I'm quite fond of ice cream sandwiches. It conjures up childhood memories of sneaking out of the house when I heard the ice cream truck (sneaking because my dear mother would scold me like crazy for using my pocket change on a bad deal. $1+ for a mediocre vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two really soft chocolate wafers...in hindsight I concede she was right. I could have saved my money by getting it in bulk). Incidentally, the highest rated product I've ever tried/made from Trader Joe's goodies happens to be an ice cream sandwich. This product is right up my alley.
Brownies. Ice Cream. Coffee. Probably would not have appealed to my childhood self. But as far as a non-salty-crunchy food, this ticks all the boxes.
My favorite alternative personality test doesn't have green tea as an option, so for that I say my favorite is coffee. It fits me to the tee. Yay introversion. :P
So what I gather from the ingredients, other than the fact that it's crazy long but it's ice cream so who cares, is that true to the product title this brownie isn't your typical fudge brownie that you might make at home or bake from a box.
Perhaps I've been accustomed to ginormous American portions that it takes time to recognize the value of what is here. We automatically think bigger is better, so at first I felt a bit disappointed to see that these were smaller than the face of an average rubix cube. But if you turn it sideways, you'll see that the thickness is rather impressive and that there was absolutely no skimping.
The ground coffee bits give the ice cream stronger bittersweet flavor than most coffee ice creams that I've had. If it were sweeter, it might appeal to more people, but as is hardcore coffee lovers should find it quite satisfying. The brownie "crisps" aren't crisp or biscuit-like at all but they weren't overly soft and held their shape well. Without the ice cream, I'd hardly find the brownies tempting but they get the job done here as the vessel. Don't you hate it when you bite into an ice cream sandwich and the ice cream slides around leaving you with an imbalanced ratio of ice cream to cookie? None of that here; the ice cream stays put with every bite. A thought the chocolate chips were gratuitous. Taste wise, the coffee flavor is so strong you don't really taste the chocolate chips in the brownie, but texturally the chocolate chips do add a little something something.
Call me picky - I don't think this is the creme de la creme ice cream sandwich. But very satisfying? Absolutely. Worth the money? Absolutely. At $3.99 for a box of four, each is about $1, which I find quite reasonable and worth what you're getting. A agrees. We polished off the rest of the box before dinner because what is life without eating dessert first. I personally haven't seen a comparable supermarket dupe, only a very enticing Smitten Kitchen version (with probably a better brownie texture), so if you like the good stuff without lifting a finger, I'd get on it y'all.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Brownie Crisp Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches. A darn good coffee ice cream sammy. Plus brownies. Need I say more? 8.5 out of 10.
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