REVIEW: Dairy Queen Dipped Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard

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The Summer Blizzard Menu at Dairy Queen features five choices this year, and the star of the show, at least in my opinion, is the new Dipped Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard.

Along with the Mixing Bowl Mashup, it’s the only one labeled as new, but I’m just going to label it delicious. Similarly to the Mixing Bowl Mashup, this one doesn’t blow you away with a unique mix of flavors, but the cheesecake pieces, choco chunks, and strawberry topping all do their jobs to create a sweet, satisfying treat.

The DQ website describes this Blizzard as “summer romance in a cup,” and while that’s going a bit overboard, there’s a lot to love about it. Sometimes, one ingredient in a Blizzard will be a bit too strong and end up overpowering the other flavors, especially with some of the chocolate variations, but that’s not the case here. Yes, there is chocolate in the form of choco chunks, but it delivers the perfect level of chocolatiness, which I was surprised to find out is a real word.

The strawberry topping is sweet, and the occasional real chunks of fruit are the best part. The cheesecake pieces were a little mushy, but still pleasantly creamy. To me, this is a somewhat rare Blizzard in that all three components are easy to taste individually and they all blend wonderfully together. Anyone with three children knows there will always be some fighting or one trying to control the others, but this Blizzard is just three happy, sugar-loaded siblings who get along quite well.

This is not all that different than the delicious but often forgotten Royal New York Cheesecake Blizzard, which has graham cracker crust rather than choco chunks, and more strawberry because of the loaded center core. But it does stand out for the way the flavors all work in harmony, and I’m definitely going to get this again before it disappears at the end of summer.

Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: Mini
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 350 calories, 14 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 50 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 42 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Baskin-Robbins Paloma Paradise Ice Cream

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Baskin-Robbins is bringing the summer vibes during a spring month with the introduction of its Paloma Paradise Ice Cream, April 2025’s Flavor of the Month. The pink-colored scoop features paloma-flavored ice cream and sorbet with mild chili pepper lime swirls.

What’s a paloma? You’d be correct if you think it sounds like a place in California. If you said it’s a community in Illinois, I am impressed with your geography genius. But this treat was inspired by the tequila-based cocktail called the paloma. It’s a mixture of tequila, lime juice, and grapefruit soda (like Fresca) or grapefruit juice. However, you need not worry about alcohol in the ice cream or sorbet.

I’ll admit that grapefruit hasn’t been the first citrus fruit I’ll grab when experiencing scurvy because the fruit’s infamous sourness turns me off. However, I enjoy sipping on a Fresca whenever it’s in a cooler at a barbecue. Thankfully, the ice cream and sorbet base have all the grapefruit flavor but without much sourness. It’s a sweet, citrusy, creamy, and refreshing base. I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The sorbet has an icy texture that could give the impression that there are icy chunks in the ice cream itself. However, I didn’t experience that too much so there probably wasn’t much sorbet in my scoop.

The most intriguing ingredient is mild chili pepper lime swirls. But while I could see chili pepper specks in the swirl, they disappointingly provided a subtle chili pepper kick that’s as silent as the letter B in the word “subtle.” So, if you’re worried about this having a bit of spiciness, you have nothing to fear. Instead, the swirls provide a punchy lime flavor that complements the grapefruit taste without adding any sourness.

While you need not worry about puckering, there’s a little flavor twist that might be weird to some. Despite not containing any alcohol, I tasted a hint of an alcohol vibe with several spoonfuls. It’s not off-putting and adds a little authenticity to the scoop, but I can understand how it might be a turnoff to some.

Baskin-Robbins’ Paloma Paradise is a lovely summery flavor to enjoy during the spring.

Purchased Price: $3.79
Size: 2.5 oz scoop
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 130 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 18 grams of sugar (including 16 grams of added sugar), and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Eggo Buttery Maple Ice Cream

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I’m happy to Leggo My Eggo Buttery Maple Ice Cream.

Not because it tastes terrible but because I like to share, and if I hold the container for too long, my fingers are bound to get frostbitten. Also, now that I think about it, if someone steals your fresh-out-of-the-toaster Eggo, just give it a few seconds, and I’m sure the thief will Leggo Your Eggo because their fingers are burning. Just stall them by reading this review out loud.

The bright yellow and red container contains brown butter-flavored ice cream, maple swirls, and maple-flavored fudge-coated waffle cone pieces. Note that there aren’t actual Eggo waffle pieces here, which makes sense since even well-done waffles become limp with a light dose of syrup and some time.

However, despite not having actual Eggo waffles, the ice cream as a whole does remind me of waffles and syrup. Please note that I’m not saying it tastes like maple syrup, which I’ve always thought is not as sweet as regular cheap pancake syrup. Also, it’s artificially flavored maple, which has always tasted like regular syrup to me.

The brown butter-flavored base has a mild taste, and I wish it stood out more. Tasting it on its own, which naturally happened several times since the swirls and waffle cone pieces weren’t everywhere, I felt its sweet butteriness could’ve been butter, I mean, better. It’s mild enough that it doesn’t come through when eaten with the sweeter swirls and cone pieces.

