Ben & Jerry's "Do the World a Flavor" Contest

Seriously, with the sunshiney months upon us, ice cream events are starting to pop up all over!

You've got a couple of weeks for this one...Ben & Jerry's is sponsoring another flavor contest: Do the World a Flavor. Like flavor contests past, you have to use their fun site to choose a base, chunks, a swirl, and a name (and design the packaging if so inclined) and you're done! Oh, that is until you win -- then we want a full report!

Seventeen countries are participating in this contest. They are: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom ("UK") and the United States.

Prizes are as follows (text below is directly from Ben & Jerry's Official Rules):

Second Prizes: One (1) per country (17 total): Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Prize awarded in the form of 12 Ben & Jerry's coupons each good for 1 pint of ice cream.
First Prizes: One (1) per country (17 total): A trip for the winner to the Dominican Republic. Trip includes round trip coach airfare for one (including applicable sales and airport taxes) from internal airport nearest winners home and hotel for 6 days. Trip also includes three (3) meals per day for six (6) days and ground transportation.
Grand Prize: One (1) Grand Prize winner awarded to one of the First Prize winners. The winner's flavor launched as the 2010 global flavor. Flavor will be produced as a pint for Europe and Turkey and as a limited Edition Scoop Shop Flavor for US, Mexico, HK and Singapore. Grand Prize has no monetary value.

All this is being done to promote their fair trade efforts, for which we give a big thumbs up. Visit us in coming weeks for future fair trade ice cream posts!

Ice Cream Cupcake Roundup 2009: Just a Sampling

So I thought to inspire you all in the Ice Cream Cupcake Roundup 2009, I would make a couple ice cream cupcakes...I tried two. One was completely from scratch, and the other, well, wasn't. It was all mix and ice cream in a carton. That's the one I am going to post about today -- just so you know that these do not have to be completely from scratch. My sister Arianna (who is also the lovely photographer -- except for the blurry photo, that's probably mine!) and I made these a couple of weeks ago.

These Funfetti© cupcakes were sweet sweet sweet -- just like we like 'em!

So basically, we made the Funfetti cake according the instructions on the box. We filled the liners (which we had placed in tins) about 1/4 to 1/2 way, which was too much and I needed to scoop out some of the cake in the end...so save yourself the extra scooping step and don't put too much -- you don't want the cake to come up too high and have no room for the ice cream!!! You'll probably want to make some full sized cupcakes (just to frost, no ice cream -- I know! -- the horror!) as well, because with the little bit of batter you use in each cup, you'll be filling and baking cupcake tins all day otherwise!

Cook them accordingly, but check them a bit early -- they might be ready sooner than later because of the little bit of cake.

Leave them in the tins to cool. Once cooled, add a nice layer of slightly softened Turkey Hill (yay Turkey Hill and their awesome blog!) Party Cake ice cream, and put the cakes directly into the freezer to harden.

Once hard, frost with Funfetti frosting (we used pink) and of course, add the sprinkles (oh! -- in these photos we actually used sprinkles from my mom's cabinet because she wanted to use them up)! Note: the frosting is kind of hard to slather on the ice cream, so you will really have to slather a lot on -- what a shame...or not! Eat them right away or refreeze until you can't wait any longer to eat them!

We can't wait to see your creations by May 31!

(Sorry for the blurriness of the last photo. I wanted you to get the full effect, but once I realized it was blurry, the cupcakes were long gone!)

SpiceDish Saturday {May}: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

We love us some SpiceDish Saturdays and we are so happy it's that time of month! I am especially excited for this one because my strawberries are growing like weeds (um, yeah...) and flowering like crazy. So, if Ernie the dog doesn't eat them, I'll have to make some of this when our strawberries start to appear...Thanks EB!

Okay folks, so it’s the beginning of strawberry season around these parts and I’m a sucker for ‘em. I always have been. I was not a Barbie girl. I was a Strawberry Shortcake girl. There’s just something about those little, dimple covered bombs of deliciousness. This recipe highlights the first, sweet berries of the season and is just the right balance of tart to that sweet.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

1 lb organic strawberries, chopped into small pieces
1 cup of sugar
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
The zest of 1 lemon
1 cup cream-top whole milk plain yogurt

Cover the strawberries with the sugar, add the lemon juice and the lemon zest. Stir well. Let sit for about 30-45 minutes. Squish the mixture with a potato masher until it resembles jam. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Stir in the yogurt and mix well. Freeze according to your mixer’s directions.

