Review: Snickers Ice Cream Minis May Become Your Favorite Freezer Treat

I've always loved a Snickers candy bar. One of the most devastating parts about trick-or-treating as a kid, and why Halloween candy sucks, was receiving a snack-sized Snickers bar. It never quite did the trick, and instead left me hungry, wondering where the most filling chocolate bars were. So when Snickers released mini versions of its ice cream bars, I was concerned that I would relive the Halloween horror of tiny candy bars all over again. But in an attempt to determine whether these mini ice cream bars would be worth your time, or if you should just go for the full-size option, I sampled each. (I have one of the most delicious jobs in the world.)

I found the Snickers Ice Cream Minis line offers five flavors: Original, M&M's Minis, Almond, Crunchy Peanut Butter, and Salted Caramel. And while these ice cream bars are quite small, and perfect for snacking, they also offer the convenience of grabbing more than one at a time to create a full-sized snacking experience.

I've learned that reviews are best when made with family, and friends. For this review, I shared the joy with my husband, and my mom. I gave everyone one of each flavor, and then we sampled them at the same time. To decide if these treats are ones you all should try, we considered both flavor, and texture. We were looking for little ice cream treats that had an enjoyable flavor, and also for a texture that is comparable to other ice cream treats. I asked for their thoughts, recorded our impressions of each, and even noted any favorite flavors from the collection.

Snickers ice cream bars are far from new, but the Snickers Ice Cream Minis line is a new collection containing five flavors in miniature versions of the original. It's as if the brand took its snack-sized candy bars, and turned them into ice cream treats. Though these probably wouldn't be best for dolling out on Halloween, they may become your new favorite, quick treat from the freezer.

The five flavor varieties offer different flavor profiles for all your ice cream cravings, as each of the offerings has its own composition of ingredients. Most have peanut butter ice cream, but Salted Caramel, and Almond, both use a different flavor to better complement the rest of the recipe. All of the ice cream treats are coated in a chocolate coating, just like a regular Snickers bar. The boxes come with 10 Snickers Ice Cream Minis each, and the size makes it easy to enjoy more than one flavor, building your own larger treat.

Snickers Ice Cream Minis have joined the brand's permanent lineup, so thankfully, we don't have to worry about them disappearing anytime soon. They are available widely in many retailers, with the exception of the M&M's Minis flavor. Those are exclusive to Walmart, and they are scheduled to hit store shelves in February, though the others are on shelves as I write. (Note, however, that they may be difficult to find in the early days of their release.) Keep an eye on the freezer cases in your local grocery store; they're surely going to show up soon.

Though the brand did not directly comment on a recommended price for retailers, I found the general pricing to be around five dollars for a box of 10 bars. Though the pricing may be different in different grocery store chains, and even different locations, it is reasonable to expect to pay at least five dollars for these sweet treats.

The nutritional information for the five flavors of Snickers Ice Cream Minis is pretty similar. Salted Caramel, Almond, and Original all have 80 calories each. The Salted Caramel has an additional gram of carbohydrates, bringing it to nine grams total, while the Almond and Original Snickers Ice Cream Minis both have eight grams of carbohydrates. Peanut Butter and M&M's Minis have 90 calories each, and six and five grams of fat, respectively. M&M's Minis takes the cake for the highest number of carbohydrates at 10 grams, while Peanut Butter has nine grams. Notably, all flavors have seven grams of sugar, except for M&M's Minis, which have eight. To no one's surprise, the Peanut Butter flavor has an extra gram of protein, bringing the count to two; the others all have one gram.

While there appears to be a fair amount of ingredient variance among the flavors, caramel and chocolate have a place in every bar. Most of the bars have peanut butter ice cream as the base, but Salted Caramel and Almond both have different ice creams. As you might imagine, the Almond variety is the only one without peanut or peanut butter flavors; instead, it has almond.

My freezer is no stranger to Snickers ice cream bars, so the Original flavor is quite familiar to my family. These bars have peanut butter as the ice cream flavor, and on top of that, I tasted a layer of peanuts slathered in caramel, and the chocolate coating that surrounds the bar. This tried-and-true version was, of course, quite tasty. It didn't necessarily taste like your typical Snickers candy bar, or even a standard frozen chocolate bar. Instead, Original Snickers Ice Cream Minis utilize the flavors in a different way that was still absolutely delicious.

