Post #3 - Haagen-Dazs Extraat Strawberry Cheesecake

''Cheesecake ice cream with "extraa" luscious, ripe strawberries and real graham pieces''

I wasn't really looking for my next Ice cream pint but I was in the midst of craving a nice piece of gourmet cake that I love so much. I was mulling over Pumpkin Pie, New York Cheesecake, Butter Pecan Pie... Suddenly something almost magical happened. I stepped into my gas station to pay for gas and noticed they had pints of Ice Cream at the back... maybe some Ben & Jerry's? No, just Haagen-Dazs. I've always heard good things about their Ice Cream but never thought of giving it a try since Ben & Jerry's creativity in mix ins always appealed to me. I moved a couple tired flavours over, Vanilla, Coffee... seemed boring until I came across the last pint in the freezer and the last one of it's kind hiding in the back. Strawberry Cheesecake? I was already craving some type of pie/custard/cake and I love Ice Cream... 1 stone.

As I brought it home and left it in the freezer for a bit I did some research on their Canadian site. Not only was I extremely excited for this but I was getting excited for other flavours that appealed to me as well like Rocky Road, Caramel Cone Explosion, Cookies & Cream... The time came to dig in. I opened it up and right away I saw more mix ins than I was expecting. Delicious buttery Graham Crusts and swirls/chunks of strawberries all in a delicious Strawberry Cheesecake Base. First thing I noticed was how rich the base was and upon reading the ingredients and comparing the calories per serving to Ben & Jerry's, it's obvious why most Haagen-Dazs have more calories per serving. They use so much cream and milk fat to achieve the perfect ice cream base that it's only natural to be on the fattier side and to rightfully describe themselves as a Super Premium Ice Cream. Well worth it.

I knew right away that my Ice Cream ''journal'' would not be restricted to only Ben & Jerry flavours as this one convinced me to venture through more Haagen-Dazs Super Premium flavours.

Verdict: 8.5/10 - This relatively high score reflects mostly on the base. I could really taste a strong cream cheese presence swirled with strawberries which gave it that traditional cheesecake flavour. The graham crust pieces could have been larger or more present but for the few that there were, they were buttery yet crumbled like a true cheesecake crust.