Cold Stone Creamery, a “super-premium” ice cream shop with a unique take on creating customer-inspired desserts, just opened a location in Brazil. This is the 20th country worldwide to get a Creamery, joining Egypt, Japan, Cyprus, and Mexico among others. Ice cream enthusiasts all over the world enjoy walking into this little store, picking out their favorite ice cream, and then making it their own with a nearly endless list of possible mix-ins. The locations experience a high rate of return visits, as customers realize that their next creation might be even better than the one they just had! The most recognizable element behind the counter at Cold Stone is—well—a cold stone. The big, heavy granite slab frozen from beneath is the key to what the company’s founders believe is the perfect mix-in ice cream dessert. You see, if you mix ingredients in as part of the ice cream making process, you end up with frozen bits of nuts, candy, fruit, or whatever you threw in. That’s fine for some mix-ins, but others could break your teeth if they freeze! On the other hand, if you sprinkle everything on top of a scoop of ice cream, you don’t get it spread around evenly.

The frozen stone allows the ice cream artist to mix in whatever you choose, spreading out the ice cream and folding in the mix-in without the ice cream melting. Scrape it off the stone, put it back into the dish or cone, and you’ve got a perfectly mixed, perfectly frozen dessert.

Cold Stone Creamery gives you a lot of tempting choices to use as an ice cream base. From standards like chocolate to seasonal treats like pumpkin, picking a flavor is your first difficult but extremely enjoyable task. Next comes your mix-in selection. You have access to all the established favorites: almonds, chocolate chips, candy bars, blueberries, and much more. But check out this list as well: Apple pie filling; yellow cake; graham cracker pie crust; and peanut butter. Adding to the fun, your local Creamery will probably have even more local ingredients to choose from.

To find out more about Cold Stone Creamery, and to discover a secret about dropping tips in the jar on the counter, take a look at our web page dedicated to this one-of-a-kind ice cream shop. Then begin planning your next masterpiece—ice cream tonight, anyone?
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