Tayto Chips

Tayto is an Irish food manufacturer, specifically snack food and chips (er, crisps).  They have been around since 1956 and are the #1 chip producer in Ireland.

Crisps come in an assortment of interesting flavors.  Yes, they have basics that we know like salted and salt & vinegar, but, like most other countries, they have so many more: beef & onion, pickled onion, spring onion, roast chicken, smoky bacon, prawn cocktail, wutser sauce.  Yup, potatoes, onions, and meat.  Story checks out.  In addition to the thin style crisps, they also make thicker, grooved "Rough Cuts" in even more fun flavors like roast ox (!) and bang bang spicy thai.  Their higher end hand cooked crisps are known as "Craft", and are more sophisticated flavors ... e.g. instead of simple cheese and onion, they offer "vintage Irish cheddar & onion" and the beef flavor turns to slow roasted beef & peppercorn.  Other products are ring shaped puffy snacks and a range of my favorite snack: popcorn.  They have fun seasonal products like, literally, turkey, ham & stuffing crisps (yes, that is one flavor), Christmas gammon party mix, and hot chocolate popcorn.

I've tried only one item, their #1 product, cheese & onion crisps.  They claim that 1/4 of all potato chips sold in Ireland are these chips.   I truly don't recall where I got them, as I haven't been to Ireland ever, and only place I've been in Europe in the past year is Poland ...

Cheese & Onion.

The chips are a traditional thin style, and taste very strongly of potato.  I realize that is an odd thing to say, but they seem more potato-forward than most American chips.  Lightly salted.  I can identify the onion powder and flavor, but the cheese is more muted, mostly just an additional savory component.  I like the flavor, but I don't gravitate towards this style of chip.  They have MSG, which is not a deterrent for me.

***+ for flavor, *** overall for style.

Shain's of Maine Ice Cream

By now you know I eat a lot of ice cream.  I have ice cream, in some form, at least once a day.  Sometimes it is the star attraction, the focal point of my dessert, like a soft serve cone with rainbow sprinkles enjoyed in the sun on a hot day or the base for an epic ice cream sundae.  Other times it takes an accompanying role, like a nicely paired scoop with my warm fruit crisp or stuffed inside a croissant or pair of cookies.  But ice cream is there, daily, in my world. 

Let's just say, I've tried a lot of brands of ice cream.  From local small batch eccentric flavors, to international only offerings, to low-end mass produced "frozen dairy dessert", I've had them all.  So I was a bit surprised to recently find a brand I had not tried before:  Shain's of Maine.

As you can likely guess, Shain's of Maine is a brand based in, yup, Maine.  I believe it started as a diner, with ice cream as one of its main attractions (along with lobster rolls, 'nach).  I don't think they sell wholesale to other ice cream stands, they are not distributed nationally, and very few grocery stores seem to carry it, even in the north east.  But I found one independent market in my parent's hometown in New Hampshire that did offer quarts of Shain's, and I frequently returned to try more flavors.

Shain's offers a very large lineup of ice cream.  They have crowd pleasing flavors, for adults and kid's alike - boozy offerings like mudslide and rum raisin for the adults, and Dino Crunch or Smurf for the younger (or younger at heart?) crowd.   They have plenty of not crazy, but not completely standard either varieties like chocolate walnut, ginger, Irish creme and cookies, and mocha macadamia.  Of course, they have the whole "New England" line up, all the local favorites like Maine Survivor and Maine Tracks, and seasonal varieties like peppermint stick and pumpkin.  Some of their most unique flavors are Frozen Pudding (rum with candied fruit), Indian Pudding, and Butter Crunch (butterscotch with butterscotch candies).  And that is just the standard 14% base - lower fat, no sugar added, frozen yogurt, sorbets, sherbets, and even 10% bases are also available.

Update Review, 2024

Another visit to the east coast, and another chance to indulge in my favorite hard ice cream in the area: Shain's of Maine.  In advance of my visit, my mother went to the one store nearby that carries it, and stocked the freezer.  I had 4 flavors to try, 3 of which were new to me (two seasonal).

Peppermint Stick (Seasonal).

"Peppermint ice cream with red and green peppermint flakes." -- packaging

"Peppermint ice cream with red and green minettes." -- their website

First up, a winter seasonal flavor: peppermint stick.  This one surprised me when I opened it as it wasn't loaded with goodies in the way that most Shain's ice cream is.  The pink hue wasn't over the top artificial, but was clearly not natural. The base was lightly minty flavored, a pleasant form of mint, not like toothpaste. Once I dug in, I did find the red and green hard candy peppermint bits, that added sharper pops of mint, and a bit of texture.

