Review: President's Choice “Loads of Pecan Butter Tart” Ice Cream

J and I have both finished the classroom portion of our university program, and are currently in the practical part. While it's nice to be out of the stuffy university building, that does mean that J has moved back to her home further north to do her practical segment up there, and that means that our ice cream reviews will no longer be done together. But never fear! We will still be reviewing many a treat, just not both of us on the same one. Without any further review, here is the 2G1S review of another President's Choice product, Loads of Pecan Butter Tart ice cream.

Since we reviewed President's Choice's Pumpkin Pie ice cream, it has become our most viewed post, with many people coming to view this blog by googling the product...and it's a good thing too, because we wouldn't want people to miss out on something as awesomely delicious as PC Pumpkin Pie ice cream was. I was excited, therefore, to review a second pastry-inspired ice cream in President's Choice “Loads of Pecan Butter Tart”, one of the selections in their “loads of” series that focuses on ice creams with “loads of” mix-ins. I love butter tarts, as they have strong associations for me with cold weather and the spirit of giving, and with the weather getting nastier by the day it only seemed appropriate to give myself the gift of butter tarts in ice cream form.

This product advertises itself as “yummy butter tart flavoured ripple ice cream, positively packed with butter tart pieces and praline pecans”. Normally I like to have raisins in my butter tarts, but it is totally understandable that they were not included in this mix. The ice cream itself is light brown in colour and while there don't appear to be too many mix-ins on the surface, they are plentiful once you get past the first layer. Now, butter tarts are a sugary, sugary beast, so I was initially a bit concerned that this ice cream would be too sweet to handle. I guess there's only one way to find out, so let the taste testing begin!

Oh. My. Word.

This stuff is just... amazing. In fact, I kind of don't want to stop eating it.

First off, this isn't nearly as sweet as I anticipated it might be. At first I thought the ice cream base was almost maple flavoured, but after a moment or so I realized that what I was tasting was a rich brown sugar flavour and that it was surprisingly well-balanced in terms of sweetness. Well played, PC. Your product development team saw the potential pitfall and made it a non-issue. The praline pecans are fairly small but well distributed, and they give a nice nutty, earthy flavour to the whole thing which gives it some added depth. PC wasn't lying when they named this thing: there is literally loads of tart pastry pieces. Again, they are not very sweet, and they're a bit crunchy. Overall, they remind me a bit of commercial shortbread, and they work really, really well with the brown sugar ice cream base.

This whole concoction just meshes together so well. The flavours are well balanced, the sugar is just the right amount, the differences in texture are great, and the overall feeling is one of ice cream nirvana. Oddly enough, I never did find the “rippled” part of the ice cream listed in the description, but whatever it was supposed to be, it was either mixed in enough to where the flavour melded with the ice cream, or it wasn't necessary to begin with. President's Choice got this one so, so right, and if you have access to this brand, you should make a point to try this out.

Recommend to a friend? Yes! What are you waiting for? Get in your car and drive to your nearest Superstore or Extra Foods!

Repurchase? Yes x 1,000,000! (got J to try this, and she is also a big fan)