Haagen Dazs - Peach & Raspberry Ice Lollies (Ocado) By @Cinabar

With all the heat we’ve been having, I couldn’t resist picking up some new ice creams to try. These Haagen Dazs Peach & Raspberry Ice Lollies caught my eye, I love fruity flavours, so I was keen to give them a go.

There are three lollies in the box, each individually wrapped in bright, colourful packaging. When I opened one, I was struck by how pretty it looked. The lolly has a white chocolate coating, decorated with pieces of freeze-dried raspberry, and a lovely mix of colours.

My first bite was mostly white chocolate, which gave way to the centre, a two-part filling of peach ice cream and raspberry sorbet. The sorbet is the standout here, it’s sharp, tangy, and seriously refreshing in the hot weather. The peach adds a more mellow, sweet layer, perfectly balancing the punchy raspberry. The white chocolate is absolutely delicious, creamy and smooth, with the raspberry pieces adding a nice texture.

These ice lollies are seriously good. I love the combination of strong fruit flavours with the creamy ice cream and chocolate. They’re perfect for a hot summer’s day.

Haagen-Dazs Bites Chocolate (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I’m not sure what these Haagen-Dazs Bites Chocolate Edition treats are. I mean, I know what they are made from, but how do you serve them? When do you eat them? They are too small to be a dessert, and they don’t have a stick to make them easy to eat like an ice cream. There is no wrapper to eat them like a choc-ice. They are in a box like a chocolate selection box, but you can’t leave them out to snack on while you watch a film, as they would melt. In conclusion, I put two on a tissue to try, as I didn’t think they were quite worthy of a plate either.

So after the debate on how to eat them, when I actually tried them, I found I rather liked them. The chocolate shell is nice and crispy; it has almond pieces for texture, which I really liked. The centre is the wonderful, rich, creamy Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream, with a lovely layer of super cocoa-flavoured sauce running through it. They are a delight. I wish they were bigger, and you know had a stick in them. As much as I like the Haagen-Dazs Bites Chocolate Edition, I don’t like the shape; it just doesn’t work for me.

Haagen Dazs Pierre Herme Raspberry and Strawberry Macaron (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

Last week I wrote about the new chocolate version of this ice cream, Haagen Dazs Pierre Herme Double Chocolate Ganache, this is the other new flavour in the same set. It is Haagen Dazs Pierre Herme Raspberry and Strawberry Macaron, and it is the fruity version. I know Pierre Herme won the World's Best Pastry Chef award and is famous for his macarons; I know this because I googled it last week!

The ice cream is pale in colour and has swirls of pink and pieces of dark pink macaron running through it. The flavour is lovely and fruity, there is a smooth, sweet strawberry at the forefront, and the aftertaste is a slightly sharper berry hit from the raspberry. I loved the texture of the piece of macaron, they made it interesting to eat and were a little biscuity and a little chewy, which was a nice touch. I love chocolate, but as fruit ice creams go, this one would take a lot of beating. 

Haagen Dazs Pierre Herme Macaron Double Chocolate Ganache (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I’m not very cultured. I had to Google who Pierre Herme was. All I could think was that it was either a handbag company or a delivery company, maybe? It turns out he has won World's Best Pastry Chef, which makes more sense in the context of a collaboration with ice cream maker Haagen Dazs. So this new ice cream has some summer flavours based on macarons, and the first one I am giving a try is Double Chocolate Ganache.

 I gave it a try and the chocolate flavour was amazing, it was super creamy, rich with chocolate and and an absolute spoon licking delight. There was just so much cocoa and cream. Mixed into the ice cream were chocolate-drop sized pieces of macaron biscuit, which added text and made this a delight to eat. The first biscuit piece I had was a little hard but as the ice cream melted they softened up too. This Haagen Dazs Pierre Herme Macaron Double Chocolate Ganache flavour was so nice, I can’t wait to try the other flavour. 

Haagen-Dazs Caramel Swirl Gelato (Asda) By @Cinabar

It is the time of year where new ice creams are starting to launch. This seasonality is an issue for me as I drink hot chocolate and eat ice cream all year. I will take the opportunity to top up my freezer with some new goodies though, and one of the new things I couldn’t resist was this Haagen-Dazs Caramel Swirl Gelato. The ice creams, well yes actually gelato, come in a four pack and each one has a plastic spoon in the lid for that added “I’m at the theatre” feel.

