So Texas’ little creamery up the road has a new flavor of ice cream. Blue Bell Creameries just launched Milk & Cookies, a dessert that combines those two popular flavors — chocolate chip cookies and milk.
Sounds good, but pretty tame. Blue Bell is known for seasonal flavors. It introduces new flavors for a limited time — get 'em while you can! — and then they’re gone, leaving you waiting until they come back. Although sometimes Blue Bell retires them, like Birthday Cake, which tasted just like you remember from childhood: Vanilla ice cream with bits of yellow cake, frosting and sprinkles mixed in. But my favorite is Tin Roof.
It’s a funny name but several sources think it may come from the sound the peanuts make when you shake them in the can, apparently like the sound rain makes on a tin roof. I dunno, but I like the Blue Bell version (also in rotation now) that combines vanilla ice cream with fudge swirls and roasted peanuts coated in chocolate.
It’s similar to what New Yorkers know as a Mexican sundae, which isn’t Mexican but does include Spanish peanuts.
Have you looked in the ice cream section at your grocery store lately? There are flavors in there I’ve never seen before. Who comes up with these concoctions?
You can make this at home if you have some vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, fudge sauce and Spanish peanuts. It will definitely get you by when the Blue Bell version is out of rotation.
But there are some ice cream flavors I wouldn’t make at home. Have you looked in the ice cream section at your grocery store lately? There are flavors in there I’ve never seen before. Who comes up with these concoctions? What a job that must be!
I recently found a tasty flavor from Ben & Jerry’s called Blueberry Vanilla Graham Greek. It’s blueberry and vanilla frozen Greek yogurt with a graham cracker swirl. Very tasty.
And then there was a pint of NadaMoo I grabbed at Whole Foods. The name should have tipped me off, but it wasn’t until I tried the chocolate and almond chip dessert that I realized it wasn’t ice cream at all but frozen coconut milk. Not bad at all though.
But I really like sweet and savory flavors, hence the Tin Roof favorite. And it is also a nice treat to take regular vanilla ice cream and drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle sea salt on it.
Several ice cream brands in America are adding sea salt to some flavors, generally caramel, but there’s one flavor I haven’t seen at the local grocery stores.
According to my sister, who lived in Thailand, the local Bangkok Dairy Queen (that’s right, they have Dairy Queens in Bangkok) serves a green tea and red bean paste Blizzard.
Don’t know how well that would go over in Texas, but I’d sure try it. If you can’t wait until your local Dairy Queen offers this treat, here’s a recipe to make your own at home.
Blue Bell Creameries just launched Milk & Cookies, a dessert that combines two popular flavors, chocolate chip cookies and milk.
A to-go window will expedite orders for people in the Stomping Grounds' green space.Courtesy of Stomping Grounds