Dreyer's/Edy's Slow Churned Mud Pie Ice Cream- Limited Edition

I love Mud Pie!

But it seems to be one of those desserts that is getting as dated as coffeehouses, Day-Glo colors and Scrunchies. And all good things die out eventually. (Wait...were Day-Glo and Scrunchies ever really good? Not that there are any pictures of a teenage Gigi in either)

Mud Pie is a dessert typically made with a chocolate cookie crust, a coffee ice cream center, topped with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and sometimes nuts. When I saw the ice cream flavor, I just got it. I didn't notice until I got it home that it was the "Slow Churned" variety of Dreyers. I was just looking at flavor names and didn't really care what kind of ice cream it was (Dreyer's is known as Edy's to those of you back east). The Slow Churned claim to fame is that it has 50% less fat and a third less calories than the Dreyer's Grand.

But...does it taste as good?



Actually, yes. The Mud Pie flavor is a coffee ice cream base with chocolate cookie crumbs and a fudge swirl. Tastewise this is actually an excellent lower fat/calorie option. I think this is because it is easier to hide the loss of the fat in a coffee flavor then it is in, say, chocolate. The coffee is light and sweet. Kind of like a latte with lots of milk. One of the areas where you notice the difference between Slow Churned and Grand ice cream is the texture. The Slow Churned is much more aerated. The texture is almost fluffy (in a frozen sort of way). The mouthfeel is also nowhere near as rich as the Grand variety.

The cookies crumbs are interesting. Some of them are soft and smushy...and others are a little more crunchy. They add a crumbly texture. But back to the mouthfeel for a second--as I said, it is not as rich as normal ice cream but it does have a smooth and almost creamy quality. It's more like store brand ice cream than premium in that respect. The cookie crumbs add a graininess that is actually good. Then again I happen to like cookie crumbs, so maybe I am biased.



The fudge swirl is...well it's there. It's not bad, but it is a weak point. It has that "diet" chocolate taste to it. Fortunately, the cookie crumbs and the coffee mask it enough that it is not a huge issue. If it had been a flavor that depended heavily on it like, say, a Fudge Ripple, it could have been pretty bad.

On the whole, I liked this flavor regardless of the fat/calorie content. Enough so that I would definitely buy it again. The fact that it shaves a little off the daily fat/calorie count is just an added bonus.


PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket