The last time I visited one of my favorite grocery stores, Ingles Markets, I noticed that they had started to carry some products from Friendly’s. Although I hadn’t heard or seen very much about any of the available flavors, I found the one that seemed most appealing and threw it in my cart. I had jumped at the opportunity to try the Mint Cookie Collision from their Sundae Xtremes lineup, but it wasn’t until I arrived home and took a longer look that I realized my mistake. While Friendly’s offers a standard rich & creamy ice cream, a smooth churned, lighter ice cream and frozen yogurt, their Sundae Xtreme flavors happened to feature something that I detest: frozen dairy dessert. Even with the assistance of crushed chocolate crème cookies, semi sweet chocolate chips and a fudge swirl, I was skeptical that they could cover up the mint frozen dairy dessert that was being used as the foundation.
The 170 calories per serving that Mint Cookie Collision contains is right in line with other frozen dairy desserts, even with the influx of chocolate mix-ins involved. As I scooped out some in a bowl, I was met with the same soft, pliable texture that I’ve complained about so many times in some of my Breyers reviews. Much like Breyers, Friendly’s tries to hide the fact they’re using frozen dairy dessert by including a high concentration of other ingredients, which makes it nearly impossible to sample the mint base by itself. My first bite of the mint frozen dairy dessert failed to last very long as it melted down almost immediately upon entering my mouth. The only positive part of this mild, mint base breaking down so quickly was that I was left with a mouth full of chocolate chips, cookies and fudge sauce.
The three different mix-ins were able to give each bite a rich, chocolate finish and a variety of textures along the way. Despite the fact that there were a ton of chocolate chips and large concentrations of fudge sauce along the way, the soft, flaky chocolate crème cookies were by far my favorite part of this carton. The end result of this wasn’t bad by any means, but left so much room for improvement in the actual ice cream department. If Friendly’s had opted to use their standard rich & creamy ice cream in this flavor, this could have easily achieved an A, but with this mediocre base, a C was all it could muster.
Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: C
