Ice cream is my all-time favorite food. I grew up eating a small ice cream cone for dessert every night after dinner and my Uncle John’s homemade ice cream is a staple at the Waggoner family Thanksgiving. I’m all about real ice cream loaded with cream and sugar, and my ice cream maker is my most prized possession. So when Halo Top was released a few years ago, I wasn’t impressed. Why would I buy “healthy” ice cream when I could buy a quart of the real stuff for less money?
Long story short, I tried Halo Top for the first time over the summer and kind of liked it. The only thing that kept me from loving it was the wonky aftertaste the artificial sweeteners left in my mouth. As a lover of real ice cream, you can imagine my excitement when Breyers announced its very own Halo Top-esque ice cream line in July, called Breyers Delights. My brother had a corn allergy as a kid, so I only ever ate Breyers ice cream when I was younger. Having grown up on the stuff, I had high hopes that the Breyers Delights range of high-protein ice creams would live up to the hype.
I recently got my hands on the new Breyers Delights flavors and recruited a few of my coworkers for a taste test. Overall, I prefer Breyers Delights to Halo Top, but there are a few tweaks that would make these flavors even better.
Vanilla Cupcake
We were most excited by the Vanilla Cupcake flavor, so we dug into that one first. Before I took my first bite, I checked out the ingredients list. I was pleasantly surprised to see sugar, skim, milk, and cream among the main ingredients in this ice cream.
With high hopes for a pure ice cream flavor, I took my first bite…and was totally let down. This flavor tasted like a mixture of Splenda and powdered cake mix, and it left a terrible taste in my mouth. One of my coworkers agreed with me, saying this flavor tasted like chalk.
The vote was divided on this one, however, as it was the favorite flavor for a few people. The vanilla cupcake flavor is definitely there, so if you’re a huge fan of birthday cake you might be able to ignore the lingering taste of artificial sweeteners and enjoy this pint.
Butter Pecan
After the vanilla cupcake fiasco, I was apprehensive to try Butter Pecan. It’s one of my favorite ice cream flavors, and I was afraid they might totally butcher this classic flavor. Happily, the butter pecan flavor in this pint was spot on. The Breyers Delights Butter Pecan wasn’t as creamy as its regular butter pecan ice cream, but the flavor was there, and it didn’t leave an aftertaste.
A major bonus to this flavor is the pecan halves dotted throughout. I appreciate that Breyers didn’t skimp on the nuts in this pint. However, this flavor is an alarming shade of orange, so if you’re not a big fan of artificial dyes, steer clear of this one.
Raspberry Fudge Swirl
I’ve saved the best flavor for last. The Raspberry Fudge Swirl was the clear winner out of the new Breyers Delights flavors, as it had the most authentic flavor and consistency of all the pints. This pint had a sorbet-like consistency, which might be because skim milk and fruit juice are the two main ingredients.
Unlike the other two flavors, the Raspberry Fudge Swirl could be scooped right away and didn’t need to sit out to thaw first. The fudge ripple running through the pint was delicious and there’s a lot of it, which is a plus in my book. This flavor does leave a slight aftertaste in your mouth, but it’s bearable and fades after a minute or two.
All in all, the new Breyers Delights flavors are pretty good and they certainly give Halo Top a run for its money. I’d be down to try the rest of the flavors and see which is the absolute best. While I enjoyed the Breyers Delights pints, I’ll stick to buying the real Breyers ice cream for my everyday enjoyment because there’s no way I’m ever giving up the good stuff.