The scoop on a new Häagen-Dazs

The claim: Häagen-Dazs Light ice cream, introduced nationally in June, has “all the great taste and creamy texture of classic Häagen-Dazs ice cream with only half the fat.” Regular Häagen-Dazs has consistently rated very high in our past tests.

The check: Several staff taste testers conducted blind tests of the new ice cream in all its flavors: vanilla bean, dutch chocolate, dulce de leche caramel, coffee, mint chip, cherry fudge truffle, and s’mores. Full-fat versions are available for the first five flavors, so tasters tried those against the lower fat.

The bottom line: Häagen-does it. If our tasters hadn’t conducted side-by-side tests, they might have thought some flavors were full fat. In fact, they were fooled into thinking the lower-fat coffee and dulce de leche caramel were the regular versions. The lower-fat vanilla was a little less tasty than the rest, but most flavors were quite good. If you’re a Häagen-Dazs addict, the numbers provide further incentive to give the new ice creams a try: Labels show that they have 60 to 90 fewer calories per half-cup than their regular versions, and less than half the fat. But don’t be fooled: Even Häagen-Dazs Light has as much fat as some regular ice creams.