*Warning: Do not read this article on an empty stomach. Enchanted Ears doesn’t accept any responsibility for the damage you may do to your health and general well-being.
In the beginning of Ironman, Tony Stark is a charismatic bad boy riding high on his father’s coattails. The actor who plays him, Robert Downey Jr., has an almost identical story – addiction, ego, and famous father included. It’s seemingly the role he was born to play.
What does this have to do with ice cream?
No, there’s no Ironman flavored ice cream (yet), but I feel like I share Downey Jr.’s sense of destiny when it comes to my collision course with this article.
It’s the role I was born to play.
Of course, when I heard that Edy’s (or Dreyer’s depending on where you live) released Pixar movie-inspired flavors, I dropped what I was doing and ran to the grocery store to collect them all.
They started with four flavors, which quickly expanded to the eight we have now. I bet there are more to come. (Darn…another ice cream tasting…so sad.)
Below, I’ve created a list of each flavor and a description in order of my least favorite to favorite.
- Frozen II Chocolaf Fudge Swirl
This flavor is described on the container as “chocolate and marshmallow light ice cream with a fudge swirl and confectionary Olaf pieces.” Sounds pretty good, right? As you can tell by how much of this is actually left, neither Joe nor I love it.
Of course, if this was my only choice of ice cream, I’d jump at the chance to eat it. After all, it is ice cream.
But, it tastes like the cereal Count Chocula in the worst way. The marshmallow’s super sweet, which undermines the richness of the chocolate. The hyper-sweet white chocolate Olaf noses definitely tip this more to the sickening side, but, if you’re lucky, you may get a bite with the seemingly harder-to-find chocolate Olaf arms which seems to balance out the flavor more.
Overall, if I had to give this a flavor rating of 1-10 Mickeys, 1 being I’d eat this on a desert island and probably enjoy it more than anything else around and 10 being I’d seriously consider selling one of my kidneys to get more (you only need one right?), I’d give this a 2.
- Finding Nemo Coral Reef Orange & Cream
This “orange sherbet and vanilla light ice cream with chocolatey fish pieces” falls short of other orange sherbets.
And I do love a good orange sherbet.
The initial flavor is about on par with those very artificial-tasting orange push pops you may have had as a child with an unwelcome surprise. I’m sorry to you fans of chocolate-covered orange peels out there, but these two flavors are like peanut butter and salmon.
The fish pieces are good on their own, but combined with the orange aftertaste, they leave your mouth feeling confused and just a little scared.
Overall, I’d give this flavor a 4 out of 10 because you could eat around the chocolate and then eat them later…separately.
- Monsters Cookies and Scream
Yet another ice cream with chocolate in a leading role…shocker! This one’s “vanilla light ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces, a fudge swirl, and chocolatey Mike and Sulley pieces.”
I know this is an ice cream made for Disney. I know that those chocolate pieces were made to be a cute little reminder that you’re eating ice cream endorsed by the House of Mouse. But…they’re a hinderance for me in this ice cream.
It doesn’t ruin the flavor like the Nemo ice cream, but it just takes over the otherwise delightful cookies and cream flavor. I’d much prefer less monsters and more cookie pieces.
In fact, I originally ranked this a few higher, but after a retaste, it fell for me. This is a 5 out of 10.
- Toy Story Chocolate Peanut Butter Toy Chest
This one makes me sad a little.
The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is pretty much my favorite thing on earth. If you get the combination right, I’d be willing to sell you my firstborn for a small supply.
This one should be perfect as it’s “chocolate light ice cream with a peanut butter swirl and peanut butter filled chocolatey Toy Story pieces.” But, like most chocolate peanut butter ice creams I’ve tasted, something is…off.
Unless you get a bite with a shape (I found an alien, Woody, and Bullseye), the peanut butter makes the chocolate “reach for the sky” and takes control of your taste buds. Not a totally bad thing if you love peanut butter as much as me (as I ate like 7 completely unnecessary bites while writing this).
Overall, I’d give this a 6 out of 10 because…peanut butter.
Ohhhh…my stomach. At this point I’m like an endurance athlete. My stomach is saying to stop, but I am maintaining the mental fortitude to push on. You’re welcome.
- Frozen II Magical Mint Snowflake
Edy’s describes this as “mint light ice cream with a fudge cookie swirl and confectionary snowflake pieces.”
