Ben & Jerry's Target Exclusive Double Post: Rockin' Blondies & Peanut Butter Jam Session!

Unlike some of the other boring ice cream companies out there, Ben & Jerry refuse to let things get stale. Just when you start to think, "hmm, I wonder when Ol' B & J will come out with something new," they slap you in your face with two new, limited edition, Target exclusive flavors! 

Since we were shopping together when we spotted these, we figured we would each get one and do another team up review. So this week, Mike & Rich strap on their guitars, turn down the lights, and spend some time with some Rockin' Blondies at a Peanut Butter Jam Session! 

First up, the Rockin' Blondies, which is "Buttery brown sugar ice cream with blonde brownies and butterscotch toffee flakes." This sounds interesting as hell, I like the name, and I like that the cow is on a stage, rockin' out. Although truthfully, to really illustrate the idea of "rockin' blondies," the cow should have a guitar and a blonde wig. This guy looks like he's bustin out mad rhymes over a phat beat, not "rockin'."

Rappin' Blondies?

I opened that sucker up, and it looked quite appealing. 

But sadly, it was pretty blah. 

The ice cream claims that it's buttery brown sugar flavored, and while it absolutely is buttery, I really didn't taste a whole lot of brown sugar. It was just kind of a slightly different, buttery version of vanilla. And the blonde brownies were very chewy and a nice texture in relation to the toffee flakes, but they lack a lot of flavor and kind of end up just being like a chewy version of the ice cream- there's some flavor there, but not a whole lot.

The saving grace of this ice cream was the toffee flakes. They're delicious, and when eaten in the same bite as everything else, they tie everything together nicely.

But sadly, they do their best, but they don't quite do enough. I guess I shouldn't be surprised- blonde brownies are good, but if you stop and think about it, don't they always end up being kind of blah? At least in relation to a chocolate brownie? 

If the ice cream was more brown sugary and there were more toffee flakes, this would get a higher rating, and it's honestly still pretty good ice cream, it's just more bland than I want it to be. And when Ben and Jerry keep making flavors at the rate that they do, I start to question if some of the new offerings really ever needed to be made at all...

Good, but pretty lacking. I'll give it a C.

Let's see if the Jam Session turns out any better.

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Peanut Butter Jam Session: A peanut butter and jelly flavored ice cream? GENIUS, let's do it!

How did it take them this long to do PB & J ice cream?!

As soon as you crack open the pint of Peanut Butter Jam Session, you can not only smell the peanut butter ice cream, but also the fruity tang of the Raspberry Swirl. It made me even more excited to dig my spoon into it the first time. I'll tell you what, I wasn't let down. The peanut butter ice cream is smooth and flavorful, but not super intense. Every bite that has raspberry swirl is a blast of sugary fruit flavor that dominates the ice cream. It's probably the most prominent flavor in the entire pint.

That swirl is a darker red than on Ben & Jerry's tie-dyed shirts!

But then a wonderful thing happens. You find one of the swirls of crunchy peanut butter and suddenly the overpowering raspberry flavor is beaten into submission. It works back and forth like this with every bite and it ends up working very nicely. Their choice of using the crunchy peanut butter was very smart too because it gives a great little bit of texture to the ice cream.
If I was going to change anything, I might make the base ice cream slightly stronger in peanut butter flavor so the raspberry swirl isn't as intense. But that's a small nit pick!

I give Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Jam Session an A-. But remember folks, I am a die hard peanut butter fan!

-review by Mike and Rich