REVIEW: Private Selection Sweet Honey Baklava

Before my most recent move, I used to live down the street from a lovely, little Lebanese joint that I frequented a few times a week. Whether I was getting a lamb shawarma or baba ghanouj I always secured a flaky square of baklava before heading home. That traditional Mediterranean pastry containing thin sheets of fillo dough, generous portions of walnuts, drizzled with sweet syrup and butter, then baked until flaky and golden brown won me over from the beginning.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Typically choosing chocolate over vanilla, and being partial to brownies over cookie dough, I was even more excited about consuming Chocolate Fudge Brownie than I had been about Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. As a kid, my mother always was baking up heavenly, homemade brownies. Ever since, the smell has been permanently imprinted in my noggin'. When I smell brownies these days I'm like a bloodhound who just picked up the scent of a fleeing fugitive. My ears perk up. I begin sniffing uncontrollably and tunnel vision engages until I find that pan. Despite not ever having enjoyed a brownie mix-in from Ben & Jerry's, I had pretty high hopes for this one. Browsing through the text on the back of the carton I brought light to the journey in which I was about to embark. It's pretty well known that Ben & Jerry are both genial guys. Further proving this point, they explain how they source their brownies. from Greyston Bakery. They pride themselves on giving back:

REVIEW: Jeni's Splendid Hummingbird Cake

The $10.99 price tag kept me from rushing back for more after I flew through my container of Salty Caramel. But I wanted to. I stood strong against the temptation of throwing down another ten spot on a single pint. At least for a few days. But the urge soon became too much to brush off. Before long I found myself behind the wheel, driving towards my Jeni's frozen fix. I tried to recall the other flavors in stock since I knew that The Fresh Market ice-chest would leave my mind clouded with indecisiveness. I was originally going to go with Goat Cheese and Cherries, but once standing in front of that freezer my mind was melted by by one word. Cake.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough has always been the gold standard for what cookie dough flavored ice cream is supposed to taste like. It wasn't until recently that I discovered not only had Ben & Jerry's set the bar, but they were also the originators of this now-classic concoction. Inspired by an anonymous note left on a suggestion board in 1984, Ben & Jerry's blended up the first batch of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Following it's scoop shop success, in 1991, they rolled this flavor into freezer aisles across the country. Putting the more perplexing pints off for a while, I'm ready to retry some proven favorites and lay some building blocks to the foundation of the blog.

REVIEW: Graeter's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

Lately I've been trying to deviate from the deliciousness of Ben & Jerry's and explore some other offerings. This wasn't the first time that I'd heard of Graeter's, but last week I crossed paths with a few rows of this stuff at my local Publix supermarket. Having stumbled across this video a while back, I was well aware that the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip variety was Graeter's signature suggestion.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's Key Lime Pie

With Summer in full swing, Ben & Jerry's has decided to rerelease their Key Lime Pie flavor as a limited batch for the time being. A few of my fellow ice cream connoisseurs had tipped me off that this pie was making a comeback a few weeks before Ben & Jerry's released any information on the subject. After many failed attempts at tracking down this South Florida treat, I was finally about to procure a pint. So how would this measure up to failed attempts such as Blue Bell's Key Lime Pie and Front Porch's Sublime Key Lime?

REVIEW: Blue Bell Christmas Cookies (in July)

Ever since I discovered a pint of Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake hiding in the depths of my grocer's freezer a few months back, I've been on the lookout for seasonal offerings out of season. Luckily for me, Blue Bell's July rotational flavors have made this much easier for us living in the Southern part of the United States. Blue Bell writes, "Let's Celebrate Christmas in July! Your favorite holiday cookies – chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and sugar – combined in a tasty sugar cookie ice cream with festive red sprinkles and a green icing swirl throughout."

