Who needs Rand McNally when you can have Rocky Road ahead? These recipes are meant to demonstrate some alternate routes to delicious territory when you’ve grown tired of traditional ice cream traffic. So try some of my favorites to get the lay of the land, and then consult your own internal ice cream compass to point the way to perfectly personal dessert destinations.
RECIPES INSPIRED BY OTHER ICE CREAMS, DESSERTS & SNACKS
PRETZEL HONEY MUSTARD ICE CREAM
OVALTINE & OREO ICE CREAM (AKA AFTER-SCHOOL SNACK)
RECIPES INSPIRED BY DINNERS, DATES, AND OTHER DISHES
FINOCCHIO E LA CAPRA (FENNEL & THE GOAT) ICE CREAM
SALTY BUTTERED HONEY ICE CREAM
MINT CHERRY MASCARPONE ICE CREAM
ROASTED CHERRY CHOCOLATE SNAP ICE CREAM
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
For the purposes of this book, this is the mother recipe, the mix upon which most formulas going forward will be based. We’re going to gussy it up, dress it down, build it up, and totally dismantle it. Master this base and you will have not only a delicious and completely satisfying sweet cream ice cream all on its own but also a road map to follow in pursuing your own creative ice cream adventures.
This is also a relatively low-sugar base. When using high-quality, extremely fresh cream and milk, the dairy is beautifully rich and fragrant, often with notes of grass and a sweetness all its own. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing the injustice I may have done to those generous cows if I’d negated all their hard work beneath a mountain of white sugar!
Thanks to its low sweetness level and the absence of eggs, this base allows anything we add to the ice cream to really pop when it tops your cone.
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1¾ cups whole milk, divided
1¾ cups heavy cream
½ cup organic cane sugar
5 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
½ teaspoon salt
1In a small bowl, combine the starch with 3 tablespoons of the whole milk and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
2In a nonreactive saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, nonfat dry milk, salt, and the remaining whole milk. Nonfat dry milk can be quite sticky when wet, so it will naturally clump. Whisk assertively to ensure that the dry ingredients are well incorporated and no lumps remain.
3Set the pan over medium heat and whisk frequently. In the meantime, prepare an ice bath in which to transfer your finished product by filling a large glass bowl with ice.
4Cook the base until it reaches a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. A longer simmer will produce more of a “cooked” flavor in the finished product. Extreme cooked character can be referenced as a defect in ice creams, but I find that a little bit of a longer cook caramelizes the sugars inherent to the dairy and brings out a bit of that natural, grassy sweetness.
5Add the reserved starch-and-milk mixture and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Remove from the heat and pour into a storage vessel set over the ice bath. (I typically use a glass Pyrex-type bowl with a cover, as the base will need to be stored after cooking.)
6Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture well while still warm. This process homogenizes the base and promotes a smoother, creamier finished product.
7Transfer the base to your storage vessel and store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make ice cream, remove it from the refrigerator and again blend with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
8Pour the base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
9Once finished, store the ice cream in the freezer and resist the urge to open that door! A hard-scoop ice cream will need to set overnight.
10If you simply can’t wait, you can certainly eat the ice cream right out of the machine; however, the consistency will be closer to soft-serve than hard-scoop.
Let’s start with the sweet spot—the dessert and snack categories. From doughnuts and pastries to popcorn and pretzels, this section takes your favorite snack food and freeze-ifies it.
THE ICE CREAM EPIPHANIES
The question I’m most frequently asked is “Where did you come up with this?” Inspiration for ice cream, thanks to its incredibly forgiving nature and adaptability, can come from just about anything, ranging from a piping hot dish of fresh pasta to the salty smell of a summer day at the beach.
I like to tell stories, and through ice cream I can channel those stories, transforming them into tasty, quietly captivating tales; it’s a platform on which to parlay memories and share favorite moments, all while creating new ones.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Inspiration here came from a weekend trip to Charleston, South Carolina, where I was called in off the street and into the city’s many candy shops by the aroma of slow-roasted pecans petrified in syrupy, crumbly praline. They were so irresistible, I found myself on more than one occasion skipping meals in favor of these sweet little pieces of southern comfort.
I didn’t want to exactly plagiarize the praline, not for fear that I might not do it justice, but to create something that paid homage to Charleston’s specialty. At Hay Rosie, our Tasting Room manager-cum-candy-and-baking-master Chrissy Ward set to work perfecting what I believe is the most cracklike commodity produced to date: Sea-Salted Chocolate-Covered Pecan Toffee.
½ cup malted milk powder
1½ cups Sea-Salted Chocolate-Covered Pecan Toffee
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the malted milk powder and continue blending until completely dissolved.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the toffee pieces, store in an airtight container, and freeze overnight.
Fernet & Coffee Caramel Ice Cream, Honeyed Peanut Butter Sauce & Bourbon Ganache, Bananas Ferrari Ice Cream. Or pair with just one big giant spoon.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Oh, mint chocolate chip, how I love you. But how did you manage to get the monopoly on American ice cream cabinets? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia—that’s the mantra that comes to mind when I think about mint in the dessert world. Who decided it was the only herb worth a damn in a nonsavory dish? I decided to give mint a breather and put sage in the game. Turns out, we’ve got another star player: sweet, herbaceous, and a natural complement to homemade, melt-in-your-mouth Chocolate Snaps.
