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Cook’s Illustrated Tests Ice Cream Scoops

Cook's Illustrated Rates Ice Cream Scoops

Ice cream scoops are a must-have kitchen tool for ice cream lovers – and ice cream cookbook authors. Unfortunately, ice cream scoops do not always work out exactly as advertised. Over the years, I’ve had all kinds of ice cream scoops that ranged from very traditional designs to high-tech spoons that required all kinds of preheating to provide the perfect scoop. In this month’s Issue of Cook’s Illustrated (May/June 2015) , the test kitchen put a variety of ice cream scoops to the test to see which ones actually delivered a sundae-worthy scoop.

The test kitchen searched for a model that was affordable and comfortable to use, as well as a model that was able to consistently handle digging through dense, ultra-premium ice creams and sorbets. The best scoops offered wide handles and oval-shaped bowls, which both yielded neat scoops and cut into the ice cream easily. Modelse with spring-loaded handles were deemed to be uncomfortable and inconsistent in performance. The two highest rated scoops, which both won a “highly recommended” rating, were the Zeroll Original Ice Cream Scoop and the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Ice Cream Scoop. The Zeroll model slightly edged out the OXO because it has a heat conductive-handle, which means that the metal warms up from the heat of your hand as soon as you grab onto it, allowing for smoother scooping and an easy release. The OXO had a slight point to the bowl that assisted with scooping and featured a rubbery grip that made the tool particularly comfortable to use.

The Rosle Ice Cream Scoop and The Right Scoop from Zyliss both earned “recommended” ratings, with strong marks for comforta and scooping ability. The Good Cook Smart Scoop and the Norpro EZ-Scoop were “not recommended” by the tested, since they were very uncomfortable to use and there were significantly better performers in the test.

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