There is nothing like being home from a trip and being able to make ice cream again. Unfortunately the hot weather followed me back to DC. So it sounded like Key lime would hit the spot.
This recipe sounds a little odd, takes some work, and has few strange ingredients; but trust me, it tastes wonderful. The best thing about this ice cream is it is so creamy and smooth. I think it’s the Cool Whip that adds the smoothness. Even with the gelatin and Cool Whip, it is still fairly sour. But, I like sour things. And what’s better than sweet and sour? (As a kid I used to eat a lot of Sour Patch Kids.) No tricks to this recipe. Just follow it and it will taste amazing. (I did put it in the freezer for a little while as it needed more time to freeze after the ice cream maker.)

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 3

Oh how I have missed Culver’s Frozen Custard.  One of the greatest things about going to the cabin has always been stopping at Culver’s in Buffalo on the way.  Culver’s is a Wisconsin based family owned chain.  The always have three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and the flavor of the day.  Today I mixed it up a little bit and got the Turtle Sundae.  This sundae has vanilla custard topped with caramelized pecans, hot fudge, caramel, and a cherry.  It is absolutely divine.  The custard by itself is unbelievably smooth and dense and rich; which the toppings it gets that much better.  This will always be one of my favorite ice cream treats.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $3.99

Sorbet doesn’t get much better than this.  Sweet and sour, smooth, fruity, and intense, Sonny’s Blood Orange Sorbet is fantastic.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4

• Overall: 5

I’m in Minneapolis this weekend for my mom’s birthday. Tonight we went to a nice restaurant in Eden Prairie called Wildfire. After stuffing myself with too much “regular” food, it came time for dessert. Among the desserts we ordered were ice cream sandwiches. These weren’t ordinary ice cream sandwiches, but sandwiches made from Ghirardelli brownies, snickers, and vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was homemade from a catering place (Diana’s?) in Bloomington. Overall, it was an excellent dessert (and restaurant) that I would highly recommend if you ever are in Minneapolis.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4.5

This ice cream is awesome.  It’s everything you’d want in an ice cream: rich, creamy, dense, intense.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  But, it does.  It’s extremely easy to make.  There are only a few ingredients, it’s quick and it’s difficult to mess up.  This recipe comes from Hershey, though I actually used Ghirardelli.  I will make this ice cream again and again.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 1.5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 2

I was expecting great things from Haagen Dazs’ new English Toffee ice cream; but I was sorely disappointed.  I never thought I’d say this, but this ice cream is too sweet.  Seriously, it is probably the sweetest ice cream I’ve ever had.  It is very intensely toffee flavored.  Maybe one bite would have been good; but a whole half cup was more than I could take.  As usual, Haagen Dazs produced an incredibly rich, dense, and smooth ice cream; but they came up short on the overall flavor.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $3.99 at Safeway

A recent email I got from the Nestlé email list:

Hello Ice Cream Lovers!

Nestlé is inviting you to help raise money to fight cancer in a way that really sticks out.

The Sticks of Hope program invites anyone who loves ice cream - be it on a stick, in a bowl or straight out of the carton - to join in the fight against cancer.

How? By sending a message of encouragement (via a virtual frozen pop stick) to kids at City of Hope Cancer Center.

For each message that is sent, Nestlé will donate 25 cents to City of Hope. The money will be used for pediatric cancer research, treatment and education.

It’s a great way for kids and adults to get involved in the search for a cure. You can send your favorite joke, an inspirational quote or a short message of support. In less time than it takes to finish a frozen fudge pop, you can join the cause.

Go to sticksofhope.com and see how a small message can make a big difference.

So just go to the website and send a stick. If you have no one to send it to just send it to me at Elizabeth @ adailyscoop.com and I’ll be happy that another 25 cents was donated to the cause.

I remember when Isee Icy first opened.  Two summers ago I was living on R Street in Georgetown when I noticed the shop starting up.  I frequently visited Thomas Sweet and was excited to have something even closer to my house.  (Yes, it was only a block closer, but a block is a block).  When they opened I became hooked on the Sorrento Lemon.  I occasionally had the Chocolate Hazelnut.  I loved them both and never felt compelled to try anything else.  Tonight, I was really craving the Sorrento Lemon.  But when we got to Isee Icy, which has since been renamed Dolcezza, something told me I should try something new.  The Local Peach with Ginger looked like something different, so I ordered a small cone.

Local Peach with Ginger has a kick.  The ginger is strong and leaves a lasting zing in your mouth.  But it is an excellent zing.  The peach flavor is subtle, almost overpowered by the ginger, but not quite.  There is just enough peach to compliment the ginger.  Which is really what is happening in this ice cream.  It should almost be called Ginger with Local Peach.  Almost.  But, it’s peachy enough and I’m a fan.  Also, it was a sorbet.  For a sorbet it had a remarkably smooth texture.  It was still a little coarse, though I can’t remember a smoother sorbet than Dolcezza’s Local Peach with Ginger.  Finally, the cone was good.  Not stale and not burned: not bad.

