Jeni’s Fall Ice Cream Review

Izzy and Dalia Review the World

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is an artisanal ice cream chain throughout the Midwest, well known for their unique and experimental flavors. This fall season, they came out with a six-flavor Thanksgiving pack, which includes a variety of interesting flavors that we knew we needed to try. 

Rankings (best to worst)

1. Brambleberry Crisp 

• Brambleberry Crisp is a year-round flavor that combines an oat streusel and berry jam with classic vanilla ice cream that formed our definite favorite flavor from the pack. Even though Dalia is not the biggest fruit fan, we both enjoyed how simple, yet effective the mixture of textures and flavors was. It reminded us both of a berry pie that you might eat for a Thanksgiving dessert to contrast the savory flavors of the rest of the meal.

2. Salty Caramel

• Salty Caramel is a classic Jeni’s flavor and remains on the menu year round (for a good reason). Unlike the average salted caramel ice cream, Jeni’s version is more salty so it’s not overly sweet. Salty Caramel is a dependable flavor that won’t disappoint.

3. Boston Cream Pie

• The Boston Cream Pie flavor really didn’t taste like ice cream at all, but the overwhelming amount of chocolate fudge still earned it a place high on our list. The vanilla custard and cake pieces were completely lost in the chocolate, but the flavor earns extra points for its versatility. The fudge sauce on top of the ice cream came in such a large amount that we were able to transfer some of the fudge to Campfire Chocolate to mask its horrendous flavor. 

4. Cognac Gingerbread 

• Cognac Gingerbread and Middle West Whiskey Pecan are very similar in their flavor concept. The ice cream itself has a flavor of brown sugar and butterscotch with notes of cognac that weren’t too overpowering. What earned Cognac Gingerbread a ranking above Middle West Whiskey Pecan was, in fact, the Gingerbread. We would be happy to just eat the gingerbread cake itself, but it did pair really well with the ice cream, and the flavors all fit together nicely. 

5. Middle West Whiskey Pecan

• Middle West Whiskey Pecan was an ok flavor. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Campfire Chocolate. The whiskey flavor was more on the mild side and there was a true butterscotchy flavor. While the pecans did add a much needed textural component, we don’t like pecans. If the pecans were swapped for some other crunchy thing, we both might have enjoyed this flavor more. 

6. Campfire Chocolate 

• Earning the spot of dead last on the rankings is Campfire Chocolate. While most campfire-themed desserts stick to the flavor realm of s’mores, Jeni’s attempted to capture the flavor of a literal campfire: chocolate, marshmallows, fire, and smoke. Upon the first bite, we were overwhelmed by a burst of what tasted like cigarettes and chocolate. We decided to give Campfire Chocolate a second chance and so we tried another bite, which unfortunately was even worse than the first. However, we were able to understand its place in the Thanksgiving flavor pack when we discovered the meaty aftertaste that scared us completely away from eating any more.