I’m going to admit something to you. I don’t actually even like cannoli. So the very fact that I grabbed this from Publix speaks to something I’ve always known about myself: slap the word “limited” on something and I’m a complete sucker for it. But given the ingredients in this ice cream, it seemed like a sure-fire win: “mascarpone ice cream with fudge covered cannoli pastry shell chunks & a mascarpone swirl.” Apart from “cannoli”–to describe the sort of pastry chunks used–there’s not a word in that description that I don’t appreciate.
And it’s a good thing I did snag it–for two reasons. First and foremost, this is, like the best of Ben and Jerry’s products, fairly badass. Take a proper spoonful of it and you get a blast of creamy mascarpone goodness with an even more concentrated mascarpone taste via that threatened additional swirl. And…well, frankly, I could stop right there. Yes, I could tell you that the fudge-covered pastry chunks are good, but unless it’s been sitting out in the rain for days in MacArthur Park or been made into a nest by furry mutant scorpions, I’m not sure how fudge-covered pastry chunks can go wrong. So that’s a given. I think, quite frankly, that if you said, “Widge, have a pint of mascarpone ice cream,” I’d be halfway through it before I remembered that there was once a time when I thought mascarpone was that fictional country Wolverine spent a lot of time in at one point in his comic book life.
[ad#longpost]Regardless, all of that nonsense to say that the mascarpone base and swirl are delicious and punctuated by nice chunky bits that make for an excellent addition rather than a distraction. I realize it’s hard to do “Cannoli Ice Cream” without some cannoli bits in there, but again, Ben and Jerry’s, make Mascarpone Madness (or something) a staple of your available flavors and I’ll probably wind up getting freaking fat again.
(As an aside, I think the reason I dig this so much and not regular “real life” cannoli is that, in looking at the usual ingredients for the pastry–it’s ricotta and not mascarpone. No idea if I have something against ricotta cheese, but inevitable experiments will ensue.)
It’s an excellent flavor and rich and creamy as hell, which is what you want from ice cream. Well. Maybe not you, but it makes me happy.
Second reason I’m glad I snagged it. It’s apparently hard as hell to find. So much so that there’s a #FindCannoli tag on Twitter that Ben and Jerry’s has along with a map with “sightings” on their site. I don’t know about your area, but certain Publix locations have it in stock apparently–and I’d be amazed if Whole Foods did not, seeing as how that’s where I got previous rare flavors like Schweddy Balls. But the Publix where I got mine? Haven’t it seen since that day. So move quickly, friends.