This was a great flavor to pair with hot fudge and whipped cream, or to serve on a warm brownie.  I'd consider it a good pairing flavor, not one I'd necessarily be excited to eat plain on its own.  Overall, I enjoyed it, and appreciated that the mint flavor wasn't too fake tasting.  ***+.

Eggnog (Seasonal).

Next up, another seasonal flavor, and one I was a bit wary of: eggnog.  Now, I do like eggnog on occasion, but I was concerned about it being just too rich, or, worse, too strong in the nutmeg.  Aggressive nutmeg and I are not generally friends.

As expected, it was pretty rich.  It tasted like, well, eggnog.  Very true to eggnog. The spicing was there, but it wasn't over-the-top.  Nutmeg was the second to last ingredient, just before cinnamon, so both spices were in the background.

Overall a good eggnog flavor if you are in the mood for it.  It would pair well with seasonal bread pudding.  At least for me, hard to eat an entire bowl of.  I wouldn't get it again just because I don't tend to want eggnog that frequently.  ***.

Mocha Chip.

"A blend of chocolate and coffee ice creams with chocolate chips." -- packaging

"Mocha ice cream with chocolate chips." -- website

I don't frequently eat coffee flavored ice cream, just due to avoiding caffeine after mid-morning, but, this was too good to pass up.

The base ice cream was, well, mocha.  The chocolate flavor was quite strong, and the ice cream quality was high, nicely creamy, and it melted in the way I like.  The coffee was fairly muted however.  As you can see, signature Shain's style, it was loaded with chocolate flecks (they say "chips", but I'd call those flecks).  The chocolate was high quality dark chocolate.

Overall, not a mind blowing unique flavor, and I wanted stronger coffee, but nice quality and abundant mix-ins, and one that ate well without much addition (although of course I did like to add nuts and whipped cream).  I'd get it again if craving a chocolate flavor.  ***+.

Whoopie Pie.

"Vanilla ice cream with chunks of Shain's of Maine homemade whoopie pies."

And finally, I couldn't resist, another quart of one of my favorites, their whoopie pie.  As always, it was loaded with huge hunks of whoopie pie.

My review of this is entirely unchanged: decent vanilla ice cream base, nice moist chocolate cake, and love the huge hunks of sweet white frosting.  Adore this flavor, really.  ****.

Update Review, July 2023

Another visit to the northeast in the summer, another opportunity to get Shain's of Maine ice cream, my favorite hard serve ice cream in the area.

Black Raspberry Explosion.

"Black raspberry ice cream with dark chocolate raspberry cups."

Black raspberry soft serve ice cream is something I grew up with.  Where I'm from, ice cream stands always had 3 flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and black raspberry.  They usually rotated in a 4th flavor weekly.  But vanilla, chocolate, and black raspberry were always a given.  I thought this was normal.  I grew up truly believing that black raspberry ice cream was as common as vanilla or chocolate.  I'm still not sure why this regional trend exists, but, let's just say, I grew up eating quite a bit of black raspberry soft serve (in a cone, with chocolate sprinkles!).  

And then I moved away, learned that black raspberry isn't always available, and that soft serve in general is less common.  Hmmm.  Black raspberry hard serve is something I've had very little of.  I've gotten it a few times from JP Licks in a sundae, but otherwise ... just not something I've encountered much.  

I saw this flavor from Shain's when I was at a nearby store when visiting my parents.  I had to get it.  I hoped it would remind me of my black raspberry soft serve, which was always my mother's favorite too, sorta crossed with my Dad's favorite ice cream, "Raspberry Rumble" (from Schwan's), with the raspberry cups.   It seemed like the perfect flavor for the whole family.

It was good.  Strong black raspberry flavor, creamy premium ice cream base.  The dark chocolate raspberry cups really delivered in the dark chocolate department, really strong and deep dark chocolate, nice snap to them.  There were TONS of them, in real Shain's style.  That said, I didn't really find any raspberry element to them - I thought they'd have a raspberry liquid filling like Raspberry Rumble, but these seemed solid.  If they had a raspberry flavor, it was lost in the deep dark chocolate and surrounding black raspberry ice cream.

Overall, this was a good flavor, it melted nicely, clearly premium, nice quality mix-ins.  Probably not a flavor I'd get again just because I love Shain's other flavors more, but, a nice ice cream.  ***+.

Whoopie Pie.

