Graeter’s Ice Cream Party and a Giveaway
As many of you know, Hubby and I moved to Boston from Cincinnati. One of my favorite things when we lived there was walking down the street to grab some Graeter’s ice cream. I was recently contacted to review their ice cream, and they had no idea I already loved it when they contacted me. As you know, I rarely do product reviews on here, but since I already knew how much I enjoy Grater’s, I thought this would be a great opportunity.
Graeter’s uses high quality ingredients and makes their ice cream two gallons at a time to ensure quality ice cream with every batch. It is extremely creamy and decadent! They have 24 pint flavors including signature chip flavors and five seasonal favorites, which rotate throughout the year.
If you don’t live in Cincinnati, you still might be able to find Graeter’s at a grocery store in your town. A list of the locations where Graeter’s is sold can be found on their website. If you’re still out of luck, have no fear, you can order ice cream online. It will be delivered to your door step just like mine was!!
The foam cooler was packed with our six pints and some dry ice to keep it frozen on it’s journey. You can order the ice cream in 6 or 12 pint packages. I think this would make a great gift for Mother’s Day, a friend who used to live in Cincinnati’s birthday, or for anyone else who enjoys great ice cream.
I decided to invite some other bloggers over to my place to share this awesome ice cream with them. So last night, Aimee, Fiona, Renee, and Amanda came over for an ice cream tasting and sundae party! Graeter’s sent me a 6 pint variety pack of ice cream to taste. I requested my favorite, black raspberry chip, to be included in the pack. The other flavors included vanilla, mocha chip, caramel, mint chip, and strawberry.
For the tasting portion, I used a 1.5 tsp scoop to scoop tiny scoops of ice cream onto everyone’s spoon. We started with vanilla and worked our way through the 6 flavors. I’m usually not a fan of strawberry ice cream, but this strawberry ice cream was very fresh and light. The three flavors that had chips were great hits. I always say they should call them chunks. We all agreed that the strawberry ice cream would have been great with the chocolate chunks in it. Turns out Graeters does have strawberry chip right now.
The chocolate in the ice cream has almost the consistency of ganache, so it’s very smooth and easy to bite into. And, everyone once and a while you’ll get a bite with a big chunk of chocolate in it. The black raspberry chip was still my favorite with the mocha chip coming in at a close second for me. (As you know, I’m lactose intolerant. But, about once a year, I eat ice cream because I just miss it so much. I participated in the tasting portion of the evening, along with the help of some medication and it was definitely worth it!)
Once we all tasted a tiny bit of each flavor, we then made ice cream sundaes. Everyone else had brought some ice cream toppings including M&Ms, caramel sauce, and candied pecans. We chowed down on our ice cream sundaes and chatted the evening away.
Eating ice cream reminded me that summer is just around the corner! And if you’d like to try some Graeter’s ice cream for yourself, be sure to enter the giveaway below! Graeter’s has agreed to give a 6-pint variety pack to one lucky reader!! Here’s how you can enter.
First, you must be a follower of my blog, either through Facebook or an RSS reader. For the first entry, go to Graeters.com and check out the flavors they offer. Come back here and leave a comment telling me which flavor you would like to try, or if you’ve had Graeter’s before, which flavor is your favorite.
For an additional entry, either Like Graeter’s on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and come back here leaving another comment saying you’ve done so.
For another additional entry, Tweet the following about the giveaway “Enter to win a 6 pint package of @graeters ice cream from @beantownbaker http://bit.ly/gs2HKn” then come back here to leave a comment saying you’ve done so.
A maximum of three entries per person are allowed. All comments must be made by midnight on April 27th. A winner will be chosen randomly at that point in time. Graeter’s only ships to the US (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), so if you win, you must provide a US shipping address. If you’re out of the US, you can still enter the giveaway if you plan to ship the ice cream to someone within the shipping area.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Peppermint for sure
Love all things pumpkin this time of year!
ralphlucy at comcast.net
The richness of eggnog is one of my fave parts of the holiday season
jlynch6341@aol.com
I can’t decide if it’s peppermint or pumpkin! Oooh or egg nog!
yet another choc/peppermint combination to tempt me. Oh my! These look lovely! Peppermint is Christmas to me!
