New Pinkberry Flavor, Snickerdoodle Cookie

 

Fro-yo girl here. It’s always nice to start the new month with a new froyo flavor. Pinkberry just released its new festive flavor, Snickerdoodle Cookie frozen yogurt. The non-tart froyo flavor tastes like cinnamon and sugar.

Snickerdoodle Cookie frozen yogurt: It’s no secret that I prefer tart froyo, but I liked this flavor. The texture was very smooth, creamy, and light, but it still felt satisfying without being heavy or too rich. The cinnamon flavor wasn’t too strong, and it wasn’t crazy sweet. The shortbread crumbs were a perfect crunchy topping though I do wish the crumbs were larger. Recommended toppings: nuts, shortbread cookie crumbs, dark chocolate crisps

Pinkberry recommends topping Snickerdoodle Cookie frozen yogurt with cinnamon dusted shortbread crumbs and chocolate chips.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

New Strawberry Yogurt Mille Crepe Cake From Yu Cake

Fro-yo girl here. It was love at first bite when I first tried Yu Cake’s Blueberry Yogurt Cake Roll in 2022. I was impressed enough to want to try all their yogurt cakes, so I tried the yogurt box cake and the raspberry yogurt cake. The Blueberry Yogurt Cake was still the best.

Recently, they introduced a new yogurt cake, the Strawberry Yogurt Mille Crepe Cake ($9.75/slice, $97 for a whole 8” cake). It’s flavored with yogurt powder. Like all Yu Cakes, the cake looked beautiful with thin layers of crepe and cream. There was also a thicker layer of cream with strawberry bits and a strawberry gelee layer.

Strawberry Yogurt Mille Crepe Cake: This was my least favorite Yu Cake to date. The cake had one texture – soft and creamy, but it also had a strange gummy texture. The cream didn’t have much flavor though I did appreciate that the cake was not too sweet. I could also taste a bit of the yogurt and the fresh strawberry flavor. The strawberry gelee was slightly tangy. Something about the texture of the crepes and cream wasn’t quite right.

Yu Cake closed the Rosemead location, so I went to the one in San Gabriel. They also didn’t have the other yogurt cakes that I tried in the past.

* YU CAKE: 301 W Valley Blvd # 111, San Gabriel, CA 91776

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Menchie’s Disney Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Free Froyo Event

 

Fro-yo girl here. Disney Wizards Beyond Waverly Place is now streaming on the Disney Channel and will be available tomorrow on Disney+. Thanks to the new movie, Menchie’s had a free froyo event on October 29 at 3 PM. The first 29 guests in line received a free trick-or-treat bag and 5 ounces of free froyo.

I went to the Menchie’s in Burbank because they’ve been very organized during previous free froyo events (other locations are not so organized). This was a smart move because they were organized again, handing out 29 slips of paper to the first 29 guests.

The trick-or-treat bag was a plastic bag with an image from Wizards Beyond Waverly Place on one side and a cup of Menchie’s froyo on the other side.

I’m having a hard time finding the new Falling for Froyo Chip spoons, but I’ll keep looking. I’m going to finish the Smile Challenge app game tomorrow.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

2024 Halloween Froyo Shop Spirit Award Winner Announced

 

Fro-yo girl here. Happy Froyo Halloween! It’s that time of year when I eagerly look for signs of Halloween spirit in my neighborhood and at froyo shops around the world. I’m always amazed to see Halloween celebrated in so many countries.

The Halloween Froyo Shop Spirit Award can go to a froyo shop in any country. I consider the shop décor, special flavors, costume parties and events, special Halloween toppings, and more.

This year’s winner was clear. They won in 2014 and now again in 2024. Congratulations, 16 Handles. They just introduced Squid Ink Black Matcha frozen yogurt, inspired by Squid Game: Season 2. Like Squid Game, they also have a variety of contests like the Black Tongue Challenge, Dalgona Cookie Challenge, and the Tug of War Showdown. Prizes include $250 Visa gift cards.

The winner of the 2023 Halloween Froyo Shop Spirit Award is…SWEESH Fro-Yo in Indonesia. They created a new Halloween flavor, Butterfly Pea froyo, that they call Mud Blood.

