Ben & Jerry’s Brownie Chew Gooder, one of the 4 exclusive flavors from Target, has gotten some very good reviews as of late. After enjoying Peanut Butter World, I had very high expectations going into this one based on what I’ve read.
Brownie Chew Gooder is labeled as Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream with Fudge Brownies and a Caramel Swirl. After removing the lid, it was quite evident the base and the caramel swirl would be a major factor in this pint considering the concentration in the center. I’ve had a lot of caramel ice creams in the past such as Talenti's Sea Salt Caramel, 2nd Street's Copper Kettle Caramel and I would have to say that Ben & Jerry’s does a good job with their caramel flavoring and swirl, but it doesn’t rank with the top two I just mentioned. The swirl is the primary focus in the pint (at least in mine) and was involved in every single bite I had, which was very nice if you are a big caramel fan. The vanilla-caramel base didn’t seem to have that much caramel flavoring, but perhaps that was due to the strength of the swirl. There may have been a touch of caramel flavoring in the vanilla base, but in essence you’re just getting the generic Ben & Jerry’s vanilla base. Overall, it’s not bad, but I found it a little bit misleading.
Last but not least were the fudge brownie pieces. I really didn’t get to see many of these until I got about a third of the way through the pint. I think I was spoiled after having 2nd Street’s Tons of Brownies and the huge chunks of soft brownies in nearly every other bite. After having a lot of pints from Ben & Jerry’s I know the mix-ins are never slacking as proved by flavors like Nutty Caramel Swirl, Everything But The, and Peanut Butter Cup, but I think I got gipped a bit on the amount of brownies in this pint based off what I’ve seen from other reviews. I think in total I had 6 total brownies pieces and most of them were towards the bottom of the pint. And even then they weren’t really fudge brownie pieces, but were more along the lines of a thick swirl. Ben & Jerry's usually has rock hard mix-ins, but these were on the softer side. So again my expectations were let down a bit as many claimed this was better than the heavy hitting Peanut Butter World. I would have to disagree with that. Maybe I just got a bad pint that was lacking the brownie mix-ins, but the caramel swirl slightly made up for it.
Where Bob Found It: Target
Bob's Grade: B
