Bored with cones and cups, Brooklyn’s ice cream community is getting innovative. First it was the General Greene, who began selling a “Beer Float,” made with Landmark’s Vanilla Brown Ale and the restaurant’s own homemade Philadelphia-style (egg-free) ice cream. Since then owner Nick Morgenstern has been slinging his frozen concoctions from his handmade cart outside the restaurant. (Morgenstern has even made his recipe for Strawberry-Brown-sugar Frozen Yogurt available for those who like to play along at home.)
The trend continued when venerable Greenpoint hot spot Peter Pan Bakery decided not to order cones this year, instead choosing to serve ice cream in between freshly baked doughnuts. A “holy shit I might die from this sugar rush” take on the ice cream sandwich, one has the option of pairing vanilla, strawberry, pistachio or cookies ‘n cream flavors with any of the shop’s infamous doughnuts. Red Velvet Cake, Olde Fashioned, Sour Cream, Sour Cream Glazed, Honey Dip — any doughnut is fair game as long as its not filled with cream, jelly or some crazy sauce only old Polish men order.
In the spirit of innovation, local food blog I’m High On Cooking has one upped the competition, breaking New York State Law in order to concoct a treat so savory one could go to prison for it. Tired of artificial flavoring and bogus food coloring, IHOC produced a batch of raw milk honey-bean ice cream that could get the local-vore blog ten years in Attica for merely serving its joyous labors. (Sale of raw milk is illegal in 22 states, including New York.) Not one to rest on its laurels, IHOC smooshed the homemade, organic ice cream between freshly baked chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies, for a modern take on the classic chipwich that would make any vegan rethink his/her decision to steer clear of animal byproducts. (If not, you might want to check out the Cornisicle.)