Loyal reader Frank got me to thinking about ice cream this week, with his desperate longing for French pistache. Of course, thinking about ice cream is sort of a normal state of mind for me. There are those of us who could, if left unattended, sit down and polish off a whole container. You know who you are.
In France, la glace is really, really good. The most popular brand is Carte d’Or, and I’m rabidly loyal consumer. Their stock may be up since we arrived.
As you might guess, ice cream in the supermarché here comes in these horribly petite, reasonably sized containers–I am talking what they would consider family sized–so that I have to cram 4 or 5 of them in my freezer just to keep up with our family’s demand (well yes, there are just two of us, three if you count the cat). They also have a habit of rotating flavors constantly, so just when you get emotionally involved with one, it abandons you. Happily, something else irresistible takes its place and you tomber amoureuse all over again. Also, the French ice cream manages to be better yet has a lower fat content. That alone, mes amies, is reason enough to move to France.
But oh, the Italians! That rapturous gelato, how DO they do it? There is nothing that can equal it. And those fabulous displays, big chilled stainless tubs with the gelato artfully twirled, and then styled with a little fresh fruit or chocolate sauce, or drizzled with caramel. I’m restraining myself from hopping in the car to cross the border as we speak.
I don’t know about you, but when I’m cooking for a dinner party, I kind of fizzle out toward the end, when dessert prep rolls around. But in the summer, it’s easy–ice cream! I’m always looking for ways to jazz it up a bit.
So I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit that reminded me of Nutty Buddys, also called Drumsticks. Remember these, from your childhood? Vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone with chopped peanuts on top, all sealed up in paper, from the Ice Cream Man? They’re still popular here in France, they’re called cornets, and they come in all sorts of flavors at our supermarché (Frank, the pistachio with chocolate is the best one. Sorry.) So why not make our own Nutty Buddys? Here is how. I am happy to tell you that I have experimented heavily on your behalf. They’re easy, and I’m guessing my grandkids are going to love helping make these on their next visit.
RECIPE: Les Jazzy Cornets
For 8 cones:
Get some good sugar cones and your favorite flavor of ice cream. Scoop out the ice cream to make fat, pretty cones, then put them in the freezer. That’s the tricky part. I stand them up in short narrow glasses, but does anyone have a better idea?
Freeze them for a couple of hours. Then melt a bar of good chocolate, about 8 oz or 200 grams, with 2 T vegetable oil. Dip the tops of the cones generously in the cooled chocolate, then sprinkle with chopped nuts, toasted if you like. Put them back in the freezer; the chocolate will set up quickly. When they’re frozen hard you can wrap them up if you want, but I find they stay just fine unwrapped in the freezer for a couple of days, which is as long as they’re going to last anyway.
Here are some good combinations: coffee with walnuts, mint with peanuts, cherry with pistachios, coconut with macadamias, peach with white chocolate and almonds, butter pecan with pecans.
I’d serve these in an Ice Cream Cone Holder
Or course no one at your party will mind if you just bring out several containers of ice cream and start scooping cones to order, with a choice of dips, like sprinkles, nuts, or toasted coconut. And watch the kid in everyone pop right out.
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14 thoughts on “I Scream, You Scream, a World View of Ice Cream”
A very good Italian gelato shop in France is Amorino. I’ve seen them in Avignon and Bordeaux.
We have a few flavors of Carte d’Or ice cream in Italy and it is terrible. Delicious in France, with lots of fabulous flavors. WHY? WHY? WHY? (you can see it is a serious problem for me…).
Hi Patricia,
Oh I’m so glad you mentioned Amorino, I meant to do that. A chain but great gelato and worth seeking out. Bizarre that Carte d’Or is different in Italy!
We are a family of ice cream fanatics. I even had to buy an ice cream maker last year to keep up with the demand. Definitely making the nutty buddy – Cornets! You always come up with just the right thing! Brava!
Oh Lynn, why wait until dessert for these sinful treats, just serve ice cream for dinner !! I’m drooling after reading this ! I want one of each flavor !! Happy eating !
Joyce
Oh, Cote d’Or ice cream. You’re going to make me cry. I took a picture just like yours of the ice cream trolley outside the chocolate shop. I have no favorites. I don’t know about other towns, but in Dijon as soon as the temperature goes above 70º all the sweets shops (boulangerie, chocolate, pastry, etc.) rolls out the carts. You can’t walk fifty feet without encountering ice cream. By 3 p.m. everyone in town is strolling down the sidewalks licking cones. The cafés and salon des thés fill with people sitting down for their late-afternoon-before-dinner indulgence like this (and don’t forget the fresh whipped cream)
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt71/travelingthrough/DSC02518_july14.jpg
Then you eat dinner at one restaurant and stroll someplace else to cram in more ice cream. This summer I got on a menthe chocolat kick and had to taste it everywhere.