Oh, Shain's.  This is why I love the brand.  I opened the lid to see exactly what I wanted: big hunks of whoopie pie.  Seriously, Shain's mix-ins - so, so so good!

I've had this flavor before, and went into it with high expectations, and was not let down.  The vanilla base is fairly standard, but higher end, creamy, the style that melts nicely.  This is a flavor all about the mix-ins though.  Big, big hunks of whoopie pie.  The cookie parts are super soft.  Chocolately.  And seriously, some mega chunks in here.  Very good.  And then, the whoopie pie filling.  Which at first glance blends in with the vanilla ice cream base, but is immediately obvious once you take a bite.  Sooo sweet.  Exactly what you want inside your whoopie pie.  Or, you know, your ice cream.

Normally when I have ice cream, I have it as a component in a dessert, a scoop to pair with a warm fruit crisp/crumble/cobbler perhaps, or to make a pie a la mode.  I rarely just have a bowl of ice cream.  But this flavor is complete enough that it really doesn't need anything else added.  After all, there is a substantial amount of soft chocolate cookie-cake in here.  Yes, some fresh strawberries jazz it up a bit, but really aren't needed.

This continues to be a favorite flavor of mine, and is one that you can't help but just keep digging into, partially because you want to get more good bits, and partially because it is just that good. ****.

Update Review, December 2022

Another year of visiting the east coast, and another year of me requesting that my parent's freezer be pre-stocked with my favorite local(ish) ice cream: Shain's of Maine.  My family lives in New Hampshire, not Maine, but there are a few niche markets around town that carry Shain's, and it truly is some of the best hard style ice cream I've had, and a unique New England treat.

For this visit, my mother went all out, getting four different flavors for me to try.  One, Whoopie Pie, is an old favorite, but the others were new to me.  I enjoyed sampling more of the flavor lineup, and polished off far more of that ice cream than is really socially acceptable in a short visit, but, hey, it was a treat for me!  My feelings on Shain's remain much the same: the strengths are in their mix-ins, where they excel both in quality of the mix-ins (e.g. homemade whoopie pies) and in quantity (the Cookie Dough flavor really is about 50-50 ice cream to cookie dough gobs, and the Whoopie Pie isn't far behind).  The base ice cream itself is fine, above average grocery store quality, but not remarkable high end artisan ice cream.  I'll gladly try more flavors.

Whoopie Pie.

"Vanilla ice cream with chunks of Shain's of Maine homemade whoopie pies."

I've had this flavor before, so I knew what to expect, but I was still a bit surprised when I opened the quart of Whoopie Pie ice cream and there was a huge hunk of whoopie pie cake sitting right on top, just like before.

The cake was again really quite good - it is moist, chocolately, and just good chocolate cake on any dimension, even more crazy that its so good inside an ice cream base.  The vanilla ice cream was fine, but not quite as high quality as I remembered.  Still a touch above your average grocery store vanilla, but, not as good as more artisanal brands (I've been spoiled by a lot of premium ice cream lately).  And finally, the whoopie pie frosting, that is pretty hard to notice visually as it matches the ice cream just a touch whiter, but is quite clear when you get a hunk in your mouth, as it is very sweet frosting.  I love it, but, wow, a little goes a long way.

Overall, this really is a lovely flavor, and one that eats well.  You get your cake and your ice cream, and hunks of frosting, and it really needs little else added.  I sometimes add fresh strawberries or whipped cream, just to round it out a bit, but it isn't needed.

****+ for the whoopie pies, *** ice cream, **** overall.  Still my second favorite flavor of Shain's, only behind the cookie dough.

Tornado.

"Vanilla Ice Cream With Coated Chocolate Candies, Heathbar Pieces, Chocolate Cookies And Chocolate Chip Cookies."

There is nothing like opening a container of Shain's ice cream.  I mean, really, the mix-ins are just so front and center, it genuinely brings joy, at least to me, to see.  Right on top of the Tornado I could see colorful full size M&Ms and bits of Heath bar, and I was excited to dig for the two kinds of cookies (chocolate and chocolate chip).

It didn't take long to find the cookies, or at least, the Oreo-like ones.  There were tons of hunks of soft chocolate cookie in the mix, the most dominant of the ingredients.  There were fairly plentiful M&Ms too.  But besides the little bit of Heath bar I saw on top, I didn't actually find any more, and I love Heath bar in ice cream, so this was a big let down.  There were a few bits of the chocolate chip cookie, not cookie dough, but, cookie, much like the chocolate cookies, fairly soft.  They weren't particularly flavorful, and there was only a few bits in the quart.