What I like about this ice cream: the mint is strong.
It’s very pepperminty, which is often something I enjoy when eating ice cream after a meal.
What I don’t like about this ice cream: there isn’t enough cookie swirl to balance the strong mint flavor.
The reason why this one isn’t higher for me is it’s not the best mint chocolate chip on the market by far. That said, it’s still good.
I like the sweet snowflakes with the shocking mint flavor, which is definitely different when compared to other ice creams like this. But why in sweet little Bruni’s name, would they not put CHOCOLATE flavored bites in this one like they did in 99% of the rest of these ice creams? The key to mint CHOCOLATE chip is, after all, that delicious brown bean.
Rant over.
Bites that have the cookie swirl are good, but not as good as if there were actual chocolate chips throughout. Also, I have to say, the cookie isn’t very cookie-like. The cookie in the Monster’s Inc ice cream was crunchier and better. (Man, I’ve eaten too much ice cream today…I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about.) I’d give this a 6.5 out of 10.
- Mickey Mouse Classic Vanilla and Fudge
I have to admit, this one surprised me.
I’m not a plain person by any stretch of the imagination, but this one climbed my rankings as I retried these ice creams and realized that this one is quite the gem.
This “vanilla light ice cream with a fudge swirl and chocolatey Mickey Mouse pieces” could easily go higher if not for my personal preference of adding my own chocolate to my ice cream.
This vanilla is nice, light, and very enjoyable. The chocolate weighs it down in places and not in others. I’d love to add my own peanut butter because it’d be pretty great!
Overall, this is a pretty solid, simple, people-pleasing ice cream, which explains why we saw it in most of the stores we visited. I’d give it a 7 out of 10.
I can see the finish line.
- Toy Story 4 Carnival Churro Cravings
When I read “churro flavored light ice cream with a graham cracker swirl and churro pieces” I was quite surprised. This is the only flavor in which they didn’t include some little chocolate or confectionery piece to make it more Pixar-like.
I like to imagine there was a heated board-room meeting over it actually. One man built like Duke Caboom stands up, slams his hand on the table, and says, “It MUST have chocolate pieces! It’s on theme!” Then a woman wearing her hair in a neat bun casually leans back in her chair, spoon in hand and a satisfied look on her face and says, “Do you really want to ruin the perfect ice cream with chocolate pieces?” She nods to the intern on the man’s left who then airplanes the ice cream into the enraged man’s mouth and shrinks back, leaving the spoon in the man’s mouth. Mr. Not-Caboom pulls the spoon out of his mouth, sits, and eats quietly through the rest of the meeting.
This ice cream is darn near perfect. It’s unique-ish. You don’t see a lot of churro-flavored ice creams out there. It tastes like all the best things, mainly churros with fried ice cream and a hint of cinnamon buns.
If I had to be picky here, I’d say it could use a little bit more of a crunch. Like if they could somehow get a crunchy cinnamon-flavored cluster in here, it could be better, but it’s awesome as is.
I’d definitely pick this one up if you see it. It’s a solid 8.5 out of 10.
- The Incredibles Jack-Jack Cookie Crumble
I am bias here.
I’m quickly realizing that a good chocolate ice cream for me beats the best other ice cream flavors by far.
This one is “chocolate and vanilla light ice cream with a chocolate cookie swirl and chocolatey mask pieces.” The defining feature of this one is that the chocolate ice cream in it is rich, decadent, and pretty much all you’d want in a chocolate ice cream.
The cookie swirl makes it next level.
It would take someone with the strength of Mr. Incredible himself to hold me back from taking a bite with the trifecta: chocolate ice cream, the swirl, and a mask.
The only thing that makes this a 9 and not a 10 for me is the vanilla. It waters down the amazing, intense flavor of the chocolate. Luckily, in my tub, there isn’t much of it.
Well there you have it! Now you’ve learned which flavors to buy and which to leave on the shelves. And I’ve learned what my ice cream limit is.
I can’t help but think there’s so many more flavors to be made and types of ice cream that would fit neatly into some movie branding. Like how cool would a Tropical-flavored Up! ice cream be? Honestly, where are the fruit-flavored ice creams anyway?
What flavors would you like to see? Respond in the comments below.
