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Ice Cream Gift Pack Giveaway!

Vanilla Sour Cream Ice Cream
Summer is quickly melting away and, while some might say that the season for ice cream is ending, I say that there is no reason to put those ice cream scoops into storage until next year. Ice cream is one food that might be good for cooling off, but it is good all year round. In this spirit, I’m hosting a quick little end-of-summer ice cream giveaway for my readers!

The prize is a goodie basket with some ice cream making essentials. It also includes my new favorite Zyliss ice cream scoop, but everything else is a surprise. The only things you’ll have to supply is the actual ice cream because it just doesn’t ship all that well in my experience – not without some fancy ice packs, anyway!

To play, just leave a comment below describing your favorite ice cream. Be specific! I want to know if your favorite is homemade, or a particular brand of ice cream from the market or from a particular store in your city. Gelato and sorbet are fair game, too, if those are at the top of your list. The contest is closing on Sunday, September 19th, so leave your comments before then. Be sure to leave your e-mail address (it won’t be published if you type it into the form) so I can contact a randomly selected winner on Sunday night! Good luck everyone!

For some great ice cream ideas, check these out:

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405 Comments
  • Nicole
    September 17, 2010

    Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough! Any brand will do, the bigger the chunks the better. I have sadly yet to try my hand at homemade ice cream. It’s on the to-do list.

  • Krystal
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite ice cream as got to be homemade. I love vanilla flavor with fresh fruit mixed it. Mmmmm, amazing! I remember summer evening sitting outside taking turns (aka-fighting over) turning the handle to mix the ice cream.

  • Darla
    September 17, 2010

    My current favorite is the coconut ice cream cone dipped in dark chocolate that I had at our local ice cream place.

  • Brenda
    September 17, 2010

    I am hooked on butter pecan but love french vanilla for the versatility of the toppings!!

  • kayceebeebee
    September 17, 2010

    I’m going to agree with Tara….any ice cream! It’s my favorite treat. One of my most favorite places to go for ice cream where I live is Cold Stone Creamery. They make the best ice cream and you can mix it up any way you like. A favorite there is Coffe Lovers Only. Yum! They greet you with all employees singing you a song when you walk in the door. It’s really fun to go there.

  • Jo
    September 17, 2010

    I love hazelnut gelato at Havre-aux-Glaces in Montreal. I wish I could make it but I haven’t been able to replicate it yet … not through lack of trying!

  • Melissa
    September 17, 2010

    It was in April that I discovered the gloriousness of pumpkin ice cream at Round Top. Round Top Ice Cream is a local ice cream company, which began in 1924, in Damariscotta, Maine. I had to wait until September for the flavor to re-appear on the menu… it’s super premium, creamy, exploding with flavour. It’s like a cold pumpkin pie. Heaven.

  • KatMacNeely
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite at the moment is the mocha oreo that I’ve been making at home. Otherwise, it is hard to go wrong with Ben and Jerry’s–especially Phish Food or Cinnamon Buns.

  • Shikha Kaiwar
    September 17, 2010

    There is an artisanal ice cream shop in Berkeley, CA, where I live called Ici. One time I tried chipotle chocolate chip, and it blew me away. The dark chocolate mixed with the smoky spiciness of the chiles was absolutely delicious. They change their flavours everyday, so I have only eaten it once there, but I hope they make it again!

  • Ellen
    September 17, 2010

    The best ice cream I’ve ever made was rum raisin. I used a bit too much rum, which was why it was so good.

    My favorite ice cream to buy is Ben & Jerry’s snickerdoodle ice cream. Next time I bake up a batch of cookies I’m going to try making it myself!

  • Ariel
    September 17, 2010

    meyer lemon at Molly Moon’s in Seattle. So. Good.

  • Samantha
    September 17, 2010

    Salted caramel ice cream from Bi-rite Creamery in San Francisco. It’s got the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and pleasantly bitter.

  • Katie
    September 17, 2010

    My absolute favorite kind of ice cream is Ben & Jerry’s Willie Nelson Peach Cobbler. It was only a limited edition kind and I ALWAYS crave it!

