As much as I love your average, everyday vegan eats that I prepare on my own (tofu! sweet potatoes! cupcakes!), there are some pre-made products that just make life a little bit easier – and a little tastier. So here’s the first of my “Stuff That Makes Me Happy” product reviews, wherein I’ll sing the praises of vegan products that, well, make me happy! First up is Coconut Bliss frozen dessert, because I just polished off my first pint of this sucker and it deserves a little love.

Before I get to the good bits, I’ll be honest – the $5.99/pint price tag doesn’t actually make me happy. But I was lucky enough to comment first on a Coconut Bliss blog post, and the lovely people at Luna and Larry’s sent me a fabulous Coconut Bliss t-shirt, a couple of stickers with their logo, some literature on their products, AND a coupon for a free pint of their ice cream! Now, that makes me happy, as does the organic, dairy-free, and soy-free ingredient list.

I used my coupon to pick up a pint of Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, and, well, yeah. Holy yum. This is decadence in a carton, folks. It has the slightest hint of coconut flavor, which I think works well as a base for the chocolate. The hazelnuts add a fun textural change to your ice cream experience, although I think my pint could’ve used a little more fudge. My only other [eensy-weensy, super-tiny] complaint is that I wish the ice cream were just a bit creamier, but I may be spoiled because the last dairy ice cream I ate was gelato… in Italy. So. Yeah. Take that minor complaint with a [big, gigantic, humongous] grain of salt.

The only shortcoming of this ice cream is its nutritional profile. I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty dismal in the fat department. Whereas most soy-based ice creams only contain a few grams of fat, coconut milk-based ice creams are extremely rich and contain large amounts of saturated fats. Although the folks at Coconut Bliss address this on their website and explain why coconut-based fats are at least somewhat healthier than animal fats, the fact that one 1/2 cup serving of Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge contains 10g of saturated fat and 16g of total fat is just a little frightening. To be clear, I don’t worry about fat content for weight purposes; I just know that diets low in saturated and total fat are, well, a heck of a lot healthier than those containing lots of fats.

In the end, though, I believe that it’s a matter of moderation. I don’t eat much fat on a day-to-day basis, and if I want to splurge and have a serving of Coconut Bliss every once in a while, I’m damn well going to do it, and I’m going to feel fine about it. I’m treating it like, well, a treat, especially since it’s so rich that I can’t eat much at a time (even when I was a kid, foods high in fat made me feel sick). I’ve made the pint last for at least three weeks now, which is really quite impressive. When I do have a helping, I make sure to savor it – no mindless eating here! I pay full attention to each spoonful, enjoying the flavors and textures. And that, my friends, makes me very happy indeed. :)

(“Photos” aren’t mine, obviously. I found them from Google Images; I imagine they’re from the Coconut Bliss website originally.)