With the combination of peanut butter, caramel, and peanuts, the whole candy bar was like a well-dressed sundae, all in one bite. While the other flavors all had their unique attributes, everything here was just extremely complementary, and the caramel played more of a starring role in this Original flavor than it did in the other ones. As a result, the caramel definitely felt more abundant.

What goes better with a mini ice cream bar than more minis? Snickers and M&M's Minis come together in this candy-filled treat. One bite reveals little M&M's widely dispersed over a layer of peanut butter ice cream that's loaded with peanuts. It was a rather crunchy bite, smoothed only by a layer of caramel on top, shrouded by chocolate coating.

I expected the M&M's to be harder than they were, but since the candies were rather small, they fit perfectly, even if the effect made for extra cold teeth as a result. While the M&M's Minis were the typical chocolate variety, with so much peanut butter flavor in the candy bar, it was the ideal treat for someone who loves Peanut Butter M&M's.

Though I enjoyed the addition of the candy, this was ultimately my mom's least favorite of the collection. In general, though we enjoyed the snack, we found that the ice cream bar didn't really seem like a Snickers. The M&M's just distracted from everything we love about a classic Snickers bar.

After a single bite of a Snickers Crunchy Peanut Butter Ice Cream Minis bar, one thing was abundantly clear: This one was made for peanut lovers, and specifically those looking for a new way to satisfy a peanut butter craving. Like the M&M's Minis and Original flavors, this one uses a peanut butter ice cream as the base, but it also has crunchy peanuts inside. The amount of peanuts in this ice cream treat is nearly overwhelming, and unless you really love peanut butter, it'll probably feel like too much. There is some reprieve from the peanuts because the layer of caramel is still there, but it's barely noticeable with all of that peanut butter flavor around it.

This was my least favorite of the bunch, though it was still an enjoyable bite. I just found the peanut flavor to be far too strong. It sat extra heavy, too, because of all that nuttiness. In the end, it felt like too dense of an ice cream treat for me to want to pull it out of the freezer for a quick bite. On the other hand, my mom quite enjoyed this flavor, and actually dubbed it her favorite. She's someone who prefers crunchy peanut butter to smooth — a preference I've never quite gotten used to. If you fall on her side of the great smooth vs. chunky peanut butter debate, you'd probably enjoy this bar.

My top two favorite treats of the bunch were quite a bit different from the others. The Snickers Almond Ice Cream Minis bar actually used vanilla ice cream as its base for layers of caramel, and almonds. While the Crunchy Peanut Butter flavor went overboard on the peanuts, I found that the Almond one went rather light on the quantity of nuts. There were only a few almonds in each one, but I have to imagine that's because almonds can take up so much room.

This treat reminded me of a turtle ice cream sundae. It had all the makings of a perfect sundae bite, and truly, the only thing it was missing was a cherry on top. The flavor profile of Almond was much cleaner than others', and it allowed each ingredient to really come to the surface in a nice balance. Initially, vanilla might seem like too simple of a choice for the ice cream, even if it's one of the most popular ice cream flavors, but I think it pairs perfectly here.

My favorite flavor of the Snickers Ice Cream Minis lineup was easily Salted Caramel. This treat used salted caramel ice cream as its base, and had a layer of peanuts, and caramel on top. The combination of everything made for an ultra unique flavor that tasted quite different from the others in this collection. While the flavor was unique, it certainly wasn't over-the-top or difficult to appreciate because everything was nicely balanced, with a notable difference in flavor.

This treat had a more delicate — and even fancy — flavor, and feel to it. My husband said that it reminded him more of a Dove ice cream product than Snickers, and I have to agree. I'd also say this is a good thing. Snickers has a reputation for being a classic, easily accessible candy bar. Dove, on the other hand, has always had an elite sort of air to it, and Snickers Salted Caramel Ice Cream Minis feel of this quality.

In the end, I think these new Snickers Ice Cream Minis bars are absolutely worth a try. I enjoyed every single flavor I sampled, and while I definitely enjoyed some more than others, even my least favorite would be a tasty, and satisfying, ice cream treat any day of the week.

Since they are miniature, these treats are very easy to grab from the freezer whenever you want a quick bite. I thought they offered quite a lot of flavor for the price, and since they are so small, they don't make you feel like you're indulging in a huge dessert every time you eat one. This is much more of a snacking size. Since I was lucky enough to be sent the whole collection, I ended up putting them all together in a Ziploc bag to make drive-by snacking all the easier, and since my initial taste test, I've returned several times to the bag of goodies stashed in my freezer.