Monday, August 9, 2010

Ice Cream and Memories

When we were kids, going to Baskin-Robbins was a rare treat, reserved for a birthday month (when the birthday child was entitled to a free cone) or when I got an "A" on a history test (definitely rare). Sometimes after a movie at the Jefferson Theater (another rare treat), we would go next door to Baskin-Robbins with a throng of fellow theater-goers.

I liked to try different flavors, but my sister (known to the blogosphere as Natasha) would always get Peppermint Fudge Ribbon when it was available. I had it once or twice, and is was definitely good. Every once in awhile over the years, I've looked for that flavor in the stores and on their website, but they seem to have discontinued it.

Recently I discovered something that's just as good (maybe even better): Peppermint Ice Cream topped with Hot Fudge Sauce!

One of the grocery stores here, Smith's, is "part of the Kroger family" so the store brand items are labeled Kroger. Kroger makes unbelievable delicious (and inexpensive, since it's a store brand) Peppermint Ice Cream. It even has small chunks of peppermint candy (think candy canes) mixed in. So if you're near a Kroger, Smith's, King Sooper's, or City Market, stop in and get a carton of Peppermint Ice Cream. Topped with homemade Hot Fudge Sauce, it's so good I can't believe it. It's almost addictive. Seriously. A couple of hours after I've eaten some, I find myself thinking about how good it was and about how soon I'll be home so I can have some more. By the time I've gotten home, of course, I've forgotten all about it, so I'm not really eating it as much as it sounds.

Now that I've found the perfect ice cream, I need to find the perfect hot fudge sauce. I'm not happy with the recipes I've tried so far. I'm looking for something thick and smooth and chocolatey. Something like Gifford's Ice Cream Parlor used to have.

Gifford's. Now there's a whole other set of memories. Gifford's was even more rare than Baskin-Robbins because it wasn't as close to home and because it was more expensive (after all, it was a sit-down place, not just a counter selling cones). The ice cream came in tall glasses and the hot fudge sauce came in tiny metal pitchers so you could pour in a little or as much at a time as you wanted. I remember going to Gifford's after the baptisms of my first two nephews and may a couple of other times.

Anyone have a hot fudge sauce like theirs? Elle, where are you?

5 comments:

Barbara said...

I did a Google search for Gifford's fudge sauce recipe, in case someone had posted one. No luck. I found another one that looked promising and made it last night. It was okay but tasted too Hershey's, if you know what I mean. (The chocolate part was Hershey's unsweetened cocoa.) I'll keep trying--now it's a quest!

Beth said...

I know what you mean. One of the recipes I tried was from the Hershey's cookbook and it used unsweetened cocoa. Like you said, it was okay, but not what I was looking for.

Gifford's has a website and they offer the fudge sauce for sale, but of course it's expensive. Besides, trying to duplicate it could be fun.

Anonymous said...

I have no memory of ever eating peppermint ice cream with fudge sauce in it. It sounds delicious! No fair that you got to have my memories! At least someone does! =) How clever of you to come up with a substitute. With hot fudge sauce sounds even better.

Finding just the right fudge sauce recipe sounds like a dangerous quest. Mmmmm!

Love and hugs,
Natasha

Barbara said...

It IS dangerous, Natasha! I still have to finish the sauce that wasn't Gifford's-worthy (it's still pretty good, though, and I'm eating it by the spoonful--not right now, but when I do eat some--because I'm out of ice cream). I'm thinking that baking chocolate might be the way to go with the next try. That Gifford's sauce was really smooth.

I don't remember the peppermint fudge ice cream. I can't remember what my favorite Baskin-Robbins flavor was--something with chocolate, no doubt. I liked High's better. That's where we went for A's on our report card when I was in grade school (they gave us a free scoop for each A, I think). There was some kind of probably custard ice cream there I really liked, but it's such a very hazy memory now--it was a creamy pale yellow, that's all I recall.

Elle said...

Sorry to arrive at the party late but the last couple of weeks is not worth talking about.

I thought that the ice cream place by the theatre was Sealtest but Highs is probably right. My favorite was lemon custard ice cream...maybe the stuff Barb was talking about.

Wish I had a good fudge sauce for ice cream but somehow I never tried for that. Bet you will have a delightful time hunting one down. More peppermint ice cream with almost-right-but-still-not-there fudge sauce anyonw?