  • eula
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite flavor is ube (purple yam) made by Magnolia. It’s so smooth and tastes great. Plus it’s purple!

  • ACreativeDreamer
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite… My grandmother’s homemade “pickled” peach. Every fall she canned what she called “pickled” peaches… they were big, gorgeous peach halves from her own peach trees, in a sugar syrup, “pickled” with cinnamon sticks, cloves, all spice and a variety of other wonderful spices. To say they were yummy was an understatement. And, she always tucked a jar waaayy back in the back of the cellar so that, when the sun returned in the summer, one of the first treats she made was home made ice cream (from the milk and cream her cows gave), flavored with those peaches.

    Nothing like it before or after, it will always remind me of her and summer.

  • Becca J
    September 17, 2010

    We’ve recently discovered the joy of homemade ice cream, and homemade vanilla can’t be beat! Fun giveaway, Nicole.

  • Julia
    September 17, 2010

    Cookie Gelato I got in Frankfurt, Germany in October 2009. I ate it twice in one day! And took a picture of it so I could remember it forever. DELICIOUS!

  • Jessica F
    September 17, 2010

    Chocolate with bits of nuts and chocolate bits in. Added benefits with swirls of fudge included. I think the thing that immediately comes to mind is Ben and Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk. I would guess homemade ice cream would meet my approval more closely, but I’ve never had any (unless it’s ‘homemade’ at an ice cream shop).

  • Brooke
    September 17, 2010

    Schwans rocky road is my favorite because they have the creamiest chocolate ice cream with a marshmallow swirl and instead of almonds, they have chocolate covered peanuts! (with a hint of salt) SO YUMMY!!!

  • Shoshana
    September 17, 2010

    Homemade salted caramel ice cream! Yum.

  • jill
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite (right now) is the Mud Pie ice cream from Emack & Bolios! Yum.

  • Erin
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite is probably a tie between cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough. Any brand 🙂 YUM!!!

  • Jami
    September 17, 2010

    Heath bar/buttercrunch with salted caramel swirled in. MMM…

  • Amanda
    September 17, 2010

    I love Bruster’s graham cracker ice cream! The real graham cracker swirls are amazing!

  • Sarah
    September 17, 2010

    Either Edy’s Peppermint (around the holidays!) or my homemade lavender and honey. Mmm!

  • Jen
    September 17, 2010

    I’ve never had homemade ice cream, so… chocolate chip cookie dough. I really don’t care the brand, most of the time. Any cookie dough will do.

    I also have had the Preferred Selection French Vanilla gelato recently, and it was delicious.

  • faye
    September 17, 2010

    BY FAR! my most fav-o-rite-est ice cream indulgence comes from an ice cream cafe in aachen, germany – chocolate, rice ice cream — rich, creamy and dark. mmm, i’m going to get me some this weekend!

  • KennaKae
    September 17, 2010

    Ice cream is DEFINITELY a year round food! Snowcream in the winter made with fresh snow can attest to that.

    A recent favorite of mine is a raspberry vodka sorbet with terragon and lemon that was an assignment for my basic skills culinary class. Deep raspberry was definitely the dominate flavor, made brighter with the lemon and fresh herbage. It was SO smooth because of the vodka, dense and quite coquette on the palate, if I dare say so. Delish!

  • Tory
    September 17, 2010

    I LOVE home made cake batter ice cream! Yum! 🙂

  • Kim
    September 17, 2010

    I love ice cream. So does my son! I love anything peanut butter. Baskin robbins chocolate peanut butter is my all time favorite. Thinking it is time to make an ice cream run. In my my family we love to mix up some milkshakes. Oreos/Chocolate chips anything that we have available goes into our ice cream milkshakes.

  • Megan
    September 17, 2010

    I love pumpkin Ice Cream. I think Graeter’s has one of the best.

