Review: Ben & Jerry's - Late Night Snack

Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack ice cream was inspired by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, more specifically as a way of saying "thanks" for a song sung on the shoe about Vermont's Finest. Late Night Snack features vanilla bean ice cream with a salty caramel swirl and fudge-covered potato chips clusters thrown in.

My local Fresh & Easy had a sale on these: two pints for $5 (normally $3.49).

So how was Late Night Snack? It was awesome! I don't always like the combination of sweet and salty, but it worked out superbly here with just the right notes of each taste.

I have to say, I wondered if potato chips was a good add to ice cream; I thought it would get soggy against the cold and moisture of the ice cream. I thought wrong. The clusters were made of crushed, lightly-salted potato chips rolled into a ball and protected against the ice cream by a tasty layer of chocolaty fudge. Biting into a cluster yielded a satisfying and easy crunch.

The vanilla bean ice cream was rich, smooth, and creamy. Its consistency was broken up by thin swirls of salty caramel that developed an additional depth of flavor to the deep notes of vanilla. I didn't feel like there was as much caramel as Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream (which is similar, but without the salty flavors and waffle cones pieces instead of potato chips), but I liked Late Night Snack better for it.

Everything just goes really well together. Unless, like The Sister, you don't like sweet and salty together, Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack is yummy awesomeness in a cup and a must-try. This is a top three, possibly two Ben & Jerry's flavor for me. As a bonus, the vanilla bean in the ice cream and cocoa in the fudge are both Fair-Trade Certified.

Nutritional Info - Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack ice cream
Serving Size - 1/2 cup (103g)
Calories - 270 (from Fat - 140)
Fat - 15g (Saturated Fat - 10g)
Sodium - 170mg
Carbs - 31g (Sugar - 21g)
Protein - 4g