This flavor really let me down.  I expected it to be absolutely loaded with goodies, and it was reasonably well loaded, just mostly with Oreos & M&Ms (or their off-brand counterparts).  It ate like a cookies & cream flavor, with some M&Ms added.  And since I don't care for cookies & cream ... yeah, not for me.  I really had hoped for more Heath, and for the chocolate chip cookies to be more interesting.

**+.

Maine Caramel Sea Salt.

"Caramel sea salt ice cream with chocolate covered caramel truffles."

A few years ago, salted caramel everything was such a rage.  I realized when I tried this flavor that it had been a few years since I'd had salted caramel ice cream.  But it seems Shain's got on that trend too, and dubbed it "Maine Caramel Sea Salt" ... I'm not quite sure what specifically is Maine about it (all their flavors are from Maine after all ...).

This is the first flavor from Shain's that I tried that didn't have a copious amount of mix-ins right on top.  It still had two small visible little truffles, and looked like a normal brand of ice cream, rather than their kinda signature over-the-top loaded up style of other flavors I've had from Shain's.

The base of this was really quite lovely - a sweet caramel ice cream, that trended in a maple-ish direction.  Smooth, creamy, great texture, premium ice cream.  It was certainly sweet, but not totally cloying.  I'm not sure I'd want a big bowl of it, but it paired really well with things like warm cinnamon rolls or liege waffles.  I didn't taste a particularly strong salted element, but, that is generally true of most salted caramel ice cream.

The little truffles were fine, reasonable quality creamy chocolate coating, a little bit of caramel inside.  I don't think the ice cream really needed them, but they didn't detract.

Overall, a nicely done sweet caramel flavor, and I'd get it again if I had pairings in mind, but I wouldn't seek it out otherwise. ***+.

Wild Maine Blueberry.

I approached the Wild Maine Blueberry flavor with interest.  Blueberry is not a common flavor of ice cream, but, wild blueberries *are* something Maine is known for, and thus, it makes sense that a brand so focused on state pride would have such a flavor.  I wasn't sure if it would be a homogenous blueberry flavor, if it would be vanilla with ribbons of a blueberry swirl, if it would have full size berries in it, etc.  Knowing Shain's, I kinda figured it would be loaded with swirl and berries, so I was a little surprised when I opened it to see no real mix-ins.  Yes, there were little bits of berry, but no substantial blueberry element.

The flavor was fairly mild.  Lightly sweet, lightly fruity.  I wouldn't identify it as blueberry if I didn't already know what it was.  Not amazing premium quality ice cream, not as creamy as I'd like, but still better than average.  It did have bits of blueberry in it, and a few larger pieces, but as the berries are wild Maine blueberries, they are a smaller size.  The bits of frozen berry were pretty hard and icy, so I didn't want them bigger anyway.

Overall, I give this a "fine" but not something I'd get again.  That said, I think it would be great paired with a warm slice of summer pie, especially blueberry pie.  ***.

Original Review, June 2021

My local market didn't have a huge variety of choices, but, I tried as many as I could.  I'd gladly try more.  This is some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

Cookie Dough.

"Vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and cookie dough."

Ok, wow.  My first experience of Shain's, brought to me by my sister after having an ice cream party, and sending me her leftovers.

I took one bite, and was blown away.  This is damn good ice cream.

The base was quality vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips (semisweet).  But the reason this flavor shines is the cookie dough.  ZOMG.  Not a flavor I'd pick myself, but, ZOMG.

I couldn't believe the hunks of cookie dough, visible on the edge here, which I thought at first that I just got lucky and had a quart with a nice chunk on the side.  Oh no, Shain's takes the mix-ins very seriously, and the cookie dough was generous chunks throughout.  Massive gobs.

Cookie Dough: THE DOUGH!!!! 

I mean seriously.  Look at these cookie dough hunks!!!

The cookie dough is huge, huge, huge balls of cookie dough, sweet, super buttery, and honestly, just awesome.  I have never, ever had cookie dough this good before.  Not in ice cream, certainly, and not even standalone.  The huge hunks were like eating just cookie dough, like any of the trendy edible cookie doughs like I've reviewed before (e.g. from local SF favorites Doughp - so good! or Out the Dough - stuffed into cannoli).  Honestly, the best cookie dough ever.

So although this is not a flavor I'd normally pick, I was sooo glad to have it sent my way.  I did not share the rest of this quart with anyone else.  The cookie dough was just stellar, so sweet and buttery, and I loved the crunch from chocolate chips in the base.