We decided to try these as a dessert during the week, and it was only after I took them out of the box I realised I was supposed to let them warm up for 5-10 minutes before eating. The posher the ice cream the less air is whipped into them, so the firmer they are out of the freezer. Gelato is churned at a slower rate so has even less air so needs the most time.
When it had softened a little I gave it the Haagen-Dazs Caramel Swirl Gelato the taste test. I have too say I was very impressed, the ice cream tasted very creamy and sweet, and the caramel was lovely. The swirls of sauce meant that the mouthfuls varied in terms of the caramel balance and this kept the ice cream interesting to eat. The ice cream tubs only have 150 calories, which makes it a reasonable treat even if you are watching what you are eating. I have to say I was so impressed by the Haagen-Dazs Caramel Swirl Gelato I’ve added another box to my next online order.

Haagen Dazs Cherry Blossom Ice Cream (Ocado) By @Cinabar

As I bought this Limited Edition Haagen Dazs Cherry Blossom ice cream online I didn’t fully appreciate just how pretty the tub was until it arrived. The tub has been decorated in a pretty pink and floral pattern, making it a shame to have to store it away in the freezer. The design was most appreciated during the 15 minutes it had to warm up before serving; it recommends taking the ice cream out of the freezer for that long prior to serving to let it soften up.

Once open I could see that the ice cream was rippled, and I had a look on the tub to see that it was a cherry blossom flavour ice cream with a cherry ripple. I gave the ice cream a taste test and couldn’t make my mind up about. What I tasted was a very delicate flavour. It was mostly creamy, with a lightly flavoured cherry sauce, if I really concentrated on the flavours I could pick up the gentlest hint of a floral flavour, making up the cherry blossom element. I liked the delicate flavour with the cream but felt this ice cream was very mild and ended up being more a hint of cherry than even a hint of cherry blossom. So a nice refreshing mild ice cream, but I thought it doesn’t do quite was promised on the very pretty tub.

Haagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Ice Cream Bar (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

Not one for writing about ice cream, Cinabar implored me to write about this Haagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Ice Cream Bar. Personally I prefer to have a milk chocolate bar of some description and a black coffee after dinner, or a white chocolate bar and white hot chocolate drink. However I needed to cool down after a hot day at work, followed by a hot cramped train journey and then over heating a little watching the Wimbledon Women's Tennis during my evening meal.

Before I knew it, Cinabar had thrust a Haagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Ice Cream Bar in my hand. After unwrapping, on first crunchy milk chocolate coated bite I could see that there were small pieces of soft salted caramel in amongst the vanilla ice cream. There was a sweet saltiness to the ice cream as a whole that seemed to increase in flavour the more I ate. This was indeed a totally delicious chocolatey sweet and salty caramel ice cream treat, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Information on the packet;
Three ice cream bars in the box, at 70g each, having 257 calories, 18.3g of fat, 17.6g of sugar, and 0.34g of salt. Please see photograph.

Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Caramel Almond on a stick (@Nli10)

It's officially summer! Lets buy cold things on sticks, preferably luxury ones. The brand leader in this has recently always been Magnum, after the Cornettos got smaller and less exciting.  Now there are a few more contenders to the throne.

Here we see the playful curves of a Haagen Dazs version of the Magnum almond, and the Magnum caramel all rolled into one.  If the Magnum Infinity hadn't looked like this then this would be a cool move so that people in the street know what you are eating.  I do put most of Magnum's success down to making sure that others know what you just bought from the ice-cream man.  Pink and shiny ftw.

That said, Haagen Dazs do make some pretty good plain ice-cream and so as you'd expect all the bites that have no choc caramel or almond in are actually creamy and great.

At the top the caramel is not really in force, but as you eat down the swirls intensify changing the flavour as it goes - which is really smart.  The almonds are decently large without making the bites too awkwardly hard, and the caramel is surprisingly gentle but with a lovely deeply sweet flavour.  

So it's not that innovative and different I guess but as the caramel and almonds taste very real and not artificial the whole thing is quite a nice luxury ice-cream to hide away with.  A top quality snack indeed.

Haagen-Dazs Secret Sensation: Crème Brûlée [@HaagenDazsLoves] (Sainsbury’s) [By @Cinabar]