  • Joan
    September 17, 2010

    I’m boring, Haagen Daas peanut butter chocolate ice cream is my current fav

  • sadie
    September 17, 2010

    I am the ice cream queen. I LOVE ice cream year round. Some of my favorites: Hazelnut gelato, homemade candybar icecream (my specialty), and Schwans Vanilla

  • Andrea in AR
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite is my grandma’s homemade banana ice cream. Yum!

  • joyosity
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite ice cream flavor is my homemade passion fruit ice cream!

  • Joni
    September 17, 2010

    Though I’m from Cincinnati and I probably should say our hometown favorite of Graeters, I think my favorite ice cream is actually my homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato. It’s from a recipe by Giada deLaurentiis, and it involves melting Nutella into the base for the ice cream. Then we serve it with chopped, toasted hazelnuts. Yum!

  • Amy @ The Nifty Foodie
    September 17, 2010

    OMG I love Amaretto Gelato at this local place. It’s amazing!

  • Megan
    September 17, 2010

    My brother-in-law’s homemade lemon ice cream with his next door neighbors lemons. I am a TOTAL chocolate girl, but this ice cream…oh, this ice cream…it’s unlike anything I have ever had!!

  • Samantha
    September 17, 2010

    I love Bryer’s Vanilla Fudge Swirl. So simple yet so delicious!

  • Alanna
    September 17, 2010

    Oh Ice Cream…let me count the ways.

    When it comes down to it, I am a plain ‘ol vanilla type of girl. I love vanilla with cherries! Oh and mint too, I love mint, but never with dark chocolate. Hands down, my favorite way to eat vanilla ice cream is with fresh baked cookies. I always save and freeze some cookie dough exactly for this purpose. Then I just pop it in th toaster oven and bake until it’s warm and gooey and crunchy on the outside, but soft in the middle. That is truly heaven. Best Vanilla I have ever had: Van Leeuwan Ice Cream truck in NYC

  • Abutton
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite ice cream is Scarlet and Cream from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln dairy store. It is super creamy vanilla with swirls of strawberry… so yummy!

  • Wendy
    September 17, 2010

    My all-time favorite has to be mint chip!

  • Aditi
    September 17, 2010

    Haagen Daaz 5 Chocolate. It is the epitome of what chocolate ice cream should be. Rich and creamy, chocolately not sugary. It is pure heaven!

  • rachel
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite ice cream ever is homemade birthday cake batter…a vanilla cake batter base with swirls of buttercream icing and some sprinkles mixed in. It’s SOOO good, but way too rich for me to make/eat on a regular basis! So I usually go for plain vanilla since it makes a great base for whatever mix ins or toppings I happen to be in the mood for that day.

  • Lynnea
    September 17, 2010

    My sister caught the ice cream bug this summer before moving away to college (WITH the ice cream maker) and she made this amaaaazing mascarpone ice cream on her first ever try with the machine. It was creamy and rich and tangy and just the perfect little treat. It is now the standard I hold all other ice cream to.

  • Natalie
    September 17, 2010

    My favorite ice cream is the cheesecake ice cream in David Lebovitz’s book with chunks of his brownie mix-in. I usually top it with a strawberry coulis. Mmm. Thanks for a great giveaway!

  • Linsy Holyoak
    September 17, 2010

    My cousin made some homemade nutella Ice cream this summer, it was so creamy and rich. . . I wish I could have some now!

  • yael
    September 17, 2010

    I am a total ice cream freak. I love to make my own ice cream and recently made “cereal milk ” ice cream using the Momofuku Milk Bar recipe. It was AMAZING!!!!!

  • Carlee
    September 17, 2010

    I am completely addicted to ice cream…meaning, I can’t go to sleep at night if I don’t have a bowl before bed. For me, the best ice cream is made by Farr’s in Ogden, UT. It’s called Brownies on the Moon. It’s chocolate ice cream with marshmallow swirls and brownie chunks. It’s amazing.

  • Amy
    September 17, 2010

    Peanut butter & chocolate from Baskin Robbins. No other brand of that ice cream even comes close.