Jan 29, 2013

Review: Carl's Jr. - Hand-Scooped Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich

Carl's Jr.'s Hand-Scooped Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich features a scoop of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies for $1.69 a pop.

They're also available at Carl's Jr. sister chain, Hardee's.

My old apartment complex used to bake Otis Spunkmeyer cookies daily and put them out in the leasing office. They were warm, soft, and delicious. Even the UPS guy would stop by for some!

This was not as good. Probably because they weren't so fresh and were a little hard as a result. Tastewise, they were nice enough; there's that brown sugar flavor and decent-sized chocolate chips.

The ice cream was just the right firmness, but still cold enough that it barely melted during the short drive home. The flavor however, was a pretty average vanilla; it wasn't particularly creamy and the vanilla note was fairly weak.

The firmness of the chocolate chip cookies tended to push the ice cream out when I bit into it. I ended up just eating the ice cream at the edges to keep it from falling out and my last few bites were mostly just cookie.

Overall, Carl's Jr Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich was decent but not great. A softer, fresher cookie would have improve the experience immensely. The chocolate chips cookies were okay, but I prefer the Oreo version better.

Nutritional Info - Carl's Jr. / Hardee's Hand-Scooped Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich (113g)
Calories - 260 (from Fat - 150)
Fat - 16g (Saturated Fat - 8g)
Sodium - 360mg
Carbs - 49g (Sugar - 31g)
Protein - 4g


  1. Freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies? I didn't know they made cookies... My high school used to have their muffins and they were tastiest muffins I've ever had. I've spent years trying to make ones as tasty as theirs and have failed miserably. They say homemade is always better than processed but somehow it's not the case here.

  2. Yeah, you can find them at some food vendors here and there. I missed them a bunch when I moved out of that place. I literally ate one every time I stopped by the leasing office.

  3. It was one of these: http://www.spunkmeyer.com/Our-Products/Channel-Information/Foodservice-Products/Oven-and-Merchandising-Program/Oven-Program/Oven-Program/ So nice!

  4. I've had more of these than I'd like to admit. I'm kinda addicted to their Memphis BBQ Burger, so I took very good advantage of that deal they had during the holidays where you'd get one of these free when you bought a combo.

    But with that being said, I still wouldn't say they were that great. Free dessert is free dessert, but once the promo ended I never bought one on its own. There's just nothing spectacular about it, and you can find similar products at the grocery store that taste just as good if not better for way less money.

    The part about the cookies being hard though, I always thought it was more because of the ice cream rather than the freshness of the cookies. I figured the coldness from the ice cream was making the cookies cold, and cold cookies are generally always harder.

  5. That's true for the freezer but I think these are supposed to be made to order (I'm not sure if they are; it just might be my assumption since they're "Hand-Scooped" and all).

    If the cookies have been sitting in the freezer all day than yes, the hardest is expected. If not, I'd chalk it up to cookies that are not so fresh.

  6. I've never been sure about that. Maybe I'll try to peek behind the counter the next time I order one (there were a few times when they said they were out of ice cream and couldn't give me my free ice cream sandwich, so they gave me some coupons for a free one to make up for it).

