REVIEW: Magnum Duet Ice Cream Bars

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Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Box

Who’s ready for a bit of Magnum math? Magnum’s new Duet bars come in a trio of flavors. Each package contains three ice cream bars, and each bar is dipped in two different kinds of chocolate. Two flavors are fully dipped in white chocolate and half dipped in milk chocolate, while the third is fully dipped in milk chocolate and half dipped in dark chocolate. One flavor also contains a chocolate ganache swirl and dark chocolate cookie pieces. If you eat one of each flavor bar and white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate, how many different types of chocolate did you just consume? The answer is…four? Oh, I thought that would be more impressive. Let’s forget the math and focus on the ice cream.

Magnum is known for its high quality Belgian chocolate and the signature cracking layer/shell on its pints and novelties. According to Magnum, Duets are the first ice cream bars to be dipped in two different kinds of chocolate. I accept this as truth because I can’t recall having one that was twice dipped, and I applaud Magnum for taking ice cream bar dipping to new heights. The double-coated bars come in Cookie Duet, Chocolate Duet, and Almond Duet varieties. This was my first experience with any Magnum products, and I began my journey with Cookie Duet.

Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Cookie 1

Emerging from its swanky brown and gold wrapper, the bar looks just like the picture on the box. This one is fully dipped in white chocolate that’s studded with dark chocolate cookie pieces, half dipped in milk chocolate and features vanilla ice cream with a chocolate ganache swirl. I was pleasantly surprised to find the swirl more prominent than expected. Both coating layers have a nice thickness, and they do taste like a better quality chocolate than you’re used to finding on an ice cream bar. The bottom portion has a cookies ‘n cream vibe, and the cookie nuggets have stayed crunchy, which gives some textural interest. The ice cream itself is rich and creamy.

Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Cookie 2

If I had any complaint, it would be that biting through the chocolate, while not challenging, resulted in pieces breaking off and sometimes falling. As a subscriber to the five-second rule (or more accurately, just someone who doesn’t care if their food falls on the floor as long as it didn’t fall in anything gross), this wasn’t really an issue, and I just started to pull off and eat the pieces I knew were likely to drop. I enjoyed everything about Cookie Duet, and it set the bar high for the rest.

Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Chocolate 1

Next up, Chocolate Duet. It also features vanilla ice cream enrobed fully in white chocolate and half dipped in milk chocolate. This time the ice cream contains a raspberry swirl. After experiencing the thicker-than-pictured swirl in the Cookie Duet, I was hopeful that the raspberry would be the same and lend some welcome fruitiness. Unfortunately, I had to get several bites in before any berry stripes appeared, and while there’s a hint of raspberry flavor, it’s so slight that I almost wonder why they bothered.

Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Chocolate 2

In Magnum’s defense, the thin lines of berry swirl look like they do on the box, so it isn’t like they claimed to be bursting with berry, but I don’t understand the point. Raspberry doesn’t get mentioned in the flavor name and shouldn’t since it’s barely detectable. With a name like Chocolate Duet, I think they should have leaned into it and used chocolate ice cream or something to set this apart from the rest. It just seems like a more plain version of Cookie Duet.

Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Almond 1

The last of the group is Almond Duet which stands out for having almond ice cream, a full milk chocolate dip, and a half dark chocolate dip. The ice cream has a brown sugar almond butter swirl, and there are almond pieces in the coating. I enjoyed the dark chocolate dip and the almond ice cream but again was disappointed to find the brown sugar almond butter swirl (which sounds delicious!) to be almost nonexistent. At one point, I thought I was about to discover a bigger pocket of almond butter, but it sadly turned out to be just the wooden stick. The almond pieces are small and nice for texture but don’t add much almond flavor. This was the only bar for me where no coating pieces ended up on the ground.

