The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

I picked up the Heath Klondike Bars the same day I picked up the Mint Chocolate Chip Klondike Bars. While the Mint Chocolate Chip bars were, quite honestly, crap, and currently hold last place in my Klondike-a-thon, the Health Klondike Bars have jumped into the top spot. The Heath bars are Luscious HEATH Bar flavored ice cream covered in a crunchy milk chocolatey coating mixed with delectable HEATH Bar pieces. The classic Klondike bar shell has deep toffee notes, and seems like it was absolutely destined for the addition of toffee pieces and toffee ice cream.  I almost consider these enhanced classic Klondike bars rather than an entirely different flavor. The vanilla ice cream is the weak point of classic Klondike bars, and the swap for Heath ice cream is perfection. The heath ice cream is still lightly flavored, but not bland like the vanilla. It balances the chocolate shell instead of letting it take over. The Heath pieces in the shell enhance the overall to...

I spent the afternoon in Park City, Utah.  Most people went in the morning for the Fourth of July parade, but I obviously went later in the afternoon to avoid ice cream lines at Java Cow Cafe and Bakery! God, I'm such an old fuddy-duddy. After some intense Google-ing, I have determined that Java Cow is the only independent ice cream shop in Park City, and they make their own ice cream in-house, so obviously it topped the list of ice cream to try in Utah. Java Cow had a good mix of unique and traditional flavors and offered single and double scoops in a cup or cone along with smoothies, coffee, and tea.  There was also a bakery, which I didn't check out as thoroughly.  I decided to get a double scoop so I could try two different flavors.  I instantly knew I needed to try Purple Cow, described as Blackberry ice cream with dark and white chocolate pieces. This was very thick but a tad bit dry and crumbly.  The blackberry base didn't have a very strong ...

I'm going to give you a little insight into the life of a graduate student. At 8:30 this past Sunday, my brain was pretty fried from doing work and I was caught up on reviews (for the most part). Basically I had nothing to do. I thought about just going to bed right then and there, but then I remembered I'm 24 years old, not 74. So instead I decided to go to Heyn's by myself, because YOLO. I live a wild life. Heyn's is a pretty small shop and all the seats were full, so I sat outside in the cool weather to eat my ice cream, that's how dedicated I am. I thought the lighting would be bad for pictures, but they turned out great! Well Heyn's was pretty popping, I guess I'm not the only Iowa City resident who decided to go crazy and get some delicious ice cream on a Sunday night. After sampling a couple of flavors I picked Key Lime Pie Cheesecake, which I had never seen offered before, and Chocoholic Delight. The Chocoholic Delight is described as Chocola...

I finally visited  Grand Ole Creamery , a St. Paul ice cream institution!  It's 30 years old and was the first ice cream parlor in St. Paul to serve super-premium ice cream!  I haven't heard much about Grand Ole Creamery, so I didn't really know what to expect. Kyle and I drove over to the St. Paul location on Monday night.  We parked a few blocks away and walked over to the shop. They have a giant ice cream cone for a sign, so there was no missing it, but the door was set back from the sidewalk so I almost walked right by.  The ice cream freezer/display was to the right immediately as you walked in the door.  There was only one other family in line with us, but because the line was so close to the door it felt suuuuuper crowded.  There wasn't a lot of room to wander the counter to look at all the flavors.  I felt too rushed and like I was taking up too much space as I asked to sample a couple flavors.  I could see how this could become an...