Despite my occasional lactose intolerance (ugh), I'm a sucker for ice cream. And when I heard that Kent-based Simply Ice Cream made flavors like Christmas Pudding, Cinnamon, Coffee and Kentish Cobnut Fudge, I cleared out my freezer to make space for this indie ice cream producer.
Of course, this wasn't my first introduction to Simply Ice Cream - I'd run into them earlier in the year at the Foodies Festival, where we tried some of their delicious Toffee Waffle Hazelnut ice cream.
Based in Kent, Simply Ice Cream still makes their ice cream the old-fashioned way: by hand and in small batches. Their natural, locally sourced, no-additives ingredients have won them multiple Great Taste Gold awards. They also make bespoke flavors on request like Turkish Delight (yes, please!) and Fig and Honey (yum!).
Since I'm in the process of planning a Christmas / birthday / housewarming party in a few weeks time, I've been frantically combing the internet for Christmas decorations, Christmas-related recipes and basically ... anything Christmas related. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with Christmas pudding depending on my mood, but dipping a spoon into Simply Ice Cream's Christmas Pudding ice cream made me feel like I was sitting at the dinner table on Christmas Day, just after everyone had pulled open their Christmas crackers.
Along with this, I also loved the classic Dreamy Vanilla (one of my favorite flavors as a child) and the subtle Cinnamon, which also evoked thoughts of the holiday season.
My favorite, however, was the Coffee and Kentish Cobnut Fudge. It's so hard to find coffee-flavored ice cream in the UK! And this tasted a lot more like real coffee than the kind I usually have in the US (sorry Breyer's, Dreyer's).
Finally, the Mango, Lime and Passionfruit surprised me: its creaminess (these ice creams are ultra creamy) reminded me of kulfi and was something I instantly thought would work well as a dessert after a curry.
As of today, Simply Ice Cream is stocked in nearly 400 outlets across the UK, including select Waitrose and John Lewis Food Halls. Click here if you're interested in finding your closest store.
Are you an ice cream fan? What's your favorite flavor? Would you try Christmas Pudding ice cream? Let me know in the comments below!
Simply Ice Cream generously sent me a selection of their Core and Special flavors. All ice-dreamy opinions are my own!