2 sprigs sage
1¾ cups heavy cream
1Gently bruise the sage sprigs either by using the unsharpened side of a kitchen knife or simply by pressing them between the heels of your hands (this releases all those wonderful oils and aromatics). In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the sage to the cream. Bring to a gentle simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the sage and cool the cream completely.
2Use the infused cream to prepare the blank base according to the standard instructions.
3Store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
4Pour the base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the Chocolate Snaps. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight. To serve, sandwich a scoop between chewy Sage Chocolate Chip Cookies for a sweet, herbaceous, and super delicious spin.
Salty Buttered Honey Ice Cream, Marshmallow Whiff, pistachio, coconut, fig jam. A scoop between two amaretti cookies makes a nutty, fragrant ice cream sandwich.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
I’ve always been oddly obsessed with lemon bars. I’m not talking about anything fancy—not some fresh-from-the-bakery, elevated, or overstylized versions. I’m talking those straight-outta-the-box, mix-and-make, bizarrely chewy, puckeringly tart and humble squares of non-pie.
Rather than chucking hunks of lemon bars into a blank base, I wanted to mimic the classic confections. And while I absolved the boxed lemon bar mix of its responsibilities, I maintained the general idea.
Fresh lemon curd is folded into a confectioners’ sugar–flavored base, because if there’s one thing a lemon bar isn’t complete without, it’s that signature dusting of snowy powder across its top.
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1¾ cups whole milk, divided
1¾ cups heavy cream
¼ cup organic cane sugar
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
5 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1In a medium bowl, combine the starch with 3 tablespoons of the whole milk and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
2In a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, sugars, nonfat dry milk, and the remaining whole milk. Whisk assertively and frequently to ensure that the dry ingredients are well incorporated and no lumps remain.
3In the meantime, prepare an ice bath in which to transfer your finished product by filling a large glass bowl with ice.
4Once the base reaches a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes.
5Add the starch-and-milk mixture and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Remove from the heat and pour into a storage vessel set over your ice bath. (I typically use a glass Pyrex bowl with a cover, as the base will need to be stored after cooking, but a zip-top bag works well also.)
6Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture well while still warm.
7Store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
8Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
9Once the ice cream is finished freezing, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Lemon Curd. You don’t want to fold or stir, as the curd will churn into the ice cream. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Strawberry Pop-Tart Ice Cream, The Wise Pumpkin Ice Cream, India Pale Ice Cream. Or top this off with Marshmallow Whiff and Tequila Lime Curd for a faux frozen margarita.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
I’ve never liked banana-flavored things. Those little banana-shaped Runts? Their only real use to me was as a prop snack for my Ninja Turtle action figures. And while I do enjoy bananas, I only do so when they’re exceptionally ripe and browning, possibly crossing into a realm that other people might call inedible or at least undesirable.
This flavor is influenced by that burnt caramel, super-ripe, buttery flavor of Bananas Foster—the only banana dish I ever loved. Bananas cooked long in nutty brown butter, studded with crunchy chunks of malty, salty goodness; it’s addictive in the most authentically banana way.
2 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons muscovado sugar
1¼ cups Malted Salted Toffee pieces
1Slice the bananas into ¼” pieces and set aside.
2Cook the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat until browned. It should smell nutty and start to produce brown flecks. Add the reserved banana slices and sugar. Cook until the bananas brown and begin to fall apart. At this point you should be able to easily mash them with the back of a fork.
3Transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and puree the banana mixture. Allow it to cool completely.
4Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
5When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the banana puree and continue blending until completely integrated.
6Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the Malted Salted Toffee. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight. Serve with Coffee Caramel Sauce and Sea-Salted Chocolate-Covered Pecan Toffee for the sunniest breakfast-style sundae.
Mexican Muscovado Caramel Sauce, Marshmallow Whiff, Honeyed Peanut Butter Sauce, Strawberry Pop-Tart Ice Cream, Melted Ice Cream French Toast.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
The whole sorbet thing never quite did it for me. But as the public interest evolved, I figured I’d have to get with the times. Chocolate seemed like the natural place to start, since I could wrap my head around the science: Cocoa butter supplants some of the creaminess lost when excluding the butterfat so critical to crafting an ice cream.
There’s also a comprehensible reason to omit dairy to achieve a dense and authentic flavor: Milk dilutes what would otherwise be a bold, complex, overpowering dark chocolate jolt to the taste buds.
The shocking result is the sole reason that you won’t find any chocolate ice cream recipes in this book. They could never quite compete with the satisfaction factor of this incredibly decadent, ultra-creamy sorbet. So if you’re still holding out for the sans-lactose section, I suggest you start here.
2½ cups water, divided
¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ cup organic cane sugar
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Dash of salt
1In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1½ cups of the water, the sugars, and the cocoa. Whisk until well integrated and smooth. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
2Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, vanilla bean seeds, salt, and the remaining 1 cup water. Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture until smooth. Age the mixture in the refrigerator until fully cooled. While it isn’t imperative that the mix be aged overnight, it is preferable.
3When you’re ready to make the sorbet, again blend the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
4Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the sorbet is finished freezing, store it in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
This black beauty is super customizable, which is another reason to love it so much.
MINT CACAO NIB SORBET: Add ½ teaspoon peppermint extract and ¼ cup crushed cacao nibs.