I tweeted too! breit85@gmail.com
love,
cathy b. @ brightbakes
I looooooooooooooooooooooove chocolate and peppermint. Especially when the chocolate is hot and the peppermint is liquor. Or any other way, really.
Oh I love Pumpkin and Peppermint! Two things my husband hates!
Apple Cider!! I drink it all winter long.
smartash1218@yahoo.com
Definately chocolate and peppermint or anything heavy on the cinnamon and nutmeg! Too bad I can’t win these liners with your cupcakes already in them! They look wonderful!
I <3 peppermint, it's a guilty pleasure. Also that I get to overeat gingerbread. That's where i pudge at the holidays, with Gingerbread flavor. its decadent and delicous.
Also: my word verification is redip. which entertains me.
I love the chocolate/peppermint combo.
My favorite holiday sweet is gingerbread cookies. rhisomers(at)gmail(dot)com
I tweeted it. and bragged you up.
So weird that it came out so thin for you! Maybe I should’ve specified what size can? Whoops. Anyway, I used a 14 ounce can and it came out pretty thick. Weird. I’m going to update my recipe with size now. 😉
The cupcakes look great anyway! 🙂
Okay, ignore me. Apparently I only used 3/4 of a cup of the condensed milk. Seriously, the cold weather is messing with my head.
I love chocolate and coconut this time of year. oh and of course marshmallow!
goorsky at g mail dot com
I agree – I love chocolate and peppermint this time of year. And your idea to fill the cupcakes w/peppermint and top w/chocolate ganache sounds amazing! But really who minds a bit of a mess when eating something so tasty?
Just tweeted
yum, these look delicious. i love homemade eggnog this time of year:)
Chocolate and Peppermint is a classic xmas combo that I just love.
ive been drinking peppermint mocha lattes like they’re going out of style. definitely a favorite combo! I love gingerbread this time of year too!
I love my Grandma’s almond puff 🙂 Soooo yummy
I’m lovin’ everything almond! Banket is a holiday staple at our house & I can’t get enough almond paste!
I’m partial to peppermint, especially those Andes Peppermint Chocolates. They’re like crack.
sarah(dot)chverchko(at)gmail(dot)com
Anything chocolate!
my fav is peppermint! i love candycanes and mint choc! 🙂
mandaala.blogspot.com
any kind dessert that looks “Christmas-y” is on my list!
I am in complete agreement- chocolate-peppermint is my favorite!!!
My favorite holiday flavor: Rum. Rum in Truffles, rum in eggnog, Rum in banana muffins, rum in pineapple upside down cakes…..yup, rum. 🙂
peppermint and chocolate is one of my favorite holiday flavors, but you know I have to remain loyal to pumpkin!
those look so good! peppermint is by far my fave holiday flavor!
but really also love buttery goodness in cookies. hmmm.
ctcupcake8@yahoo.com
GREAT!!!! hugs, Flavia
Peppermint (ideally with chocolate)!
Those look amazing!
I love mint chocolate and for the holidays put amaretto in EVERYTHING.
I am kind of peppermint obsessed so I absolutely love your cupcakes. Not to mention a peppermint patty frosting just sounds like pure bliss!
xo
ps I am your newest follower
Molasses. Or coconut. And butter. Those are the dominant flavors in three of my favorite holiday cookies. nsp429@gmail.com
I’m also on the peppermint bandwagon!
Chocolate and peppermint defo!
shelly8806@hotmail.com
I didn’t used to love the whole chocolate peppermint combo until I made an amazing cake from Bon Appetit last year. Now I’m hooked. I just ate a peppermint chocolate cookie for lunch today.
Those wrappers are so cute!
Pumpkin for sure. I love my pumpkin choc chip muffins! sunshine4342 at juno dot com
Yum! I am all about mint, and so is my bf.
