The Aldi Product That Doubles As My Favorite Ice Cream Topping

I have a soft spot for trail mix. While some might think of it as candy with obstacles, I personally think the diversity, textural nuances, and flavors in a good trail mix make for an excellent snack any time of day — whether you plan to eat it out on the trails or not. And since I consider myself one of the foremost experts on this snack food, I can definitively say Aldi's chocolate peanut butter trail mix is an absolutely awful trail mix. I know ... probably not what you expected me to say. When I tasted an array of Aldi trail mixes, I found its flavor was far too sweet and candy-forward to be one of Aldi's worthwhile snack offerings. However, its drawbacks in the trail mix department are what make it such a compelling addition to ice cream. 

The mix is comprised mostly of candy — peanut butter drops, chocolate-covered mini peanut butter cups, peanut butter candy, and chocolate chips — but there are a few errant peanuts and peanut butter pretzels thrown in. All of these components work well as individual ice cream toppings, and it's absolute nirvana when they come together with a high-quality ice cream — preferably a decadent, dense chocolate or, even better, a top-notch chocolate peanut butter ice cream. It's sweet, sure, but the ice cream hides the fact the chocolate trail mix components aren't particularly flavorful by themselves, and the peanut butter candies aren't Reese's-branded. 

Although this Southern Grove-branded trail mix can hold its own atop a scoop or two of ice cream, one of the most compelling things about it is that it can make a great base for other ice cream-adjacent treats. For example, the sweet and salty mixture would be an excellent topping for a banana split; add a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and douse the banana in peanut butter sauce (or creamy homemade peanut butter), whipped cream, this trail mix, and a few cherries for a proper peanut butter lover's dessert. You could also blend it up into a milkshake with peanut butter or chocolate ice cream; just pulse the trail mix well before stirring it into your shake. It'll probably clog your straw, but it's worth it.

I've also thought about using this chocolate peanut butter trail mix folded into ice creams rather than on top of them. Every component, except for one — the peanut butter-filled pretzels — would retain its shape and texture when added to a homemade ice cream recipe. However, the pretzels aren't a problem, as there are so few of them that you can pick them out by hand. This poor ratio of pretzels to the other ingredients would normally be problematic for a trail mix, but it just gives it more utility in its second career as an ice cream topping or add-in.