*****.

Pistachio.

"Pistachio ice cream with pistachio."

I picked up pistachio only because I wanted a flavor that didn't have any caffeine, and every other flavor available had chocolate in it.  So, pistachio it was.

It was fine pistachio ice cream, with plentiful whole pistachios, and a lovely green color to the base (made with, sadly, "pistachio flavor", not real extract).  I can't say this was a particularly exciting flavor, but, it was a fine pistachio ice cream.

***, as fairly "boring", but it was good for what it was.

Whoopie Pie.

"Vanilla ice cream with chunks of Shain's of Maine homemade whoopie pies."

Um, wow.  When I saw the Whoopie Pie flavor, I had no choice but to grab a pint.

Whoopie Pies may not be popular throughout the country, but in New England, where I grew up, Whoopie Pies are A. Big. Deal.  They are even the official state dessert of Maine, where Shain's is based.  I haven't ever seen a Whoopie Pie ice cream before, but, kudos to Shain's for doing this.

When the flavor originally launched in 2011 they partnered with a local bakery for the whoopie pies, but now they make their own.

So, yeah.  Whoopie pies.  A staple of my growing up.  My great aunt, the ultimate Whoopie Pie maker, *always* had these on hand when we visited.  Sometimes they needed to be fetched from the freezer if she didn't have any ready to go at the moment, but there were always Whoopie Pies offered (and honestly, they are pretty good slightly frozen too!).

We usually had the traditional chocolate cookie-cake with sweet white filling, but my great aunt also often made pumpkin cakes with a cheesecake filling, and a gingerbread one, for the holidays.  My sister even had Whoopie Pies (made by said great aunt) at her wedding on the dessert table, and EVERYONE stuffed their pockets as they left the venue.  I'll admit that I've kinda moved on from loving whoppie pies, but, nostalgia kicked in when I saw this flavor, and I do love pairing cake and ice cream, so this seemed like it would be a winning flavor, even if whoopie pies are *that* exciting to current-Julie.

The Shain's version was classic chocolate cookie-cake, and I was overjoyed to open the top of the pint and see the very generous hunks of whoopie pie, front and center.

Seriously, the Whoopie Pie Chunks!

Shain's did a nice job with this.

The ice cream base is their quality vanilla ice cream, and, just like the cookie dough, it was just insanely loaded with whoopie pies.  I mean really.  Look at this.

The chocolate cake was moist, and had a nice chocolate flavor.  I really did like the cake.

I was shocked to find that it also did have the classic super sweet filling in there too - what I thought was going to be refreshing vanilla ice cream turned out to be HUGE hunks of filling from time to time.  Once I knew to expect it, this was good, but the first time I got a mouthful of that rather than ice cream, it was a surprise.

I did find it trended too sweet for me at moments, but I did really like the quality vanilla ice cream base and the cake.  Pretty similar to a cookies & cream flavor, just, more of the sweet cream filling than I wanted.

***+

Grapenut.

"Vanilla ice cream with grape nut cereal."

This is my first time ever having Grapenut ice cream, but much like Black Raspberry, it does seem to be a regional favorite.  I've seen it in several places around town, both at ice cream stands and stores alike, and regional decent quality large ice cream supplier Giffords is known for theirs. 

If you are not familiar, Grape-Nuts is a super classic cereal, a hearty, gritty, wheat-barley base.  I really do like Grape-Nuts cereal sometimes (something about the crunchy, hearty nature, when you have rich milk and add fruit on top ... or sprinkled on top of yogurt and fruit rather than granola ... and I know some people love it warmed up too).  The sound of crunchy bits inside ice cream was certainly appealing, but I still approached with a bit of skepticism.

One bite though and I was sold.  It was good!

The base is creamy quality ice cream, slightly on the sweeter side, vanilla.  Very good ice cream.  

The Grape-Nuts inside are actually surprisingly awesome - gritty, crunchy, and waaaaay better than any cornflake/etc addition I've had, that tend to be ... softer, soggier than I like.

Much like the cereal, this is great with some fresh strawberries or blueberries on top.

**** very enjoyable.

Noodies, Tucson

I was just in Tucson for a very short business trip (working with students at University of Arizona).  It was mid-October, and the weather was 95* and sunny the entire time I was there.  I *loved* it, and in my world, this was absolutely perfect ice cream weather.  And if you know my blog, you know how much I adore soft serve, particularly in that kind of weather.

