Halo Top Ice Cream: What's the Deal?
Halo Top ice cream is celebrating its 5 year anniversary but has only been on my radar for a little while. Ibotta, my favorite coupon/rebate app, promised me $1.00 off a pint, so I decided it was finally time to try Halo Top for myself. The $4.99 price at Giant curbed my enthusiasm for a minute, but I rationalized that it was about the same cost as a trip to Sweet Frog or Starbucks. 
The scoop: Halo Top has 17 flavors, ranging from traditional (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookie dough...) to modern (sea salt caramel, s'mores, oatmeal cookie, pistachio...). Calorie counts range from 240 to 360, with the average falling around 320 per pint. Halo Top uses organic stevia as sweetener, which I'm guessing helps it lower the sugar levels, since stevia has a strong flavor. Other popular brands have 3 or 4g of protein per serving, so the 5g that Halo Top offers isn't a considerable leap. This is still a dessert, not body building fuel.
First impression: 320 Calories for a whole pint of ice cream is ridiculously low! I rarely sit and eat a whole pint at one time, so it's nice to know I could lower the number of calories even more by working on the pint over a few days. Or not. Either way, it's not too much damage. A sidebar on the label told me that Halo Top ice cream may be harder than other brands due to no added "softeners" and so they recommend you let it sit out on the counter a few minutes before diving in. Okay. More concerning was the lackluster appearance when I peeled back the wrapper--there were no cookie chunks in sight! I didn't expect Cold Stone proportions of topping but it was perplexing to stare down an almost pristine blanket of white ice cream. Had I somehow received vanilla that was mis-labeled as cookies and cream? Did I win a special prize? It was time to taste it.
Verdict: The ice cream was tasty, though not the best representation of Cookies and Cream. If I was craving that flavor, I would reach for another brand. However, I would definitely be open to trying different flavors. It tasted like ice cream, not frozen yogurt or a poor imitation. I love citrus flavors, so maybe Lemon Cake is the flavor for me!
Have you tried any Halo Top Flavors? Which one is your favorite?
XOXO,
Maria
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| Strawberry Lemon Shortcake Bars--yum! |
For a complete list of flavors, check out the Halo Top website:
Oooohhh! Their website also has tons of recipes you can make using their ice cream!
I just tried Halo Top after reading about it online for forever. I had the mint and it is DEFINITELY my new go to! It's just a tad different from regular mint ice cream and at 240 calories it's amazing. $5 is a little high for the size, but that's true for Ben & Jerry's as well. I'd rather have the low calories than the wild flavors so I would count it as a win. I bet you're right that it depends on flavors.
ReplyDeleteHey Alli! Thanks for sharing! I can't say that I've switched 100% all of the time to Halo Top but I agree, I don't need the wild flavors and oodles of toppings that Ben & Jerry's has. I tried the peanut butter cup flavor recently (from Halo Top) and it was solid!
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