PUMPKIN PUMPKIN PUMPKIN!!! Can’t get enough!
chocomuncher88 @ yahoo . com
Peppermint and gingerbread. YUM!
cmerrey at gmail dot com
My favorite flavor would have to be Egg Nog, or Peppermint :)!
meggie_sue@woh.rr.com
Peppermint for sure!!!
Silly I know but I love Fruitcake in all its yummy, rummy goodness.
Love eggnog! And mulled cider.
– Amanda
I love peppermint and pumpkin best! 🙂
Cinnamon!
Peppermint is definitely my fave! cnahorvath@yahoo.com
my favorite holiday flavor is eggnog. I think I could eat or drink about anything with eggnog
Pumpkin pie spice 🙂 … in everything from homemade pumpkin spice lattes to pumpkin bread! My fav!
Peppermint for me! These cupcakes look delicious…love the baking liners!
It’s a toss up between pumpkin and chocolate/peppermint.
phjones21@yahoo.com
These cupcakes look awesome! They are so pretty 🙂
Such a fun giveaway too. My favorite holiday flavors are ginger and molasses….yum!
Eggnog for sure!!! I just made Eggnog cookies that are actually TOO good….I can’t stay away!
I love simple molasses cookies! Molasses is one of my favorite things this time of year=)
I am SO with you on the chocolate/mint combo! Beyond delicious! I always make some peppermint biscotti at this time of year – yum! : )
love the combo of peppermint and chocolate. also love KA flour – use it all the time.
jacquieastemborski AT comcast DOT net
Well they look delicious! But I can see the pain of the ooziness!
Peppermint and chocolate is my favorite!
I love sweet things – especially egg nog!
Peppermint – I get addicted to peppermint mochas this time of year.
Mint chocolate! Yum!!
Cranberry! I think this started when we were giving our ‘grown up’ drink for Christmas Eve dinner. The real adults had wine and we had cran-raspberry juice for the kids version.
jfalksen at gmail dot com
As always, your post makes me want to lick my computer screen! I made your Snickerdoodle brownies the other day and I ate just about the whole pan. By myself. Need to give away the rest and then make them again because they made my apt smell AMAZING!
chocolate and mint, yum!
ljyoung85 at gmail.com
Coconut is my favorite! I put in mostly everything I bake during this time of year.
I love sweet things at this time of year. Especially the peppermint bark or candy cane hershey kisses.
I love anything eggnog flavored, especially baked goods. Mint is a good one too.
Peppermint hot chocolate! Or caramel…or pumpkin….
ooh, for the holidays i’d have to go with eggnog or peppermint!
I love peppermint! Can’t get enough of it this time of year!
My favorite holiday flavor has to be molasses. We have a family cookie recipe involving molasses that never gets old!
Almond flavoring goes into several of our cookies- including the candy cane cookies. The combo of almond with mint makes for a great cookie!! Eggnog and chex mix add to this yummy Christmas Eve combination.
My favorite holiday flavor is sweet – the chocolate-peppermint combo, mmm!
Vanilla (as in the icing on my mother-in-law’s fabulously delicious sugar cookies). Mmmm….
Chocolate is my favorite flavor year round!
I’m not sure if I have a favorite holiday flavor… I’ve been sitting here thinking about it for a few minutes. Mint perhaps? But not in excessive amounts.
My favorite holiday flavor is really my favorite year round flavor — cinnamon! I love cinnamon anything.
Hood Golden Egg Nog – yum!
Egg nog. I discovered Silk Egg Nog flavor as well as the See’s egg nog truffle this year. So happy.
amazing! can’t wait to bake them!
I love anything that is baked with eggnog! This year I’m thinking I might have to try to make eggnog truffles! YUM!
bbscabral@gmail.com
Peppermint and chocolate used to be my favorite flavor combo, but lately it’s become chili pepper and chocolate. I love the juxtaposition of spicy and sweet!
Pumpkin for Thanksgiving-time, eggnog for Christmas-time. I always forget how much I love eggnog until the time is here! 🙂
pumpkin bread! hbhalsod@gmail.com
I worship KAF. I mean WORSHIP! So I would love to win this one. My fave flavour combo for the holidays is probably chocolate and mint too, but I am really into gingerbread these days.