My research yielded shockingly few ice cream/froyo/gelato places around where I was staying.  There was one local ice cream chain that people do love (hard serve only), a Cold Stone, and a Pinkberry further away, but other than that, there wasn't much.  One place on campus had plain tart froyo only.  It seems most people opt for Mexican style refreshing icy treats (respados), or get smoothies.  There were *tons* of smoothie/bowl shops.  Acai everywhere. 

But my research did have one very promising set of options: Noodies and Ceres, sister restaurants.  They are actually pasta/sandwich places, with house made pasta as their main attraction, but both also offer house made soft serve gelato.  A rare find.  They have just two flavors at a time, and they swirl to a sundae creation with curated toppings.  The flavors change weekly.  I stalked them on Instagram, and couldn't wait to find out what my flavors would be.

But ... they are not open on Mondays or Tuesday, and I was there in Tucson only Mon-Wed.  And Ceres is only open for lunch, and is kinda far from where I needed to be at 1pm.  Thus, I made sure that at least on Wednesday, I was able to make it to Noodies.

I'm so glad I made this prioritization decision.  I'd eagerly return in the future, to either location, and even though I am not a big pasta person, I'd likely try that too, as it looked incredible (and was sooo fresh!  You could see them rolling fresh pasta right there).

Exterior.

There was some outside seating, more under some umbrellas, but minimal.  I think in general it may be too hot for people to really want to eat outside.

Inside.

The ordering and pickup area are at one end of the interior space, tables fill the rest.  I believe they have table service for dine-in.

Baked Goods.

I didn't realize that Noodies had baked goods!  I was there aiming to get the soft serve, but the "Noodie Pie", their signature dessert, looked incredible (the crust has crushed pecans and dark chocolate, it is filled with a rich mocha mousse, and topped with coffee whipped cream and shaved chocolate).  The staff member told me it was her mother's recipe and it was as incredible as it sounded.  Since I don't consume caffeine later in the day, I couldn't get it to enjoy later either.  I really did consider getting it instead of soft serve, but, I stuck with my plan.  It was 95* after all.

I also nearly got another goodie to take for the evening.  They had whoopie pies, which I rarely see outside of New England, but the warm weather wasn't actually putting me in the pumpkin spice mood (the flavor of the day), even though it was mid-October.  The frosted cookies even called out, despite being lemon (not my fav).  

Next time, I'd definitely plan to try some of these items too, they come from the same local bakery that makes their focaccia.  

Almond Joy Gelato (Kid's Size). $3.

"Coconut gelato swirled with dark chocolate sorbetto (V) topped with coconut flakes, toasted almonds, and chocolate shell."

I went for the swirl, with all the suggested toppings but the coconut flakes.  I actually do like coconut (obviously, I was getting coconut gelato), but the coconut flakes were untoasted, and I'm not particularly into the consistency of untoasted coconut.  I thought it would be more generously dipped in chocolate shell, but instead, was just a slight drizzle.  Same with the toasted almond slices, you can see all of them, the backside of the cone had none.  If I had to criticize one thing, it was the amount of toppings.  I wanted more!

But what I did have was delicious.  The coconut gelato was nicely creamy, a reasonably strong coconut flavor that still had dairy cream in it, which I prefer - I like coconut, but don't actually care for coconut vegan ice cream or the like.  The dark chocolate sorbetto was incredibly rich and decadent.  It tasted like a cross between a fudgicle and very rich dark chocolate mousse, just, frozen.  I think a full cone of it would be far too much for me (but a bowl of it with whipped cream and raspberries to balance it would be heavenly!).  I really liked both flavors, although my cone was more like 65% dark chocolate sorbetto and only 35% coconut, which made it borderline too much chocolate for me.  The almonds were great crunch, and the chocolate shell was a high quality dark chocolate too, not the waxy style.  It all came together very very well.

I got the kid's size, not knowing how big they might be, and I'm used to a world where kid's size is much bigger than this.  I think I'd get a regular in the future.  

Overall, a great treat, ****, although slight ding for quantity of toppings, and ratio of the two flavors being off in my twist.  

The kid's size was only $2(!), the regular $4.  Toppings are $0.50 each, or $1 for all.

Krispy Kreme Donuts

Update Review, October 2024

For Halloween, a co-worker brought in a bunch of Krispy Kreme.  I've never really cared for Krispy Kreme in the past, but I haven't had it that many times, so decided to give it another try.

Halloween Donuts: Slimer ($3.49), Ecto-Sprinkled ($3.19),
Ghostbusters Cookies N' Creme ($3.49), 
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man ($3.99).