CHOCOLATE-COVERED ORANGE SORBET: Add ½ teaspoon orange essential oil and the zest of 1 orange.
BUMPY BQE: Layer in pouches of Marshmallow Whiff and handfuls of smoked almonds for a scoop that can soothe the most maddening of Brooklyn traffic situations.
COCO-RETTO CHOCOLATE: Add ¼ cup toasted shredded coconut and ½ teaspoon almond extract.
Any item that chocolate would love. Top or swirl through with Mint Cherry Compote, Lemon Curd, Honeyed Peanut Butter Sauce, or Simple Strawberry Jam. Serve to the most intense chocolate-lover in your life.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
I love popcorn—it’s got that whole blank canvas thing that makes ice cream so much fun to me, but in the crunchy, salty column of the snack category. In particular, I love when it’s doused in spicy, vinegary sriracha. But being a bit heavy-handed on the hot sauce, I sometimes make my popcorn far too soggy.
Once I realized I could make flakes of the stuff, it dawned on me that this was also the key to turning my midnight snack into an ice cream flavor.
Heat-seekers are often advised to drink a glass of milk with something spicy to neutralize the burn. This ice cream first serves up the punch and then quickly provides the cooling effect, not only from the obvious fact that it’s frozen, but also from the dairy base.
It’s important in this recipe not to use buttered popcorn, as the oils and flavorings can create a greasy ice cream. My preference is to pop kernels on the stovetop just before infusing, but you can also use bagged popcorn from the grocery store. Just be sure it’s not loaded with oil and flavorings—the more natural, the better. If you’re using bagged or prepopped corn, spread it over a baking pan in a thin layer and toast for 5 minutes at 220°F in the oven before infusing.
3 tablespoons sriracha
2 cups freshly popped fat-free popcorn (not movie theater popcorn)
2¼ cups heavy cream
1Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 220°F. Using an offset spatula, spread the sriracha in a very thin layer across the parchment. Dehydrate the sriracha in the oven for about an hour, or until entirely dry. Allow to cool completely. At this point, it should peel or scrape off the parchment. Place the sriracha in a plastic bag and crush it into a powder. Set aside.
2Begin with freshly popped corn, still warm. If you don’t have fresh popcorn, you can toast bagged popcorn for 5 minutes in the oven at 200°F, or until the aroma of popcorn is noticeable. The fat-free popcorn is important as it won’t have the oil that standard popcorn does, which creates a greasiness in the finished ice cream.
3In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the popcorn to the cream. Bring to a low simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Using a mesh strainer set over a bowl, strain the liquid, pressing to ensure that you get as much of the flavored cream as possible. A bit of popcorn pulp may come through, but that’s okay—it’s delicious! Reserve the remaining solids for Popcorn Pudding. Allow the cream to cool completely.
4You will lose some cream to absorption, so measure your remaining cream and add as needed to return to 1¾ cups of cream total.
5Prepare the blank base according to standard instructions, but use the infused cream and decrease the sugar to ¼ cup.
6Store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
7Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
8Just before the ice cream is finished churning, sprinkle in the sriracha powder and allow the beater to distribute the flakes. Adding the sriracha too early will rehydrate it and cause streaks of sriracha rather than flakes.
9Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Honeyed Peanut Butter Sauce, toasted coconut, and Malted Hot Fudge with a sprinkle of cinnamon; the stroke of midnight
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
It took me an awfully long time to come around on condiments—for most of my life, not even a chicken nugget could be tainted by the allure of some saucy sidecar.
And then one day, I accidentally dug my hand into a friend’s bag of honey mustard–flavored pretzels. With my attention elsewhere, I suddenly found my mouth filled with a spicy-sweet, tangy, and totally addictive flavor that I’d never before experienced.
From then on, I was a honey mustard maniac. And when I started tinkering with ice creams, naturally I wanted to shoehorn this typically savory stuff into a scoop. The pretzel base is a perfect host for the sweet and spicy sauce swirled throughout.
1 cup mini pretzels
2¼ cups heavy cream
1In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the pretzels to the cream. Bring to a low simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Using a mesh strainer set over a bowl, strain the liquid, pressing through to ensure that you get as much of the flavored cream as possible. A bit of pretzel pulp may come through, but that’s okay—it’s delicious!
2You will lose some cream to absorption, so measure your remaining cream and add as needed to return to 1¾ cups of cream total.
3Prepare the blank base according to standard instructions, but use the infused cream and reduce the sugar to ¼ cup.
4Store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
5Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
6Once the ice cream is finished freezing, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Honey Mustard Swirl. You don’t want to fold or stir, as the swirl will churn into the ice cream. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Salt & Sand Ice Cream, Brown Sugar Sour Cream Softer-Serve, Roasted Cherry Chocolate Snap Ice Cream; baseball games and cheap beer
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
At some point in my life, I became possessed by the idea of pristine Pop-Tarts. Perhaps the pretty white frosting spackled with rainbow-colored “sprinkles” (that really aren’t sprinkles at all) appealed to my vanity. Or maybe it’s the fact that not many whole, undamaged examples seem to actually exist; the relative rarity of a pair of pastries that survives its transit is so elusive, it had me totally entranced.
