Gift Ideas For Ice Cream Lovers

Gift Ideas That Will Make Any Ice Cream Lover Very Jolly This Winter | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019 labonnehonte.com }

Just a quick note:

I am not being paid by any of the companies I mention in this article. These are products and items I genuinely find fantastic help around the kitchen!

Terres de Rêves collection by Anita le Grelle

{ 1. Clayware Dishes }

Anyone who cooks or hosts will appreciate a fresh batch of serving dishes to present their hard-won creations on. They can be as fancy or as goofy as the person you’re buying for… and they don’t have to match! Mix-and-match serving ware is very popular for its non-fuss charm. For really beautiful clayware dishes, I love Belgian sculpter-cum-designer Anita Le Grelle’s pure creations. Her earthy dishes are unassuming with an edge of artsy, giving any scoop of vanilla a sense of style without any fuss.

{ 2. STAUB Spatulas & Spoons }

This French/Alsatian crafter is known world-wide for their smartly-designed cast iron cocottes. But for an ice cream maker, their spatulas are the real draw as well. STAUB spatulas’ and spoons’ smart design not only makes stirring a little more sensible for the wrist, they also look quite nice even when left laying on the kitchen island. Their silky olive wood handles are warm and pleasant to hold and won’t transfer the heat of your palm into your cooling ice cream custard. The silicon heads are heat resistant and designed to make stirring and scraping every inch (or centimeter) of your ice cream chef’s cooking dish a cinch. That said, spatulas from any respectable brand are a welcome sight for the constant cook.

The Perfect Gift Idea for the Ice Cream Lover in Your Life | Professional Grade Ice Cream Scoop | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019 labonnehonte.com }

{ 3. Professional Grade Scoops }

After all that ice cream stirring (and recipe-typing in my case) sore wrists and elbows can make scooping a cold pint of ice cream quite a pain. Give the ice cream chef in your life a sturdy, professional grade ice cream scoop to make serving their creations a little easier. Although I love the solid body scoops from Zeroll, there is definitely something to be said for the ease a professional-grade spring-loaded scoop can offer as well. Just make sure it’s a sturdy one!

{ 4. Wrap Around Half Apron }

I love a good apron collection. So many good memories and styles! But, while my grandmother’s apron makes me feel a connection to her while I’m cooking, sometimes the poor heirloom needs a rest. Rough Linen’s apron collection has caught my eye. Their designs are well cut, meaning you won’t look like a frump, and come in an array of pleasant colors. The Orkney Linen Half Apron is a current favorite since it gives both men and women look a classic look in the kitchen, but at 50$ a pop it can be quite pricey. Check out Etsy’s aprons for a wider range of pricing and styles. Ukranian crafter “Yulia’s” linen half aprons are some of my favorites.

The Perfect Gift Idea for the Ice Cream Lover in Your Life |Kintsugi Food Safe Repair Kit | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019 labonnehonte.com }

{ 5. Kintsugi Food-Safe Repairing Kit }

For many home cooks, a beloved plate that breaks can be a sad moment, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the line. Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of rejoining broken shards of pottery, ceramics, and porcelain using a lacquer that has been dusted (or mixed) with a precious metal such as gold, silver, or platinum. The re-formed dishes symbolize the embrace of imperfection and impermanence as integral parts of nature. Although the dishes will never be dishwasher or microwave safe, an authentic food-safe Kintsugi kit will allow your ice cream chef to bring the broken pieces of their serving dishes back together… perhaps in time for the new year celebrations?

{ Please note that not all Kintsugi kits or workshops provide food-safe options. Only buy low-allergic urushi lacquer and true gold/platinum/silver pigments for any Kintsugi repairs that you intend to eat from }

The Perfect Gift Idea for the Ice Cream Lover in Your Life | Immersion Blender | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019 labonnehonte.com }

{ 6. Immersion Blender AKA the Wand or Stick Blender }

Ice cream cooks often find themselves in need of a blender to achieve that perfect ice cream consistency. Since no cook ever said, “the more dishes I have to wash later, the better!” an easy-to-use immersion blender will save your favorite ice cream chef a good deal of time by not having to wash all the components of a normal freestanding blender. The good news is that immersion blenders are normally more affordable than a freestanding blender and good one will be useful well beyond the world of ice cream making. They can be applied in all sorts of cooking from pureeing soups to homemade almond milk! I have a Moulinex Quickchef 800w which has served me well, but I’m not sure they sell them in North America. Look for the best deals available to you!