For Halloween, we had a bunch of special edition Ghostbusters donuts.  I of course went for the most ridiculous of them all: the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

"Original Glazed® doughnut with powdered topping, topped with marshmallow flavored buttercreme and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man candy."

Um, wow.  This was an incredibly sweet donut.  Which I expected of course, but, wow.  Sugar on sugar on sugar on sugar.  

Yes, this was a glazed donut, with powdered sugar on top of that, stuffed with marshmallow cream, AND frosted.  As I said, sugar on sugar on sugar on sugar.

As always, I disliked the actual donut.  Krispy Kreme just truly doesn't do it for me.  They taste too processed, not fresh enough, meh.  The marshmallow buttercreme was true to the marshmallow taste, crazy sweet, fluffy, and enjoyable ... but in much smaller quantities.  I scraped some off and spread on strawberries and liked it quite a bit that way.  So tasty, but cloying sweet marshmallow components, awful donut, **. 

Update Reviews, May 2019, November 2019

More attempts at Krispy Kreme, even trying the fancier donuts, but ... meh.

Donut Wall.

Sometimes life brings you donut walls.  This is always exciting, but, I'll admit I was let down when I discovered the donuts were from Krispy Kreme.

Still, I dug in to several.

Cake Donuts

I don't think Krispy Kreme is particularly known for the cake donuts, but they do offer a few classic varieties (plain cake, powdered, cinnamon sugar), and a few more interesting ones (glazed blueberry cake, sour cream glazed, and glazed chocolate), several of which are also available as donut holes.

This was my first Krispy Kreme cake donut.

Glazed Chocolate Cake.  May 2019

"If you love chocolate cake then you love this doughnut. It is rich, moist and full of chocolate flavor. We then top it off with our signature glaze."

This was my first Krispy Kreme cake donut.  I applaud the generous glaze.  Standard sweet Krispy Kreme glaze.

But the donut base itself is fairly ... eh.  It was not rich and moist as described.  Just kinda dry, chocolate-y but not rich.  A bit greasy.  No crispy exterior.

Very generic, very uninteresting, besides the glaze.

Raised Filled Donuts

And also my first filled Krispy Kreme donuts.

Santa Belly. Nov 2019.

"A jolly Santa belly doughnut filled with Chocolate Kreme™, dipped in red icing with sparkling sugar and a hand-decorated belt."

Part of the 2019 seasonal offerings, the "Santa Belly".  I'll admit, I was impressed with how decently it was decorated, for a mass market item.

However, I found it looked better than it tasted.  The decorations were good - the red icing was crazy sweet, particularly with the sparkling sugar, and the belt pieces were hard candy that were just sugar, but, tasty.

But the rest of it?  Meh, it is still a Krispy Kreme donut.

Santa Belly: Inside.

The chocolate filling was not quite as generous as I was hoping, but, once I tasted it, I was glad.  I didn't really like it.  It is their signature Chocolate Kreme™ and it was somehow not very chocolatey, nor very creamy.  Just ... more sweet.  It made me sad, as I was hoping for a rich chocolate pudding, or a light fluffy cream.

And the donut base?  Meh, just a not very interesting, kinda dry, Krispy Kreme.

I gave away the other half.

New York Cheesecake. Nov 2019.

"Our version of this popular dessert is filled with rich, creamy cheesecake filling, topped with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with crunchy graham."

I didn't know what kind this was when I plucked it from the donut wall, but it looked filled, and topped with interesting things, so, I grabbed it.  It turned out to be "cheesecake".

The toppings were ok, although the icing didn't seem to really be cream cheese flavored, I mostly just found it sweet.  It was fine, but not any different from a vanilla glaze to me.  The graham I actually thought was cake bits or crumble, not "crunchy" as advertised, but also not bad.

Toppings were ... ok.

But again, the rest?  MEH.

New York Cheesecake: Inside.

We again have a lackluster Krispy Kreme donut base, mediocre amount of filling.

And the filling ... I HATED.  It was richer and creamy I suppose, but it tasted like lemon and sugar more than cheesecake.  I know cheesecake can often have a lemon hint, but this was far too citrus-forward, and fake tasting, for me.

I definitely did not like this one.

Update Review, September 2015

As I mentioned in my original review of Krispy Kreme , I didn't grow up with Krispy Kreme.  The few times I had Krispy Kreme as an adult, I wasn't been impressed.  I certainly don't seek it out.

