Simple Scoops

Varied Vanilla

Different Approaches to the Classic Flavor

Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

 

 

It’s often considered the most basic flavor, but there’s more to vanilla ice cream than you might think. Between the different methods of making it, combinations of ingredients and types of vanilla used, vanilla ice cream at one shop may taste very different from vanilla ice cream at another.

“Most people consider vanilla very boring, but sometimes it can be the best choice on the menu,” said Roni Vetter, owner and ice cream maker at Jake’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Bakery in Nashua.

Vetter says there are two main styles of vanilla ice cream: Philadelphia style and French vanilla.

Philadelphia style vanilla ice cream is made with cream, milk, sugar and vanilla extract or vanilla sugar.

“It creates that good, basic flavor,” Vetter said. “Most kids like it, it’s great for scoop shops that are using it for things like frappes and sundaes, and it’s great for people who have an egg allergy, because there are no eggs in it.”

French vanilla ice cream contains an egg or egg product base, which is cooked custard-style with the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla extract, sugar or beans.

“Some people swear by the French vanilla,” Vetter said. “They’re convinced that it’s a better ice cream because the egg gives it that yellowish or off-white color, and it makes it a little richer with that heavier texture. There’s a little more fat coating to the mouthfeel of it.”

Once the beans get hot enough to release the vanilla flavor, they’re scraped out of the pot, but often leave the tiny black specks in what’s known as vanilla bean ice cream.

Rick Wolstencroft, ice cream maker at Blake’s Creamery in Manchester, said Philadelphia style vanilla ice cream can also be made into a vanilla bean ice cream simply by sprinkling in ground up vanilla bean casings.

“It changes the texture and it enhances the appearance,” he said, “and it does add some flavor. You actually get some of the flavor from the bean itself.”
Rich Peyser, manager at Annabelle’s Natural Ice Cream in Portsmouth, said the amount of air in the ice cream also plays a part in the texture.

“The more air, the lighter and fluffier the ice cream,” he said. “The egg yolk [in French vanilla] already makes it a little richer and denser, and our ice cream is made with only 40 percent air, so you can’t just lick it; you literally have to chew it.”

A vanilla ice cream can taste different depending on the type of vanilla used. The three most widely used types, Vetter said, are Mexican, Tahitian and Madagascar vanilla.

Mexican vanilla tends to be lighter and sweeter, while Tahitian vanilla has a deeper richness and roasted flavor and Madagascar has a bit of acidity similar to chocolate.

When it comes to vanilla, much of the flavor actually comes from its aroma.

“It sounds weird, but the smell has a lot to do with the flavors that you taste,”

Vetter said, “and the aromas [of the different types of vanilla] are each very different.”

Another factor that can change the taste of a vanilla ice cream is the ratio of ingredients. Each ice cream maker uses a particular ratio to achieve their desired flavor and texture. Too much of any one ingredient can ruin the ice cream. For example, high amounts of cream can result in too much fat content, making the ice cream taste like “frozen butter,” Vetter said. High amounts of sugar can detract from the natural flavor of the vanilla.

“You want to be able to actually taste the product — the milk and cream and type of vanilla that’s in it,” she said. “If there’s too much sugar, the sugar is all you can taste.”

Delicious as it may be, ice cream with candy pieces, chunks of cookie or brownie or other add-ins can make it difficult to truly taste the ice cream itself. If you’re an ice cream lover and really want to gauge the quality of a homemade ice cream, a simple sweet cream or vanilla flavor is the best flavor to order.

“I say, always taste the place’s vanilla ice cream first, because it’s the base of so many other flavors, and if it has a really good vanilla, then you know the rest of the flavors will be good too,” Peyser said.
Its simplicity also makes it an ideal accompaniment for birthday cake, fruit pies and other desserts.

“Because it’s so neutral and crisp and refreshing, it enhances the flavors of so many desserts,” Wolstencroft said. “You wouldn’t put a chocolate ice cream on apple pie.”

 

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Beyond Plain or Sugar

Creative Cones Can Jazz Up your Ice Cream

Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)

Images: Courtesy Photo

 

 

Plain wafer and sugar cones are the go-tos for anyone who wants to enjoy their ice cream without a spoon, but for a special treat, waffle cones — especially homemade — can’t be beat.

 

Made by Hand

Hayward’s Ice Cream in Nashua makes its own waffle cones by hand right in the shop.

