Gianni's Limited Edition Peanut Butter Cones (ALDI)

June will mark a full year of hunting for ASDA's peanut butter cones. They've still not arrived in sleepy old Hereford, Humf. How dare the supermarket produce such a treat and then keep it from my greedy paws? Sure, there's plenty of peanut buttery ice cream sticks out there (such as M&S' new Belgian Milk Chocolate & Peanut, ASDA's Peanut Butter & Salted Caramel, of course not forgetting the disappointing double peanut butter Magnum) but we're stuck with Cornetto's so-so 'Peanut Butter Love' when it comes to pre-made cones. Of course I make my own with the Co-Op's PB&J ice cream, Jude's peanut butter chocolate ripple and with the last of my Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cookie Clutter stash (FYI stock up if you love it as it's been discontinued), but sometimes I'm lazy and just fancy a pre-made cone -especially as they often have a chocolate nib at the bottom to look forward to. 

Anyway, I peered into ALDI's freezers yesterday and saw that their summer range is in. The new ice cream range includes plenty of sorbet-ice cream mixes (much like Waitrose's blood orange and chocolate pint last year), as well as some interesting looking Gin & Tonic and Prosecco lollies. Most exciting however were the two new cones: Eton Mess and Peanut Butter!

My brimming chest freezer was instantly forgotten and a pack of each went straight into my basket, especially as they were just £1.39 for four. You'll have to come back for my review of the Eton Mess cones I'm afraid, I just couldn't wait to tell you about the peanut butter ice creams. 

At 110ml they're a decent size. The ice cream was smattered with peanut pieces and a small amount of chocolate. I was pleased to see that the ice cream was flecked in colour (unlike the peanut butter Oreo) and saw that as a good sign that it might actually taste like peanut butter. 

"Peanut butter ice cream in a biscuit cone, with chocolate flavoured coating, rippled with sea salted caramel sauce, topped with chocolate flavoured coating and peanut pieces."

And it did! Hurrah! It came through extremely well, tasting both bold and natural. The ingredients list claims that the peanut butter (which makes up 6% of the ingredients) used is simply made from peanuts and sea salt, so it can't be bad quality and that's apparent in the flavour. If I was to be pernickety, I'd admit that the quality of the ice cream base was far from the best I've tasted. it was soft and airy but lacked the creaminess of premium brands. 

A little way down the cone I came across a huge pocket of salted caramel sauce (as I had with the rhubarb in Tesco's new cones -perhaps they're manufactured by the same company). To be honest I'd all but forgotten about the sauce, but it was pleasant -despite lacking any salinity and tasting more like toffee than rich Dulce De Leche. So often when companies choose to combine peanut and caramel in ice creams, the caramel overpowers the peanut flavour. However, this was only momentarily the case in this cone, for once the pocket was eaten there wasn't much more of the sauce to be found. 

This sounds slightly odd to mention, but I really noticed how crispy the waffle cone was. There's nothing more irritating than biting into a soggy cone, but ALDI have provided a really thin and biscuity cone here. It was one of the best I've had in a while. 

Hurrah! A success. I already can't wait for my next Gianni's. Peanut-butter-holics head to ALDI post-haste!

9/10