Taste Test: Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Bars

 

The product I chose to taste test was vanilla ice cream sandwich bars. Ice cream sandwiches aren’t something I see and think, I need one of those! Honestly, if I never had ice cream in my freezer it would be fine with me. My husband is the big ice cream fan in your house. Vanilla ice cream sandwich bars are something I very rarely buy if at all. I prefer popsicles.

The three brands I chose in vanilla ice cream sandwich bars were, Hill Country Fare, Blue Bunny, and Fat Boy. I buy Hill Country Fare items all the time. I’m very happy with this product line. I didn’t have any bias running through my mind in picking this brand because of this reason.

I placed the three ice cream bars on a plate. The boxes were placed back in the freezer and not even close to the area of the taste testing process. I wanted to focus on just the products themselves and not the packing and marketing of them. I used bottled water and cheese to cleanse my palate after testing one and before moving on to the next. I’ve used cheese in past judging competitions.

The appearance of the three vanilla ice cream sandwich cookies were different indeed. The one was very slender and seemed lighter in weight. One had a wider width, a little shorter in height, but had a thicker layer of ice cream between the cookie layers. The last was shaped completely different than the top two. It had the thickest layer of ice cream. It was a square shape, not rectangular in size like most you see for this product. Could it be that the company makes it look different, so their product stands out to the consumer?

I tested the top left vanilla ice cream sandwich bar first. As soon as I started to eat it, the cookie sandwich immediately stuck to my fingers. The cookie sandwich tasted a little on the mushy side. I guess that’s why it was sticking to my fingers as I was eating it. The vanilla ice cream in the middle didn’t a rich creamy flavor but more of an icy type of texture to the ice cream.

 Next, I tried the one in the top right of the plate. The cookie exterior wasn’t as messy as the first one. It did stick a little to my fingers but not as bad as the first one. The vanilla ice cream had a richer flavor. It was creamier than the first one, but the ice cream seems a little watery as it melted between the cookie layers.

 The last one I tested was the square shaped ice cream sandwich at the bottom of the plate. The cookie exterior was firmer and didn’t stick to my fingers. Once I took a bite, I could tell a huge difference in the ice cream from the first two. This vanilla ice cream sandwich bar had the most rich and creamy flavor on my palate. It also seemed to have more ice cream between the sandwich layers.

 After the taste test, I realized there is a difference in taste, appearance, and textures. The top left was the Hill Country Fare brand, Top right was the Blue Bunny and one of the bottoms was the Fat Boy. Honestly, I would eat any one of these brands again. If I was wanting the better product, I would choose Fat Boy.