Ben and Jerry's VEGAN Ice Cream

First Impressions

It has arrived, and to say I was ridiculously excited by this prospect, is a massive understatement guys. I feel like I have been waiting for this my entire vegan life (about four years now) for this to happen. Vegan Ben & Jerry's. I know guys, this is life changing. 
This has been long anticipated in the UK, but I'm going to be honest, I didn't really know what to expect. Was the packaging going to be any different to distinguish it? Where they going to release exclusive flavours for vegans? And how much are they going to push the marketing and advertising of this? 
So far there seems to have been minimal marketing, no real adverts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and certainly no television or print ads. Personally I find this a bit disappointing, but perhaps they are waiting to establish the initial feedback and response before they fully try to push the product? Hopefully this will be the case! 
As for the packaging, it is pretty standard of Ben & Jerry's which I really love, there is nothing to make it seem strange or obviously different. I think this is a really clever idea from the brand, because it won't alienate dairy eaters or put anyone off with the sometimes dreaded 'V Word'. And as for the flavours, they have been pretty darn clever. They have done the classic chocolate brownie, brought back an old favourite in the form of Chunky Monkey, and they have created a brand new peanut butter cookie flavour! 
Okay, I think that I've prattled on long enough about this, so I shall move on to the part which we have all been waiting for; the review.

On to the Review!

Chunky Monkey
This is a banana base ice cream with chocolate fudge chunks and walnut pieces mixed throughout. The banana ice cream itself is absolutely delightful. The banana flavour is undeniable, and pretty natural in overall taste. I often find anything banana to have a painfully artificial taste to it, but this seems to avoid that pitfall (thank heavens!). This is probably because of them actually having used real banana in the ingredients. 
The main problem that I had with this flavour was how blooming sweet this was! Which although a nuisance on those days when you feel like gorging your feelings on ice cream, it does stop you from eating a whole tub in one go... 
This sweetness is somewhat combatted by the bitterness of the dark chocolate fudge pieces, and the crunchy nutty flavour of the walnuts. I also really enjoyed how these added elements created a whole new depth of textures, further enriching the whole experience. 
I'm really glad that they chose to bring this flavour back, it really is a fan favourite and tastes unique and blooming delicious!

Peanut Butter and Cookies
I'm going to be honest, this was the flavour I was really excited about. Peanut butter and cookie ice cream? Three of my favourite things all combined together in one tub AND vegan? Heck yes! 
I'm not even going to try and pretend that I didn't crack this bad boy open as soon as I got home to try this sugary enigma. Upon opening the tub, I was greeted by this delectable looking swirl which was all but calling my name. The ice cream again, was incredibly sweet. Now, this isn't a bad thing because it was somewhat balanced by the saltiness of the peanut butter. 
The swirl was well distributed and had a good amount of flavour to it. But the real star of the show here, was the cookie pieces! They were chocolatey and yummy, and simply heavenly! You honestly could not tell they were vegan. 
The main problem I had with this one is the texture. It was strangely gritty. I think this must have been from the peanut butter or the cookie swirl, not a deal breaker or particularly bad thing, but possibly a point of improvement.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I'm pretty darn impressed. They did not taste like healthy ice creams, or low fat, low sugar, or even remotely boring, mainly because, it was none of those things! They were cleverly created, and well devised ice cream flavours, and they did vegan food proud! Other than the intense sweetness, these were really delicious tubs of ice cream that I look forward to having once again! But probably when they are on offer, because £5.50 is a bit steep for ice cream.

Rating - 8/10

Calories Chunky Monkey - 262 calories per 100g
Calories Peanut Butter Cookies - 280 calories per 100g

Buy Again? - YES (When on offer)

Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Buns Ice Cream

This review is courtesy of my mum because I don't eat dairy. So thank you darling mother, I appreciate the sacrifice that you had to make! 

Her first reaction was that it was absolutely magical. When I asked her to elaborate she was initially lost for words because she said that it was just so good. The ice cream itself is creamy and caramelly, this worked incredibly well with the deliciously moreish chunks of cinnamon bun. The chunks of cinnamon bun were more like cookie dough which was a bit of a let down because it was expected that it would be more like the brownie batter that you get in the brownie ice cream. 

The cinnamon shone through beautifully, it had enough spice to add intrigue but paired with the perfect amount of sweetness so that it feels indulgent, yet light enough to eat the whole tub in one go, if you were inclined to do so that is!

