The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

It one kind of fun to write reviews of products you really enjoy and an entirely different kind of fun to pan terrible products, but it is exactly zero kinds of fun to write a review of a product you didn't particularly like made by a brand you adore. I'M SORRY BB. Thelma's Treats has a new ice cream sandwich with one chocolate chip cookie, one double chocolate chip cookie and some strange marshmallow/graham ice cream. Thelma's was originally a cookie company, and their ice cream sandwiches use their cookies and Anderson Erickson ice cream. I thought the double dark chocolate cookie would outshine the regular chocolate chip cookie, but the combo actually worked quite well. The double chocolate cookie give this treat a ridiculous richness which was balanced by the lighter buttery/caramelized flavor of the the regular chocolate chip cookie. I cannot fault Thelma's at all for cookie execution. Unfortunately, the ice cream failed to live up to the cookies. Li...

I was wrong when I thought I couldn't find more to love about Thelma's Treats. Most ice cream sandwiches list a serving size as half of an ice cream sandwich, but realistically, who decides to eat half of an ice cream sandwich and save the rest for another day? No one.  Thelma's Treats decides to just go for it and list one whole sandwich as the serving size. Honesty. I like that. Thelma's was originally a cookie company, and it shows in the quality of their cookies. I think they make THE BEST cookies for ice cream sandwiches I've ever tried. They're soft enough so they don't crumble or break when you bite into them, which is absolutely critical for an ice cream sandwich, but they're substantial enough that they don't soak up too much ice cream and turn mushy. The peanut butter cookies are strongly flavored but not overwhelming. A nice buttery/floury flavor comes through (think a chocolate chip cookie) to balance the peanut butter. Unfort...

Lizzy just reviewed new Thelma's flavor  Sugar Cookie Coffee , and I unknowingly, but serendipitously bought Double Chocolate Mint, the other new Thelma's flavor. I don't keep close track of Thelma's line-up because, until recently, they've only been available in a few stores in the twin cities, but they're getting wider distribution and have finally made it to my local Cub! I actually thought this was a winter seasonal flavor and picked it up in a resentful embrace of the snowfall we recently had in Minneapolis. Like, dude, no one wants winter anymore. Stop snowing. These treats are chocolate chocolate chip cookies with mint ice creams.  Thelma's really nails the perfect ice cream sandwich cookie texture. Crunchy cookies break leaving a mess of ice cream, and soft cookies sort of smush ice cream out everywhere. Thelma's cookies are the perfect middle ground; thick, soft enough to cleanly bite, but hard enough to avoid the smush-factor. The c...

Y'ALL it's time for NEW for 2017 ice cream yayayayayay! The HyVee by my house must have just gotten in a major ice cream order because of this week they've got ALLLLL the new stuff. So buckle up kids it's time for new stuff! I was super pumped to see Thelma's released a bunch of new flavors, including this one. Also Thelma's is now sold in ALL HyVee's around the Midwest, so hopefully some delicious ice cream sandwiches will be coming soon to a grocery store near you. Can you tell that it's spring break? I've been chilling on my couch playing major catch up with all of my reviews. This treat features sugar cookies and coffee ice cream. Thelma's has a very sweet sugar cookie. It also tasted more cookie-y than other sugar cookies, if that makes any sense. Which it doesn't. The cookies also very moist, as per usual for Thelma's. The coffee ice cream is new to Thelma's, I don't think it was featured in any of their older fl...

Dearest Readers, I apologize. I have gotten mega behind on reviews the last few weeks, so be prepared for a review dump the next couple of days. I usually try not to get behind, but it has been SO WARM here in Iowa that I've been spending lots of time outside and lots of time eating ice cream, but not very much time reviewing ice cream. Tonight I have for you another from the Thelma's line up, so those of you who aren't in Iowa can be jealous of our weather (over 60 degrees the last few days) and our ice cream. This treat has chocolate ice cream sandwiched between peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I'll start with the ice cream. The chocolate was quite sweet and milky, nothing too impressive. Of course, with Thelma's the ice cream is not the main attraction, but usually the ice cream is pretty solid. This ice cream was still solid, but not the best of the Thelma's line up. However, the cookies were as delicious as always. My favorite part about th...

Dang, there is nobody else in the ice cream sandwich game right now doing what Thelma's is doing. They have so many interesting flavors I have yet to try, and I keep stumbling upon new ones. For those of you who don't remember, Thelma's is a Des Moines based cookie company that also makes ice cream sandwiches. They are expanding pretty rapidly around the Midwest, so if they aren't in stores near you yet, they may be soon. (Also pro-tip, if you live near a HyVee, check them out because they do a good job of stocking Iowa brands.) The last Thelma's flavor I tried was a Cayenne Chocolate Chip and it was bomb. Also, yeah banana keeps making its way into my freezer lately. Here we go again. These treats featured peanut butter cookies and banana ice cream. he aspect about these sandwiches that stood out the most was the saltiness of the cookies. They were very peanut-y and salty, which I thought was amazing. They were also incredibly moist and chewy, which is stan...