As a tween, I was once reduced to tears because my strawberry frosted snack hit the floor, a precious corner of my pie’s crust separating from the whole. I refused to accept my poor sister’s attempts to appease me by offering its less abused but still inadmissibly imperfect twin. I can’t possibly explain this phenomenon, but to this very day I find myself unsettled by the sight of even a slightly damaged toaster pastry.
I made this ice cream for that crazed 12-year-old so troubled by her marred treat. And I was able to finally enjoy the flavor of a strawberry toaster pastry, safe in the knowledge that in this iteration, there’s very little chance of a cosmetically compromised outcome. Call me crazy—I certainly would—but I can feel the younger me beaming at its incorruptibility.
1 prepared piecrust
2¼ cups heavy cream
1 cup rainbow sprinkles
1Preheat the oven and bake the prepared piecrust according to the package instructions. While still warm, break the piecrust into pieces, reserving 1 cup.
2To infuse the cream, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the piecrust to the cream. Bring to a low simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Using a mesh strainer set over a bowl, strain the liquid, pressing through to ensure that you get as much of the flavored cream as possible. A bit of piecrust pulp may come through, but that’s okay—it’s delicious!
3You will lose some cream to absorption, so measure your remaining cream and add as needed to return to 1¾ cups of cream total.
4Prepare the blank base according to standard instructions, but use the infused cream and reduce the sugar to ¼ cup.
5Store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
6Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Just before the ice cream is finished churning, pour in the sprinkles and allow the beater to distribute.
7Once the ice cream is frozen, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of strawberry jam. You don’t want to fold or stir, as the swirl will churn into the ice cream. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Salty Buttered Honey Ice Cream, Honeyed Peanut Butter Sauce and Bourbon Ganache, Grape-Nuts Ice Cream , White Chocolate Enchanted Shell, Better-Than-Buttermilk Biscuits; obsessive-compulsive behavior
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
You know those weird frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that are supposed to be crust-free but in actuality have a strange type of crust all their own? I’m crazy for them.
And so I almost lost my mind when I went to grab a box for an impending road trip and found that they’d introduced a new model: Peanut Butter & Honey. Later on, when Emily and I shared a few after a decidedly long day of driving, we poured a bit of bourbon into our motel-issued coffee mugs. The pairing was perfection, but we decided a bit of chocolate would be a welcome enhancement.
Unfortunately, without fresh ganache on hand, we had to settle for a vending machine chocolate bar. But what you have here is the elevated ice cream equivalent of that particular road trip picnic.
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla bean seeds and continue blending until completely dissolved.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is frozen, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Honeyed Peanut Butter Sauce and Bourbon Ganache. (If your sauce has been in the fridge, it’s best to remove it about 30 minutes prior.) You don’t want to fold or stir, as the sauce can churn into the ice cream. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Marshmallow Whiff, Pretzel Honey Mustard Ice Cream, Bananas Ferrari Ice Cream, Oatmeal Cinnamon Ice Cream, Grape-Nuts Ice Cream; your favorite travel buddy
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
The only thing more thrilling than the last bell of the school day was what welcomed me when I got home. This malty milk drink matched with the classic sandwich cookies was a rare treat, but one that likely informed my later love for Ovaltine’s slightly grown-up and less sugary cousin, malted milk.
½ cup Ovaltine powder
1 cup crushed sandwich cookies
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the Ovaltine and continue blending until completely dissolved.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the cookie pieces. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
A drizzle of Ginger Hibiscus Syrup cuts through the sweetness of the Ovaltine. Pair with a scoop of Strawberry Pop-Tart Ice Cream for a supermarket-inspired sundae.
It seems relatively obvious to turn desserts into ice cream, so where we’re coming from is slightly less mentally challenging than where we’re going. This next section will require a little bit of imagination and some mind-bending of the rules that we’ve so long accepted as our confectionary credo.
So let’s do it together. Let’s buck the system. Let’s question authority. Let’s venture into undiscovered territory. Because at the end of the day, we’re not introducing new flavor combinations; these are ice creams inspired by dishes we already know and love, dishes that we know work—we’re just meeting them under different circumstances.
Consider this the Missed Connection section of the ice cream cabinet, the ice-cream-ification of things that would otherwise never get the chance to be someone’s favorite frozen treat.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
There are meals, and then there are experiences. The kind that make you put down your fork and close your eyes and wonder if you’ll ever need to eat again, because you may have just uncovered the epicurean equivalent of beating the game. No need to persist because there are no higher levels. You’ve saved the princess. You are the winner.
For my 27th birthday, my wife, Emily, surprised me with dinner at Mario Batali’s West Village institution, Babbo Ristorante. A variety of dishes decorated our starched white tablecloth, expertly coursed by our server and thoughtfully paired by a sommelier: arugula salads, cheeses and fresh fish, seared duck, and—being autumn—a maple pumpkin cheesecake for dessert that still finds its way into my dreams. But the pièce de résistance, the dish for which I have returned dozens of times over the years that followed, was the Goat Cheese Tortelloni with Dried Orange and Wild Fennel Pollen.
It was the first time I’d ever tasted the ingestible precious metal that is fennel pollen. Have you had this magic dust? Incredible. As a finishing spice, it’s delicately floral with hints of licorice, honey, and citrus and undertones of what I can only describe as sweet marshmallow and exotic vanilla. It is nothing short of ethereal.