They’re bigger than regular cones, of course, but Hayward’s Manager John Bourgeois said they also smell better and have a better crunchy consistency.

Regular cones are made like wafers, fluffy and soft, while sugar cones are thin but hard and darker in color. Waffle cones, when made right, tend to straddle the line between too hard and too soft, and Bourgeois said their fresh-cooked aroma is a strong draw for customers.

They make about 400 to 500 waffle cones each day at Hayward’s, Bourgeois estimates, and they make about 30 to 40 waffle bowls as well.

Jordan’s Ice Creamery in Belmont and Laconia also makes its own waffle cones, and has started offering a new option as well: doughnut cones.

“It’s a cinnamon and sugar doughnut that is crafted as a cone,” Jordan’s Manager Alyssa Best said. “I think the doughnut cone is really kind of outside-the-box.”

She said both locations receive a fresh delivery of doughnut cones that are sold only on Sundays.

They’re made by Goody Good Donuts in Laconia.

Craig Parent, the owner of Goody Goods, said he and Jordan’s owner Craig Jordan teamed up to create the cones after hearing that people had seen the doughnut cones online. Jordan approached Parent and asked him if it was possible, and, after about a month and a half of experimenting — what Parent terms research and development — he figured out a way to do it.
He started making them a little over a year ago and makes about 50 to 60 cones, exclusively for Jordan’s for now, for each weekend delivery.

 

The Art of the Cone

Making waffle cones and doughnut cones is a delicate process, and getting it just right can prove difficult.

Bourgeois said waffle cones, like waffles, start with the batter. “We make our batter and we have four waffle cone machines that we crank up every day, every morning,” Bourgeois said. “It will come out as a flat sheet with the waffle imprint in it.”

They roll these sheets up on waffle cone rollers while they’re still hot and pliable and place them on a cooling rack.

To get it right, one has to strike the right balance with the batter, the temperature on the waffle iron and the timing for shaping them.

Firstly, Bourgeois said, it’s important not to put too much water or too little in the batter mix (which includes sugar, wheat, cake flour, dried egg and soybean). Otherwise, the color and consistency won’t be right.

If it comes out too light it will be too chewy, and if it comes out too dark it will likely be too brittle.

“You don’t want it looking burnt and you don’t want an albino cone,” Bourgeois said. “We try to go right in between that, where it’s a nice crunch.”

They cook it at just the right temperature for about a minute and pull the sheets off to be rolled into cones.

As for how doughnut cones are made, Parent keeps many of the details close to the chest.

“I just don’t want to give it out too much, myself, because as far as I know I’m the only one who makes them [in New Hampshire],” Parent said.

The basic process involves baking yeast dough wrapped around a cylinder with sugar and cinnamon poured on the outside.

The end result is a sort of spiral of dough roughly in the shape of a cone. Parent said it takes about two to two and a half hours to make a batch of cones.

“They’re kind of crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside,” Parent said. “They hold the ice cream well.”

 

Getting Fancy

While many local ice cream shops don’t make their own waffle cones, they often order plain waffle cones in bulk and fancy them up with their own ingredients. Granite State Candy Shoppe in Concord and Manchester, for example, adds a twist to cones by dipping the tops in melted chocolate and adding sprinkles, walnuts or other things like their own toffee, roasted nuts or toasted coconut.

Manager Tal Smith at Granite State Candy said they call it “fancy dipping.”

“We only do it with the waffle cones just because they interact with the chocolate a little bit better,” Smith said. “We have a chocolate-dipped M&M cone that’s really fun.”

Local Licks

Where to Grab a Cool Treat

Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

 

 

Here are some locally-owned independent ice cream shops. See what they have on their menus, including one cool flavor you might want to try. If your favorite local non-chain shop isn’t on here, let us know at food@hippopress.com.

• Annabelle’s Natural Ice Cream (49 Ceres St., Portsmouth, 436-3400, annabellesicecream.com) features more than a dozen original flavors of homemade ice cream using whole and skim milk, cane sugar, egg yolks and 16 percent butter fat. Annabelle’s is also served at The Beach Hut (1191 Ocean Boulevard, Rye, 294-0005, beachhutrye.com).
Try this flavor: New Hampshire’s Rocky Coast: Swiss chocolate ice cream with pecans, walnuts, chocolate-covered almonds and chocolate chunks in a light marshmallow swirl.

