We all know that ice cream is fatty. My mom likes to remind me that when I'm licking an ice cream cone, I'm essentially licking a ball of fat. I try to remove that image from my mind and instead picture that I'm licking a little ball of heaven. However, it is wise to be informed of what you are eating. In that light, I present you with Newsweek's list of six of the most fattening ice creams - all nutrition information is for a serving size of a half cup.

1. Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter (360 calories, 24 grams of fat)

2. Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby (330 calories, 20 grams of fat)

3. Häagen-Dazs Butter Pecan (310 calories, 23 grams of fat)

4. Sheer Bliss Pomegranate with chocolate chips (320 calories, 20 grams fat)

5. Ben and Jerry's Vermonty Python (300 calories, 19 grams of fat)

6. Coldstone Cookie Batter (300 calories, 16 grams of fat)

Check out the complete Newsweek article for a breakdown of what makes each one as bad as it is and some ideas for healthier alternatives.

[via That's Fit]

American Idol fans -- or ice cream fans, for that matter -- may want to take note of the new flavors available from Dreyer's that tie in to the popular realty show. Dreyer's/Edy's is the newest partner for American Idol, joining one of the most lucrative media franchises in history, and has five new Idol-themed flavors for fans to choose from. Each is presented on the Dreyer's website with a profile listing its "hometown," "slogan," and other information in the style of the stat given for a real contestant. Tasters can sample the flavors, which will be released to stores on or around Feb. 1, and then vote for their favorite flavor online. Voters will then have a chance to win tickets to the American Idol season finale.

If you're not interested in the show, at least you'll still get to enjoy some new Slow-Churned flavors as long as you can get past the Idol propaganda on the containers: Take The Cake (yellow cake flavor with blue frosting and sprinkles), Choc 'N Roll Caramel (caramel swirls and mini caramel chocolate cups), Hollywood Cheesecake (cheesecake ice cream with graham and strawberry swirls), Soulful Sundae Cone (vanilla, chocolate ice creams with chocolate peanuts and ice cream cone bits) and Triple Talent (triple chocolate).

Personally, I can't get enough of the salty-sweet pleasure that comes from eating Sea Salt Caramels and, with the exception of a handful of people who don't seem to like caramel in any form, they're popular with everyone who tries them. So, when Faith, a commenter, mentioned that there was a shop that sold salty caramel ice cream, it sounded like a tip that was worth checking out. Jeni's Fresh Ice Creams does indeed carry Salty Caramel Ice Cream as one of their signature flavors, but their other flavors sound equally as impressive. They include:

• Gravel Road - salty caramel with chopped smoked almonds added
• Honey Vanilla Bean - simple and delicate, with Ohio honey and Madagascar vanilla
• Queen City Cayenne - milk chocolate "Cincinnati style" ice cream with cayenne and cinnamon
• Thai Chili - Krema peanut butter with toasted coconut, cayenne and coconut milk
• Black Coffee - cream steeped with just-roasted coffee (no water). "It tastes like coffee smells."

There are also a number of limited-time seasonal creations at Jeni's, including Lemon Yogurt and Fresh Cranberry Sauce, Farmer's Market Apple Cider Sorbet, Butternut Squash with Pecan Pralines, Goat's Cheese with Figs and Port and Toasted Brioche with Butter and Jam (yes, they're all ice creams). Jeni's has two locations in Columbus, Ohio and you can order all of their flavors online.

Cookie dough ice cream is a favorite of ice cream lovers young and old, but Baskin Robbins is taking the popular flavor to the next level with some new fall flavors. Makin' Cookies ice cream has a base ice cream that blends of brown sugar and butter flavors ice with chunks of baked chocolate chip cookies, mini chocolate chips and swirled with a cookie dough ribbon. Oatmeal Cookie Crunch ice cream is vanilla ice cream packed with oatmeal spiced cookies and swirled with a crunchy cinnamon graham cracker ribbon.

On top of the straight ice cream offerings, they have the Cookie Overload Sundae, which pairs the two cookie ice creams with caramel, whipped cream, and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.

Head over to a store to try the new flavors when you get a chance because they'll only be available to a limited time. Besides, how could you resist brown sugar and butter flavored ice creams? These cookie flavors may not be around for too long, but I don't think anyone would complain about those being added to the permanent menu.

