Review: Alden's Dairy Free Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches

I loved the Alden's Dairy-Free ice creams that I tried (Muddy Brownie and Caramel Almond Crunch) so I wanted to try their ice cream sandwiches next.

These were so good.

Other vanilla vegan ice creams that I've tried tasted too much like soy or coconut. Usually chocolate or other strong flavors are better for dairy-free ice cream.

But not these. I don't taste any coconut, soy, or mystery aftertaste that would give it away as being vegan. I want to try a pint of their dairy-free vanilla ice cream next because it is so good in these ice cream sandwiches.

The cookie part is also incredible. It tastes just like the ice cream sandwiches I had as a kid. But somehow it doesn't stick to my fingers.

These are thicker than I expected and sometimes that can make it hard to bite into. But the cookie and ice cream are both soft enough to bite into without falling apart.

Alden's also makes Dairy Free Caramel Drizzle Round Sammies that I want to try soon.

Alden's Dairy Free Vanilla Bean Round Sammies ingredients:

FROZEN DESSERT: Dairy Free Frozen Dessert Blend* (Water, Cane Sugar*, Coconut Oil*, Tapioca Syrup*, Inulin*, Brown Rice*, Whole Oat Flour*, Acacia Gum*, Pea Protein*, Soy Lecithin*, Guar Gum*, Locust Bean Gum*), Natural Vanilla Flavor With Other Natural Flavors*, Ground Vanilla Beans*. COOKIE WAFERS: Wheat Flour*, Cane Sugar*, Palm Oil*, Caramel Color*, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Cocoa* (Processed With Alkali), Cane Syrup*, Soy Lecithin*, Salt, Baking Soda, Natural Flavor*. *Organic

Review: Alden's Dairy Free Vanilla Bean Round Sammies

Taste: Chocolate and vanilla from your childhood

Texture: Soft enough to bite into but doesn't fall apart 

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Does it look like the picture on the package? Yes, a little smaller though
Better than other vegan options? Yes

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Bun Dough Chunks

Ben & Jerry's new snackable cookie dough line has two vegan flavors: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cinnamon Bun Dough. The Cinnamon Bun Dough doesn't say vegan on the front of the package but it is vegan.

I was expecting cinnamon flavored cookie dough even though it's called cinnamon bun dough. It's kind of like a hybrid of both. It's softer and less crumbly than cookie dough but it's closer to cookie dough than bread dough. Which is good because who eat's raw cinnamon roll dough? 

The cinnamon didn't taste that strong to me at first but it has a nice aftertaste.

I really liked these, but my boyfriend didn't like the texture. We both liked the Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. 

Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Bun Dough Chunks ingredients:

Wheat flour, sugar, water, coconut oil, expeller pressed soybean oil, cinnamon, natural flavor, pure vanilla extract, tapioca flour, sunflower lecithin, salt, baking soda.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Bun Dough Chunks

Taste: Sweet with a hint of cinnamon that gets stronger as you eat more. 

Texture: In between cookie dough and bread dough. Soft and not crumbly. 

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Does it look the like the picture on the package? Yes
Better than other vegan options? I like the other flavor better.

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 4/5

Review: Alden's Dairy Free Muddy Brownie

Another Alden's dairy-free ice cream I tried is Muddy Brownie. I love brownie pieces in ice cream and this did not disappoint. 

The texture was super creamy and easy to scoop. The brownie pieces are chewy and soft and there are a lot of them. 

This flavor was a little rich because of all the chocolate. I couldn't eat very much at a time. Maybe that's a good thing though.

I also tried Alden's Dairy Free Caramel Almond Crunch. They were both delicious and I would buy them again. 

The competition in vegan ice creams is heating up. I now have 3 brands that I consider a favorite: Alden's, NadaMoo, and So Delicious. 

Alden's Dairy Free Muddy Brownie ingredients:

Dairy Free Frozen Dessert Blend* (Water, Cane Sugar*, Coconut Oil*, Tapioca Syrup*, Inulin*, Brown Rice*, Whole Oat Flour*, Acacia Gum*, Pea Protein*, Soy Lecithin*, Guar Gum*, Locust Bean Gum*), Fudge Brownie Pieces* (Cane Sugar*, Wheat Flour*, Soybean Oil*, Water, Cocoa* (Processed with Alkali), Corn Starch*, Sunflower Lecithin*, Salt, Natural Vanilla Extract*), Chocolate Base* (Sugar*, Water, Cocoa* (Processed with Alkali), Natural Flavor, Citric Acid, Salt).