Cabot's (Newtonville, MA) 40th Anniversary Flavor Contest

I guess it's that time of year for ice cream contests...though I think this one has been going on for quite a while, I just haven't posted about it yet...Bad B!

Cabot's Ice Cream and Restaurant in Newtonville, Massachusetts* is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an super fun contest with awesome prizes. Though I can't be sure what happens if you win out of state and the prizes aren't that practical for you...maybe you have a friend or a favorite blogger in the area who you could pass our winnings along to?

The game plan is simple: visit the site, fill out your info, and create a new flavor. (You might want to submit that one you sent to the Ben and Jerry's flavor contest a couple of years ago but didn't win...these guys over at Cabot's may have better taste to know that you are a real winner.) Do this by July 20th. And let us know if you are a winner come July 25th!

Prizes? Let's not forget the prizes...

First prize is having your flavor created as a signature flavor at Cabot's (priceless!), a six month supply of your flavor AND a $100.00 gift certificate to Cabot's.

Second prize is a $50.00 gift certificate to Cabot's and the possible use of your flavor creation in the future.

Third prize is a $25.00 gift certificate to Cabot's.

Get thinking and submit your best idea to Cabot's, because there is only one entry per person.

*Here's an irrelevant but interesting factoid I learned on Wikipedia when linking to the Newtonville entry: "Newtonville's Shaw's Supermarket, formerly Star Market, was one of the first companies in the country to buy airspace for construction; the supermarket straddles the Mass Pike." (Of course I knew it straddles the Mass Pike as I have driven under it countless times and even visited it once with my dear friend Lisa, but I never knew it was a pioneer in airspace construction. Hm. The things you learn on the internet.)

Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream Challenge

Yah for Thin Mints and Peanut Butter Patties and yahoo for putting them in ice cream! What fun I recently stumbled upon at our local creamery, Lizzy & the Enchanted Creamery in Cumberland RI. Local girl scout troops each were invited to the back end operations of this shop to learn how to make ice cream with their prized possessions, the infamous Girl Scout cookie, and to then be engaged in a fun contest against eachother for a winning flavor. Where was this fun idea when I was a proud Brownie eons ago!

So the basic idea was that each troop had to come up with their creative concoction that must contain Girl Scout cookies and to then make tub fulls to compete against others. The public was then invited to come and buy a scoop, or two, or three of their favorite flavors and the flavor that had the most gone at the end of the day were the lucky winners whose flavor was placed on Lizzy's menu as the prestiged "Flavor of the Month". How fun!

So as we headed into the shop the girls were outside in full force promoting their flavors with flyers and just creating a buzz....true marketers in the making! And then the hard decision happened as we cruised inside and saw all the options. What to choose...something with my obvious favorite Thin Mint cookies or go for something different? As usual I always have to have two scoops of different kinds cause I feel that if I get only one I am missing out on another. This way there is no disappointment or its just a good excuse to have more!

My final decision...scoop #1 was Brownie Power Troop 218 which was chocolate and vanilla ice cream with Thin Mint and Thanks-A-Lots mixed in and scoop #2 was Caramel Cookie Explosion Sundae which was a mix of caramel ice cream with Caramel Delights, Shortbreads, and fudge swirl. Wow....lots of flavors in one dish! Both were super creamy and had lots going on...almost too much to truly enjoy a single flavor but then again lots to really savor..who can complain! I think my only criticism was that the caramel flavor of the ice cream almost tasted more like maple for some reason but it was good regardless. My friend chose the MVPeanut Butter Explosion which was vanilla ice cream with Peanut Butter Patties and fudge swirl. It was good but they were a bit stingy on the cookies which were the most enticing part so it seemed more like fudge swirl. But hey, they are a bunch of 10 year olds just learning the tricks of the trade so I give them all high fives for coming up with some creative flavors and for just having fun doing it.

In all what a great idea to teach these girls the value of good ideas, good business, marketing, entrepeneurship, and some friendly competition at such a young age....oh and how to make ice cream too of course! And even better that I got to benefit from it all!

Sadly enough the Girl Scout cookie season has ended but I luckily purchased a few boxes that they were also selling and have them stashed away to make some ice cream with so stay tuned for my future flavor of the month.