Wednesday, June 25, 2008

We All Scream...

for ice cream!

I know an 8th grade teacher whose spring project is to have her students design a new flavor for Ben & Jerry’s. The kids break into small groups to create a clever name (with kudos given for following the company’s philanthropic slant), a recipe, a marketing campaign, and then they make the actual ice cream, followed by a presentation to the class.

One group some years back came up with a flavor called Mother Cherr-ee-sa (get it...Mother Theresa?), featuring vanilla ice cream with bits of cherries (and other stuff that remains Top Secret). The teacher liked it so much that she challenged them to submit the recipe to Ben & Jerry’s. They did, but I don’t believe there was ever a response.

In any case, with Coldstone’s and other ice cream stores offering infinite add-in’s, anyone can create their own flavors. I’ve seen people get wildly inventive. And while I always applaud creativity, sometimes it makes me wonder if there isn’t beauty in simplicity, too?

For instance, I really, really like a plain vanilla soft serve. At Coldstone’s, I never vary from sweet cream with toasted almonds. And one of my favorite desserts in the world is plain old Baskin-Robbins’ chocolate ice cream.

How about you? More’s better? Less? And any ice cream recipes you want to share? Come on, we’re all friends here. We’ll keep your secret!

10 fresh comments:

The Golfing Librarian said...

I hate ice cream places for the same reason I hate Blockbuster, et al. For the simple reason that I can't make a decision to save my life. It's why I always get Vanilla Bean ice cream and go home to watch my DVD of "Citizen 'He thinks it would be fun to run a newspaper' Kane".

Lenore Appelhans said...

That is such an awesome idea for a project and I love what the class came up with. I think my favorite ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough - yum!

Meredith said...

I LOVE Cold Stone; they have a free birthday ice cream program! They have the best ice cream cakes. I love Cold Stone's Sweet Cream with chocolate chips or oreos. Simple and sooo yummy. I am a very simplistic girl at heart. Ice cream is always a simple thing with me. One time I tried the cake batter ice cream with brownies mixed in... waay too rich for me; good but too rich. Also the ice cream shakes are good.

Anum Mustafa said...

Hahaha - I just like vanilla, the plain yes i know, with rainbow sprinkles! No special recipes!

Cara King said...

I've always been a chocolate girl, but I don't go for the plain chocolate ice cream, which can be rather weak. So I'll go for whatever weird chocolate they have -- double chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate truffle, and that sort of thing.

And I confess I have a weakness for mint chip.... Mmmm...

Cara

Kiki said...

My choices at actual ice cream parlors are pretty limited (no dairy for me), but I love creating ice cream flavors at home.
Yet no matter how many I try, I always come back to my staples, red bean, or cookies and cream.

TinaFerraro said...

Yum, you guys. Great choices...both the purists and the mix-ins!

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

My ultimate favorite for years from Baskin Robbin's was World Class Chocolate. Yum! From Coldstone, I enjoy picking a new mix in each time!

TinaFerraro said...

A new mix each time, Kelly? Okay, I see, you're an explorer, where I'm more the one who keeps the home fires burning...

Little Willow said...

Ice cream sounds really good, especially with the recent temperatures.