When I finished the dish and rejoined my earthly surroundings, I immediately began thinking how it would lend itself to ice cream. The creamy, tangy goat cheese and zest of orange against that sweet, heady, and floral fennel pollen wrapped up in a frozen scoop—it’s pure sorcery.
Because fennel pollen is such a delicate spice, it’s best to add it just before spinning the ice cream to preserve its flavor and perfume.
Enjoy, and attempt not to float away with happiness. . . .
¾ cup pea-size chunks goat cheese
1 teaspoon fennel pollen
1½ teaspoons orange zest
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the cheese in batches and continue blending until completely integrated. Finally, blend in the fennel pollen and orange zest. Adding them just prior to freezing will help maintain their aromatics.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
The Wise Pumpkin Ice Cream, Bananas Ferrari Ice Cream, Mint Cherry Mascarpone Ice Cream, Lemon Bar Ice Cream, or Simple Strawberry Jam. Serve over piping hot fresh pasta, mixed in for a creamy-cool sauce.
RICH’S ICE CREAM II, TOMS RIVER
Route 37 in Emily’s hometown of Toms River is a heavily traveled main road, but hardly a 10-minute drive to the summertime destination of Seaside Heights, it’s still perfectly demonstrative of the area’s beach-town spirit.
Rich’s II’s soft-serve is some of the densest, creamiest, and most palate-coatingly pleasurable that I have come across, and on a post-shore summer night, sunburnt and still in sandy flip-flops, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Rich’s serves both hard and soft ice creams, but their creative shakes and “blend-in” desserts are distinctive specialties. The building is buttoned with colorful homemade signs like merit badges, describing and illustrating each signature, like Lemon Meringue Pie (vanilla ice cream with vanilla mousse, lemon pie filling, and graham cracker crumbs) or Rice Pudding flurries or the Coneoli (a cone of vanilla soft-serve layered with cannoli cream and cannoli shells and topped with chocolate crunch crumbs).
WHAT I’M HAVING: As it’s one of her few favorite sweet spots, first I’m ordering Emily a tall chocolate malted with cake crunchies. Then I’m having the seasonal flurry all to myself.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Yes, that feta and that tomato. This dish is loosely based on a salad my mother-in-law makes in the summertime. It’s one of my favorite bowls on the buffet at her backyard barbecues, and usually I find myself hovering over it, hoping to intercept other guests’ attempts to access.
It got me thinking about the sweetness of tomatoes—a piece of produce that for some reason we never give credit for being a fruit. Caramelizing them here with a little bit of brown sugar draws depth of flavor at once bright and deeply sweet. The feta is a tangy counterpoint, and as nicely as they play together in a salad, you haven’t had this pairing done right until you’ve invited them over for dessert.
Best not to force this flavor when tomatoes aren’t in season. The freshness factor is critical to the caramel, so if you’ve selected wintertime tomatoes that are more water than substance, you’ll find that the outcome is hardly worth the effort.
½ cup pea-size chunks feta cheese
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the cheese in batches and continue blending until completely integrated.
3Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
4Once the ice cream is finished freezing, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Tomato Caramel Sauce. Be careful not to fold or stir, as the swirl will churn into the ice cream. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Sage Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Mexican Muscovado Caramel Sauce; chunks of watermelon and torn mint leaves for an ultimate summertime salad
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
In the pastoral neighborhood of Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, there are plenty of restaurants that could inspire ice cream flavors. But it is a bistro called Buttermilk Channel that can take credit for my leasing an apartment around the corner.
And while their brunch is not to be missed (bourbon-pecan French toast, people) and the dinner is divine (two words: duck meatloaf), what really captured my attention was the first thing brought to the table: pert, delicate, freshly baked popovers drizzled with local honey and decorated with flakes of crunchy sea salt.
Using good butter and quality honey, this ice cream emulates that fresh popover flavor, and, of course, the indispensable salt flakes completely solidify its perfection.
Be aware that this ice cream can be tricky. Because of the addition of melted butter, it’s easy to overchurn, so keep an eye on the ice cream as it spins. It may not take quite as long as your manufacturer’s instructions suggest.
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1¾ cups whole milk, divided
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1¼ cups heavy cream
½ cup honey
5 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
½ teaspoon flaked sea salt
1In a small bowl, combine the starch with 3 tablespoons of the milk and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
2In a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, cream, honey, and nonfat dry milk. Whisk until well incorporated. Add the remaining whole milk and bring to a boil, whisking frequently.
3In the meantime, prepare an ice bath in which to transfer your finished product by filling a large glass bowl with ice.
4Once the base reaches a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes.
5Add the reserved starch-and-milk mixture and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Remove from the heat and pour into a storage vessel set over your ice bath. (I typically use a glass Pyrex bowl with a cover.)
6Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture well while still warm. This process homogenizes the base and promotes a smoother, creamier finished product.
7Store in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, remove the mixture from the refrigerator and again blend with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
8Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
9Once finished, store the ice cream in your freezer and resist the urge to open that door! A hard-scoop ice cream will need to set overnight.
10If you simply can’t wait, you can certainly eat the ice cream right out of the machine; however, the consistency will be closer to soft-serve than hard-scoop.
Cinnamon, fruit-based ice creams, your favorite marmalade, predinner popovers, apple pie, freshly baked biscuits. Swap a scoop in place of vanilla for the strawberry shortcake you never knew you were missing.