As a final note, when I came home from Dolcezza I Googled them to see if they had a website.  Not only do they have a website, but they have a blog.  Normally this wouldn’t be that exciting, but yesterday they posted about the peaches.  Looks like I may have gotten one of the first batches of the season.  Here’s to trying new flavors!

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 5
• Cone: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $4.40

Picturing a skinny cow makes me feel a little ill. Honestly, can cows get skinny without being starved and tortured? I’m not sure. But, the cute logo seems to have kept my image of a skinny cow from consumers’ minds as this brand has really taken off. After trying this ice cream I understand why. It’s not terrible. It’s not the greatest or even close to the greatest tasting ice cream in the world, but for a good sized ice cream treat with only 140 calories, it’s pretty decent. The flavor of the ice cream is probably the best thing about it. I had chocolate. The outside of the sandwich wasn’t anything special. The texture of both the outside cookies and the sandwiched ice cream were a little grainy. Not a consistent grainy, but an uneven graininess. I would eat one again (and I will since I got a variety pack with both chocolate and vanilla), but I’d have to be pretty desperate to give up eating fat cow ice cream for these.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 2
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 3.5
• Cost: $2.99 for a box of 6

German chocolate cake has always been a favorite of mine. Chocolate, coconut, pecan; what else do you need? Take those ingredients and put them in ice cream and it’s just as good (if not better) than the cake. This recipe from Spaghetti Ice Cream was not as easy to make as some other recipes since it requires melting chocolate and cooking the mixture. But, it was worth the extra effort. I liked the hint of cinnamon and the chunks of coconut and pecan. The ice cream came out of the ice cream maker smooth and creamy. After hardening in the freezer it was even smoother. The only thing I would do differently? Have some German chocolate cake to put the ice cream on top of.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Ease to make: 4

“Chocolate ice cream with chocolate and vanilla ribbon” is how this flavor is described at Larry’s Ice Cream in Dupont Circle. But, “Decadence” was a little bit of a disappointment. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it wasn’t what I expected. There was a very little “ribbon” of vanilla something in the ice cream, but not much at all. I’m not sure if the ribbon was supposed to be vanilla fudge, but it had a fudge consistency to it. The chocolate ice cream was really good. If it had just been chocolate ice cream I think I would have enjoyed it more because I wouldn’t have expected something extravagant. But there wasn’t any “decadence” to this ice cream. It just tasted like good chocolate ice cream.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 3.5
• Cost: $3.50

Sometimes there’s a lot to say about something mediocre; sometimes there’s very little to say. This time there is less than little. This store brand ice cream is about what one would expect from store brand ice cream. It’s creamy and rich, but the flavor isn’t great. The vanilla tasted very artificial. That about sums it up. You need good flavor to have a good ice cream.

• Flavor: 2
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 1
• Overall: 2.5
• Cost: $2.99 at Safeway

When you take the two fattiest fruits and use them both in homemade ice cream what do you get? A tasty treat that makes you extremely happy there isn’t a carton to tell you the caloric content. I was a little skeptical when I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. Avocado and coconut ice cream? It sounds interesting; I usually don’t mean that in a good way. But, I had both avocados and coconut sitting around my house and I decided to give it a try.

First, the recipe is really easy to make. There are few ingredients and there isn’t any cooking. Removing the pit from the avocado is the most difficult part (which should give you an idea of how easy the recipe is). The one modification I made was adding about 3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes during the blending process. The ice cream is a pale green flavor that looks a lot like pistachio ice cream. It’s very pretty.

The flavor is amazing. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. It is not a sweet ice cream, but sweet enough. The avocado flavor is clearly defined, but not overpowering. And I like the added flavor and texture of the additional coconut. This is something I will make again.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 1

Nothing says 4th of July like ice cream. Add angel food cake and it’s even better! Using a recipe from Spaghetti Ice Cream Company I made the best dessert ever. For the recipe I used unsweetened frozen raspberries instead of fresh raspberries to save on costs. So, I didn’t use the lemon juice but did still add the sugar. Let me say, this is the best ice cream I’ve made yet. It was so creamy. It was sweet, but not too sweet. And it was very raspberry without being overly fruity. I will definitely make it again!

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 2.5
• Overall: 5
• Ease to make: 2

I had forgotten how summery strawberry ice cream is.  When I was younger I used to get strawberry ice cream from the Lake Harriet concessions stand and walk around the Minneapolis lake with my family.  Eating Breyers Strawberry ice cream brought those summer memories back.  Breyers Strawberry has a creamy strawberry flavor.  Not intensely strawberry, but subtle in the way it blends with the cream.  There are a good number of chunks of strawberry, but not so many as to ruin the creamy texture.  I really enjoyed this ice cream and how refreshing it tastes.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $5.99 at Safeway