This post is a bittersweet one to write. Ben & Jerry’s recently discontinued Oatmeal Cookie Chunk is regarded by many as the company’s best flavors. It has also been the pint that has eluded me for the entirety of this blog’s existence. I’ve made multiple attempts to arrange shipping from other ice cream enthusiasts across the country, but it just proves too difficult and too expensive in the end. That is until a fellow ice cream enthusiasts realized my agony and became my new best friend by parting with one of this own personal pints of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk.
Fast forward two days. The package has arrived and unfortunately the dry ice hadn’t survived the cross country trip. I sat looking at the soggy pint with disbelief and quickly popped it into the freezer and covered it with ice to salvage anything inside. Nothing had leaked out of the pint itself, but I could tell everything inside was like soup. After letting everything harden overnight, I popped open the top to find what you see below. At this point it would seem fate just doesn’t want Oatmeal Cookie Chunk and I to cross paths.
I’ve only had a melted and then refrozen pint once before. While the taste was slightly effected, the consistency is really what becomes compromised. There’s still no way that I wasn’t going to at least try a few bites of what used to be a 260 calorie per serving combination of sweet cream cinnamon ice cream with chunks of oatmeal cookies & fudge.
As expected, the first few layers were rock hard. It was also worth noting that there weren’t any mix-ins throughout the first two thirds of the carton. They’d all settled at the bottom before being refrozen. The result was that the last few layers were pure oatmeal cookies and chocolate bits. Of the few bites I did try, the cinnamon seemed to be a nice touch to the sweet cream flavoring as far as the actual ice cream was concerned and seemed to work very well with the cookies and chocolate. It was a bit odd seeing fudge instead of the usual raisins found in oatmeal cookies, but wasn’t a deal breaker.
I’ll hold judgement until the ice cream gods can finally bring us together, but I see this sneaking into the upper echelon of my personal rankings once that time comes.
