Our Fave Bloggers Talk Ice Cream (and Boy, Do They Have Opinions)

This week, Yahoo Food is celebrating America’s favorite dessert with a series of profiles, recipes and photo galleries all dedicated to the creamy, delicious dessert. Check out our Ice Cream page for complete coverage!

Photo: Christian Schuster/StockFood

There are no wallflowers when it comes to ice cream. Most everyone with a pulse reacts in predictable fashion when confronted by a two-scoop cone with sweet trails of cream dribbling down the sides: eyes glaze over, mouths salivate, and tongues wriggle in anticipation. Food bloggers are no exception.

After asking Americans what their ice cream preferences are, we decided to turn to some experts, too. We asked two dozen of our favorites (many of them former Yahoo Food Bloggers of the Week) to weigh in the subject, and they dished on everything from their favorite all-time flavors to where they fall on the divisive cup vs. cone debate.

Here’s what they had to say:

Love mint chocolate chip as much as our bloggers do? Photo: Arce Bill

Favorite ice cream flavor:

Mint chocolate chip stood out as a favorite flavor of multiple bloggers (Elizabeth Stark of Brooklyn Supper, the actress Ali Larter, Matt Robinson of Real Food by Dad, and Laura Wright of The First Mess) as did pistachio (Meike Peters of eat in my kitchen, Sydney Kramer of The Crepes of Wrath, and Azita Mehran of Turmeric & Saffron) but other responses were all over the map. And with good reason; this bunch has sampled a good many scoops, which makes it hard to choose just one.

Frances Boswell of Kitchen Repertoire perhaps put it best in her response: “Isn’t that sort of like choosing between your children? The one I am with.”

Where do you fall in the cup vs. cone debate? Photo: Major Tanja

Cup vs. cone:

On this, the bloggers were split nearly down the line. Those in camp cone were passionate on the subject (“If you’re going to go for dessert, might as well do it right,” said Brooke Conroy Bass of Chocolate & Marrow), while the pro-cup crowd seemed motivated by childhood trauma.

Well, at least Robyn Burgess of Runaway Apricot was: “Maybe 15 years ago on a trip to Rehoboth Beach, Del., I got the most incredible, massive raspberry cheesecake ice cream cone. Twenty licks into the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, the whole scoop fell to the ground with the empty cone still in my hand. I couldn’t go back for more. And all these years later it still brings a tear to my eye.”

Dan Whalen of The Food in My Beard’s choco tacos. Photo: Dan Whalen

Proudest ice cream creation:

We opened a can of worms with this one! Notable melty masterpieces ran the gamut, but here are some of our favorites: Homemade choco tacos by Dan Whalen of The Food in My Beard; rose petal jam ice cream by Prerna Singh of Indian Simmer; sweet potato ice cream by Nik Sharma of A Brown Table; and peaches, cream, and white tea popsicles from Christine Arel of No Gojis, No Glory.

The one trend we noticed? Booze! Take a gander at these tipsy triumphs: Brooklyn Supper’s bourbon ice cream; The Crepes of Wrath’s Brooklyn-inspired bourbon shake; the mixed berry port cobbler ice cream by Naomi Robinson of Bakers Royale; Vianney Rodriguez of Sweet Life’s mango margarita ice cream; and Sarah Leung of The Woks of Life’s bourbon cherry pie ice cream.

Does your freezer look like this? Photo: Rene Schwietzke/Flickr

Ice cream-eating frequency:

Though we may like to imagine otherwise, most food bloggers don’t scarf down a pint of ice cream every day. However, most admit to rooting around in their freezer at least twice a week in search of a frozen fix. Jodi Moreno of What’s Cooking Good Looking indulges even more than that: “5-7 days a week,” she told us. Granted, Moreno tends to go for the dairy-free stuff and tops it with wholesome toasted coconut, so maybe that’s her secret to a balanced diet.

Favorite ice cream brands:

Start making your grocery list now, because these taste makers know good ice cream when they taste it. Their faves include Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, the dairy-free brands So Delicious and Coconut Bliss, gelato purveyor Grom, and pints from California shops Carmela, Humphry Slocombe, Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, and Smitten. Oregon shops Salt & Straw and Tillamook also made the cut, as did New York City favorite Ample Hills Creamery. Of course, the bloggers agree: There’s always room Ben & Jerry’s.

A chocolatey number from Jeni’s Photo: jenisicecreams/Instagram

Ice cream vs. gelato:

On this, the bloggers spoke with one voice. Their resounding answer? Ice cream! The dissenting opinion wasn’t even all that dissenting. “With a gun to my head, gelato,” said Chris Nordquist of Domestic Daddy. “But why choose?” True words, Chris. True words.

Regular scoop vs. soft-serve:

Again, our bloggers did not dither. Regular scoop, they nearly all responded (with exclamation points). The one exception, according to Savory Simple blogger Jennifer Farley? “Soft serve on the boardwalk is the only way to go,” she told us. We’ll allow it.

Weirdest ice cream flavor you’re gaga for:

Normally, we’d raise our eyebrows if someone suggested some of these flavors to us, but we trust our bloggers’ palates. Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby Cakes swears by her sweet potato ice cream, while The Crepes of Wrath’s Sydney Kramer promises that the chorizo-caramel ice cream from New York City ice cream parlor OddFellows isn’t as gross as it sounds. But we’re just plain intrigued by Mandy Lee of Lady and Pups’ black sesame mochi ice cream.

Hungry for ice cream yet? Us, too.

More from Yahoo Food’s Ice Cream Week:

How Much Does America Love Ice Cream? We Have the Scoop

Canine-Friendly Ice Creams For the Dog Days of Summer

This State Is More Obsessed With Ice Cream Than All the Rest