Rachel Jones
As food writers here at Sporked, one of the most exciting times of each season is the highly anticipated announcement of the seasonal flavors coming to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Not only are the seasonal flavors always innovative and unique, but there is a certain degree of flourish that all of their flavors are executed with that we have a great reverence for.
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But, perhaps what excites us moreso than the news of the new Jeni’s flavors is the inevitable test tests that follow. And since their holiday collection has such a vast array of flavors, we thought we’d go ahead and rank them for you as well, so you really know what’s best and most worth your time. Let’s get into it, shall we?
- Pistachio Macaron
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Right off the bat, I’d like to get it out of the way that no flavor we’ve ever had from Jeni’s is actually bad. Granted, it takes a lot for any ice cream to truly be bad. But especially at Jeni’s, even ice creams that we find disappointing are still made with an exceptionally high-quality. It is simply just that when Jeni’s is consistently making some of the best and most impressive ice creams on the market, a flavor that feels less nuanced, or perhaps even just a bit uninteresting, is not going to stand out to us as anything special. That was certainly the case for this ice cream.
Not only do we think that pistachio ice cream in and of itself doesn’t feel inherently celebratory of the holiday season, but this pistachio ice cream really just didn’t wow us. It fell into the category of pistachio ice cream (that is unfortunately all too common) where it tastes more like almond extract than pistachio at all. The texture was still great, but it was just fine in taste. And for Jeni’s standards, we certainly expected a lot more.
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
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With how much buzz sticky toffee pudding has been getting as a holiday flavor this year, we certainly expected to really love this ice cream. And we enjoyed it plenty, but it feels like they just missed an opportunity to make this a truly spectacular, standout flavor. In the end, it just tasted like a slightly more caramelized, nuanced vanilla flavor with some pieces of delicious cake mix throughout. Had this really leaned into more of the dried fruit and slightly spicy flavors of sticky toffee pudding, then this would’ve been a far more impressive scoop.
- White Chocolate Peppermint
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As someone whose absolute favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip, it does bring me some sadness that this didn’t end up being the best flavor of the day. But even I can acknowledge that this flavor will probably teeter into the toothpaste-like territory that so many people have qualms with when it comes to mint ice cream.
The pink color and the mintiness was refreshing and delightful to me through the sea of heavy holiday flavors, but I would say this flavor still could have stood to do with some added nuance. The white chocolate chip candies were a great addition in texture, but didn’t really do much for the flavor overall. Either the white chocolate flecks themselves could’ve stood to be made of semi-sweet chocolate, or this even would’ve been a delicious flavor to be swirled with the Darkest Chocolate flavor from Jeni’s that we can’t get enough of. On its own it was good, but not great.
- Black Tie Tiramisu
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This has officially been the year where the most unexpected of flavors has been highlighted for the holidays: tiramisu. Honestly, I can’t speak to anyone who has really truly sold us with their execution of the flavor, especially because it often comes across as something mocha flavored with perhaps a touch of extra vanilla creaminess.
Not only have tiramisu translations into different drinks and desserts been disappointing, but it’s also quite a confusing dessert to select as a holiday flavor. Tiramisu is a pretty year-round Italian dessert, and it’s not like anyone’s really doing anything to make it particularly festive.
That said, this ice cream was delicious. The combination between the mascarpone and mocha ice cream flavors was well done, and the rich, fudgy chocolate ribbon made the scoop really sing. But for a holiday flavor, I can’t say I quite understand how tiramisu fits the bill.
- Cranberry Panettone with Chocolate Sprinkles
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On a regular day I’m a big fan of both cranberry and panettone as individual flavors. So, I certainly expected to like this as an ice cream. That said, genuinely nothing could have prepared me for how fabulous this flavor really was going to be. From the first bite, this ice cream genuinely had me at a loss for words.
It has the tart, fruity bite of cranberry, but didn’t just feel like cranberry relish had been thrown into the mix. And, the delicate, creamy, and ever-so-slightly floral flavor of the ice cream base itself was a shining example of how to execute a flavor in moderation so that the point still comes across, but doesn’t become egregious or insufferable. And just to top it all of, they threw some chocolate sprinkles in the mix to really just pull at my nostalgic heart strings. The simple fact that this is a seasonal flavor is truly devastating, because I don’t know if any ice cream has ever impressed me to the same level as this one has.
Justine Sterling
Mikaela Hardiman
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