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| The Hook - Burnt Sugar Ice Cream with Housemade Stroopwafels and Chunks of Salted Fudge |
The next pint in my "Taste of New York 4-Pack" from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery is called The Hook. This is the last pint which will create a new review because the last pint in my shipment is one I have already written about -- the famous It Came From Gowanus. Today pint, The Hook, is normally only available at their Red Hook Factory and scoop shop in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn. I actually visited this scoop shop last year when I was in New York for Thanksgiving. It was pretty quiet there on a winter weekend -- just big windows that let you peer inside to see idle machines. I would not make a special trip just to see the factory unless there is some sort of pre-arranged tour, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood or if you can find an excuse to go to the large Fairway Market across the street, then by all means stop by.
This flavor is a burnt sugar ice cream with stroopwafel and salted fudge mix-ins. Burnt sugar is the hottest the candy temperature scale -- past caramels, nougats, caramels and toffees. I found an interesting article about burnt sugar here. Stroopwafels are thin Dutch cookies pressed with special waffle iron. They are pronounced "strope-vah-ful" -- I like how the Dutch use two o's to represent the long-o sound. That actually makes a lot of sense! I did have the chance to try a scoop of this flavor last year and I am anxious to try a full pint so I can write a proper review.
Opening the lid, the burnt sugar base is a creamy-beige color. It resembles the color of a coffee base or a brown sugar base. I see a few chunks of fudge with smaller speckling of chocolate as well. Digging in, the base has an interesting flavor. It is sort of like brown sugar, but not exactly. Ample Hills has several dark brown, brown or burnt sugar bases. They could have just used the same one for each, but they decided to give each flavor a special twist. This base is more neutral than the two linked before. It's not as aromatic as the brown sugar in their oatmeal flavor or as dark and 'toasted' as the base in their butter pecan flavor. That brings out more of the flavor of the mix-ins. The salted fudge is excellent. The chunks were relatively large, very chocolatey and enough salt for me to notice but not too much. I did not find as many stroopwafels as I expected -- perhaps that varies from batch to batch? -- but when I did encounter them they were delicious. They were crispy crunchy with a nice dash of cinnamon. They would actually make a pretty good cone. I wonder if a cone made with stroopwafel batter would be strong enough to hold scoops of ice cream?
This is a delicious pint of ice cream from Ample Hills. The salted fudge is the clear star of the show. The stroopwafels were good, too, but I wish there were slightly more of them. If you are in the Red Hook scoop shop, check this one out.
This flavor is a burnt sugar ice cream with stroopwafel and salted fudge mix-ins. Burnt sugar is the hottest the candy temperature scale -- past caramels, nougats, caramels and toffees. I found an interesting article about burnt sugar here. Stroopwafels are thin Dutch cookies pressed with special waffle iron. They are pronounced "strope-vah-ful" -- I like how the Dutch use two o's to represent the long-o sound. That actually makes a lot of sense! I did have the chance to try a scoop of this flavor last year and I am anxious to try a full pint so I can write a proper review.
Opening the lid, the burnt sugar base is a creamy-beige color. It resembles the color of a coffee base or a brown sugar base. I see a few chunks of fudge with smaller speckling of chocolate as well. Digging in, the base has an interesting flavor. It is sort of like brown sugar, but not exactly. Ample Hills has several dark brown, brown or burnt sugar bases. They could have just used the same one for each, but they decided to give each flavor a special twist. This base is more neutral than the two linked before. It's not as aromatic as the brown sugar in their oatmeal flavor or as dark and 'toasted' as the base in their butter pecan flavor. That brings out more of the flavor of the mix-ins. The salted fudge is excellent. The chunks were relatively large, very chocolatey and enough salt for me to notice but not too much. I did not find as many stroopwafels as I expected -- perhaps that varies from batch to batch? -- but when I did encounter them they were delicious. They were crispy crunchy with a nice dash of cinnamon. They would actually make a pretty good cone. I wonder if a cone made with stroopwafel batter would be strong enough to hold scoops of ice cream?
This is a delicious pint of ice cream from Ample Hills. The salted fudge is the clear star of the show. The stroopwafels were good, too, but I wish there were slightly more of them. If you are in the Red Hook scoop shop, check this one out.
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