Stuffed Ice Cream; Holiday Edition

Adorable Ice Cream Alert! 

 

Ok, I promise I would have told you about this sooner, but it just hit my ice cream radar and I raced over right away.  Stuffed Ice Cream is brand new to NYC, having opened this past summer.  Their big thing is donut ice cream sandwiches (If that sounds tasty, check out my piece on Holey Cream, where they have been scooping up donut sandwiches for the past 8 years), but that is not what we are here to discuss today!  What got me bundled up and headed to the East Village in this arctic weather are their Christmas Collection Cones.  There are three festive two-scooped creations to choose from: Santa, Reindeer, and Snowman. You get to choose your scoop flavors and your cone, and the scoop artists make the cutest frozen treats you've ever seen.

There are many wonderful flavors to choose from and samples to be tried if you are having trouble making your selection.

What I got: Christmas Collection Cone "Santa" - Andes Peppermint and Red Velvet Cookie Dough Crumble Ice Cream on a red velvet Konery Cone with a cone and frosting hat, Oreo eyes, a marshmallow beard, Pocky arms (the description said "candy cane", but I'm not mad), and what I think was a white chocolate chip button.

What Greg got: Signature Cruff  "Cereal Killer" - Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream in a glazed donut with Captain Crunch and caramel sauce.

Clearly I was feeling festive with both the color and flavors of my ice cream choices.  Look how pretty it is!  I tried the Red Velvet Cookie Dough Crumble (yes, that's one flavor) before ordering it and liked both the texture and the way the flavor evoked cake.  The Andes Peppermint I went for blindly because I love Andes, I love mint ice cream, and, well, it's green and this is a Christmas cone after all.  What struck me about both ice creams as I ate my festive treat was they were rather mild in flavor.  I expected the Andes to be a stronger mint, like the candy it is named for, and to have more of a chocolate presence.  The Red Velvet was pretty true to its cake counterpart in that the flavor was very minimal.  It was definitely red, but after a few bites any defining characteristics faded.  The toppings were what made this creation special.  The cone and frosting hat started things off with a crunch, and the Oreo eyes gave me a little pop of chocolate.  The marshmallow beard was a little stiff (I don't want to say stale... maybe just cold to hold it together?) and that added a whole new texture to the experience.  I loved it!

Greg's Cruff in all its glory

I did get a bite of Greg's Cruff (what Stuffed calls their donut ice cream sandwiches; according to their website it is a mix of the words "cream" for ice cream and "stuffed"), but I will have to come back and order my own to truly experience the Cruff.  My first impressions are that they are bigger than my mouth, and that this one was made particularly sticky by the caramel on the outside. 

I asked the Very Friendly Scoop Artists how long the Christmas Collection would be available:

VFSA #1: Probably just until New Years.

VFSA #2 (almost simultaneously): Forever!

VFSA #1: You think we are going to be making these still in July?

VFSA #2: ... Maybe

VFSA #1: Probably only through this weekend.

Clearly, I'm going to have to give Stuffed another go.  Possibly this weekend to try another member of the Christmas Collection before they are potentially gone.  And then again another time to get a Cruff and to try some of the other wide variety of flavors Stuffed Ice Cream has to offer. 

The Rundown:
Where: Stuffed Ice Cream
139 1st Avenue

New York, NY 10003
https://stuffedicecreamnyc.com/
What they're known for: Cruffs (donut ice cream sandwiches)
A single cup or cone: $4.25
Most Extreme Menu Item: Ice Cream Bouquet (7 scoops of ice cream on a cone) $18 

Note: The website says they have one with 21 scoops, but no price is given.
Non-ice cream menu options: Boxed water

Is it Ice Cream? A Visit to Snowdays

As a self proclaimed ice cream connoisseur, I'm having a bit of a crisis.  You see, I recently took a trip to Snowdays, where they serve up what is referred to as "Shaved Cream" and all I can think is "Does this count as ice cream?" Because really, what is ice cream?  At the most basic, simple level, all you need to have ice cream is sweetened, cooled cream.  From that jumping off point, there are countless ways ice cream is made and enjoyed in almost every culture.  For a moment I thought, "It needs to be churned in some way to be considered ice cream," and then I remembered how much I love Thai style rolled ice cream, which is possibly one of the creamiest, smoothest ways to make ice cream, but most definitely is not churned.  So I bring it to you, ice cream lovers: Should shaved cream be considered a style of ice cream?

Whatever it is, it sure is cute!

Snowdays' website, and their impressive lineup of press releases, claim that this is, in fact, an entirely new and different dessert.  Shaved cream is inspired by Taiwanese and Korean style shaved ice.  Rather than shaving down ice and adding flavoring to it, Snowdays mixes together milk, cream, sugar, and flavor (sounds a lot like an ice cream base, no?), and freezes it, WITHOUT churning it, into big blocks.  When you place your order, they attach a block to the shaving machine, which turns out ribbons of the snowy, creamy concoction.  This is piled high into a cup and finished with drizzled sauces and hard toppings.  Snowdays claims that they have invented this new spin on an old treat, and are happy to have customers think of shaved cream as being in its own unique category of frozen desserts.

What I got: Regular size Green Tea Shaved Cream with chocolate syrup drizzle, mochi, and waffle cones (which were really pizzelle cookies).

What Greg got: Regular size Sweetmilk Shaved Cream with salted caramel drizzle and mochi.

I highly recommend you come hungry; the regular size portion (the smallest you can get) is huge.  The shaved cream is piled high above the rim of the cup, and toppings are artfully styled around the edge in a way that begs to be photographed.  But is it ice cream?  I dove in.

The first thing I noticed is that the ice crystals in shaved cream are HUGE compared to any ice cream I've ever had.  The flavor of ice cream is present; shaved cream has the same sweetness and creaminess, but the texture is entirely different.  With that said, it is also more velvety than a snow cone would be.  What I didn't notice until I had been eating for a while was that the bigger ice crystals also meant I got much colder and had to eat much more slowly than I do when presented with typical ice cream.  I also made much more of a mess than I usually do, as the shaved cream seemed eager to jump out of my cup and slide off my spoon as I tried to eat it.  I'm going to go ahead and blame the ice crystals for that as well.

The flavors were all on point.  Apart from the texture, everything else was exactly what you would expect from a bowl of ice cream.  Both the green tea and the sweetmilk were well balanced and sweet but not too sweet.  The shaved cream got a little melty where the drizzle was added, but that was a nice thing.  All the toppings you would expect to find at an Asian inspired ice cream parlor are available, and you can build and customize your shaved cream adornments to your heart's content.

Bonus points for spoons that change color when they are cold.  That's just fun.

Tastiness and texture aside, I still cannot decide.  IS THIS ICE CREAM??? Leave me a comment.  Or give it a try yourself, and let me know what you think.

The Rundown:
Where: Snowdays
241 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
(There are other locations as well)
http://www.snowdaysnyc.com/
What they're known for: Shaved Cream, an invention of their own
A single cup: $6.00
Most Extreme Menu Item: Yeti Combo (their largest size) $12.00
Lactose Free/Vegan Option: The Coconut flavor is vegan, but was also sold out. 
Non-ice cream menu options: Cold and hot beverages