Sweet Me Creamery

Jewel-Osco and Mariano’s now carry an ice cream brand they didn’t before, Sweet Me Creamery out of St. Paul, MN. I bought one of the flavors with a smug “ho-ho, try to impress me attitude,” snarfed the whole pint in one sitting and then bought the available product line on my next trip. Here are my notes:

Salted Caramel Brownie – Chewy, fudgy brownies with sweet, runny caramel. (The salt content is thankfully low. Salt should subtly complement, not pull focus.) Usually, my complaint about brownie-based ice cream is that they are in vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate. Not with this flavor. It all comes together to be the best brownie sundae I’ve had, albeit mixed together. This flavor has earned a place among my Freezer Favorites.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler – This flavor was the first I tried from Sweet Me and, while I didn't intend to, I snarfed the whole pint in one sitting. A fruit swirl isn't as nice as actual fruit mixed in to ice cream and the rhubarb flavor didn't register for my tastebuds, but the rest of it was so good, who cares? The vanilla base is excellent, perfectly complementing the crispy cobbler bits.

Creamy Dark Chocolate Mint –  The best mint ice cream is chocolate mint ice cream. This one solidifies that opinion. As I've stated before, chocolate ice cream rarely tastes like actual chocolate; adding mint to it aligns it quickly with Thin mints, the finest of chocolate mint products. Still, this particular chocolate ice cream isn't the best of the Sweet Me Creamery product line. The chocolate chips are thin, offering more crunch than flavor.

Chocolatey Peanut Butter Pretzel – The mention of chocolate in the name is symbolic at best. The flavor is principally peanut butter, though some crunchy bits of peanut add some originality to the mix. Surprisingly, the pretzels stay keep their crunch for the most part. Too much of the peanut butter, not enough of the sweet. But that’s how I feel about most peanut butter desserts...Most remind me too much of elementary school lunch or something.

Maple Toffee Blondie – The maple is strong with this one and the caramel is plentiful enough to push the flavor just over the edge to go from sweet into cloying. The blondies are of a similar texture as the brownies in Sweet Me's other flavors, but less flavorful.