Sweet Treats

Every once in awhile at my night job, I get to watch something good. Saturday night, it was Scoop! a new special on Food TV. What was cool about this show was that it featured 5 semi-finalists who were all vying for a chance to create a new Haagen-Daz flavor.

What made it even neater was that the contestants were ordinary citizens like you and me. I wish I had known about the contest because how cool would that be, to walk into a supermarket and see your flavor in the freezer next to the other Haagen-Daz flavors like Dulche de Leche and Rum Raisin.

To your left is the winner, Sticky Toffee pudding ice cream, based on a typical English dessert or pudding as they like to call it.

A rich vanilla ice cream is swirled with a sticky toffee sauce and morsels of moist, brown sugar cake. Doesn't it sound delicious? I swear I wanted ice cream so badly after watching this show, and I'm lactose intolerant. Normally I eat Tofutti or if I really want ice cream, Tasti-Delite. I haven't had real ice cream in years, but I'm tempted to try the Sticky Toffee pudding ice cream.

I didn't envy the judges. The other four finalists sounded just as good. Chocolate Malt Mocha, Carmelized Figs and Walnuts, Cannoli, and finally Toasted Coconut and Sesame brittle ice cream. What was cool is that the contestants got to work with the research teams to actually create the ice cream. They each came up with two different versions, and then the first round of judging occurred. They then went on to refine their entry before the final judging.

Oh, and I learned that when tasting ice cream you turn the spoon upside down so you're tasting the ice cream and not the silver of the spoon. Apparently the metal taints the flavor of the ice cream.

Hmm! I feel an idea brewing!

Thanks for reading.

EKM