Magnum Duets Ice Cream Bars Almond 2

Eating any of these bars is a pleasurable experience because it’s hard to argue with good quality ice cream and chocolate, but for me, the only Duet to really sing was Cookie. With more pronounced swirls, the other varieties could be something special, but in their current state, I don’t think they’re as exciting as some other options in the frozen novelty section. The bars do hit a nice sweet spot in serving size as they’re more substantial than something mini but having one or two doesn’t seem as heavy as a bowl of ice cream. I would purchase Cookie Duet again but pass on the rest.

Purchased Price: $4.79 each
Size: 3-pack box
Purchased at: Mariano’s
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Cookie Duet), 6 out of 10 (Chocolate Duet), 7 out of 10 (Almond Duet)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) Cookie Duet – 240 calories, 15 total grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 20 grams of total sugars includes 15 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein. Chocolate Duet – 230 calories, 15 total grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 19 grams of total sugars includes 14 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein. Almond Duet – 240 calories, 16 total grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 17 grams of total sugars includes 13 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Arby’s Spicy Fish Sandwich

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Arby s Spicy Fish Sandwich Whole

I am not a super-regular consumer of fast food fish sandwiches. That’s not to suggest that I never have them, though. The ratio is probably just something along the lines of, for every fish sandwich I have, I probably eat ten non-fish sandwiches (aka a chicken sandwich or a hamburger). That number may be off a bit, I don’t know. I mean really, who charts what sort of animal their fast food meal came from? (As I typed this out, I realized that I actually kind of like this idea. So, I mean, I guess I might start.)

Anyway, it’s prime fish sandwich season, what with the Lent and so forth, and so all of your favorite purveyors of drive-thru delectables are either offering deals on their existing pescatarian products or coming up with new ones. Like this — the new Arby’s Spicy Fish Sandwich.

What you’ve got here is the standard Arby’s fish sandwich base— crispy fish fillet, shredded lettuce, and tartar sauce on a sesame seed bun — but you’re adding a tomato slice, fiery seasoning, and diced jalapeños to the mix. And the result? I cod eat this every time I order Arby’s. (Get it? Cod is a type of fish. We like to have a good time here at The Impulsive Buy, right?)

Arby s Spicy Fish Sandwich Split

The sesame seed bun was pretty standard and bland, but it was soft and held up well. The lettuce was crunchy and fresh, but the tomato was a bit mealy. It still served its greater purpose, I believe, which was to help cut down some of the fieriness of this sandwich. And was this thing fiery? Boy howdy.

Arby s Spicy Fish Sandwich Top

There is a duality to the heat here that stems from the “fiery seasoning” as well as the diced jalapeños. It’s hard to say which packs more of a punch because your mouth is pretty much engulfed after the first bite. I will say, though, that isolating the two gives two distinct heats; the jalapeño (the fresh, bright green kind, not pickled) is an instant tongue-punch while the seasoning on the fillet — which contains chili powder and cayenne amongst other things — is a slow burn.

It’s hard to know if this heat is too much for an average pallet. I feel like my receptors are abnormal and therefore unreliable; I can have Thai-hot and be fine, but other times an unassuming “spicy mayo” will be almost too much. I found this to be a perfectly acceptable level of hot, but I’m not going to refund your money if you get it and can’t take more than a bite or two. (Nor will I be shocked if you get it and you tell me that, I don’t know, your two-year-old tried it and loved it.)

What WILL surprise me, however, is if you get this sandwich and don’t enjoy it. Arby’s crispy, crunchy, light and tasty fish fillet is elevated by the spice, but it’s never too much; the tangy tartar sauce and cool veggies counterbalance the heat in a delightfully pleasant way. It’s a shame that this won’t become a regular menu item, because I cod order it ever … wait, did I already do the cod joke? Hang on, where are you going?

