Fun With Carbs

Moo.

For those unfamiliar with Connecticut, the town where my husband and I live, Enfield, is a bizarre blend of contrasts. While certain sections of town are overdeveloped with chain restaurants and big-box stores, it also retains much of its beautiful working farmland. The majority of the farms grow tobacco, but several focus on dairy products.

We’ve been hearing for years that one of these farms, Powder Hill, was home to Collins Creamery. And as an entertainment website producer at the Hartford Courant, I kept seeing Collins come up in the “best ice cream” polls and forums. It was always on my local bucket list of places to visit.

Proving that some of the best experiences stem from total spontaneity, we ended up at Collins for a scoop this afternoon after our pizza lunch in bordering East Windsor. Located among bucolic little residential neighborhoods, the little white building atop Powder Hill is surrounded by rolling green grass and picnic tables on gravel lots.

Late-afternoon sundae? Why not.

Collins offers about 20 daily flavors of farm-fresh ice cream, with a handful of low-fat, sugar-free, sorbet and yogurt options. You can get your scoops in a waffle cone, sundae, milkshake, ice cream soda or float, or by the half-gallon, cake or pie.

If you can’t choose just one flavor, consider the 4-scoop sampler dish for $5. Rob and I picked out two apiece: white chocolate and cake & ice cream for me, strawberry and chocolate chip cookie dough for him.  The boat-shaped sampler dish looked like it was used to handling banana splits.

(As we waited for our treat, I couldn’t help but overhear the kids in line behind us. A little girl, probably no older than five, started with the quivering lip when she realized “cake and ice cream” was not “cake batter.” “You’re not really going to cry over ice cream?” her mother snapped. Ouch.)

From left: cookie dough, white chocolate, cake & ice cream and strawberry

Armed with two spoons, we commandeered a picnic table and dug in. Ohhhh, yeah. There’s ice cream, and then there’s ice cream made just steps from its source. Real, fresh cream and ingredients. The white chocolate flavor had unexpected chips of white chocolate candy. The cookie dough and cake & ice cream varieties were pure sugary indulgence.

The winner for me, surprisingly, was the strawberry. Nothing fake or artificial about this wholesome, naturally fruity flavor. It was light and refreshing, yet sweetly creamy.

My only regret? That I’d added something pure chocolate into the mix. Guess we’ll just have to go back for that…and the Heath Bar…and the peanut butter cup…and the mint cookies and cream…

I’m still tickled that this adorable little creamery is but ten minutes from our house. Now if only they made cheese.