Simply because it's January doesn't mean you shouldn't go out and enjoy a nice cone full of home made ice cream! Cold weather aside, for this months 24x24 sponsored by Foodbuzz, I proposed a cone crawl of sorts tasting all of the wonderful unique flavors Rochester had to offer during the winter months. I planned it out looking up flavors on websites, noting which creameries were closed for the season. It was all ready to go... until I started calling places... and found out that most hadn't updated their websites to say they were closed. *insert wrench into original plans*
Even though a few were still open, I decided to change my plans slightly when I stumbled upon a unique feature of a creamery I already knew and loved. Moonlight Creamery offers tasting parties! Most people go for a full dessert tasting but I asked if it was possible to stick strictly to ice cream. Heidi, the owner, and amazing host, said it wouldn't be a problem and set us up for a fabulous mid afternoon party. (scheduled perfectly around nap times)
The kids were set up with old school ice cream hats to color on, and plenty of ice cream themed coloring book pages. The kids got full run on the shop to pick whatever sundae they wanted... although not one wanted one. Simple scoops of cake batter, chocolate, and strawberry were the winners for this group.
The adults were in for a marathon of eating, but first a little education. Heidi told us all about how they make the ice cream, using as many local ingredients as possible. They use cream from cows that are rbst-free, and are from upstate NY. Things like the coffee and espresso used in their flavors come from Joe Bean, another favorite place of mine here in Rochester. The other interesting thing to note is their ice cream is considered premium premium, that means it contains 14% milk fat (yeah low fat eating John wasn't so excited when he heard that part, but lets face the facts, he loved every minute of it!) She also told us about the % of air that goes into their ice cream and how that effects the texture and creaminess of it. Some companies pump in more air so they can get more bang for their buck, as much as 50% of it is air. At Moonlight, only 20% is air, making for a super creamy decadent treat. You can tell Heidi loves what she does and truthfully cares about the quality of ingredients, and the impact things will have on the environment. (All cups, spoons, and even drink cups are made to be 100% biodegradable.)
The 13 adults were in for 3 flights of ice cream. We were taught to sample them like you do wine, noting the appearance, aroma, texture, inclusions, and finish. We were even given sheets to fill out as we experienced each flavor. Not being told what the flavors were, we had to use our senses to figure it out! I found out mine weren't very good at picking up on some of the more subtle flavors... but I was spot on with others! One participant was able to guess the exact brand of booze used in one variety... nice work :)
Flight one... ummm yeah, sorry too busy experiencing the ice cream that I forgot to take a shot! HA! We had three flavors, Butterbeer (any Harry Potter fans out there?), Smore, and Chocolate Almond. Of these three, smore was my favorite. (see that spoon below... it's made from potato! don't worry it doesn't melt and taste like potato in your ice cream)
Flight two brought four flavors, Pumpkin gingersnap (DELICIOUS), Mango raspberry, Brown sugar oatmeal (one of my favorites), and bananas foster (wasn't digging this one, but others loved it)
Flight three contained John's favorite, Espresso heath bar, the other two were Baileys, and another unique flavor, and namesake and inspiration for this 24x24 proposal, Sea Kraken! (salted caramel with nuts)
At this point you're probably thinking, wow I'd sure be full... well it's not time to stop yet. It was time to wake up with an affogato, AKA a small scoop of Madagascar vanilla ice cream drowned in a shot of espresso... simply put TO DIE FOR. My favorite thing from the whole day. What an experience, the warm strong taste of the espresso bathing over the cool calming vanilla. LOVE.
What's that? You're full? Sorry, we're not done yet. To end the night everyone got to pick out a sundae with whatever flavors and toppings they wanted. True, this is a little out of line with my normal everything in moderation mantra... but sometimes, you just have to let loose and enjoy a special treat :)
What flavor would you have liked the best? Have you ever had an affogato? Would you try one?
Thanks again Foodbuzz for making this possible and sponsoring this event!!
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