Baskin-Robbins Turkey Day Fixin's Ice Cream Review

No matter what occasion comes up on the calendar, Baskin-Robbins always seems to have a flavor that captures the spirit. With Thanksgiving on the horizon and fast approaching, the ice cream phenomenon has come up with a holiday-ready combination that adds a new option to your designated feast-worthy desserts. This time, it's an unexpected combination with the decidedly un-ice cream name, Turkey Day Fixin's, and it drops promptly on day one of Thanksgiving month, no sneaky marketing required.

But omitting the flavor elements from the name led me to speculate about what "fixin's" might possibly include. Food companies can play fast and easy when it comes to promotional flavors for the holidays. Jones Soda's full Thanksgiving flavor feast took a risk by turning turkey and gravy, and mashed potatoes into beverage flavors, which still sounds like a mistake. Does Baskin-Robbins follow suit and add green bean casserole to its creamy base? Does it throw black olives, mashed cranberries, and that weird stuff from the relish tray into the mix? Thankfully, the label at the scoop shop describes the flavor as sweet potato and autumn spice ice cream with ribbons of cranberry sauce and bits of cornbread. Now we're talking turkey!

Baskin-Robbins sets the table for a flavorful experience with its Turkey Day Fixin's ingredients. The sweet potato ice cream is made with real sweet potatoes, something for a food producer to crow about in the age of unidentified "natural" flavors. The autumn spice ice cream shows up with cardamom, clove, and cinnamon, the three Cs of warm baked flavor, with sage and thyme thrown in for a glitzy gourmet element. And when the ice cream giant goes for cranberry swirls, they use real Ocean Spray cranberries for the occasion. Adding a touch of texture as well as a more umami flavor note, the cornbread bits are also sweetened with honey.

If all of this sounds more like a Turkey Day dessert tray, let's just be thankful that there isn't a mashed potato crumble or oyster stuffing chunks as part of the recipe. Considering the ingredient list, it seems that Baskin-Robbins could have come up with a slightly more descriptive name, something like Sweet Thanksgiving Feast or even Not Quite Pie, But Close Enough. For advertising purposes, it seems like the name might make for a tough sell of such a potentially delicious treat.

Ice cream fans who don't intend to let cold weather stop them from enjoying their favorite confection will be happy to know that Turkey Day Fixin's is priced identically to its fellow ice cream flavors. This is one aspect of Baskin-Robbins' rotating flavor menu; unlike other dining chains that jack up the dollar signs on promotional items, all special edition ice cream at BR is priced equally to the usual selections. This makes it easy to take an intriguing formula for a test spin without feeling like you could have spent your money in better ways.

That said, be prepared to pony up for this holiday happiness. A single scoop costs about $5.36, while my double scoop rang up at $6.29, and a triple scoop runs just under $10.00, depending on your location. This seems like a premium price, even for a prime treat, considering you can buy entire pints of top-tier ice cream like Ben and Jerry's for around $7.00, giving you enough to share with your Friendsgiving crew. If you're used to prices like this, then there's no surprise here. If you're a bit more conservative with your ice cream budget, come prepared.

There's no big secret about how Baskin-Robbins runs its Flavor of the Month program. A new flavor appears in the case shrouded in mystery on day one and is relegated to the ice cream boneyard when the next month rolls around. If you're lucky, a flavor you adore may be resurrected at some undisclosed point in the future. With Turkey Day Fixin's, the company makes no bones about the lifespan of this special edition. Though Thanksgiving doesn't mark the end of the month, you'll be sorely disappointed if you wait too long after the holiday to give it a spin.

Since this flavor is tailor-made for a holiday dedicated to the gift of indulgent eating, consider ordering a few scoops for your guests to sample or to take along as a treat for your friends and family. It's a conversation starter of a dish that's bound to generate more chatter than the dried-out pumpkin pie or blue tin of butter cookies it shares the dessert table with. And since it's bound to disappear quickly, you may have no better occasion to grab a sample. It is called Turkey Day Fixin's, after all.

It seems that October and December have holiday-ready personalities with a collection of flavors that may never end. But November is stuck with pumpkin — which appears more fervently in October, thanks to the whole Halloween-and-Jack-O-Lantern razzmatazz — and pecan pie, which could easily fit in December with the other warm Christmas and Hanukkah treats. So where does that leave Thanksgiving's lonely month? The ever-enterprising Baskin-Robbins saw an opportunity to fill the gap with less-considered flavors.

Sticking with the sweeter side of the spectrum is a wise move, considering the company's tradition of inventive confections. It may be fun to surprise customers by adding savory elements like ghost pepper or balsamic vinegar to a dessert flavor once in a while. But BR seems to understand that its audience comes to the shop for something sweet and refreshing, not something weird and unsettling. With cranberry, cornbread, and sweet potato being largely overlooked for anything other than holiday recipes, Baskin-Robbins found a rich vein of creative tastes to add to its roster. So, while you're tasting something that's relatively familiar, you'll also be tasting something entirely new to ice cream.

You don't go to Baskin-Robbins to be lectured about macronutrients. You go to be entertained by frozen, sugary inventions. So, while nutrition is a consideration, it's obvious that ice cream will take you off the path to wellness if only a touch. While direct nutritional information about Turkey Day Fixin's doesn't appear to be available online, compared to the general population in the ice cream case, you'll likely consume around 200 calories for a single scoop, with about 10 grams of fat, and 20 or so grams of sugar. You can minimize the impact by ordering your scoop in a cup, preventing additional calories, fat, or sugar.

Of course, these facts will likely vary somewhat due to the specific nature of the Turkey Day Fixin's ingredients. Baskin-Robbins may add facts tailored to the flavor once it's been on the market a while longer. Just know that you can take a taste without blowing up your nutrition for the entire day. And since this special edition was crafted in the spirit of gratitude and sharing, think about sampling into an impromptu dessert-only Thanksgiving with friends to share the scoop.

Not being prepared for what might lie beneath the lid, I was a bit hesitant to dig in and give Turkey Day Fixin's a try. The description was unexpected enough to make me wonder if sweet potato ice cream could work on its own, let alone as part of a bigger blend. One bite was all it took to convince me that this inspired flavor is the very best of what a Flavor of the Month can be. It's like a sweet potato pie with the tingle of real cranberries and chunks of cornbread standing in for the crust. The impression is of a more gourmet Southern dessert that makes finishing a Thanksgiving meal something to look forward to without needing a nap beforehand.

Are there ways Baskin-Robbins could improve this recipe if the company brings it back sometime down the line? The addition of marshmallows and actual pie crust pieces wouldn't be wrong here. Nor would a bit of caramel brulee or salted caramel to add even more depth. But if Turkey Day Fixin's is what we get to enjoy this year, we have plenty to be thankful for.