Review: Edwards Singles Hot Apple Crisp with Creamy Ice Cream

Best known for its frozen pies, Edwards now offers a line of single-serve "a la mode" desserts. The microwavable desserts come with a base, such as brownies or apples, and a cup of ice cream and toppings. Edwards Singles Hot Apple Crisp is supposed to simulate apple pie a la mode.

What's in the box?
Each package contains two small bowls of cinnamon apples and two cups of vanilla ice cream with almond crumb and caramel topping.

Edwards Singles: Preparation
Preparation is easy and takes only a couple of minutes. The apple pie filling comes in a microwavable tray and takes approximately 45 seconds to heat. Top the warm apples with ice cream and dessert is ready.

The caramel layer is on top of the ice cream so it melts when it touches the hot apples. The almond crumb layer is on the bottom and creates an attractive topping. The ice cream cup has a push up base making it easy to transfer the contents to the dish of apples without any mess or waste.

Nutrition Content of Edwards Singles Hot Apple Crisp with Creamy Ice Cream
According to the label, each serving has 310 calories with 80 calories from fat, 8 grams total fat, 4.5 grams saturated fat and .5 grams trans fat. It also contains 20 milligrams cholesterol, 170 milligrams sodium, 160 milligrams potassium, 56 grams total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 39 grams sugar and 2 grams protein.

Hot Apple Crisp Taste
The hot apple crisp dessert is tasty and convenient, but the flavor is lacking. Adding a sprinkle of cinnamon helps. The apples do not have much flavor and the soft ingredients -- the apples, caramel and ice cream -- are overwhelming. This dessert needs additional almond crumb topping or a foundation of piecrust to balance the overall effect and live up to the name "apple crisp".

Edwards Singles Value
The flavor is very rich and satiating, but the portions are small. The convenience factor likely drives the price. At nearly $3 per box, Edwards Hot Apple Crisp with Creamy Ice Cream is not a good value by my standards, but it is acceptable as a quick and easy dessert.

Room for Improvement
Convenience is the biggest draw for this product. Edwards can boost the convenience factor by printing the preparation directions on the ice cream cups.

The Last Crumb
The recipe needs improvement or the price needs tweaking for this to become a regular part of the shopping list.