The muggy summer afternoon snapshot features a back seat crammed with bathing-suit clad siblings united in a desperate plea: “Dairy Queen, please!”
Going out for ice cream as a kid was great, and my town was home to some fine scoop shops, but Dairy Queen occupied a separate category of chill pleasure, from Mr. Misty floats to banana splits. Soft serve — with its silky texture and slightly warmer serving temperature — was superb.
Free rainbow sprinkles upped the ante, but I was there for the swirled ice cream dipped in a dark chocolate pool to create an instant hard shell. The first taste of a DQ dipped cone ranks right up there with buttered corn, field tomatoes and ripe peaches on the summer palate playlist.
Taste bud time travel
A food critic’s life has introduced me to the joys of gelato, mochi, sorbet, kulfi, ices and the whole artisan ice cream universe.
But, one recent sweaty Boulder afternoon, I instinctively turned toward the Dairy Queen sign, memory winning over any gourmet pretensions.
Stepping into that time warp again, I could have ordered a cherry-dipped or churros-dipped soft serve cone, but chocolate dipped won the day.
As I sat down to snap a cell phone portrait, a small boy walked into Dairy Queen with an older relative. He stopped and gaped wide-eyed at my large, chocolate-dipped cone.
“I want what he has,” he said.
I know exactly how that kid feels. Ice cream envy is a real thing.
The first bite into the top of the cone was a perfect flashback, the familiar crack of the thin chocolate shell and the first lick of that super-creamy soft-serve.
But halfway through the cone I started noticing that the “chocolate” was not especially chocolate-y. The sweet, waxy stuff is the same as seasonal chocolate coins, hollow Santa Clauses and Easter bunnies.
Soft serve ice cream is nostalgic, but pretty bland. By the time I bit into the last of the single-note cake cone and melted ice cream, a thought-balloon appeared above my head:
“How hard could it be to make something tastier?”
DQ Dipped Doppelgänger
Attempts have been made to bring the chocolate-dipped experience into home kitchens, including Smucker’s Magic Shell. Unfortunately, it tastes the same as the DQ dip. For an education, read the ingredients on the side of the bottle.
After a little research and experimentation, I discovered it is surprisingly easy to make chocolate-dipped ice cream that will earn you bonus points at family gatherings. The better the chocolate and ice cream, the tastier and more impressive the results will be.
Start by melting roughly 1 and one-quarter cups of finely chopped (dark, milk or white) chocolate in a glass or metal bowl over a pan of simmering water. I used Kroger-brand organic 70% dark chocolate bars, on sale at King Soopers. Avoid using the microwave. Add about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil to the liquified chocolate. Grapeseed or another flavorless oil can be substituted. Add a little more oil if it is too thick to dip. Other ingredients can be added to the chocolate including chopped freeze-dried strawberries or toasted nuts.
For the ice cream, you could get all DYI and make your own. Just Google “no-churn ice cream.” I scooped local Sweet Cow Ozo Coffee ice cream.
To dip the scoops, soften the ice cream, scoop, and then refreeze the scoops — make sure they’re frozen hard. To dip, use a fork to grab the scoop and dunk it in the chocolate. Then pop it in a cone. For extra oomph, dip the cone in the chocolate first.
If you spoon the coating over a scoop in a bowl, you can add grated chocolate, whipped cream, cherries, fresh pineapple and bananas for a banana split effect.
Taste of the Week: Doug’s Deliciousness
After one visit with friends, I’ve added Doug’s Day Diner (2574 Baseline Road) to my list of Boulder’s best brunch destinations. The sunny spot in Basemar Center takes a made-from-scratch approach to everything on the menu, including some excellent biscuits — dense and chewy, not fluffy — served griddled with mango or blueberry jam. My huevos rancheros, served Christmas-style (red and green chile sauces), was a substantial platter of eggs over corn tortillas with cheese, served alongside hash browns, refried beans and a flour tortilla.
It’s worth dining at Doug’s just for a side order of brick-red chile sauce as a dip for the thick bacon strips. The menu at Doug’s Day Diner also features eggs Benedicts, burritos, pancakes and papas: crispy hash browns smothered in cheese, red or green chile or gravy, and meats like carne asada.
And the small 99-cent mimosa (with meal) was just right for a birthday toast.
Local Food News: Ice Cream Heaven
- In the dining world, a restaurant that stays open five years is a rarity. Chautauqua Dining Hall has been serving locals and visitors since July 4, 1998. (See BW’s feature on Chautauqua’s 125th Birthday Bash.)
- The 2023 Boulder County Fair (9595 Nelson Road, Longmont) will once again feature competitions for home baking, cheesemaking and other categories. Enter by July 13.
- The Flagstaff House Restaurant (1138 Flagstaff Road, Boulder) has received the 2023 Wine Spectator Grand Award for its wine cellar and service as it has annually since 1983. Only 93 eateries worldwide earned the award this year.
- Coming soon: Heaven Artisan Creamery, 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder.
- Plan ahead: Festival del Mole, July 22 at Denver’s Cultura Chocolate (3742 Morrison Road) will feature more than 30 varieties of the complex Mexican sauce plus artisans and performances.
Nibbles Index: Bananas Appeal
What is the top-selling grocery product for the past decade, according to Instacart? It’s bananas, and Instacart claims to have delivered 1 billion of them. Almost 40% of its banana orders included ripeness instructions. No details from Instacart about whether it delivered on those requests for ripe, ready-to-eat bananas.