FERRIS ACRES CREAMERY, NEWTOWN
This is my home-field-advantage farm. When I head back to Connecticut for any period of time or purpose, upon wheels down I am darting directly to this idyllic dairy farm situated in the back roads of Newtown, on the aptly named Sugar Street. There you can commune with the cows, grazing on the fruits of their labor as they lazily return disinterested glances, enjoying their own grassy snack break from the lush green pasture surrounding the iconic red barn. This is the New England ice cream I grew up with.
In a rare double threat, they have both exemplary rich, perfectly formulated homemade hard scoop and the purest, most fully flavored soft-serve to satisfy either hankering. If I had to pick my happiest place on Earth, eating ice cream amongst Ferris Acres’ aloof clique of cows would probably be it.
WHAT I’M HAVING: Their homemade ice creams truly do cover the something-for-everyone catalogue, and the special and seasonal flavors like Caramel Apple Pie are exceptional. But my go-to jam? A cup of Raspberry Swirl Chunk on the bottom and, on top, Cow Trax (vanilla ice cream with alternating peanut butter and caramel swirls, studded with tiny, soft chocolate chips). Or stuff those flavors into one of their to-die-for ice cream cakes and I am totally done for.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Ah, honeymoons. The romance! The passion! The wedded bliss! The bowls and bowls of handmade pasta!
During our neo-nuptial retreat, my wife and I spent 3 days in Rome, a jaunt in which I made it a point to sample gelati from just about every vendor that offered it to me, and she to create a catalogue of the classic Roman pasta dish, Cacio e Pepe, from joints all over the city. Needless to say, it was a very, very full trip.
Upon return, when our respective withdrawals kicked in hard, it seemed only fitting to find a way to marry our two favorite take-aways. In the midst of our collective post-travel sorrow, I made my second vow to her: to transform the dish into something that might stem the pain of her sudden stateside pasta deprivation.
½ cup grated Grana Padano cheese
½ tablespoon cracked black pepper
1Place the cheese in a heatproof bowl. Prepare the blank base according to instructions. While hot, pour it over the cheese and whisk vigorously.
2Using a cheesecloth, strain out any cheese not melted into the base.
3Store the mixture in the refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the pepper and blend until well integrated.
4Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
5Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
6To make the pasta dish, allow a scoop to melt over a fresh tangle of pasta for a unique take on the dinner dish.
No need to adjust your eyesight—that is ice cream served over spaghetti. As this flavor melts into the dish, it becomes a perfectly creamy sauce for your pasta dinner. Or try Salty Buttered Honey Ice Cream, Simple Strawberry Jam, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, Mediterranean sunsets, and crusty toasted bread
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Mint is a classic lamb complement. Mint jelly, however, has always just sounded . . . well, odd. So when I found the inspiration for this ice cream on a restaurant menu, I read the description, thinking Now that is something I can get on board with. The dish arrived, grilled lamb garnished with mint pesto and surrounded by small dunes of cherry mascarpone cream through which to drag each forkful. Sorry, mint jelly, but may I suggest moving to the Jell-O section?
In its frozen form, the creamy mascarpone cheese base provides a lush backdrop for the tart, herbaceous cherry sauce swirled throughout. Infusing the cherries with fistfuls of fresh mint while they cook results in a bright herbal burst and beautiful green flecks against the deep red. Because this recipe uses dried cherries, you can make this ice cream all year long.
½ cup mascarpone, at room temperature
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the cheese in batches and continue blending until completely integrated.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
4Once the ice cream is finished freezing, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Mint Cherry Compote. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Dark chocolate, toasted almond, ginger, or brown sugar ice creams, a citrus sorbet, a drizzle of balsamic syrup. Add a scoop to a glass of good bourbon for a smashing julep.
In my early twenties, I moved to Southern California. I thought I’d take the opportunity to brag to all of my East Coast friends and family about the ceaseless sunny days, the everlasting summer, and all the perks that came along with a West Coast address. But after the first full year, I found myself in a chair at a local tattoo parlor, the artist tracing a stencil on my arm illustrating the progression of summer into fall, winter, and then spring. With my fresh ink, I went home and ate my words—I desperately missed each Northeast season.
Eventually I moved to New York, where I proceeded to bitch and moan with the best of ’em about the cold, the rain, the relentless winter. But while our grass may not be greener, per se, I wouldn’t trade that annual evolution.
These flavors are little frozen odes to my appreciation of the seasons—sometimes purely in theory, other times thanks to ingredients that we appreciate far more as a result of their absence the rest of the year.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
During one early summer morning at the market, a mountain of fresh cherries caught me completely off guard. While it threw off both my plan and my budget for the day, I emptied the bank and cleaned them out of the fresh stash of rotund New York State cherries. I then promptly scrapped the plan for the day and began the process of slow-roasting those beauties; I wanted absolutely nothing—other than vanilla bean and a little brown sugar—to interfere with their flavor. But the vibrant cherry swirl begged for a little texture and bittersweet chocolate, so I happily obliged.
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and stemmed (frozen cherries can work here as well)
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup brown sugar
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean (Tahitian, if possible)
1 cup Chocolate Snaps
1Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a bowl, combine the cherries, vinegar, and sugar. Spread on the baking sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until the cherries begin to release their juices. Allow to cool completely.
3Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
4When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla bean seeds and blend until incorporated.
5Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the cherries and Chocolate Snaps. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Lemon Bar Ice Cream, Sage Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Savannah Sweet Tea Ice Cream, Basil Julep Ice Cream.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
The idea behind Salt & Sand came from a day at the beach, at the end of which it’s common to have both of those things in your hair, your clothes, your shoes, and even your teeth. That crunchy saline sensation is inextricably linked to so many summer experiences that I’m particularly fond of.
The key is to fold the sugar and salt into the finished ice cream very carefully. If you overdo it, both will dissolve into the mix, and while the flavor will still be pleasant, you’ll lose the texture that is so integral to the idea and the enjoyment.
½ teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
1 cup muscovado sugar
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the sea salt. As you package it, alternate layers of ice cream with shallow pockets of the sugar. The idea is to ensure that it doesn’t dissolve into liquid but, rather, maintains a crunchiness.
4Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Bananas Ferrari Ice Cream, Feta Tomato Swirl Ice Cream, Pretzel Honey Mustard Ice Cream; a tall glass of lemonade and a day at the beach
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Pumpkin ice cream is practically a plague in the fall. The world begins begging for the perennial flavor more and more prematurely each year. In the beer business, we were brewing pumpkin ales as early as July to sate the public’s squash complex. And here’s my dirty little secret: I’m part of the pumpkin problem. But in an effort to keep the patch from becoming overpopulated with the same cinnamon-laden patterns, I’ve tried to develop a few different iterations of ice creams grounded in the gourd.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite things about carving jack-o’-lanterns was roasting the seeds; “pepitas” just sounds more fun, so I prefer to call them by this alias now. And it seemed like with a spicy new moniker, they deserved their own ice cream flavor, so I created this non-pumpkin pumpkin ice cream, complete with a little kick.
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (adjust to ⅛ teaspoon if you’re on the shy side of hot stuff!)
1½ cups Spicy Pumpkin Seed Crunch
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the pepper and blend until incorporated.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the Spicy Pumpkin Seed Crunch pieces, store in an airtight container, and freeze overnight.
Oatmeal Cinnamon Ice Cream, Marshmallow Whiff, Chocolate Sorbet; White Chocolate Enchanted Shell and a drizzle of Malted Hot Fudge
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
Yet another riff on the pumpkin mania and, as it so happens, another pasta dish—this one from Frankie’s 457 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn—a sweet potato and sage ravioli. There’s something warm and cozy about the flavor of sage, something comforting and completely appropriate for autumn. Since Sage Chocolate Chip was already a staple, the decision to merge the flavors was simple.
But the name of this ice cream is perhaps my favorite of all. Whenever I hear someone say it out loud, I laugh a little inside, imagining a weathered old squash sitting up on that person’s shoulder, his spectacles sliding low on his nonexistent nose, carrying a cane, with a few sprigs of the herb where its stem should be. He’s a sage old soul (and so adorable), and a damn tasty one at that.
1 cup pumpkin puree
1Prepare the Sage Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, except when the mix has been removed from the stovetop, add the pumpkin puree and blend until smooth.
2Age the mixture overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend it with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the Chocolate Snaps. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Cacio e Pepe Ice Cream, Oatmeal Cinnamon Ice Cream; crushed, salty smoked almonds and a drizzle of orange olive oil
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
I love New England. It’s the kind of love that comes from growing up in a place and dying to get away, only to leave and realize there’s a whole lot you actually owe to your hometown.
With this flavor, I wanted to pay tribute to my New England ancestry. Some of the most northeastern of novelties are cranberries and maple syrup, and there’s just nothing better together. A little bit of ginger in the base gives the whole affair a decidedly yuletide effect, so I like to serve this during our annual open house.
1¾ cups heavy cream
¼" piece fresh ginger, crushed
Maple-Molasses Cranberry Sauce
1In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream and ginger. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the ginger to steep for 30 minutes. Remove the solids.
2Use the infused cream to prepare the blank base according to the standard instructions.
3When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
4Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
5Once the ice cream is finished freezing, package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Maple-Molasses Cranberry Sauce. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Lemon Bar Ice Cream, gingerbread, mulled red wine, orange zest; Melted Ice Cream Pancakes or Melted Ice Cream French Toast on Christmas morning.
Every morning, across our great nation and in many others, people eat yogurt for breakfast. Which—let’s be real—is glorified (and maybe ever so slightly healthier) ice cream.
French toast is basically just bread pudding. Pancakes? Read the name, people! And doughnuts? Don’t make me go there. What kind of licensed dietitian or anyone with a working knowledge of the Food Pyramid (past or present) would encourage you to fuel the rest of your day with this stuff?
In fact, I say we finally just call breakfast what it is: sunrise dessert.
Of course, just as I wouldn’t recommend a daily doughnut, I don’t purport that ice cream is a part of a regularly encouraged or balanced breakfast. But on birthdays and special occasions, I support—nay, I demand—its right to be welcomed at the breakfast table.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
If anyone asks what comes second to ice cream for me (this is all hypothetical, right?), the answer is always easy and unequivocal—doughnuts.
The idea of coffee and doughnuts together calls to mind dinners at my grandparents’ house, a white cardboard pastry box open in offering, the grown-ups entertaining steaming mugs and us kids hyped up on our budgeted doughnut bisections, hovering close by in hopes of being eventually allowed the other halves.