Breyers is known for its all natural ice creams, but they are now branching out into the organic market, joining in on a trend that has largely been followed by specialty or premium brands until now. The flavors they will offer include Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Coffee and Vanilla Fudge Swirl, with more flavors to be added depending upon consumer response. The organic ice cream market is facing ever greater demand from consumers, increasing by 50% since 1997. Production has been able to increase due in large part to the fact that more dairy farmers are changing to organic because of the demand for organic milk. The ice creams should be on store shelves this fall.

Along with their organic offerings, Breyers will also be debuting Lactose-Free Vanilla for consumers who are lactose intolerant, which is good news to the millions of people who prefer the taste of dairy ice cream to rice or soy-based frozen desserts but were unable to enjoy it for medical reasons.

When it came out that Ben & Jerry's, the socially aware ice cream company owned by Unilever, was purchasing eggs from a facility that was accused of mistreating its chickens by the Humane Society, which released a report that revealed the supplier had dead and dying chickens with living ones and that all were kept in small cages. Consumers were not pleased. They expected more from the activist ice cream producers. But Ben & Jerry listened to those concerns, as well as the concerns from the Humane Society, and has dropped the egg producer in question from its list of suppliers, though the CEO would not commit to switching to cage-free eggs for its US operation, though they use free range eggs in Europe.

Now we will just have to wait and see if this move affects either sales or production, given that Sarah noted the ice cream maker purchased over 30 million eggs each year from the egg company and that consumers might want the company to source its ingredients more responsibly in the future.

Root beer floats are fantastic, even if not all the products associated with them are. The combination of slightly peppery soda and creamy vanilla ice cream is hard to resist, so when I saw that Edy's/Dreyer's released a Root Beer Float ice cream, my initial reaction was "it's about time!" Then I saw that Breyer's has a Root Beer Float ice cream flavor out this summer, too. The difference between the two is that Dreyer's - which is limited edition - has vanilla ice cream with root beer flavored ice cream swirls, while Breyer's has vanilla with root beer sorbet swirls. Get them while you can - and try making a real root beer float with the ice creams for a double delicious summer treat.

After much debate about the sorbet vs. ice cream issue in a post earlier this week, we can conclude that sorbets, by definition, do not contain any milk products. We also know the different fat contents that make the difference between low fat and regular ice creams. But what of other ice cream terms? Here are a couple of handy definitions that should help clear things up:

• Sorbet - does not contains dairy; always very light in flavor
• Sherbet - almost always has a fruit component, but also must contain dairy to produce a dessert that is lighter than ice cream, but richer than sorbet
• Frozen yogurt - contains dairy that has been cultured (though most do not contain active cultures), and is churned to resemble soft ice cream, with a smooth, rich texture.
• Ice milk - just like an ice cream, but made with milk rather than cream; a little used term for strict constructionists of the word "ice cream," since most home chefs would say ice cream anyway
• Ice cream - must have at least 10% milkfat (or 8% if there is a mix-in) by volume (if sold commercially); may or may not contain eggs
• Frozen custard (also called French ice cream) - ice cream that is made with at least 1.4% egg yolks, giving it a richer texture than ordinary ice cream.
• Gelato - ice cream with a mixture of milk and sometimes cream in the base, often including eggs. It is churned less than regular ice cream and has less air in the final product, which gives it a dense texture.

Breyers released their Double Churned ice cream this week. If it sounds like something you've had before, you're probably confusing it with the Dreyers/Edy's Slow Churned variety. In any event, more churning in commercial ice cream is supposed to make it creamier (though there are proponents of homemade ice cream who aim to keep their churning to a minimum no matter what), so the ice creams should be a hit.

Breyer's just did a survey on American ice cream eating habits. From their "Real Dish on Ice Cream" study, they learned that 87% of Americans have ice cream in the freezer and 71% have at least two kinds or more. A very crafty 20% try to hide their favorite flavor where other family members won't find it. They also said that men and women are equally likely to crave ice cream when they are happy.

The only question left to answer is whether the happiness was ice cream based, or whether being happy just made them want ice cream.