But ... it was National Coffee Day, and Krispy Kreme was giving out free coffee AND donuts (take that Dunkin' Donuts! They *only* gave out coffee!).  Normally, I'd skip this, even though I just can't resist a freebie, because, well, there isn't one convenient to my house.

But, as luck would have it, when National Coffee Day rolled around, I was actually out of town, down in Santa Monica, and happened to be staying a few blocks from a Krispy Kreme (I swear I didn't plan this).  So, I obviously had to check it out.  Plus, I hadn't ever actually experienced a hot fresh Krispy Kreme, and I was hoping I'd luck out.

Original Glazed Donut. $1.

Sadly, the donuts were not hot and fresh.  I'm assuming this was still a bit fresher than when I've tried them in the past, not directly purchased at a Krispy Kreme.  But certainly no warm magic here.

The donut was ... fine.  It was fluffy and airy.  It wasn't stale tasting, it wasn't oily.  But it wasn't particularly interesting.  It was perfectly glazed, in a nice, sweet glaze.  I give them points for the perfect glazing.

Overall though, certainly nothing special, and not something I'd go back for.

(The coffee served was from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, it was fine, not particularly interesting either).

I didn't actually finish the entire thing in my first sitting, as I went right after breakfast at my hotel.  I had a chunk left.  For some reason I didn't throw it out.  I'm really not sure why, as it wasn't like I was in love with it.

I discovered it 12 hours later, post-dinner.  And ... for some reason, I felt compelled to eat it.   Yes, many many hour old, likely stale, totally forgot mediocre donut.  And ... I actually liked it more this way.  The glaze had gotten hard, and it was a bit crispy.  I ... liked that.  And the donut itself had gotten drier, which I also liked more.  It still wasn't amazing, but I was pretty weirded out by the fact that I actually preferred a 12 hour old donut ...

Original Review, November 2013

Mmm, donuts.  I love a good donut!  Yet somehow, I'd never had a Krispy Kreme before.  They didn't have them where I grew up, and somehow, once reaching adulthood, I never sought them out.  It isn't that I don't eat donuts, but I tend to go for the fancy pants versions these days.

Anyway, I recently attended an event that had boxes and boxes of Krispy Kreme lined up!  I was excited to try them out, since I obviously knew about Krispy Kreme.  But I also knew that part of the experience is getting the hot fresh ones at the store.  I wasn't going to have that experience, but I was at least going to have some donuts!

Sadly, I didn't really care for any of them.

Original Glazed.

I started with the basic donut they are most known for.  The original glazed.

It looks like a very good donut.  The glazing is very uniform and covers the entire donut.  It is soft.  But ... honestly, just not a very interesting donut.  I'm told that the real magic is when you get one hot and fresh at Krispy Kreme, which I've never actually done.  So maybe I'm just missing the real thing.

Maple Glazed Iced.

When I opened the box of donuts, there was one aroma that was overwhelming: maple.  I'm from the land of maple syrup, so I was really excited by this one.

It was shocked to discover that it was also glazed.  Turns out, they take the original glazed donut and THEN add additional maple icing.  Wowzer.  Sweet overload.

Again, very well formed donut, perfectly iced.  And it tasted like maple, sorta.  But ... again, just not that remarkable.  I wouldn't get another.

Chocolate Iced With Sprinkles (Halloween Version)

The seasonal variety was a chocolate iced donut topped with sprinkles, featuring orange and blank sprinkles for Halloween.

Again, an original glazed donut is the base.  Then topped with chocolate icing.  And then covered in sprinkles.  Yes, ZOMG, sugar.

This was hands down my favorite.  The donut was obviously the same and kinda meh, but I liked the chocolate flavor of the frosting, and the sprinkles added a nice crunch.

If I were to get another Krispy Kreme, I'd probably go for this one.

Glazed Cruller.

I enjoy crullers, but this wasn't really one.  It seemed to just be a regular donut, shaped like a cruller.  That is, it didn't have a lighter, eggy dough that actually makes a cruller a cruller.

I really did not like this.  It just tasted like bad oil.  Way too fried.  I think the extra surface area of the ridges trapped even more oil than normal.

Didn't even want a second bite of this!

Glazed Sour Cream.

And, for one a bit different, the glazed sour cream.  I didn't really taste sour cream specifically, but it did have a bit of a tang to it.  A little more crunchy, a bit more rustic in appearance.  Absolutely loaded up with glaze.

This reminded me more of the donuts I ate growing up.  I liked it for that reason, but overall, nothing remarkable.  My second favorite though.