• Arnie’s Place (164 Loudon Road, Concord, 228-3225, arniesplace.com) opened in the summer of 1992 after operating formerly as a Friendly’s and then as a Dairy Queen. You’ll find dozens of flavors of homemade ice cream, as well as soft-serve options and homemade ice cream sundaes.
Try this flavor: Dinosaur Crunch: Vanilla ice cream tinted blue with swirls of fudge and chocolate crunch candies.

• Axel’s Food and Ice Cream (608 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, 429-2229, axelsfoodandicecream.com) offers both premium hard and soft-serve ice cream flavors, with several options for toppings and housemade sundaes.
Try this flavor: Maine Black Bear: Red raspberry ice cream with dark chocolate raspberry truffles.

• Ballard’s Ice Cream, Sandwiches & More (7 Broadway, Concord, 225-5666, ballardsicecream.com) offers 53 different flavors of ice cream, as well as a variety of soy, no-sugar-added, soft-serve, sherbet and sorbet options.
Try this flavor: Midnight Caramel River: Golden vanilla and dark chocolate ice cream with swirls of caramel.

• The Beach Plum (24 Route 125, Epping, 679-3200; 17 Ocean Boulevard, North Hampton, 964-7451; Route 1, Portsmouth, 433-3339) has more than a dozen premium ice cream flavors both hard and soft-serve, and several low-fat and specialty sundae options.
Try this flavor: Chocolate Walnut Fudge: Chocolate ice cream with walnuts and swirls of fudge.

• Beech Hill Farm & Ice Cream Barn (107 Beech Hill Road, Hopkinton, 223-0828, beechhillfarm.com) offers more than 75 different flavors of of ice cream made by Blake’s Creamery and Gifford’s Ice Cream Stand in Maine.
Try this flavor: Jazzberry Java: Espresso ice cream with a raspberry swirl and chocolate-covered coffee beans.

• Beyond Vanilla Ice Cream (16 Main St., Hampstead, 329-5800, facebook.com/beyondvanillaicecream) opened in 2016 as a shop making dozens of its own creative homemade ice cream flavors.
Try this flavor: Speculoos: Cookie butter ice cream swirled with a brown cinnamon spiced sugar.

• The Big 1 (185 Concord St., Nashua, thebig1icecream.com) has been family-owned and -operated for 44 years and serves ice cream produced by Richardson’s in Middleton, Mass.
Try this flavor: Nor’easters: A blend of vanilla, chocolate or twist soft-serve ice cream with a mix of your choice of different toppings, including M&Ms, Oreos, raspberry truffles, peanut butter cups, brownie bits, chocolate-covered pretzels and more.

• Blake’s Restaurant & Ice Cream (353 S. Main St., Manchester, 669-0220; 53 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 627-1110, blakesicecream.com) produces more than 80 different flavors of premium ice cream. It’s also available at Beech Hill Farm and Ice Cream Barn (107 Beech Hill Road, Hopkinton, 223-0828, beechhillfarm.com), Chucksters (9 Bailey Road, Chichester, 798-3555, chuckstersnh.com), Countrybrook Farms Creamery (175 Lowell Road, Hudson, 886-5200, countrybrookfarms.com) and Devriendt Farm Stand (178 S. Mast St., Goffstown, 497-2793, devriendtfarm.com).
Try this flavor: Happy Trails Mix: Vanilla ice cream with a caramel sea salt swirl and a mix of raisins, peanuts, cashews, almonds and M&Ms.

• Bre’s Ice Creamery (259 E. Main St., East Hampstead, 974-2708, bresicecreamery.com) offers dozens of homemade traditional ice cream flavors, toppings and specialty flavors.
Try this flavor: Campfire S’mores: Toasted marshmallow-flavored ice cream with a graham cracker swirl and chocolate chunks.

• The Brick House Drive-In Restaurant (1391 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 622-8091, bhrestaurant.net) offers 28 different flavors of Gifford’s hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream.
Try this flavor: Southern Peach: Peach-based ice cream with peach chunks.

• Center Scoop (17 Chester St., Chester, 887-4544, find them on Facebook) has a wide variety of ice creams, slush, beverages and more, offering different seasonal flavors throughout the year.
Try this flavor: Caramel Cashew Crunch: Vanilla ice cream with a swirl of caramel and cashews.

