Review: DQ Blizzard of the Month - Pumpkin Pie

When the calender rolled over to October 1st, B and I waited for Dairy Queen to advertise the new Blizzard of the Month.  We drove by several times, only to see that the poster still displayed September's flavor: Ooey Gooey Caramel Brownie.  Finally, we decided to take action.  I approached the counter to inquire, and discovered that Dairy Queen often waits to change displays until the first weekday of the month. This does not mean that the Blizzard of the Month is not available until the change in signage.  In honor of Canadian Thanksgiving, October's Blizzard Of The Month is Pumpkin Pie.

The DQ employees have graced us with a very photogenic Blizzard!

Having sampled President's Choice Pumpkin Pie ice cream a short time ago, it is difficult not to compare the two.  They are the same flavour, after all.  It is important to remember though, that Dairy Queen is a fast food establishment and uses their signature creamy soft serve as a base for their Blizzards.  They are in a completely different category than premium hard ice cream.

One of the "pie crust" pieces

Digging into our Blizzards, B and I discovered crunchy penny-sized pieces of what seemed to be a corn-based cereal.  Amongst the smooth light orange soft serve (flecked with brown spice bits and potential pumpkin puree) this created a satisfying texture.  We assume the crunchy cereal bits were marauding as pieces of pie crust, but in fairness felt that actual pie crust would  have become soft and unable to provide the satisfying crunch of the cereal bits.  The soft serve had a fairly complex pumpkin flavor, including nutmeg, more nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and maybe even mace. Also nutmeg. I concurred with B that the cereal bits could have been replaced with graham cookie pieces or some other spiced cookie to vault the Blizzard into the exceptional category.  But "love does not alter when it alteration finds".  The Pumpkin Pie Blizzard is what it is, and I found the bottom of mine before B did.

Recommend to a friend? Get one before the month is over!

Repurchase? J: Yaaa B: Certainly

Review: President's Choice "Pumpkin Pie" Ice Cream

Sometimes we must make reconciliations in the name of progress. For example, my experience with Loblaws (the company that owns Superstore and Extra Foods) has not necessarily been positive, and I am hesitant to give them my money. However, even I have to admit that President's Choice products, their house brand, are usually pretty freakin' awesome, and that includes their ice cream. So I put my prejudice aside, and J and I went to Superstore to see if there was anything worth reviewing. We were certainly not disappointed.

Though we will have to return to sample some other President's Choice flavours, but we decided to start off with Pumpkin Pie ice cream, which is billed as "A seasonal favourite in ice cream form: luscious pumpkin pie filling with spiced graham cracker pieces – just like a pumpkin pie." Thanksgiving is (kind of) just around the corner, after all. Starbucks is rolling out the Pumpkin Spice lattes and everything! And heck, even if it wasn't, is there really a bad time for pumpkin pie? I mean, really?

The lid, for your viewing pleasure

Given our last reviewing experience, we were feeling a bit cynical about what might be in the ingredients of such a concoction. However, we were pleased to discover that nearly everything listed sounded like....well, food. Something you can read and go "Oh yea, I know what that is, and I would certainly let it within ten feet of my digestive system." When the ingredients of the "pumpkin pie base" of the ice cream portion read "brown sugar, pumpkin purée, water, modified corn starch, modified milk ingredients, natural colour, caramel colour, salt, cinnamon," this is certainly a strong start for this contender. Because honestly, it could be a heck of a lot worse.

This picture, we feel, is not entirely accurate in its portrayal of what colour this ice cream actually is. This sort of looks like a light caramel, whereas when we took off the lid and protective seal, the initial reaction was "Eeee, really?" It was orange. Which is fine, pumpkins are orange. Pumpkin pie is orange. But this was just a very odd-looking shade of orange, like almost peach-crayon, and for a moment I felt like maybe I needed to double-check the ingredients list. This picture also doesn't really give a good idea of how many spiced graham cracker pieces there were. Because there were a lot. I mean look!

And the pilgrims gave thanks for the bountiful graham cracker harvest...

But how does it taste, you ask? How can we put this into words...

It was absolutely freakin' amazing. Man, this stuff is what that Breyers Vanilla Baked Apple wants to be when it grows up. Everything Breyers did wrong when trying to emulate pie flavour, PC has done right.

The main star of the show in this ice cream is definitely the spiced graham cracker component. These guys are a great bite size (see below for scale), and are the main conveyers of spice. Both J and I were reminded strongly of speculaas cookies, as they were sweet but not too sweet and carried some very tasty spice flavours. They were also surprisingly crunchy, rather than having absorbed a ton of liquid from the ice cream.

Graham cracker piece VS penny

As for the ice cream part, it was very creamy with just the right amount of sugar. However, it didn't really taste like pumpkin. Don't get me wrong, it was still totally awesome, but not distinctly pumpkin-y. Pumpkin is kind of a bland fruit (vegetable?) so I guess we can give them a pass on that. Although the ingredients for the pumpkin pie base that formed the overall flavour for the ice cream included things like cinnamon, we can't really say we tasted any spice in the actual ice cream. Which was fine, as we think balancing the spicy graham crackers with the cool, light flavour of the ice cream worked really well. However, if you come into this expecting the ice cream part to taste exactly like pumpkin pie filling, you will be disappointed.

OK fine, so this ice cream isn't perfect. And as far as actually tasting like pumpkin pie, it may not be spot on. But it is still totally, utterly, ridiculously delicious.

Recommend to a friend? Totally, utterly yes
Repurchase? J: Yes B: Absolutely