*Organic

Review: Alden's Dairy Free Muddy Brownie

First impressions: Might have a new favorite

Taste: Rich and chocolatey

Texture: Creamy ice cream with chewy brownie pieces

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Does it look like the picture on the package? Yes
Better than other vegan options? One of the best.

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Alden's Dairy Free Caramel Almond Crunch

Alden's is an Oregon ice cream company known for traditional dairy ice cream. They recently came out with a line of vegan, dairy-free ice cream. They have 5 flavors of vegan pints plus non-dairy ice cream sandwiches. 

I tried two of their dairy-free ice creams: Caramel Almond Crunch and Muddy Brownie. 

I found these at Sprouts. You can use their website to see if a store near you carries them. Click "Select Specific Products" and check a non-dairy flavor because it looks like some stores only have their dairy flavors (for now).

The ice cream base of the caramel almond crunch has a buttery caramel taste and is so creamy. There's a crunchy texture from the tiny almond pieces. A swirl of sweet caramel is mixed throughout the ice cream. 

I loved the texture of both of the Alden's dairy-free ice creams I tried. Some vegan ice cream can be dense and not creamy. These both reminded me of old-fashioned ice cream from a mom and pop store. 

This is one of the more decadent vegan ice creams that I've tried. Another is So Delicious Salted Caramel Cluster. I can't say which is better. They're both very good and can satisfy your sweet tooth. 

Alden's Dairy Free Caramel Almond Crunch ingredients:

Dairy Free Frozen Dessert Blend* (Water, Cane Sugar*, Coconut Oil*, Tapioca Syrup*, Inulin*, Brown Rice*, Whole Oat Flour*, Acacia Gum*, Pea Protein*, Soy Lecithin*, Guar Gum*, Locust Bean Gum*), Non-Dairy Caramel* (Tapioca Syrup*, Water, Cane Sugar*, Pea Protein*, Natural Flavor*, Salt, Coconut Oil*, Pectin), Chocolate Chips* (Unsweetened Chocolate*, Cane Sugar*, Palm Kernel Oil*, Cocoa Butter*, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla Extract*), Roasted Almonds*, Caramel Base* (Sugar*, Water), Sea Salt, Natural Caramel Flavor*, Annatto Extract* (Color).

*Organic

Review: Alden's Dairy Free Caramel Almond Crunch

First impressions: Wow, this looks good.

Taste: Buttery caramel ice cream with a sweet caramel swirl

Texture: Creamy ice cream with crunchy almond pieces

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Does it look the like the picture on the package? Yes
Better than other vegan options? One of the best.

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Sweet Rose Coconut Whipped Topping

I've been looking forever for a vegan coconut whipped cream in an aerosol can. Finally Trader Joe's started carrying one! The brand is Sweet Rose but I've only seen it at Trader Joe's.

This dispenses just like non-vegan aerosol whipped cream. It even makes the same fun noise as you spray it.

I could taste the coconut but it was subtle. It didn't overpower the flavors of my ice cream. 

You could use this for anything that you would normally use whipped cream for. I made a sundae with Alden's Nondairy Muddy Brownie and Caramel Almond Crunch, and Ben & Jerry's vegan cookie dough pieces. 

Sweet Rose Coconut Whipped Topping ingredients:

Coconut cream, water, sugar, glucose syrup, inulin, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, carrageenan.

Propellant: nitrous oxide.

Review: Sweet Rose Coconut Whipped Topping

First impressions: Resist temptation to spray directly into my mouth

Taste: Sweet, hint of coconut

Texture: Light, airy, fluffy

Can you tell it's vegan? No, unless you hate coconut

Worth buying again? Yes

Good enough to replace the non-vegan version? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Trader Joe's Soft Baked Snickerdoodles

Trader Joe's has a lot of great vegan products. Their vegan soft-baked snickerdoodles are also gluten free and allergen friendly. 

These plant-based cookies are very soft and a little chewy. They're not dry or crumbly at all. 

They have some unexpected ingredients to keep them so soft and allergen-friendly (full ingredient list below). I can taste a subtle hint of fruit from the dates and fruit juice. 

These are so soft it's hard to compare them to other cookies. They're very good, but not what I picture when I think of snickerdoodles. They remind me more of molasses cookies even though they don't have any molasses in them. 

I was disappointed by how much plastic packaging there is. It doesn't seem necessary to have them in a tray. It was hard to open and not resealable. 

