Today we're finally putting a dent in my ice cream freezer. A triple-Aldi post, two seasonal novelties and a bonus "Super premium" pint. Let's get to scoopin'!
First up, Shamrock Swirl - Mint ice cream with yellow fudge chips & Choco-cookie crumb swirl
Sounds good to me! Right off the bat, the minty base is really soft, creamy, and mildly minty. Similar to the vanilla-forward Shamrock shakes from McDonalds, or a creamy Andes mint. Just minty enough to feel refreshing and keep you coming back for more. Texture-wise, this is a step down in quality from the year-round Aldi pints. This was very easy to scoop right out of the freezer, and feels lighter, and whipped as it melts in your mouth. More like an ice cream novelty than something of substance. I definitely wouldn't kick it out of my freezer, but it's a bottom tier mint ice cream for me.
The yellow "fudge" chips add texture, but even though I love a good crunch, it lacks flavor. They remind me of the colored melt & pour chocolate buttons you can buy at the craft store. It looks nice, but it tastes cheap and honestly brings the overall quality of the pint down.
The cookie swirl is the star of the show, but even though it's front and center on the top of the pint, it doesn't show up nearly as much as I would have liked throughout. When you try the swirl on it's own, it's a little gritty, and it tastes like a standard chocolate cookie (like Oreo) ground up and mixed with chocolate magic shell topping. Quality-wise, it's not the best, but when you do get it in a scoop with the mint ice cream it reminds me of Thin Mints, and it's pretty satisfying.
On a scale of 1-5, (with 5 being the best), this is a 2 for me. Maybe a 2.5 if I'm being generous.
It tastes more like an ice cream novelty than something worthwhile, and I rather spend my calories elsewhere.
Luck O' The Cookie Dough - Cookie dough flavored ice cream with yellow fudge chips and green star shaped cookie dough
A bit more of a reach theme-wise, and possibly offensive?
The base is meant to be cookie dough flavored, but really, it's brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract flavored. As someone who bakes a lot of cookies, and has licked a lot of eggbeaters, the flavoring is rather impressive. But, it has the same foamy, light, quality as the mint pint. Which makes it feel cheaper than in otherwise would. Actually, years ago, Hagen Daas has a flavor competition and the winner was Sticky Toffee Pudding. I used to love that pint, and even though this is definitely a budget version compared to that, the overall flavor reminds me of that Hagen Daas pint. (Pretty sure it's discontinued now though, RIP.)
The same yellow "fudge" flakes are in this pint, I guess they're meant to represent gold coins? Again, love the crunch they provide, but I'm not a fan of their overall flavor.
I had to do a bit of digging to find them, but there are cookie dough stars mixed into the pint as well. They're mostly midway into the pint, but there are a decent amount of them. Flavor-wise, they're okay. Kind of like little bits of take and bake Pilsbury cookies, more sugary sweet and gritty than anything else in terms of taste. Normally, I would seek out pieces of cookie dough because they're normally the best part of their ice cream, but here they're actually so-so. The two mix ins, the "fudge" and dough-stars, combined are very sweet and super sugary. Mix that with an already brown sugary base and it gets to be a bit too one-note. I wish there was some variation, like chocolate pieces instead of white chocolate, or a hint of salt to the dough bits, or something to break up the sugar-fest that is this pint.
On a scale of 1-5, (with 5 being the best), this is a solid 2 for me. The base flavoring is really nice, but the mix ins drag it down.
For comparison, I picked up a pint of Aldi's Vanilla Chocolate Almond Super Premium ice cream to see how it would compare.
Right out of the freezer, this is hard to scoop and it feels heavier in-hand than the other two pints. To me, that's a good sign. That means this isn't whipped up with tons of air and is hopefully richer for it.
Opened, the surface is speckled with little bits of chocolate covered almonds.
My scooping efforts were more difficult, thanks to the ice cream's density, so the bits I was able to pry up may not look all that appealing, like the fluffy ice creams before it, but I don't mind as long as it's "super premium," like it promised.
I took a bite, and the ice cream base certainly tastes more grown up. It isn't warm and comforting like yellow-toned vanilla ice creams, it's more like a sweetened frozen milk. I would describe this as an, "old fashioned vanilla," as in simple, and more real. Compared to other pints, like Salt & Straw, the "super premium" labeling doesn't hold up, but compared to the two flavors I just tried? It's a huge upgrade in quality. (The chocolate covered almond bits are nice too, for the record. It's a darker less sweet chocolate that also adds to the grown-up appeal.) For the sake of fairness, I'll give this a rating too.
On a scale of 1-5, ((with 5 being the best), this is a 3.5. Decent quality, nice flavor, but it's not unique enough for me to seek it out over any other ice cream out there.
Seasonal novelties are fun, and I am sure families with kids would have a blast with these pints, but they're just TOO novel for me. I'm happy to have given them a shot, but I wouldn't buy these again.
But don't write off all-the Aldi ice cream. Their premium products are pretty comparable to mid-tier big-name ice creams like Ben & Jerry's, for a lower price point. Check out my other Aldi Ice Cream reviews: Make Fudge, Not War, Brookie Dough, For Real Dough, My Peanut Butter Half, Thank You Cherry Much, Turtley Awesome, or Swirlin' Strawberry
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