Final Four!

All right, as we get closer to the finals, may I share a bit of cookies ‘n’ cream history. The flavor was “invented” circa 1978, although Oreos were invented in 1912, and frankly I cannot IMAGINE that it took that long for someone to combine them with ice cream. But a few different people take credit for the idea and I reckon they probably all did invent it, there was just no internet to share the news with the world. Blue Bell here says on their website “we were first to create this innovative flavor,” with absolutely no citation or year or additional information. lol

Let’s break it down. Blue Bell has STANS. Associated with Texas and “still a half gallon!”, this brand is on the pricier end of grocery store chic and the people love it. Honestly I’m not sure I’d ever had it before (my mother confirmed that she never would’ve bought it in my childhood due to the price) and I was excited to give it a try. Belfonte is a much smaller regional brand, “sold from Kansas City to Wichita to Tulsa.” Belfonte is what I grew up on, since it’s local and frequently goes on sale. The cookies ‘n’ cream I sampled is from their premium line. I don’t know that anyone gets that excited about Belfonte but it’s very reliable.

Blue Bell: I was so excited. The cookie chunks were GREAT - lots of them, and the pieces were large. But there was not a huge flavor to the ice cream. This was not the cookies ‘n’ cream of the crop.

I did not expect Belfonte to make it this far in the bracket, but this was truly an impressive performance. The creamy base had an excellent vanilla flavor. While the cookies were of a normal quantity rather than a “holy chunks” quantity, they worked well with the decadent base. Belfonte makes it to the finals! Tune in next week to see which brand it’s up against. Fill out your own final four bracket on instagram @sweettoothtracy!