Trader Joe's Soft Baked Snickerdoodles ingredients:

Sorghum flour, brown sugar, dates, sunflower oil and/or safflower oil, pear juice concentrate, water, rice syrup, grape juice concentrate, flaxseed meal, baking soda, xantham gum, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract (water, ethyl alcohol, vanilla bean extractives), natural flavors, rosemary extract (to preserve).

Review: Trader Joe's Soft Baked Snickerdoodles

First impressions: Soft baked is accurate, they are very soft. 

Taste: Sweet with a subtle fruity taste

Texture: Very soft, a little bit chewy

Can you tell it's vegan? Maybe
Better than other vegan options? Close but I think Sprouts has some better vegan cookies

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 4/5

Review: Ben & Jerry's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Chunks

I can always count on Ben & Jerry's to indulge my sweet tooth. They've come out with several vegan products over the past few years and now have 15 flavors of non-dairy ice cream. Their newest creation is a line of snackable cookie dough including vegan chocolate chip cookie dough. The cinnamon bun dough is also vegan. 

Whenever I make cookies, I usually end up eating as much of the dough as I bake, so I had to try these. 

You can find them in the freezer section at the store by the ice cream. I found them at Target and the vegan cookie dough was next to the Ben & Jerry's vegan ice cream pints, separate from their non-vegan cookie dough flavors. 

These cookie dough chunks are the same size, taste, and texture as the cookie dough pieces in ice cream. It was hard to eat a lot at once because they're so rich and sweet.

The resealable pouch is great for having a little bit when you want a snack. These would also be perfect to put on top of sundaes. 

Ben & Jerry's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ingredients:

Wheat flour, brown sugar, sugar, coconut oil, semisweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin (emulsifier), and vanilla extract), water, expeller pressed soybean oil, tapioca flour, molasses, pure vanilla extract, salt, sunflower lecithin. 

Review: Ben & Jerry's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

First impressions: Yum

Taste: Sweet, rich, buttery

Texture: Soft like the cookie dough pieces in ice cream 

Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan options? Yes, but the other vegan cookie dough I tried was also gluten free, so it's not a fair comparison

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Sprouts Bite-Sized Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sprouts has a line of bagged cookies in the cookie aisle and they're all vegan! They also have vanilla wafers, animal cookies, ginger snaps, lemon snaps, and sometimes oatmeal.

These bite-sized chocolate chip cookies remind me of Famous Amos cookies. The bite size is fun to snack on. They're crunchy but not too hard.

Another thing I love about these vegan cookies, is that they're also less expensive than a lot of other options (vegan and non-vegan). The regular price is $1.99 and sometimes they go on sale.

If you're looking for bigger and softer vegan chocolate chip cookies, Sprouts has some of those too in the bakery area of the store.

Sprouts Bite-Sized Chocolate Chip Cookies ingredients:

Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, palm oil (sustainably sourced), cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, salt, leavening (sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, mono calcium phosphate) natural flavors, and soy lecithin. 

Review: Sprouts Bite-Sized Chocolate Chip Cookies

First impressions: Wow these are vegan? 

Taste: Chocolatey and satisfying

Texture: Light and crunchy

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Sprouts Vanilla Wafers

These vegan vanilla wafers are part of a line of vegan cookies from Sprouts in the cookie aisle. They also have chocolate chip, animal cookies, ginger snaps, and lemon snaps.

Sprouts has even more vegan cookies in the bakery section if you want bigger and softer cookies.

I loved Nabisco Nilla Wafers as a kid, and was excited to find a vegan version. These are smaller and less uniform than Nabisco's, but have a similar vanilla flavor and satisfying melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Sprouts Old-Fashioned Vanilla Wafers ingredients:

Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine, mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, palm oil, contains 2% or less of natural flavors, salt, leavening (sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, monocalcium phosphate), and soy lecithin.

Review: Sprouts Old-Fashioned Vanilla Wafers

First impressions: Remind me so much of Nilla Wafers

Taste: Not too sweet vanilla flavor

Texture: Thin and crispy, softer in the middle

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Talenti Dairy-Free Sorbetto Layers - Coconut Chocolate Cookie

When it comes to finding vegan replacements of my favorite foods, ice cream has been the easiest so far. There are so many great vegan ice creams to choose from that I don't think I have a favorite. This coconut chocolate cookie sorbetto from Talenti is definitely up there in terms of decadent, chocolatey vegan ice creams.

