Flavour Comparison - Cookies & Cream (Connoisseur and Sara Lee)

Connoisseur and Sara Lee both have a premium cookies and cream flavour, and since Connoisseur has been a favourite of mine for years and I'd only tried the Sara Lee take on it this week, I thought it'd be fun to do a comparison. 

Connoisseur describes theirs as "crushed dark chocolate cookies crumbled through smooth vanilla ice cream", while Sara Lee proclaims "made with fresh cream from selected Australian dairies, real bourbon vanilla and packed with chunks of dark chocolate cookies."
Based on the description alone, Sara Lee sounds like a winner. I love a good description.

Visually, on the surface, there is hardly any difference between the two ice creams, though Sara Lee's (right) is slightly darker. Both have chunks and tiny crumbles of Oreo-style cookies throughout, giving both vanilla bases a grey colour. This is just how I prefer my cookies and cream ice cream!

A few scoops down to each and it becomes clear that Connoisseur wins in the chunks department, there are many cookie bits in the ice cream and some were very large. Sara Lee, on the other hand, while theirs had less/smaller cookie chunks, there was more cookie overall incorporated into the ice cream, giving it a darker colour and a stronger chocolate flavour.

Honestly, it's very hard to pick a winner here. I'd definitely go for both, being a fan of Connoissuer's line and especially this flavour, but I also think Sara Lee has converted me to their ice cream with this flavour as well. Both are excellent and perfect if you are like me and perfer the cookie side of the cookies & cream equation. 

Connoisseur Belgian Chocolate

Connoisseur Belgian Chocolate was another flavour I just had to buy when I saw it - it's not a regular feature in most supermarket freezers, it seems. I bought this while the Connoisseur brand was on sale, too, which just gave me another reason to grab it - like I needed one anyway!

Described as "rich chocolate ice cream artfully swirled with chocolate sauce made from Belgian chocolate". The description is not wrong, this is definitely a rich chocolate ice cream.

The texture was creamy and thick, yet almost dry-feeling and kind of sticky too - but maybe the stickiness was from the swirl.

The swirl, being the same colour as the base ice cream is a little hard to see, but it was there all throughout the container. And it was incredibly delicious. So rich, and chocolatey, and I think I'd definitely buy this one again. I have never really been a fan of chocolate ice cream, but I think this flavour has converted me. Excellent job by Connoisseur.

Connoisseur Caramel Honey Macadamia

Let me just start off by saying, I am a huge fan of the Connoisseur brand of ice creams. Before I even had the idea to start this blog, I'd consumed copious amounts of it over the years. I love the stuff. I've tried nearly every flavour and I'll have reviews of them all up eventually, but today I'm going to start with Caramel Honey Macadamia.

Sounds pretty enticing, doesn't it? I love the descriptions and background to the flavour they give on the back of the containers. This one is described as "honey roasted macadamias smothered in smooth caramel flavoured ice cream and honey sauce". 

It's a nice, smooth, buttery-looking caramel ice cream and if you look reeeally hard, you can see the macadamias...

There's a better view!

Okay. I really love this ice cream. It's rich and smooth just like Connoisseur always is. It has a sweet, slightly mild caramel flavour. I would enjoy just this caramel base flavour all by itself, but the macadamias really steal the show. They're delicious! They're covered in honey and have a nice, roasted flavour. The honey is strong, but not overpowering. There's just enough of the macadamia halves and pieces that you may not get them on every spoonful - but it's fun hunting for them so I don't mind!

This ice cream is definitely going into my "buy again" list. Connoisseur did an excellent job with this.