Ample Hills Creamery

Brooklyn is poppin', you guys.  Not only is it my home borough, but it is the site of an ice cream parlor that is at the forefront of all foodies' to-eat lists.  Also, my coworker and dear friend's son works there.  Welcome to Ample Hills Creamery!

Ample Hills Creamery, before you get R-rated, gets its name from Walt Whitman: "I too lived.  Brooklyn of ample hills was mine."  It is located in the beautiful neighborhood of Park Slope/Prospect Heights and attracts a diverse community of ice cream eaters: people of all backgrounds and ranging all ages.  I kid you not, a young family even brought a few-weeks old infant when we were there.  The store is colorful, cozy, and comfortable.  The flavors of ice cream, however, are far from just comfortable.  They are bold, I'm telling you.

Ample Hills is famous for a couple of outlandish ice creams, including Maple Bacon and Salted Crack Caramel.  If you plan on visiting, consult their website beforehand because they tell you what flavors have already run out for the day.  My coworker's son works the back of the house, churning up ice cream ingredients.  Apparently some flavors are really popular and you practically have to be there at opening time to get your hands on them!

I tried a bit of Salted Crack Caramel and nearly had my head blown off.  My little spoon sample contained a chunk of caramel neatly in the center.  Naturally, you get the sticky sweetness of the caramel, but it's also offset with the taste of salt hanging over, like the haze over New York City in the summers.  I'm not just trying to be poetic here; I actually felt like my tongue was tasting things in different physical layers of space.  It was weird, it was trippy, it was delicious.  We were warned, however, that Salted Crack Caramel is not a flavor to be had in a large quantity for fear of hyperactivity or diabetes.  (p.s. HI LAURA!)

For my dessert proper, I had the Rasberry Blondie, which is a white chocolate ice cream base with raspberry preserves swirled throughout and studded with blondies (the vanilla version of brownies).  Oh goodness gracious, it was amazing.  It was enormously sweet, but just the perfect thing for my tastebuds after dinner.

One day, I think I will make it a mission to try every flavor at Ample Hills Creamery.