Technically this is Sorbetto and not ice cream. Sorbetto is the Italian word for sorbet and is dairy-free. 

I usually picture fruit flavors when I think of sorbet, so I was intrigued when I saw this coconut chocolate cookie flavor. Talenti makes some other flavors as well. 

This sorbetto is so creamy and has a strong coconut taste. It goes really well with the layers of chocolate fudge and cookies. 

The cookie pieces taste exactly like what you would expect coconut chocolate cookies to taste like. They're so good I would buy them if they were sold separately. 

I also love that I'm familiar with all of the ingredients. 

Talenti Dairy-Free Sorbetto Layers - Coconut Chocolate Cookie ingredients: 

Water, Sugar, Desiccated Coconut, Coconut Oil, Wheat Flour, Dextrose, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Rolled Oats, Chocolate Liquor, Brown Sugar, Canola Oil, Carob Bean Gum, Natural Flavor, Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Pectin, Guar Gum, Baking Soda, Salt, Soy Lecithin.

Review: Talenti Dairy-Free Sorbetto Layers - Coconut Chocolate Cookie

First impressions: Creamy and indulgent

Taste: Strong coconut taste but not overpowering

Texture: Light and creamy

Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan options? There's a lot of competition for the best vegan ice cream, but this is high on the list. 

Worth buying again? Yes

Overall: 5/5

Review: Kroger Simple Truth Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

I ate plenty of Pillsbury cookie dough as a kid, but hadn't found a vegan version until recently. And it's unexpectedly from Kroger, where they happen to have an impressive selection of vegan products throughout the store. Kroger seems to be investing in the plant-based trend and I am all here for it. Hopefully this will encourage other major stores to do the same.

The ingredient list looks long, but most of the big words are the added vitamins to the flour. It looks like chickpea flour is the egg replacer here. And I was surprised to see vanilla bean seeds in the chocolate chips - maybe that's why they taste so good. 

Simple Truth Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ingredients: Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, ascorbic acid added as a dough conditioner), semi-sweet chocolate (organic cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], vanilla bean seeds), palm oil, brown sugar, sugar, chickpea flour, water, salt, natural flavor, baking soda.

This egg-free and dairy-free cookie dough was so satisfying. It tastes just like regular cookie dough. It was hard for me to stop eating it and save some for baking. (Note that the package still says not to eat raw cookie dough.)

You should resist the temptation to eat all of the cookie dough though. It's worth saving some for baking because they are delicious fresh out of the oven (and smell heavenly). I still couldn't tell they were vegan.

The chocolate was the right amount of ooey and gooey. The inside was soft and chewy and the edges were crispy. Writing this makes me want to go make more.

Review: Kroger Simple Truth Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

First impressions: Can't stop eating it

Taste: Like other store bought cookie dough. Chocolatey and satisfying, sweet but not too sweet.

Texture: Soft in the middle with crispy edges

Can you tell it's vegan? Not at all

Worth buying again? Yes, I have more in my fridge right now.

Overall: 5/5

Review: Sprouts Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was pleasantly surprised to find these vegan chocolate chip cookies on display with the rest of the freshly baked (non-vegan) cookies at Sprouts. They were the same price too! They looked so good I had to try them. 

Some vegan cookies can be dry or dense. These were soft and chewy like chocolate chip cookies should be. I would not guess that they're vegan if I didn't know. 

The only downside to these is after a few days they seemed to dry out faster than non-vegan cookies. So that just means you have an excuse to eat them quickly.

The egg replacer in these vegan cookies is chickpea flour, which happens to be my go-to egg replacer for baking. Chickpea flour can be used as an egg replacer in a lot of recipes, from baking to crepes to quiches. Chickpeas are the same thing as garbanzo beans, so you might see it called garbanzo bean flour in the store. I've even heard that aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas) can be used to make a meringue, but I haven't tried that myself yet. 

Sprouts also has some prepackaged vegan cookies in the cookie aisle, including chocolate chip and vanilla wafers. 

Sprouts vegan chocolate chip cookies ingredients: 

Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, ascorbic acid add as a dough conditioner), semi-sweet chocolate (organic cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], vanilla bean seeds), palm shortening, sugar, brown sugar, water, chickpea flour, salt, natural vanilla flavor, baking soda. 

Review: Sprouts Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

First impressions: These don't look vegan.

Taste: Sweet, chocolatey, satisfying 

Texture: Soft and chewy

Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan options? Yes, my favorite vegan chocolate chip cookie so far. 

Worth buying again? Yes, I already have.

Overall: 5/5