Introduction
What does summer feel like to you? Sun blazing while you loiter around a BBQ fire, plates at the ready for a hefty chunk of skewered steak or chicken? Relaxing in a hammock nestled between two palm trees, with a tropical cocktail perched in one hand? Watching the sweat glaze your skin and slowly drop, drop while you wait in the heavy hotness of a subterranean train tunnel system? The reality of these NYC-based Dessert Correspondents is the latter, but one must always see the light at the end of the tunnel — and what’s to complain about hot, crazy hot, summer if one has access to some of the craziest ice cream inventions ever? (This round-up features ice-cream creations. Keep an eye-out for our review of crazy soft serve, “stuffed” ice cream, and other icy summer fun!).
A flower for you
Dessert destination: Amorino Gelato, Greenwich Village, Manhattan.- Short and sweet story: Flower-shaped ice cream. Were you ever one of those dreamy girls (or boys) pulling flower petals apart in your childhood? He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. Well, he definitely loves you if he gets you one of these dreamy, edible roses! Take our tip, choose an ice cream for the heart, and sorbet for the petals. Who wants a real flower now, eh?
Let’s go a-dipping and a-rolling
- Dessert destination: Emack & Bolio’s, Upper West Side & Brooklyn Heights.
- Short and sweet story: Child’s play ice cream. For the mega sweet-tooth, for the indecisive, for the nostalgia-seeker, look no further than Emack & Bolio’s. You pick one or two scoops from a multitude of classic flavours, sometimes with a twist, you choose a normal cone or one coated with sugary cereal delights, then you decide whether to roll it further for that oomph factor, and voila!
Cookie vs ice cream? Cookie ice cream?
- Dessert destination: Cookie DO, Greenwich Village. (Consider also, World’s Best Cookie Dough in the vicinity).
- Short and sweet story: Cookie Dough. These Dessert Correspondents were never the type of baker that licked uncooked batter, whether be it for cakes, or cookies, or any other baked goodies. However, if you were one of those naughty bakers, visit DO for one large serve of well, dough. Note that this is more dough, than ice cream. It’s dense and it’s heavy. You will need to come early, or be prepared to join a tourist stampede. And unless you have a desperate yearning to end up with early onset pancreatic failure, you will need to, no, you must share. Note that we found DO too much for us, and are actually more curious as to what would happen if we baked the dough, rather than ate it, hmmmmm….
I scream cake-cream!
- Dessert destination: Sprinkles, Upper East Side, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Muffin top ice cream. It was a veritable stroke of genius to take a cupcake, cut it in half, stuff one half into the pointy end of a wafer cone, fill said cone with dollops of creamy, classic-with-a-twist ice cream, and then perch the other cupcake half as a hat on this slender piece of sugary gluttony. Taking this muffin top any day, thank you!
Helloooo kitty!
- Dessert destination: Binki Cafe, Chinatown, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Kawaii cotton candy ice cream. There are days when you want something reliable and dependable. There are days when you want something just a little different. And then there are days when you say, hell with it, give me the crazy. Blink, Binki! Whether you choose a panda bear, yellow Minion, rainbow tower or one of the other multitude of fairy floss creations, you are sure to find that reason to smile and laugh over at Binki’s. Cheers to weekend fun!
Joie de vivre
- Dessert destination: Morgenstern’s, East Village, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Creme Brulee Ice Cream. Whenever we visit a restaurant, and we see ice cream on the dessert menu, we cringe. No, no, no! Put some effort into it, dessert chefs! Disillusionment dissipates when these Dessert Correspondents visit Morgenstern’s – ice cream with a distinctive experimentalist culinary edge, ice cream that dares to be different and which transcends boundaries. Rocky Road, Salted Caramel Pretzel, Salted Chocolate, Burnt Honey. Our favourite pick though, is the orb of decadently luscious vanilla bean ice cream captured under a lid of bruleed sugar. Who needs restaurant desserts?
Dessert Correspondents 