Mint Cookie Crumble
Mint flavored ice cream with a wave of chocolate cookie fudge
Date Tried - September 14th, 2022
Location - Home, at the head of the kitchen table (and so many other places)
Format - Half Gallon
Milkshake it? - Yes
Buy Again? - Yes
Six.
That is the number of flavors that I tried as part of this challenge before “trying” Mint Cookie Crumble in an official manner. I’m honestly shocked it took that long; Mint Cookie Crumble is a household staple around these parts. I haven’t given this challenge an official name yet, but the title “Are There Any Flavors Better Than Mint Cookie Crumble?” wouldn’t be completely inappropriate.
So far, the answer is no. Mousse Trail lunges valiantly toward the throne, but Mint Cookie Crumble is too balanced, too complete in everything that it is trying to accomplish. Mousse Trail was objectively phenomenal, but I can imagine a time where its richness might sway me toward something a little more mellow and relaxed. Not the case with Mint Cookie Crumble—it is the gold standard, hard stop. I don’t need to explain the magical alchemy that occurs when mint meets chocolate—it speaks for itself and has done so for decades.
As mentioned in the Mango Dragon Fruit Sherbet review, the coloring of the base is anything but natural. I wish that, as a collective species, we could abandon the notion that mint-flavored things need to look like some sort of alpine lichen. But this review does not have the power to enact such change, so we’ll move on.
Up until this point, five of the seven of the flavors that we have tried included a “swirl” of some kind. Mint Cookie Crumble breaks down barriers, trading the swirl for a wave. What is the difference, you ask? I don’t know—but when you carve through the ice cream directly out of the half gallon container with your spoon (as one should), you discover that this wave of chocolate cookie fudge is layered consistently throughout the entire batch, spaced tightly and evenly. The wave does not push back—it is fudge, after all—and you feel compelled to count each occurrence as if they are the rings of a tree. Perhaps if you count back far enough, you will be able to spot the exact moment in 2018 when Mint Cookie Crumble took the “Best of the Best” prize in the Mint Ice Cream Class at the World Dairy Expo.
Good luck to all the remaining flavors.
Tough act to follow.