Were you Jubilant Over Friendly’s Jubilee Roll?

I admit, the idea for this topic only came about because of something different, yet somewhat similar.

Previously, on Allison’s Facebook Newsfeed…

It’s amazing how a single screenshot of decadent dessert that eats like cake but is actually ice cream can illicit such a response.  The obligatory “I remember this!” and “I love this!” are expected.  One of my cousins responded with how she used to serve Viennetta in champagne glasses (which in itself is the epitome of wealth and sophistication!).  My friends Amie and Heather wanted one, and my cousin Erin said this:

Forget long-retired dessert as status symbol, personal nostalgia overrules EVERYTIME!

Jubilant Over Ice Cream!

My cousin’s reference to the Jubilee Roll is one of great personal Christmas nostalgia for our family.  Nesgood-Venezio Christmases (which are the calmer, less situational comedy versions of the Griswold Family Christmas) were always full of delicious dinner, watchings of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and dessert!  Specifically, this beauty!

This here is the Jubilee Roll, a Christmas-themed version of the Friendly’s ice cream roll.  It looks like a cake, it eats like cake, but guess what, there is no cake in this beauty!  

The Jubilee Roll is described by Friendly’s as “Delicious chocolate ice cream surrounded by chocolate chip ice cream, topped with fudge, chopped almonds, and ice cream ribbon and candy chips.”  It was my grandma’s favorite Christmas dessert purchase, and one my mom bought for one of our Christmas family get-togethers after my Grandma went into a nursing home in 2003.  It is a dessert that every 90s kid who ever ate Friendly’s ice cream remembers, and is just as good as you’d think it should be, based on sight alone.

The roll just screams “Christmas In Ice Cream Form,” complete with all the colors and feels of Christmas.  There are several ice cream rolls made by Friendly’s, but this one only makes its appearance around the holidays.  Nothing is quite like it during the holiday season (aside from “After Eight” mints, but that’s a different – and equally nostalgic – memory for me).

In fact, I also remember the commercial for the Jubilee Roll just as fondly.  I hadn’t seen it in years, but when I found it on YouTube, it just took me right back to Grandma and Grandpa Nesgood’s dining room in the 1990s.

“It Only Comes But Once A Year…”

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…and the Nutcracker likes it too!

The thought of eating one of these in the restaurant is made all the more delightful by watching the magical hot fudge and whipped cream being poured onto is the stuff of a very nostalgic childhood.

But if you wanted to savor it outside of Friendly’s (because that Conehead Ice Cream on the kid’s menu was calling your name), it meant a trip to the restaurant (or the supermarket) to get a boxed Jubilee Roll!

The best part about Friendly’s Ice Cream being sold in supermarkets meant that anyone who didn’t live near a restaurant location could easily have the amazingness of their desserts in your own home.  I loved eating at Friendly’s as a kid – until I was too old for the kid’s menu, it was Macaroni and Cheese and French Fries (which according to their menu, is no longer made – its Mac and Frank now), and the famous Cone Head Sundae.

Looking back on that, kiddie menus always had the strangest combinations.  I mean, they still do – my four-year-old niece had buttered spaghetti and grapes at Olive Garden for my bridal shower (weirdo, lol).

All that aside, if I even knew the Jubilee Roll was available in the restaurant (and as many times as I ate at Friendly’s as a kid, I had no clue!), I still only associated it with Christmas Day and Grandma’s, and would still have wanted the Cone Head.

I don’t usually wander the ice cream/dessert aisle at the supermarket, but I think next time I’m there, I’ll have to make an exception – and if I find the Jubilee Roll – some room in my freezer for one this holiday season!  I know my local grocery stores carry Friendly’s Ice Cream, but perhaps they have this one very specific type.

Update to come as soon as I locate it!

I swear, if this isn’t as good as I remember it, I’m going to be very disappointed.