After falling head over heels for the French pot production methods of Graeter’s ice cream and even contemplating a romantic relationship with Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, I went back for seconds. I scanned over the small selection of Graeter’s available in my local Publix, passed over the standard vanilla, chocolate and mint offerings, and finally settled on Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. The Cincinatti based company describes this flavor by saying, "This flavor is a decadent combination of our creamy super premium chocolate and peanut butter ice creams loaded with chunks of natural peanut butter cookie dough and Graeter's signature chocolate chips. For the chocolate and peanut butter fan, this flavor has it all."
Warning: This is not for the ice cream enthusiast concerned about calories. Coming in at a whopping 360 calories per 1/2 cup serving (1440 calories per pint), this is among the highest I've seen. Unlike other chocolate and peanut butter pints I've had, Graeter's generates their chocolate peanut butter ice cream by actually combining their chocolate and peanut butter individual flavors instead of simply swirling them together like most others. I know their chocolate chips are some of the most impressive mix-ins I've come across, but I'm interested to see how the peanut butter cookie dough is able to make out. After peeling back the top, I was left looking at a light brown base, plenty of those incredible chocolate chips and a few specks of the cookie dough poking through the top.
The consistency of the chocolate peanut butter base is unbelievable. Their production process of actually blending their individual chocolate and peanut butter ice creams together in order to fabricate this flavor plays a remarkable role in the taste. It looks nearly identical to their classic chocolate flavor, maybe a tinge lighter, but the taste is bursting with peanut butter. Even if this base were all by itself, it would probably be a repeat purchase for me. After digging a bit deeper, I begin to bump into some truly remarkable mix-ins. The chocolate chips are large and prevalent from the uppermost point of the pint to the bottom. They're every bit as bulky and beautiful as I remember. Cluttering the space that lacked chocolate chips were plenty of peanut butter cookie dough pieces. The bites tasted like hardened Nutter Butter filling. They lacked the grainy, super-chewy consistency of other cookie dough tid-bits and the overly hard consistency of each mass of dough turned out to be a little distracting. The slight touch of un-satisfaction I had with the texture of the peanut butter dough was my only criticism.
Your spoon won't travel very far in this flavor without bumping into some impedance in its path. A smooth level of this lavish ice cream is impossible. The abundance of mix-ins makes any layer resemble that of the Rocky Mountains; full of chocolate chip crests and peanut butter peaks. With the success of both Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip and this latest pint, I’ll be sure to continue my exploration through Graeter’s Ice Cream and their unique French pot production process.
Where I Found It: Publix Super Markets
Grade: A
