Just a month after Ben & Jerry’s teamed up with Walmart for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, they’re back at it again for another exclusive. This combination of cotton candy ice cream loaded with candy sprinkles found in Ben & Jerry’s Cotton Candy isn’t something you typically see used as an inspiration for ice cream, however it’s hard for me to resist a limited batch; no matter the flavor. Although I’ve had the fair-food on a few different occasions, it’s not something that sounds all that enticing when transformed into ice cream. While cotton candy is little more than colorful spun sugar wrapped around a stick, the fluffy, melt in your mouth texture is perhaps its best attribute, so I’m interested to see what Ben & Jerry’s has been able to capture inside this pint.
Removing the lid reveals a first layer that looks similar to their vanilla as far as color is concerned and comes loaded with a ton of tiny blue, purple and pink candy sprinkles. Without the addition of chocolate, cake or cookies, Cotton Candy comes in at a manageable 230 calories per serving. I avoid the barrage of candy sprinkles for my first bite so I can taste the cotton candy ice cream all by itself. The consistency of the base is identical to all the others from Ben & Jerry’s, but the taste is something I’ve never experienced before. They’ve built upon their usual sweet ice cream by adding hints of what can best be described as flavored sugar and vanilla icing. I wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint cotton candy as the flavor’s inspiration in a blind taste test, but it’s a base I found myself enjoying far more than I ever expected.
The trio of different colored candy sprinkles are highly concentrated throughout the entire pint, add a nice element of texture and enhance the taste of the cotton candy base. The flavors found in these tiny balls of sugar are stronger than those found in the actual ice cream and round out this exclusive offering nicely. While I thought Ben & Jerry’s would certainly flop with a flavor revolving around this whimsical child’s treat, I was wrong. I ended up enjoying this far more than I thought possible and if you’re a fan of super-sweet ice creams, you just might too.
Where I Found It: Super Walmart
Grade: B