While Lizzy was visiting me for the ice cream run, we stopped at a grocery store after a different run to pick up some lunch.  Obviously we stopped by the ice cream section, and found something amazing! Thelma's, a wonderful Iowa-based cookie and ice cream sandwich company has expanded distribution to Minnesota!  Now Lizzy is not the only one with access to these wonderful ice cream sandwiches. Also, hopefully they will keep expanding around the country! Lizzy and I decided to get the Cayenne Chocolate Chip with Vanilla Ice Cream, a flavor NEW to the Thelma's line up, to split on Sunday before Lizzy left for Iowa. Madeline's take: Thelma's really nails both the cookie and ice cream texture necessary for a successful ice cream sandwich.  The cayenne chocolate chip cookies were hard enough not to completely soak up the melting ice cream and turn into mush but also soft enough that they didn't crumble or crack and make a mess. The amount of the cayenne in ...

Thanks for sticking around and reading about another year of Madeline and Lizzy's ice cream adventures!  Here's a round-up of our favorite ice creams of the year. Best Flavor Madeline: Rhubarb Cinnamon Almond (Sweet Science).  I had absolutely no trouble picking my favorite flavor of the year.  There are three or four vying for second place, but summer seasonal flavor Rhubarb Cinnamon Almond was just so far above and beyond.  It was the perfect mix of tart rhubarb, toasted almond and sweet cinnamon-sugar swirl.  I bought an extra pint, and I'm saving in my freezer until I can't stand winter anymore. Then I'll break open the pint and remember summer. Madeline's Honorable Mentions: Tres Leches Brigadeiro (Haagen-Dazs), Salted Caramel Brownie Ale (Ben and Jerry's), Boom Chocolatta (Ben and Jerry's), Butterscotch Salted Fudge (Sam's Choice) Lizzy: Lemon Cookie (Three Twins). I had a bit more trouble picking my favorite flavor than Madel...

When Madeline came to visit Iowa City back in October, the number of flavors of Thelma's Treats ice cream sandwiches at my HyVee had diminished from five to two. I was quite scared eventually they would disappear altogether. However, my fears have been proven to be for naught. Recently two seasonal flavors of Thelma's were added to the shelves! There is this Double Chocolate Peppermint flavor and an eggnog flavor. I'm not an eggnog fan to begin with, and I've had quite the traumatic experience with eggnog. So, I'm not sure if I can bring myself to try the eggnog flavor, but we'll see. The sandwich is eggnog ice cream between snickerdoodle cookies. Possibly, if you, Dearest Readers, ask pretty please with enough sugar on top, I would try them. So this treat is peppermint ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Once again, Thelma's has delivered a great ice cream sandwich. The peppermint ice cream was out of this world. It wa...

Ice cream is best served in EXTRAVAGANZA form. And when you put me and Madeline in the same city for more than one day (which doesn't happen nearly enough and not just for ice cream reasons), there is bound to be an ice cream EXTRAVAGANZA!! This past weekend, Madeline came to visit me in Iowa City. I haven't lived here long, and I basically never go out, but I was at least more than capable of showcasing the best ice cream in Iowa City (and Iowa, in general).  Madeline was here for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday through mid afternoon, so there are obviously three parts to this mega-post. Part 1: Yotopia Okay, yes, we should have called this a frozen dairy dessert EXTRAVAGANZA, but that doesn't roll off the tongue quite like Iowa Ice Cream EXTRAVAGANZA! (Lets play a game. How many times can I write EXTRAVAGANZA IN ALL CAPS before I alienate all of our Dearest Readers??) (Madeline's note: at leas 10,000 times.) But Yotopia is such a central fixture to Iowa Ci...

The first time I shopped at the HyVee by my house I was pretty underwhelmed by the ice cream selection. There were enough of the big national brands and Whitey's which is an Iowa brand, but nothing else. Sad day. However, the second or third time I was there, I noticed there was one freezer of ice cream separate from the rest of the ice cream. This contain the teeny Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs containers and other single serving ice cream treats. This included individually wrapped Thelma's ice cream sandwiches. Thelma's Treats started out as a cookie delivery business back in 2012 in Des Moines by a guy names Derek Lewis. Derek's grandmother was, as you may suspect, named Thelma, and she made delicious cookies. In 2013, Thelma, the woman herself, passed away at age 108! Pretty impressive, Thelma. Also in 2013, Thelma's started making ice cream sandwiches, which were delivered to Des Moines area HyVees. They've been pretty popular, so now you can ...