Ben & Jerry’s has found a new way to make ice cream pints more devious. It’s their new “Topped” version. The topping in question is a decently thick layer of chocolate ganache and “caramel cups” (think tiny Reese’s but with caramel instead of peanut butter). In the case of both of these new flavors I’m talking about here, the worst part is that there’s only a top layer to that goodness. It’s delicious and I found myself wanting to mine the ice cream towards the bottom and ration out the topping as I went.
First up, I found their Topped Salted Caramel Brownie. There’s nothing in that name that doesn’t promise the fantastic. Beneath the topping, there’s vanilla ice cream with salted caramel swirls and fudge brownies. Normally I like a good vanilla base with a bunch of other stuff thrown on it, because vanilla is a great foundation for creative evil. In this case, the bold taste of the topping is a great counterpoint to the relatively light ice cream below it.
Then things just get crazy. The Topped Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough is when the excess becomes excessive. I find that some ice creams that do chocolate on chocolate on chocolate can be so rich that a spoonful or three and you’re done. I was expecting that with this, especially when the lid came off and I saw what was in store. Surprisingly though, the flavors of everything here were balanced. You’ve got their regular chocolate cream with “caramel swirls” and their chocolate chip cookie dough bits thrown in. And somehow it’s not overpowering, even as the entire pint tastes like the aforementioned topping and the ice cream trying to do tasty battle.
As I said above, while I appreciate there being a top layer, I kinda would like a version that went to the Oak Island school of layering and you hit multiple levels of cups and ganache on the way down. One thing, though: since Ben & Jerry’s has started selling the chunks of stuff they put in their ice creams, I’m hoping they will sell the caramel cups separately as well. And hey, if they sell the ganache as one of those hard shell toppings, then I can double and triple up the evil as much as I want.
If you can find these things, eat them. No, please, throw yourself on these tasty grenades and eat them so I can’t. Because they’re addictive. Thanks.