Here are the previous winners:

• 2023: SWEESH Fro-Yo, Indonesia
• 2022: Funky Frozen Yogurt, Norway
• 2021: Menchie’s, US
• 2020: Pinkberry, Japan
• 2019: Menchie’s, US
• 2018: Smile Yogurt, Hong Kong
• 2017: Yogurty’s, Canada
• 2016: Menchie’s, US
• 2015: Wakaberry, South Africa
• 2014: 16 Handles, US
• 2013: Menchie’s, US

Find the most comprehensive list of froyo shop Halloween specials and events at https://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/news/happy-froyo-halloween/

For over 2,800 Halloween froyo images, visit IFYA’s Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/froyogirl/halloween-froyo-froyo-shop-decorations/

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Deshi Milk Flavored Brick Shape Ice Cream Review

 

Fro-yo girl here. Good Fortune Supermarket’s Alhambra location has a freezer near the front door filled with interesting popsicles/ice pops from China. They open boxes of popsicles to sell them individually. The packaging is all in Chinese with no English translation.

I bought a package of Deshi Big Milk Brick ice cream. The packaging also says thirty years ago and not too sweet on it.

It’s a rectangular brick-shaped, milk—flavored ice cream bar. One bar is 70g. It’s realty good – very thick, creamy, and rich. It tastes rich and indulgent and it’s sweet but not crazy sweet.

The bars come in a box of five. At Good Fortune, one bar was just $1.29. They had another flavor, possibly chocolate.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

5 out of 5 stars.

* Good Fortune Supermarket, 300 W Main St, Ste 120, Alhambra, CA 91801

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Great Forest Summer Lemon Flavor Ice Bar Review

Fro-yo girl here. Photogenic Chinese ice pops/ice bars/popsicles, particularly the fruit shaped ones, have been a huge hit in 2023 and 2024, thanks to TikTok. The fruit ice cream craze started with Propitious Mango and Peach ice cream. The latest flavor to appear in the US is Summer Lemon.

The fruit-shaped ice cream is so popular that it sells out quickly and is hard to find. It’s carried by Asian markets like 99 Ranch and HMart. I’ve also seen it for sale in boba shops. The fruit ice cream trend seems to have replaced the boba popsicle trend from a few years ago.

Summer Lemon Ice Cream comes in a box of three. The lemon-shaped ice cream bars are individually packaged. I found them at 99 Ranch in Alhambra, CA, for $10.99 a box. The bars are imported from Jilin City in China.

Summer Lemon Ice Cream: The thick, dense, and creamy ice cream is made with sweetened condensed milk. It doesn’t melt quickly and it’s not super sweet. The ice cream is very tasty but it doesn’t taste like lemon. It’s coated in a thin, crispy yellow white chocolate shell. The shell is made with lemon juice but I could barely taste it. The plastic popsicle stick is shaped like a leaf. Cute. 

One bar is 204 calories, 15g total fat, 15g total sugars, 3g protein, and 16g total carbs. 

While I enjoyed the lemon ice cream bar, it barely had any lemon flavor.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Fro-yo Girl Speaks 16th Blogiversary

Easy Breezy, Walnut Creek

Fro-yo girl here. Fro-yo Girl Speaks turns 16 today, so I’d like to reflect on the year in froyo. Of course, I still love froyo, and I think it’s been a good year for froyo. I’ve visited seven new places for froyo:

• Cuppa Yo, Dublin
• Easy Breezy, Walnut Creek
• Golden Spoon, Tustin. I made it to the grand opening for free froyo.
• Go Greek, Studio City
• Scoop & Cone, West Hollywood
• Yoga-urt, Granada Hills. I made it to the opening day.
• Yogurtland, Santa Monica

The grand openings aren’t what they used to be. They’re very modest these days. I haven't been devastated by any froyo shop closings this year, so far.

It’s been a great year for froyo spoons too. I collected nine new froyo spoons and a new one is coming soon to Menchie’s. Yogurtland has been coming out with more giant spoons and they’ve also had more promotions, e.g., A Laufey Day. Froyo Games for the Olympics, PAC-MAN. Multiple Yogurtland locations in the area have been remodeled this year. And they finally got rid of partial serve (i.e., you couldn’t add your own toppings).

Top It! Yogurt Shoppe

I visited Seattle and Salt Lake City and enjoyed some wonderful froyo during those visits. Top It! Frozen Yogurt in Snohomish, WA, was worth renting a car to visit. I finally made it Yagoot, which started offering froyo way back in 1977 (in Ohio) and opened in Salt Lake City last year. I have plans to take another froyo trip this year.

Sadly, the Pinkberry vending machines in the area that were installed last year have disappeared. I do think they were too limited though – offering only one flavor and a few toppings. Amazon Go stopped offering self-serve Pinkberry but they still carry froyo. Prices also continue to rise and average about $0.75/oz now vs. $0.70 this time last year.

Enlightened introduced frozen yogurt bark, which wasn’t any better than the frozen yogurt bark I could easily make at home.

Both Yogurtland and Menchie’s came out with shoe charms. I have both sets but refuse to wear Crocs.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.