REVIEW: Ben & Jerry's Rockin' Blondies (Target Exclusive)

The ice cream world has been abuzz this week following the release of two new Ben & Jerry’s flavors. Only available at Target locations, Peanut Butter Jam Session and Rockin’ Blondies replaced two previous exclusives, Berry Voluntary and one of my personal favorites, Brownie Chew Gooder. As soon as I could, I made my way to the nearest Target in hopes of finding the new releases. Although the two labels were both affixed to the shelves, my closest store only had Rockin’ Blondies. Even though I had been more excited about trying Peanut Butter Jam Session, the description of buttery brown sugar ice cream with blonde brownies and butterscotch toffee flakes helped to alleviate the letdown of only finding one of the two.


The description sounded slightly similar to that, and even appeared to include the same blonde brownies, of an ice cream I’d always been eager to try, but had sadly predated my serious ice cream days: Ben & Jerry’s Hannah Teter’s Maple Blondie (and one of co-founder Jerry Greenfield’s favorite flavors -- see video above). Needless to say, even though I couldn't track down Peanut Butter Jam Session on my first attempt, I was still anticipating Rockin' Blondies. I headed for the exit, paid the Target premium for a pint of ice cream and headed home to test out this brand new offering.

The 250 calories contained inside Rockin’ Blondies is on the low side for a super-premium flavor containing butter, toffee and brownies. It’s rare these days that I have the chance to try a pint from Ben & Jerry’s that involves ingredients I haven’t experienced before, but I’ve yet to see any of the three featured here. I lift off the lid and find a pretty basic looking base peering back at me with only a few flecks of toffee flakes to break up the off-white ice cream. Without an overload of mix-ins infiltrating the first layer, securing some of the buttery brown sugar base was easy. Sporting the same high-butterfat, super-premium consistency as I had expected to see from Ben & Jerry’s, the taste is mild for the most part. Some additional richness and the hint of molasses are the only things that have been seemingly added to their generic ice cream mix, and although I was hoping for some bold, buttery flavoring, this still served as a suitable host for the blonde brownies and butterscotch toffee flakes to come.

I was a bit disappointed following my first few bites, only because I hadn’t hit many mix-ins. Fortunately, after disposing of the first serving, I started hitting some sizable chunks of both the flakes and the brownies. The butterscotch toffee flakes ranged in size from crumbs to inch-long chunks. They were kept small enough, even in their largest form, as to not freeze rock-hard, but instead gave each bite a crunchy texture followed by the sugary taste and feel of toffee to start and butterscotch to finish. After intentionally avoiding the brownies until I had tried the other ingredients, I finally extracted the moist, gooey brownie that would serve as my first taste. Ben & Jerry's chose to keep these blonde brownies at a slightly-undercooked consistency, so they stay soft and chewy despite being surrounded by ice cream. As far as taste was concerned, these rich, buttery brownies are bursting with the taste of brown sugar and compliment the buttery brown sugar base perfectly. While the mix-ins could have been included in higher amounts, and a bolder base could have been used, the bites including all three components is still able to achieve the A I expected.

Where I Found It: Target
Grade: A