• Chuckster’s Family Fun Park (9 Bailey Road, Chichester, 798-3555, chuckstersnh.com) offers 36 flavors of Blake’s Creamery ice cream.
Try this flavor: Bear Claw: Dark chocolate ice cream filled with chocolate-coated cashews and swirled with a thick golden caramel.

• Clam Haven Restaurant (94 Rockingham Road, Derry, 434-4679, clamhaven.com)
Try this flavor: Blueberry Oat Crumble: Vanilla ice cream with blueberries, oats and a cinnamon swirl.

• Cowlicks Dairy Bar (4 Dover Point Road, Dover, 742-1230, cowlicksdairybar.com) offers dozens of original flavors of hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, frozen yogurt and more.
Try this flavor: I Scream 4 Cake: Cake batter ice cream with yellow cake pieces, rainbow sprinkles and a blue frosting swirl.

• Countrybrook Farms (175 Lowell Road, Hudson, 886-5200, countrybrookfarms.com) serves dozens of flavors of Blake’s Creamery ice cream.
Try this flavor: Pistachio: Pistachio-flavored ice cream with pistachio pieces.

• Cremeland Drive-In (250 Valley St., Manchester, 669-4430, find them on Facebook) offers dozens of homemade hard-serve and soft-serve ice creams, and also carries frozen yogurt and sherbet made by Blake’s Restaurant & Ice Cream in Manchester.
Try this flavor: Strawberry Heath Bar: Strawberry ice cream with a swirl of fudge and Heath candy bar pieces.

• Devriendt Farm Stand and Ice Cream Shoppe (178 S. Mast St., Goffstown, 497-2793, devriendtfarm.com)
Try this flavor: Mullet Sundae: Peanut butter fudge ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and chunks of Reese’s peanut butter cups.

• Dipsy Doodle Dairy Bar (143 Park St., Northfield, 286-2100, dipsydoodle.com) offers more than a dozen hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream options, as well as several specialty seasonal flavors at any given time of the year.
Try this flavor: Fly Fishing Fudge: Vanilla ice cream with M&M’s, cookie dough bites, chocolate pieces and a fudge swirl.

• Findeisen’s Ice Cream (297 Derry Road, Hudson, 886-9422; 125 S. Broadway, Salem, 898-5411, find them on Facebook) offers more than 40 flavors of ice cream, yogurt, slush, frappes and more.
Try this flavor: Totally Turtle: Vanilla ice cream with a swirl of caramel and cashews.

• Frekeys Dairy Freeze (97 Suncook Valley Road, Chichester, 798-5443, find them on Facebook) offers more than 30 different flavors of Gifford’s hard-serve and soft-serve ice creams, in addition to sorbet, sherbet and frozen yogurt.
Try this flavor: Apple Pie: Apple ice cream with a swirl of apple pie filling and flaky pie crust pieces.

• Funway Park Country Ice Cream (454 Charles Bancroft Highway, Litchfield, 424- 2292, melsfunwaypark.com) has more than 30 different flavors of Gifford’s Ice Cream.
Try this flavor: Peanut Butter Pie: Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and a peanut butter ripple.

• Goldenrod Restaurant Drive-In (1681 Candia Road, Manchester, 623-9469, goldenrodrestaurant.com) offers 36 flavors of homemade hard-serve and soft-serve ice creams.
Try this flavor: Butter Crunch: Butter and maple-flavored ice cream mixed with butter crunch pieces.

• Golick’s Dairy Bar (683 Calef Highway, Barrington, 664-9633; 17 Sawyer Ave., Rochester, 330-3244, golicksdairybar.com) was originally known as the Princess Dairy, serving a few soft-serve flavors. Today, it has expanded to include more than 75 flavors and several specialty options like non-dairy, sugar-free and more.
Try this flavor: Black Magic Cheesecake: Mocha cream cheese cheesecake ice cream swirled with chocolate cookie crumbs.

• Granite State Candy Shoppe (832 Elm St., Manchester, 218-3885; 13 Warren St., Concord, 225-2591, granitestatecandyshoppe.com) has dozens of ice cream flavors and specialty sundae options.
Try this flavor: Chocolate Scooby-Doo: Chocolate ice cream swirled with peanut butter sauce.

• Greaney’s Farm Stand (417 John Stark Highway, Weare, 529-1111, find them on Facebook) has more than two dozens of flavors of hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream.
Try this flavor: Chocolate Moose Tracks: Chocolate ice cream with a swirl of fudge and chocolate peanut butter cups.