Did I mention that there is a fair bit of movement in the ice cream isle of the supermarkets? I was rather pleased to see that there are new ice creams from Haagen-Dazs, to add to the selection from Ben and Jerrys and Heston! They are packaged in mini tubs, which are also packaged in cardboard boxes! I only note this as the recycle police (aka spectre) isn’t a fan of excessive packaging, but was pleased it could at least all be recycled!
So inside the smart box are two tubs of the new flavour; Crème Brûlée. Each of the pots had a plastic spoon inside the lid to scoop with, so it did feel a bit like being at the cinema, only more refined! For those that don’t know Crème Brûlée is a soft caramel flavoured dessert served with a layer of crunchy burnt sugar on top. The ice cream edition has a caramel base flavour, and burnt sugar crystals mixed into it. Also in the centre (which is the secret mentioned on the box) is a spoonful of liquid caramel hiding away!
The flavours worked impressively well together. The ice cream is super creamy, but the caramel flavour is sweet and mellow so it’s a combination that works. It is enhanced when you hit one of the numerous burnt sugar crystals that add a fabulous crunchy texture and a burst of sweetness. The best part was finding the centre pot of gold. The liquid was intensely sweet and reminded me of the liquid that you get in a Crème Caramel dessert, i.e. pure yum.
This dessert ice cream could easily have been to rich, but Haagen-Dazs balanced it perfectly using a very milky ice cream to counter balance all the sweet sugary flavours. This was absolutely gorgeous. I have my eye out for the Chocolate Secret Sensation which has also been released, and I can’t wait to find it! When I do I’ll report back here of course. ;-) If you have a sweet tooth and you see the Crème Brûlée Ice Cream edition in the shops, I really can’t recommend it enough!

By Cinabar

Haagen-Daz Ice Cream [Mascarpone, Passion Fruit & Truffles] (Sainsbury’s)

It has to be said, the three key ingredients in this ice cream aren’t ones which feel like they would readily work together. Having said that, I always love the idea of something a bit different, and am a fan of strange but clever flavour combinations.
The mascarpone base, is rich and creamy, and makes a nice contrast to the passion fruit sweetness mixed into it. The fruity section is full of flavour, and add a lovely sharp taste to the mascarpone's thick vanilla backdrop. The truffles were literally that, chunks of dark chocolate truffle thrown in, and were a pleasure to find when eating this ice cream. They added lovely shot of texture and cocoa, which was rather luxurious.
The flavours may seem a bit strange, but they do work rather well together, and I rather enjoyed it. I think the dark chocolate added a nice extra contrast to the flavour, but it would have been nice to have a few more of these chocolate chunks mixed in.

Haagen-Daz Ice Cream Smoothie [Strawberry and Banana] (Sainsbury’s)

On a hot day, and you fancy a treat from the freezer, and you can’t make your mind up... sorbet or ice cream? This is the solution as this mix has a little of both! Whirled within the pot are a section of red strawberry (smoothie) sorbet and a section of almost white creamy banana ice cream.
My initial thought was that I often have both a tub of sorbet and a tub of ice cream in the freezer, but I would never normally serve them together. I’m convinced that there is some unwritten rule about it. I mean lemon sorbet with chocolate ice cream? It just doesn’t sound right!
Despite being a sceptic, I have to say these flavours did work really well together. The banana was natural tasting and creamy, and the strawberry was sweet and juicy. It did really make for a lovely fruity balanced mix that was very tasty and refreshing. I actually like the idea of having a little of both flavours on the spoon.
I may have to try that lemon sorbet / chocolate ice cream combo after all!

Haagen-Dazs Cherries and Cream Ice-Cream (Sainsbury’s)

I am still running with the theory that even though it isn't sunny, it doesn’t mean I can’t eat summery foods. So I decided to invest in a couple of ice creams I hadn’t tried before . Firstly I purchased this new limited edition cherry ice cream from Haagen-Daz, and I also purchased some Kelly’s clotted cream as I saw it advertised on TV. The Kelly’s write-up will follow very shortly.
The Haagen-Daz Cherries and Cream variety is a wonderful rich pink in colour with lovely pieces of dark cherry mixed in that looked very appetising. The flavour is lovely and rich and fruity but with a creamy aftertaste. The ice cream is thick when it melts and the texture is quite sumptuous. The pieces of cherry add freshness and add to the overall juicy taste. I really enjoyed this ice cream, and felt that such a lovely fruity flavour is perfect for the summer. A really luxurious treat!

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Smoothie: Raspberry and Summer Berries (Morrison’s)

I wouldn’t necessary think of mixing sorbet and ice cream, I usually go for one or the other, but Haagen-Dazs’s idea for summer is to blend the two.
When I opened the tub, I discovered that the sorbet and the ice cream were swirled together. The ice cream was a light pinkish purple colour and the sorbet a bright pink, and they looked very tempting in the tub. The ice cream element tasted mainly of blueberries and was very creamy and mellow, where as the sorbet consisted of a sweet and sharp raspberry taste. Each of the two flavours would work perfectly on their own, but I thoroughly enjoyed the combination. The ability to mix creamy and zingy flavours really worked for me, and I am looking forward to trying the other variety of Mango and Apricot.