Just how do we come up with the ice cream flavors for the menu at Tin Pot Creamery? That, my friends, is a hard question to answer — no two flavors start from the same place, so I will do a series on the topic starting with Strawberry Shortcake ice cream. First, let me explain that as a pastry chef, my brain is calibrated to be thinking about different flavor combinations, like ALL the time. If you catch me in a daydream, chances are that it’s about ice cream flavors. It can verge on obsessional, and I am thankful that my husband finds it endearing…
Sometimes, I get an idea for a flavor because I’m feeling particularly nostalgic about my childhood — Strawberry Shortcake was born this way, but probably not how you’d imagine. When I was about 5 years old, I developed an intense fascination with the Strawberry Shortcake cartoon character. Along with my love for the cartoon came a curiosity about the dessert with the eponymous name. I never actually ate the strawberry shortcake dessert until I was much older, but as a child I figured strawberry ice cream was close enough. So I ate it often and imagined I was Strawberry Shortcake (the cartoon). Let’s just say I was a creative child.
As an adult, I now have the skills to make strawberry shortcake as often as I please, but it feels like something is missing to me if there isn’t ice cream involved. And so, I created TPC’s take on strawberry shortcake by turning into an ice cream. It all starts with beautiful organic strawberries that I make a jam out of with a little balsamic vinegar for some oomph. Next, I blend the jam into a sweet cream base made with milk, cream, eggs and a splash of buttermilk. The shortcake part of the equation reveals itself as a rich and buttery shortbread. I layer the two together and there you have it, Strawberry Shortcake ice cream is born.