• Hayward’s Homemade Ice Cream (7 Daniel Webster Highway, Nashua, 888-4663; 383 Elm St., Milford, 672-8383, haywardsicecream.com) has offered dozens of flavors of homemade hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, sundaes and more since 1940.
Try this flavor: Polar Cave: Vanilla ice cream with a fudge swirl and chocolate caramel cups.

• The Haven Restaurant (272 Calef Highway, Epping, 679-1427, havenfood.com) has more than 20 different flavors from Gifford’s and Richardson’s Ice Cream.
Try this flavor: Cookie Batter Collision: Golden vanilla ice cream with fudge chips and chocolate fudge swirl.

• Hawksie’s Ice Cream Fac-torri (146 Main St., Salem, 890-0471, find them on Facebook) has more than 100 different flavors of hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream, including 80 from Richardson’s.
Try this flavor: Graham Central Station: Graham cracker ice cream with a graham cracker swirl and chocolate-dipped honeycomb pieces.

• Ilsley’s Ice Cream (33 S. Sugar Hill Road, Weare, 529-6455, find them on Facebook) offers more than a dozen homemade traditional and specialty ice cream flavors.
Try this flavor: Grasshopper Pie: Mint ice cream with Oreo cookie chunks and a fudge swirl.

• The Inside Scoop (260 Wallace Road, Bedford, 471-7009, theinsidescoopnh.com) serves Richardson’s Ice Cream and offers several traditional and specialty seasonal flavors.
Try this flavor: Bedford Blast: Your choice of ice cream mixed with two toppings, which include hot fudge, marshmallows, Reese’s peanut butter cups, M&Ms, strawberries, gummy bears and more.

• Izzy’s Frozen Yogurt & Ice Cream (33 Bow St., Portsmouth, 431-1053, izzysfrozenyogurtandicecreamnh.com) has been in business for more than 20 years and offers dozens of flavors of homemade hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream and frozen yogurt.
Try this flavor: Death by Chocolate: Dark chocolate ice cream with a milk chocolate swirl, chocolate chips and chocolate fudge brownies.

• Jake’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream & Bakery (594-2424, jakesoldfashionedicecream.com) is based in Nashua and has products available in several locations in the Granite State, including Amherst, Bedford, Concord, Goffstown, Raymond and others.
Try this flavor: Caramel Assault: Caramel ice cream with dark chocolate and salted caramel swirls.

• Jay Gee’s Ice Cream (327 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-1167, jaygees.com) has more than 60 homemade hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream flavors.
Try this flavor: Rocky Road: Chocolate ice cream with nuts and marshmallows.

• Johnson’s Seafood & Steak (1334 First New Hampshire Turnpike, Northwood, 942-7300, eatatjohnsons.com) serves more than a dozen flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet and sherbert.
Try this flavor: Muddy Boots: Vanilla ice cream with a caramel ripple and brownie bits.

• Jordan’s Ice Creamery (894 Laconia Road, Belmont, 267-1900; 593 Endicott St. North, Laconia, 366-5900, Find them on Facebook) makes more than 350 flavors of specialty ice cream between the two locations.
Try this flavor: Uncomfortable Amount of Chocolate: Chocolate ice cream with chocolate fudge brownies, peanut butter cups and a chocolate cookie swirl.

• Kimball Farm (158 Turnpike Road, Jaffrey, 532-5765, kimballfarm.com) has been offering more than 50 flavors of homemade ice cream since 1939. In addition to its regular flavors, several seasonal flavors are offered at several varying times of the year, as well as sorbet, sherbet, frozen yogurt and sugar-free options.
Try this flavor: Peanut Butter Butterfinger: Peanut butter ice cream mixed with Butterfinger candy bar pieces.

• King Kone (336 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, 420-8312, find them on Facebook) has dozens of different flavors of soft-serve ice cream that are rotated out consistently on a weekly basis. There is the traditional vanilla, chocolate and twist, but other options include strawberry, cake batter, peanut butter, lemon and more in soft-serve form.
Try this flavor: Reese’s Twist: A blend of peanut butter- and chocolate-flavored soft-serve ice creams.

• Lago’s Ice Cream (71 Lafayette Road, Rye, 964-9880, lagosicecream.com) has more than 30 flavors of traditional and specialty hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream, as well as frozen yogurt, sherbet, no-sugar-added options and more.
Try this flavor: Salty Sailor: Salted caramel ice cream with chocolate-covered pretzels.