OK, so! I can’t believe no one has yet sent in a comment about…TA DA! Berthillon in Paris. For me, this is the gold standard for ice cream. You can buy it at their famous stands in Paris which you identify them by the green and white striped awning and the hideous long lines. You can also buy Berthillon select flavors at the very high end food boutiques like Hediard.
Oh, Lord the FLAVORS! (I typed “flovers, which I actually like better!) My newest favortie is raspberry sorbet flavored with rose water, which is just so darned easy to do that I now keep rosewater in my cupboard. And YOU can too! Just pour some over the sorbet and knock yourself out. If you have OBLATEN cookies all the better, or a sugar cone crumbled over the top.
I believe, but do not quote me, that Berthillon is the oldest ice cream maker in France. I know one of their oldest continuosly sold flavors is “Dauphin” which they created for the son of Louis XVI. It’s delicious, but I have never tasted a flavor that is not. AND please do yourself a favor and go inside the shop on Ile St. Louis, sit down and have yourself a hot fudge sundae (my favorite: one scoop vanilla, one scoop pear sorbet)…I’m telling you what! It’s the best ten bucks you’ll ever spend.
Oh, dear I seem to be running off at the mouth. Ice cream does that to some of us.
Toodles, and happy eating those drumsticks. Im gonna go make some right now! Lynn, can you get Baker’s dipping chocolate in France? That would be great for these and comes in dark, milk and white chocolate…perhaps another addition to your luggage when you next visit the US.
What HAVE I done? I am certain that tonight I will dream of my favorite gelato shop in Paris at the foot of Rue Montorgeuil behind St. Eustache. They proudly display their gold medal from whatever group awards prizes for the best gelato in Paris. A double cone with pistache and framboise will be floating just beyond my grasp all night long.
Smuckers Shell is now available here. It is a chocolate coating in a squeeze bottle that hardens instantly into a coating that almost rivals Dairy Queen, but the real thing is still the best. It makes pathetic domestic ice cream just a bit better. I think Lynn, you might consider tucking a few bottles into your checked baggage next trip stateside. It is good in an ice cream emergency.
This is, I think, the most mouth-watering thread in the history of you blog. May it never cease!
Oh my gosh Lynn!!! THANK YOU! for featuring me in your blog, I’m so excited!!!! Thank you for these great recipes for ice cream. My favorite flavors of ice cream are avocado, crazy no? (you just put in a blender the avocado with milk and sugar and then transfer the “potion” (you can tell I’ve been thinking about fall and halloween)in to your ice cream maker and voila. The next favorite is prune ice cream, same process as the avocado, yummiest ice cream ever and weird flavors too. I’ve seen these cone holders but I couldn’t find a picture on the internet, you grab a piece of wood, depending on how many cones you want to hold, you drill holes with a round drill bit, separated a bit to give them some space between cones (you can make 20 holes or as many as you want), then grab two pieces of wood for the sides and attach your drilled piece of wood to them kind of like in the middle so there is space below for the cone tips, I hope my explanation is understandable, think of the image as a bed the two sides are like two headboards and the middle wood with holes as the mattress. I would like to grab your blog header and post it on my side bar with a link to your blog if it’s okay with you. I already have your blog on my sidebar but it doesn’t show a picture due to the different kind of blogs.
Have a fantastic weekend! And Thank you again!
XXX Ido
I believe nutty buddies are available at some of the soft-serve places in Louisville. I recall liking them when I was a kid, but now I’m not into ice cream, or anything else very sugary, except at holidays, and of course my dark chocolate – a necessity.
Hi Lynn,
Great theme today! Any ice cream with chocolate in it works for me.
Many of the Mexican restaurants here in Arizona have fried ice cream available for dessert. It is quite a treat.
Oooo! We went over and over again to Berthillon while in Paris. The variety and flavor was amazing! Currently we are enjoying Nestle Drumsticks (without nuts) at our house. My favorite is chocolate covered mint. The best part is they coat the inside of the cone with chocolate too!
Bonjour Lynn…ok off to have a gelato! I don’t need much convincing at all. 🙂 Have a great weekend!
sorry, nothing, but nothing beats out Häagen-Dazs.
Oooooh, prune ice cream reminds me of something I used to make all the time that has fallen off my repertoire. This would be GREAT on any kind of ice cream that you think it might be, because it’s fabulous, AND I used to put it on yogurt. here it is:
Make a double strength Earl Gray tea: two tea bags, one cup of water. Then put in a shot of cognac and 1/2 cup of prunes. Steep overnight and enjoy! Great with pork roast, now that it’s getting cooler (at least here on the coast of Maine!)
Oh, how I love the food stuff on your blog!