YA Fresh

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!