During a recent visit to Walgreens, their store brand Delish “Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter Duet” caught my eye. I’ve never actually encountered a strict combination of Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter cups in a frozen dessert, but they are both probably my favorite mix-ins, so I had little choice but to add this treat to my basket.
The calorie content for this dessert about average or slightly below average for premium ice creams; at 280 calories per serving, it’s 10 calories more than Ben and Jerry’s “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” , 80 calories less than Ben and Jerry’s “Peanut Butter Cup”, and 20 calories less than 2nd Street's “Can’t Tell Me No! Cookie Dough”. However, it’s inclusion of 0.5g of trans-fat is definitely a disappointment, as it racks up 2.0g of trans-fat if you down the whole pint.
Unseating the lid revealed a swirl of vanilla and chocolate base with small bits of cookie dough peeking through the top---very aesthetically pleasing. My first spoonful (pictured) consisted of both bases and one piece of cookie dough. How did it taste? Disappointing. Both bases are very weakly flavored, are remarkably airy, and taste like the brandless, mass produced, artificially flavored ice cream you’d buy in small Styrofoam cups with a paper peel-off lid (which I grew up with, enjoyed and was very fortunate to have, but have definitely been spoiled in my adulthood).
The cookie dough and peanut butter cups are equally disappointing. Both lack any significant flavor, are relatively sparsely distributed, and really only contribute texture—that is, if you’re lucky to find them. Every other dessert with peanut butter cups and cookie dough I’ve ever had has proven superior—TCBY’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt included.
I’ll be blunt: don’t buy this. Save some money and buy a basketful of budget Styrofoam frozen dairy product cups (which don’t have trans-fat) or spend the same amount of money on something far better: Ben and Jerry, Haagen-Dazs, or pretty much anything else---which also don’t contain trans-fat. I would normally rank this dessert a “D”, but because it contains 2.0g of trans-fat, I’m downgrading it to an “F".
Grade: F