Monday Munchies - Häagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Pie

One of the cooler aspects of living in Las Vegas was having access to Marie Callender’s.  Unless you live in one of six states you may not be aware but Marie Callender’s,, in addition to being a line of food found in your local grocer freezer, is also a restaurant and bakery chain. 

Twice a year Marie Callender’s has a pie sale.  They’ve got over 30 different pies and they all go on sale.  Being the sucker for pie that I am, I’d have three or four pies just hanging out in my freezer.  I’d average at least two slices a night. 

I like ice cream and I like pie, so I should enjoy Häagen-Dazs’ Peanut Butter Pie, right? 

Now this is the second peanut butter based ice cream flavor I’ve tried out in the last month.  My stance on peanut butter is as follows; I’m glad I’m not allergic peanuts, but it’s not something that I necessarily love. 

Peanut Butter Pie is described as having ribbons of smooth peanut butter, soft chocolate cookie pieces that are folded into peanut butter ice cream.  I know, I know I’m thinking the same thing; what do cookie pieces have to do with pie? 

Well some varieties of peanut butter pie have a chocolate cookie crust, which accounts for that.  But even with that chocolate, there seems to be an overwhelming amount of peanut butter in this flavor.

I’ve got to be honest, this flavor is kind of bland.  Peanut butter isn’t a flavor that’s easy to tone down, but somehow Häagen-Dazs has found a way to do it.  The peanut butter isn’t Reese’s sweet or naturally strong.  It’s just sort of there. 

The ribbons of peanut butter add color, a bit of texture and a hint of flavor.  The cookies also add texture and flavor, but not enough to impress because they aren’t plentiful to add enough to give this flavor a spark. 

Granted, I’m not a terribly big fan of peanut butter, but this flavor does nothing for me.   If you’re a fan of peanut butter, give the flavor a shot.  But I can probably think of a dozen other ice cream flavors that I’d rather eat than this one.  In fact I can safely say that I won’t be returning to this flavor in the foreseeable future.