My brother enjoyed this ice cream paired with a caramel apple cake, he said that the combination was perfect and the ice cream had enough flavour not to be overwhelmed by what you pair it with, whilst being subtle enough not to be the only thing that you can taste. 

Overall this was a win in my household and I am only sad that I couldn't join in myself, but as you will see in my next few reviews, I have found some tasty alternatives!

Rating - 9/10

Vegan - No

Calories - 273 per 100g

Buy Again - Yes

Ben & Jerry's Minter Wonderland

I feel that mint is an often ignored flavour when it comes to sweet things and is often overlooked for the more traditional peanuts, caramel or toffee. Only ever associated with After Eight mints but that is no more, because Ben & Jerry's have released a delicious new flavour called 'Minter Wonderland' (a name that I can't help but smile at!) so obviously it became my top priority to get a tub to try!

I certainly did not regret it because the flavour was lovely, the ice cream is vanilla with a slight hint of mint which worked really well against the massive chunks of mint chocolate and helped keep it refreshing and not too cloying. Basically I loved this flavour and am sad that it will only be a limited edition so I intend upon eating it until I hate it haha!

Rating - 9.5/10

Buy Again - Yes!

Vegan - No

Calories - 

Ben & Jerry's Raspberry and Chocolate Chunk Greek Style Yogurt

So I finally got my hands on the last of the new Ben & Jerry's flavours, Raspberry Chocolate Chunk, which consists of a raspberry base with chocolate chunks. This flavour is only available in the 500ml tubs so you can treat yourself to as much as you want! 

The raspberry base was quite subtle in flavour but rather enjoyable none the less and worked very well with the dark chocolate chunks which were obviously of a good quality. I wouldn't have minded eating a bar of that actually! The flavour reminded me a bit of the Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt flavour that they used to do except without the chunks of cherry in it, so it is a winner in my book!

Rating - 7.5/10

Calories - 220 per 100g

Vegan - No

Buy Again - When it is on offer only

Ben & Jerry's All or Nutting Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry's seem to be on a roll at the moment and have released yet another ice cream flavour and quite a unique one at that! The new flavour is called 'All or Nutting', as it is a core flavour it has two ice cream components, they are chocolate ice cream which had the standard chocolate Ben & Jerry's taste to it and the other half was hazelnut ice cream which I thought was rather nice, it was nutty but not overwhelmingly so, and lastly the core. It was simply divine, it was basically Nutella but richer and somehow more indulgent, this had to be my favourite part of the ice cream and I would happily eat a tub of just the core! (I suppose that this would basically be a jar of Nutella)

Overall this is a good ice cream that is unique in comparison to the traditional ice creams and definitely worth a try, particularly if you love Nutella

Rating - 8/10

Calories - 270 per 100g

Buy Again - Yes

Vegan - No

Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Honey Caramel Greek Style Frozen Yogurt

I have finally gotten around to trying the Vanilla Honey Caramel flavour of the new Ben & Jerry's Greek Style FroYo and goodness me I am glad. It is simply divine! I personally cannot tell the difference between this and regular ice cream, it is creamy, sweet, and just delicious. I absolutely love it. Although it is lower in calories to most other regular ice creams it is still rather high for FroYo but if I'm honest it is so worth it because unlike other FroYo it actually is creamy with a good melt, not icy at all - something which always puts me off.

Overall it is delicious and is actually better and creamier than some regular non reduced fat ice cream which is pretty darn impressive

Rating - 9.5/10

Vegan - No

Calories - 220 per 150ml 

Buy Again - YES!!!

Ben & Jerry's Greek Style Strawberry Ice Cream

It is always a pleasure to see the latest flavours of Ben & Jerry's on offer so you can imagine my delight when I saw that there are actually four out! Three Greek Style and one Core flavour, I shall be reviewing them all over the coming week or two so keep watching!
I decided to try the Strawberry Shortcake Greek style, and I can say that it was absolutely delicious! It was creamy with chunks of strawberry in and massive pieces of shortbread which had the perfect texture, it hadn't gone soft with the ice cream as I initially feared but had retained a satisfying crunch that worked very well with the sweet and soft ice cream
The base flavour was lovely, as a vegetarian I think it is quite hard to find strawberry flavoured products because they often use carmines to colour it, so I am thrilled that I can have this tasty delight!
Also, another little bonus is that it is about 100 fewer calories than the regular Ben & Jerry's ice cream 150ml tubs so I can indulge with none of the guilt!

Rating - 9.5/10
Buy Again - Yes!!!
Calories - 220 Per Mini Tub
Vegan - No