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: N/A
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 580 calories, 25 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 1200 milligrams of sodium, 68 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 21 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Topped Dirt Cake and Topped Chocolate Milk & Cookies

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Ben Jerry s Topped Dirt Cake and Topped Chocolate Milk Cookies Pints

If you happen to be standing in front of the freezers at your local Safeway, see Ben & Jerry’s new Topped Dirt Cake and Topped Chocolate Milk & Cookies, and wonder which one you should get because you don’t want to buy both since a pint costs (checks receipt) $6.49 on sale, reach for the Dirt Cake.

Or wait for a better sale.

Dirt Cake features vanilla pudding ice cream with chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate cookie swirls topped with milk chocolatey ganache and chocolate cookie crumbles.

To be honest, I kind of rolled my eyes at “vanilla pudding ice cream” because there are so many vanilla ice cream variations, and here we have one more. Does it taste like vanilla pudding? To be honest, it’s hard to isolate a decent spoonful of the base itself because there’s A LOT of chocolatey treasure within it. But from what my taste buds can pick out, I don’t recognize it as vanilla pudding, but it’s definitely a different shade of vanilla.

Ben Jerry s Topped Dirt Cake Top

While I love the flavors from this pint, the most exciting part is the chocolate cookie crumble topping, but mainly because of its crunchiness and less so for its dark, slightly bitter Oreo-like chocolate flavor. The crumbles look, crunch, and can make a mess like dirt.

What? Noooo, I’ve never eaten dirt. What are you suggesting? I’m just relaying what I was told by, uh, my classmate in the third grade whose name I don’t remember, so you can’t ask him.

Ben Jerry s Topped Dirt Cake Split

I also enjoy the dirt-like topping because it can be scraped down into the lower levels of the pint. With other Topped varieties, the ganache and whatever was on top of that would fuse, making it so that it couldn’t be experienced deeper into the pint. Being able to spread that crunch helps compensate for the not crunchy but tasty sandwich cookie chunks in the base. Overall, the pint was successful at reminding me of Dirt Cake, minus the gummy worms.

I thought about purchasing gummy worms, which would’ve completed the whole Dirt Cake experience, but I didn’t want to taint my opinion of the pint by adding some fruitiness and a texture that’s not even close to being like a real worm.

What? Noooo, I’ve never eaten actual worms. What are you even suggesting? I’m just sharing what, um, some kid who lived down the street from me when I was growing up said. And that person doesn’t live there anymore, so you can’t ask him.

Ben Jerry s Topped Chocolate Milk Cookies Diggin

As for Chocolate Milk & Cookies, it has chocolate ice cream with chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cookie swirls topped with milk chocolatey ganache and fudge chips.

I don’t know if being eaten after the wonderful Dirt Cake is responsible for my feelings about Chocolate Milk & Cookies, but it wasn’t as compelling. There’s nothing about it I can ramble about, like Dirt Cake’s cookie crumbles.

Ben Jerry s Topped Chocolate Milk Cookies Split

As you can probably guess by reading its description, it’s choco-heavy. But perhaps it’s TOO choco-heavy. Because there are so many choco-mponents, the cookies buried in the pint don’t stand out at all. But it doesn’t taste like straight-up chocolate ice cream because the base, swirls, ganache, and fudge chips bring their own chocolatey nuances and textures. So I guess it’s not one-note, but more like one-and-a-half-note.

Ben & Jerry’s Topped Chocolate Milk & Cookies a fine ice cream, but again, I’d easily pick Dirt Cake over it.

Purchased Price: $6.49* each
Size: 15.2 fl oz
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Dirt Cake), 6 out of 10 (Chocolate Milk & Cookies)
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) Dirt Cake 430 calories, 24 grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 49 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 38 grams of sugar (33 grams of added sugar), and 6 grams of protein. Chocolate Milk & Cookies – 430 calories, 27 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 135 milligrams of sodium, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 37 grams of sugar (31 grams of added sugar), and 6 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

REVIEW: Dunkin’ Roasted Tomato & Hummus Toast

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Dunkin Roasted Tomato Hummus Toast Box

What is Dunkin’s Roasted Tomato & Hummus Toast?