Speaking of this ice cream’s other components, the maple swirls provided most of the pancake syrup flavor. However, I would’ve liked more of the gooey ingredient throughout my container. But there were a good number of maple-flavored fudge-coated waffle cone pieces. While the fudge’s taste was somewhat similar to the swirls, the cone pieces inside were either as crunchy as cereal or disappointingly soft as a microwaved Eggo waffle.

While I did enjoy the flavor of this Eggo Buttery Maple Ice Cream, which did remind me of waffles and syrup, its mild-tasting base and the inconsistent crunch from the waffle cone pieces prevented it from being better.

Purchased Price: $6.99
Size: 14 fl oz container
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 220 calories, 11 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 25 grams of sugar (including 21 grams of added sugar), and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Crunchin’ Cookie Dipped Cone

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Last year, some lucky Dairy Queen test markets were treated to a “Cookie Monster” dipped cone, a very blue offering with crushed-up bits of chocolate cookies in the cone dip itself. According to Dairy Queen, this results in the ultimate cookies and cream taste and texture. This Spring, the colorful cone has gone nationwide, and the chain dropped the monster moniker, introducing it instead as the Crunchin’ Cookie Dipped Cone. Apparently, this dip is brought to us only by the letters D and Q and not affiliated with any muppet-populated street. It hasn’t needed any famous tie-ins to gain popularity though; it’s already made a splash, and viral hacks using the dip have made their way onto the menu. On a recent springlike day, I tried this cookie concoction to see if it was all it was crunched up to be.

As a former Dairy Queen employee, I was trained to take my cone-struction pretty seriously, and I’m always a little disappointed to get one that doesn’t look exactly like it should. In defense of whoever made mine, they didn’t do too bad. It was missing the classic curl and could maybe have used a few more seconds in the cone dip, but this doesn’t affect the flavor or the fact that this is an eye-catching ice cream. I had hardly ventured out the door when I crossed paths with an elementary school-aged kid who let out an audible “Woah!” at the sight of this thing.

It’s hard to be in anything but a good mood when you’re holding an ice cream cone, and it’s even harder when that cone is enveloped in a blue shell studded with cookie pieces. This cone is just pure fun. The chocolate cookie chunks are small, really small, so they’re not adding a whole lot to the texture but as with any dipped cone, you get a satisfying crunch from biting into it. Some parts of the shell come off in small pieces, and others separate themselves in much larger chunks, which is a nice contrast to the smooth ice cream interior.

Flavorwise, things are creamy and overall sweet like you’d expect. The cookie specks are mostly too small to bring real chocolate flavor to the party, but they still give off a cookies and cream vibe, more akin to a Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Creme bar than an Oreo cookie. If you’re looking to up your intake of both dip and cookies, you can try one of the hacks. The first blends Crunchin’ Cookie Dip into an Oreo Blizzard and serves it alongside a small additional cup of liquid Cookie Dip, and the second layers Crunchin’ Cookie Dip with Oreo pieces and soft serve, parfait style. Not all locations offer these options, but even if you can’t get your mitts on them, this cone in its original form is a tasty and joyful treat that won’t leave you, or your tongue, feeling blue.

Purchased Price: $5.09
Size: Small Cone
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 320 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 25 mg of cholesterol, 105 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of total carbs, 31 grams of total sugars, and 6 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Orange Cream Shake

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I miss Wendy’s Orange Creamsicle Frosty. Even though it’s only been gone for a year, I’d braid Wendy’s hair for her if I could taste that creamy, delicious treat again. Heck, I’d revive Dave Thomas and have him do commercials again if I could order a cup of that citrusy and vanilla-y dessert. But I don’t have the power to bring back the dead or the finger dexterity to braid long hair.

Instead, I will have to settle for the new Dairy Queen Orange Cream Shake that features orange flavoring mixed into DQ’s vanilla soft serve and finished with whipped topping.

As I waited in line to order, I looked at the sparse Orange Julius branding at the Dairy Queen. I felt guilty for betraying it by coming to a Dairy Queen with the intention of ordering an orange-flavored treat, but it being a new shake and not the citrusy beverage with decades of history behind it. Et tu, Brutus? But if given the option between an Orange Julius and this Dairy Queen Orange Cream Shake, I’d stab the Orange Julius, I mean, I’d pick the soft serve dessert ten out of ten times.

Nothing about its flavor strays from what we think when it comes to “orange cream” treats. From the first sip, the only thing that came to mind was an Orange Creamsicle, the popular ice cream truck offering. It has the perfect balance of citrus and cream. While it doesn’t quite have the same feel as a Wendy’s Frosty, this had a pleasant thick, icy, and creamy texture. Its delicious taste made me forget about Wendy’s orangey Frosty. As for the whipped topping, it does nothing to enhance the “cream” flavor, but that’s fine because this shake is way better than fine.

I will miss Dairy Queen’s Orange Cream Shake when it disappears from the menu. And I imagine a year from now, I’m going to want to braid the Dairy Queen’s hair for her to get a taste of this creamy, delicious treat again. I’d attempt to revive the Dairy King if I could order this citrusy and vanilla-y dessert again. Maybe by then, I’ll have the power to bring back the dead or the finger dexterity to braid hair.

Purchased Price: $5.49
Size: Small
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 610 calories, 27 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 81 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 73 grams of sugar, and 11 grams of protein.

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