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's What a Cluster (Previously Clusterfluff)

What a Cluster (previously Clusterfluff) had been on my radar for over a year, but I had yet to set eye on this phantom flavor. Then my luck changed. Not only had I run across Pumpkin Cheesecake, but I had also excavated this beauty that had been buried towards the back of the freezer. My excitement for pumpkin had superseded my enthusiasm for peanut butter at the time, but in hindsight, it should have been quite the contrary.

REVIEW: Blue Bell Key Lime Pie

After Sublime Key Lime by Front Porch left me broken hearted, could Blue Bell's long standing tradition of nailing Southern classics persevere here? Unsuccessful in tracking down Ben & Jerry's Key Lime Pie at the time, as well as being unable to find Blue Bell's Key Lime Pie in a pint, I had to splurge for the half gallon cauldron. Investing in such a large quantity of something you've never tried is always risqué. Especially when it's a flavor no one seems to have effectively churned out. There's nothing worse than having a half gallon tub of some terrible flavor that is destined for a freezer burned finish and ultimately ending up in the trash can. Would I enjoy this enough to eat the equivalent of four pints and avoid it being condemned to the depths of my freezer for all of eternity? Blue Bell's backbone seems to be in recreating frozen forms of Southern-inspired sweets. Living in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida over the past 6 years, I can tell you that once you cross that border from The Peach State into the Sunshine State all that Southern hospitality is left behind. The people, the places and the general politeness is thrown to the wind. And Key West is barely even in Florida. You can see Cuba from it's coast. It's so south, it's not really even the South. Blue Bell may be stepping outside of their expertise here.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's Banana Cream Pie (Wal-Mart Exclusive)

Banana based ice creams have recently become a favorite of mine, so I was delighted to see the latest Wal-Mart exclusive from Ben & Jerry’s came in the form of Banana Cream Pie. This limited batch offering takes the classic dessert and transforms it into ice cream by bringing a banana ice cream with pastry cream swirls, marshmallow swirls & pie crust pieces. Although I’ve had all of these individual components in flavors such as Chunky Monkey, Boston Cream Pie, Phish Food and Key Lime Pie, this particular combination sounds much better than the others. This seems to be one of Ben & Jerry’s harder-to-find pints, so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled across a few lone cartons sitting in the slot of constantly rotating limited batch flavors. I took two and headed home.

REVIEW: Talenti Gelato Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

Talenti's rise to super-stardom has been swift, but well warranted. They know how to play to their strengths. They know exactly what people expect from them and they deliver. They've built a reputation on well-made gelato with high quality ingredients. Following my magnificent meeting with Peanut Butter World, it was Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup's turn to walk the plank.

REVIEW: Jeni's Splendid Salty Caramel

I have to admit, I was a bit iffy on investing so much on one pint of ice cream.. Having made a special voyage to Fresh Market just to pick up a pint, I decided to press onwards with my purchase. Looking at the ten or so flavors they had in stock, I kept it simple. I grabbed a pint of Salty Caramel and headed towards the register. Both the cashier and the bag boy instantly came to attention when the $10.99 price was published on the monitor. After commenting on the costly container of ice cream, I politely paid and made my way home as quickly as physically possible.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream

What a better way to celebrate the 236th birthday of America than with this made in the USA version of Vanilla Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl & Fudge Covered Waffle Cone Pieces? America loves ice cream, so indulging in this frozen treat is something every American, regardless of age, gender, creed or color, can relate to. Sure fireworks, hot dogs, Budweiser and cheeseburgers are how most will celebrate July the 4th, but my obsession with ice cream has led me to seek a frozen fix this fourth.

REVIEW: Blue Bell Banana Pudding

Being from the South, I'm familiar with family style dinners. Any given Sunday you could find us feasting around a big table on those southern staples such as fried chicken, buttery biscuits and collard greens. Plates would be passed around, and around, until everyone had accumulated a massive mountain of savory grub amidst their plates. Soon afterwards, with bellies full and clothing buttons on the cusp of bursting, out came the desserts. Cobblers, crumbles and cakes made their way around the table. But I knew better. I knew not to fill that last pocket of stomach space with any of that warm, baked baloney.