• Lang’s Ice Cream (510 Pembroke St., Pembroke, 225-7483, find them on Facebook) has more than a dozen traditional flavors of hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream.
Try this flavor: Walnut Fudge: Dark chocolate ice cream with a blend of walnuts.

• Lix Ice Cream Parlor (95 River Road, Hudson, 883-9300; 55 Charles Bancroft Highway, Litchfield, 438-4797, find them on Facebook) offers more than 50 flavors of ice cream, frappes, milkshakes, sundaes and more, and is known for its banana splits and delivering to parts of Hudson, Nashua, and Tyngsboro and North Chelmsford, Mass.
Try this flavor: German Chocolate Cake: Chocolate coconut ice cream with brownies and a caramel swirl.

• Mack’s Apples (230 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, 434-7619, macksapples.com) is an eighth-generation farm run by the Mack family that serves Richardson’s Ice Cream at its ice cream stand.
Try this flavor: Crunch-a-Saurus: Blue vanilla ice cream with pieces of Nestle Crunch bars.

• Memories Ice Cream (95 Exeter Road, Kingston, 642-3737, memoriesicecream.com) is a wholesale and retail ice cream shop that offers more than 35 different flavors of premium hard-serve and soft-serve ice creams, as well as frozen yogurt, sorbet and sherbet.
Try this flavor: Coffee Cookies and Cream: Coffee ice cream mixed with cookies and cream pieces.

• Moo’s Place Homemade Ice Cream (27 Crystal Ave., Derry, 425-0100; 15 Ermer Road, Salem, 898-0199, moosplace.com) has more than a dozen flavors of hard-serve and soft-serve ice creams, as well as various sundae, frozen yogurt and slush options.
Try this flavor: Strawberry Shortcake a la Moo: One scoop of your choice of ice cream, fresh bisquit, strawberries, whipped cream, walnuts and a cherry.

• Peach Tree Farms (88 Brady Ave., Salem, 893-7119, find them on Facebook) has more than 30 different flavors of Richardson’s Ice Cream.
Try this flavor: Coffee Oreo: Coffee flavored ice cream with Oreo cookie pieces swirled in.

• Pete’s Scoop (187 Rockingham Road, Derry, 434-6366, petesscoop.com) has more than 60 flavors of hard-serve ice cream, 95 percent fat-free yogurt, fresh smoothies and more.
Try this flavor: Frozen Pudding: Rum-based ice cream with raisins, pineapples, maraschino cherries, apples and peaches.

• The Puritan Backroom Restaurant (245 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 669-6890, puritanbackroom.com) has more than 30 traditional and specialty homemade ice creams offered in three sizes, as well as options to upgrade your selection to a sundae or a banana split.
Try this flavor: Cherry Seinfeld: Black cherry ice cream with black cherries and chocolate chips.

• Richardson’s Farm (170 Water St., Boscawen, 796-2788, richardsonsfarmnh.com) makes its own super-premium ice cream in a variety of traditional and specialty flavors.
Try this flavor: Butter Rum Toffee: Butter rum-flavored ice cream with butter toffee pieces.

• Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream (209 Route 103, Sunapee, icecreamkidbeck.com) is owned by 10th-generation dairy farmers and offers a wide variety of original hard-serve, soft-serve, dairy-free, sugar-free and low-fat ice cream options.
Try this flavor: Caramel Cashew Chocolate Chip: Caramel-flavored ice cream with chunks of Belcolade chocolate and roasted cashew pieces.

• Stillwells Ice Cream (160 Plaistow Road, Plaistow; NH-27, Raymond, 382-5655, Find them on Facebook)
Try this flavor: Blueberry Pie: Vanilla ice cream with a blueberry swirl.

• Twin Lanterns Dairy Bar (239 Amesbury Road, Kensington, 394-7021, find them on Facebook) offers dozens of flavors of traditional and specialty hard-serve and soft-serve ice cream.
Try this flavor: Cookie Monster: Vanilla ice cream tinted blue with chocolate chip cookie pieces and chocolate chips.

• The Velvet Moose Ice Cream Shoppe (25 E. Main St., Warner, 456-2511, find them on Facebook) has 32 flavors of ice cream and also offers frappes, sundaes, banana splits and more.
Try this flavor: Whoopie Pie: Vanilla ice cream with chunks of homemade whoopie pie broken into it.