In Brooklyn, we’re lucky enough to have access to Dough doughnuts, which are the kind of blow-your-mind mix of contemporary quality and comforting nostalgia that I’ve come to hope for in a doughnut. For this flavor, I’ve used their Café au Lait doughnut for fortified caffeine, but it also works well with classic glazed or cruller-style doughnuts and with just about any flavor of your favorite fritters.
2 doughnuts, cut or torn into small chunks
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
3Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is finished freezing, gently fold in the doughnut pieces. Package it by alternating layers of ice cream and pockets of Coffee Caramel Sauce. Take care not to fold or stir, as the swirl will churn into the ice cream. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
4This ice cream is best served as fresh as possible. The doughnuts, while delicious, will become stale after a day or two.
Salty Buttered Honey Ice Cream, PBBG Ice Cream, Oatmeal Cinnamon Ice Cream. Roasted Cherry Chocolate Snap Ice Cream, Grape-Nuts Ice Cream. Bananas Ferrari Ice Cream with a drizzle of White Chocolate Enchanted Shell.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
It’s hard to measure the amount of derision I’ve endured over the years for unabashedly owning my love for Grape-Nuts cereal. I never did understand how severely unhip my crunchy little barley nuggets were, although I can say now that I understand why Post never launched a campaign exalting its ingredients. (Try these Peanut Butter Puffs made with Real Peanut Butter! And also, Grape-Nuts made with Real Dried Yeast—grab a spoon, kids!)
In defense of Grape-Nuts, I created an ice cream flavor that pays homage to their malty, nutty goodness. What you have here is a confectionery conflation of my favorite things that is far and away among my top flavors. I’ve long suffered an internal scuffle over whether I prefer crunchy or soggy Grape-Nuts. Their separation into halves allows some to be a bit softer and others to be crunchier. If you prefer the texture one way or another, feel free to adjust accordingly; this is a Grape-Nuts-judgment-free zone.
½ cup malted milk powder
1 cup Grape-Nuts cereal, divided
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend the base with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Add the malted milk powder and continue blending until completely dissolved.
3Add half the Grape-Nuts and return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Soaking the Grape-Nuts is meant not only to infuse more flavor from the cereal but also to produce 2 different textures in the finished product—crunchy and slightly softened. If you prefer not to include the softened cereal, you can strain the solids at this point.
4Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
5Just before the ice cream is finished churning, sprinkle in the remaining Grape-Nuts and allow the beater to distribute them.
6Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Doughnut Ya Love Coffee Ice Cream, Strawberry Pop-Tart Ice Cream, Salty Buttered Honey Ice Cream with Quick Pickled Berries, Roasted Cherry Chocolate Snap Ice Cream; Saturday morning cartoons and stretchy shorts
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
There’s nothing terribly groundbreaking here: two flavors that love each other boundlessly, in breakfast and in health, in cookies and in rolls, for richer or for porridge.
And the by-product makes one killer bowl for breakfast. Or sunrise dessert.
1 cup oats
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1Prepare the blank base according to instructions.
2In a small skillet over medium heat, combine the oats and cinnamon. Toast, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes, or until browned and aromatic.
3To infuse, add the toasted cinnamon and oats to the base as they come off the stove and allow to steep for about 30 minutes. Using a mesh strainer set over a bowl, strain the solids, pressing through to ensure that you get as much of the flavored cream as possible. A bit of oatmeal pulp may come through, but that’s okay—it’s delicious! Reserve the oatmeal solids for the oatmeal recipe!
4You will lose some mix to absorption, so the yield on this ice cream will be slightly less than usual.
5Store the mix in your refrigerator overnight. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, again blend it with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
6Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store in an airtight container and freeze overnight.
Savannah Sweet Tea Ice Cream, Bananas Ferrari Ice Cream, Feta Tomato Swirl Ice Cream; Coffee Caramel Sauce, candied bourbon peanuts, a dollop of apple butter and a hot cup o’ joe on an autumn morning
Proper tools are of utmost importance in any trade. Ice cream scoops over the years have undergone innovations and overhauls. Let’s explore the most common options and their freezer-ready features.
With spring-loaded levers and a scraping mechanism designed to oust ice cream before it can feel too at home in the bowl of the scooper, these were all the rage for a while. Unfortunately, their susceptibility to spring-related ruin has left many on the scrap heap.
The spade’s association is often with gelato; ordering a cone in its home country of Italy usually results in a visually haphazard, amorphous mass, a towering treat that is unwieldy, unrestricted, and totally unwilling to be tamed. In the United States, spades have become more popular with the introduction of gelato-style shops, but most consumers still can’t wrap their heads around the noncircular ice cream service.
Nothing fancy here, just your standard scooper. Depending on the type of metal, however, ice cream has a tendency to adhere to the bowl of the dipper, refusing to abdicate its residency once comfortably inside.
Inside the handle of these industry-favored scoopers lives a fluid that harnesses the heat from the operator’s hand and transfers it to the bowl of the scoop. This allows the ice cream to easily disengage from the metal.
It is sometimes advised to dunk your dipper in warm water between scoops to loosen and warm the ice cream as you cut through. By doing so, you introduce water droplets to the frozen surface of the ice cream each time you return for a scoop. This means that you’re essentially creating icicles on the surface of your ’scream. ¡No bueno! It’s far more prudent in the long run to exercise a little patience and allow the ice cream to come up to a scoopable temperature.