A little over a year after the debut of its Avocado Toast, Dunkin’ brings a new item to its expanding toast menu. This variety starts with the same sourdough bread but has hummus as the spread and is topped with oven-roasted tomatoes. It’s then finished with a generous dusting of za’atar seasoning (oregano, thyme, sumac).

How is it?

I genuinely feel like Dunkin’ must be reading my diary because this item feels made for me. Hummus is one of the foods you will always find in my fridge, and za’atar is a pantry staple. Admittedly, I was a little worried the quality of both would be lacking since the Avocado Toast was a letdown. The first bite, however, was delicious. The hummus has a strong but not overpowering garlic flavor that works well with the sourdough. Za’atar adds a kick that elevates the entire item.

Dunkin Roasted Tomato Hummus Toast Tomato Closeup

The oven-roasted tomatoes honestly reminded me more of sun-dried tomatoes in the sweetness they had. They felt like rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes (if that’s even possible?), and it was a pleasant surprise. I wish the tomato pieces were a little smaller, as taking a bite with them meant you were committed to a whole tomato chunk.

Anything else you need to know?

From now until March 22nd, if you order the Hummus & Roasted Tomato Toast through the app, you will get 2x the points. If you don’t like tomatoes, you can request just the hummus and za’atar on the toasted sourdough.

Conclusion:

Dunkin Roasted Tomato Hummus Toast Side

The Roasted Tomato & Hummus Toast is an absolute win for Dunkin’. The price is a little high for what amounts to a snack, but it feels worth the cost because of the quality of ingredients and size of the item. It feels like a slide out of the breakfast zone and more into a midday snack you can grab when you get your afternoon caffeine boost. Just make sure to have some gum or mints after to curb that hummus breath.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: N/A
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 piece) 300 calories, 13 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 690 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso

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Starbucks Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso 1

What is the Starbucks Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso?

Another dairy-free, caffeine-packing drink has hit the Starbucks menu. The new Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso (try saying that one five times fast!) combines espresso shots with toasted vanilla syrup and oatmilk.

How is it?

At first sip, you’ll get a strong toasted vanilla taste up front, followed by the oatmilk. Now if you’ve never had oatmilk before, I describe it as a little thicker than dairy milk with a nutty-ish taste. My colleague shared that she thinks oatmilk often overpowers other flavors in a drink, and I definitely found that here. Despite three espresso shots in a grande, I could barely detect a coffee taste. It didn’t bother me too much, but if you typically look for that, this might fall short for you. Even though the espresso wasn’t super prevalent, it still packed a good caffeine punch that lasted me throughout the day.

Starbucks Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso

Let’s take a second to go back to the toasted vanilla syrup. In the beginning, I was really digging in. But the more I drank, the more I got a bit of the burnt aftertaste. I was originally planning on giving this an 8 rating as I was sipping, but the aftertaste was enough to bump it down to a 7. Not a deal-breaker on liking the drink, just something of note!

I will say that if you aren’t into super sweet coffee, try this syrup. There’s a notable difference in the sweetness of the toasted vanilla versus Starbucks’ standard vanilla, and I enjoyed it. I’m interested in trying it with caramel syrup mixed in as well to merge the flavors.

Anything else you need to know?

I watched as the barista prepared my beverage, and she only gave it three quick shakes in the shaker before pouring. The espresso (when you could taste it) seemed to land at the bottom even though it had been shaken, so I’d recommend shaking it up a little more for even distribution.

Conclusion:

If you were a fan of the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso or the Iced Chocolate Almondmilk Shaken Espresso that Starbucks released this time last year, give this a try. It’s smooth and a good drink to try as spring starts to roll in.

Purchased Price: $5.75
Size: Grande
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 140 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 grams of dietary fiber, 11 grams of total sugars, 2 grams of protein, and 255 milligrams of caffeine.

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