.
Overall: The vanilla ice cream is the most prominent flavor.
Breyers Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Cost: $4.29-$5.49 (48 ounces)
Calories: 200 per 2⁄3-cup serving Scoopability: Good. Minimal effort. Base: Frozen dairy dessert. A fair vanilla flavor but lacks creaminess.
Cookie dough: Tastes similar to an average homemade cookie batter.
Cookie dough to ice cream ratio: Fair. Cookie dough was present in most bites.
Overall: Cookie dough flavor didn't come through until the frozen dairy dessert melted. Chocolate chunks are present and fill in the flavor gaps but don't overpower the other flavors.
Kroger Deluxe Jammed Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Cost: $2.99 (48 ounces)
Calories: 200 per 2⁄3-cup serving Scoopability: Fair. Needed a little extra muscle but manageable.
Base: Frozen dairy dessert. Minimal vanilla flavor.
Cookie dough:
Not much cookie dough flavor.
Cookie dough to ice cream ratio: Heavy on ice cream.
Overall: “Deluxe jammed” must refer to the plentiful chocolate chips and chunks that overpowered the cookie dough. Add mint flavor to the ice cream and this would pass as a chocolate chip mint. Bland ice cream and cookie dough flavors aren't a treat, even with its economical price.
My goal with each ingestigative report is to provide objective observations about each product tested because personal taste varies. To one person it's all about the cookie dough. Another person might like a balance between ice cream and cookie dough. Still, someone else might sacrifice flavor for fewer calories or to stay within their weekly grocery budget.
When not eating ice cream for work, I take a “to heck with the cost and calories approach” because it's an occasional treat. It better leave me wanting another scoop after I've finished my dish or cone. To achieve this level of desire, I want my ice cream to be sweet, creamy and bursting with the flavors promised. Of the brands I tested, Ben & Jerry's is the only one that left me wanting more.
Also, keep in mind that this report focused on just the cookie dough for each brand and shouldn't be an indicator of any brand's overall quality for all flavors.
Have you tried these flavors? Which are your favorite and what did I get wrong? What should be my next ingestigative report?
Send an email to dphiggin@gannett. com or comment on my Higgins Eats Facebook page.