4 Blue Bell flavors celebrate holidays

Blue Bell Fudge Divinity

Blue Bell Fudge Divinity

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Just about everywhere you look in the grocery stores now you’ll see a selection of seasonal flavors and scents, and Blue Bell is right on track. Some of its popular ice cream flavors are now back in our local store freezers for a limited time. They include:

Fudge Divinity, a combination of marshmallow ice cream mixed with chopped pecans and a swirl of milk chocolate sauce. I had hoped it would taste like the traditional divinity candy, but it didn’t. But it is good. The flavor was first produced in 1975, retired a few years later and was periodically brought back, but it has not been sold in stores since 2000.

Christmas Cookies, a mix of chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and sugar cookies in sugar cookie ice cream with red candy cane-shaped sprinkles and a green icing swirl.

Spiced Pumpkin, a truly delicious concoction made with pumpkin spice-flavored ice cream, sugarcoated pecans and a cinnamon honey praline sauce. This was a newsroom favorite, and mine too.

Peppermint, which is a combination of peppermint ice cream with mint candy pieces.

Look for these flavors in Blue Bell’s half-gallon holiday container decorated with a red bow. They should cost about $6 each.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Old El Paso Stand ’n Stuff Soft Flour Tortillas and new Mexican Cooking Sauces. The company also has a new line of frozen meals that rolled into stores here well over a month ago. They include Chicken and Steak Quesadillas, Chicken and Shredded Beef Enchiladas, Chicken and Steak Burritos, and Chicken and Steak Fajitas. Look for them in the frozen meal section, where they should cost about $8 each. Most are made to serve two, but could easily serve more depending on appetites and side dishes.

I am a big fan of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, and have been since I first tried it on a trip to New York several years ago. That was back when there were none of the shops in central Arkansas. Then they introduced the coffee in stores.

Dunkin’s coffee has limited-edition flavors including Pumpkin Spice, Apple Pie and Mocha Mint. So far I’ve tried the Pumpkin Spice version, and it has a nice hint of the pumpkin spice flavoring.

Also new is the Bakery Series line designed to mimic the flavors you’d get by dunking your sweet treat into coffee. The flavors are Blueberry Muffin, Caramel Coffee Cake, Chocolate Glazed Donut, Jelly Donut and Old Fashioned Donut.

Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is sold at many major supermarkets. It sells for $7 to $8 for an 11-ounce bag.

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Food, Pages 38 on 10/30/2013