{ 7. Fabbri Amarena Cherries … or Really Any Specialty Garnishes }

Who doesn’t love the little touches that specialty garnishes bring to the table? They can add a luxurious gourmet flair to otherwise quotidian recipes. Unfortunately, those cool specialty products don’t come cheap and can easily put a foodie in the red. Drop by a specialty food store or go down the international aisle at your local grocery to throw together a few delicacies as a present. Keep in mind the flavors your favorite cook loves, or try to find something that will introduce new flavors to their palate. When I travel, I always keep an eye out for interesting regional treats that will add dimension (flavor, texture, color) to my dishes. Interesting containers are a plus!

{ 8. Insulated Glide-a-scoop Ice Cream Tub }

A good deal of an ice cream’s life is spent in the freezer… a notoriously harsh environment that can cause ice crystals, freezer burn, or mixed smells. With an insulated BPA-free container, ice cream cooks can sleep easy while their creations chill overnight. Companies like Sumo and Tovolo make a variety of great ice cream tubs in lots of fun colors. The elongated tub is especially convenient for easy scooping and stores nicely in a crowded fridge.

The Perfect Gift Idea for the Ice Cream Lover in Your Life | Digital Kitchen Scale | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019 labonnehonte.com }

{ 9. Digital Scale }

For anyone who lives abroad, has lived abroad, or dabbles in international recipes, a digital scale can save a ton of time. Trying to read a European recipe in metric while converting it to U.S. imperial measurements is a nightmare slowdown that requires forethought, patience, and a lot of trouble-shooting. Lighten your loved one’s load by getting them a digital scale for weighted measurements. They won’t need to Google the cup volume equivalent of 50 grams of sugar (spoiler alert: it’s 1/4 cup for regular white granulated sugar… brown sugar is a different story.) If you can find a scale that has the ability to switch back and forth between metric and imperial, that’s even better. Good digital scales start around $20 (USD), meaning you don’t need to buy anything super expensive or fancy. And a scale will come in handy in all sorts of recipes… not just ice cream!

The Perfect Gift Idea for the Ice Cream Lover in Your Life | Homemade Ice Cream Cones | Pizelle Iron | Waffle Cone Maker | Ice Cream Cone Mold | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019…

{ 10. Pizelle Press & 11. Waffle Cone Mold }

I’m doing No.’s 10 and 11 together because they go hand in hand. A good pizelle press is the easiest way to make a nice, uniform ice cream cone, and the waffle cone mold gives it that classic cone shape that holds the ice cream. Pizelle presses just need to work well, you don’t need anything extreme. (Although a nice design is a plus!) The cone molds are generally a wooden cone you can roll the pizelle around to give it its conical shape. They come in different sizes since everyone has a different idea of what size an ice cream cone should be. (My husband has a weakness for the mini ice cream cones from Picard - the French frozen food store.) For any hands-on ice cream cooks in your world, making their own cones might be the next step in their process. Give them the opportunity to hone their craft further by gifting them these special tools.

The Perfect Gift Idea for the Ice Cream Lover in Your Life | Specialty Ice Cream Ingredients | Organic Ice Cream Recipes in French and English at La Bonne Honte { labonnehonte.com } { Copyright 2019 labonnehonte.com }

{ 12. Specialty Ingredients }

One might think this sounds similar to the specialty toppings listed in No. 7, but in fact Ingredients are quite different from Toppings in that while Toppings get to shine out there in the lime light on top of the ice cream, Ingredients do the heavy lifting below the surface. I’m talking about unique pastes, extracts, creams, produce, spices, and oils. I love a natural pistachio ice cream, but rarely suffer the hassle of ordering the pistachio paste I like from California. It might surprise you how simple these specialty ingredients can be. When I’m living in the U.S., finding orange blossom water or Speculoos spread can be a bit of a headache. And when I’m living in Europe, I long for Libby’s Pumpkin Purée and a normal American peanut butter. Try to find out if there are any difficult-to-procure ingredients your ice cream cook likes to buy and get them a supply of it.

Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich Molds come in Round and Classic Rectangle

{ 13. Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich Cutter }

While it’s totally possible to make ice cream sandwiches without any special accoutrements, many of us are aiming to make those perfect dainty little ice cream sandwiches we had when we were children. Achieving that same uniform perfection without some extra help can feel impossible. Luckily Tovolo makes ice cream sandwich cutters that will help pave the way. They come in the classic rectangular or round shape with the smart little dot pattern.

A vintage Bialetti Espresso Maker (stovetop espresso maker)

{ 14. Espresso Maker }

For the dual ice cream/coffee lover, a stovetop espresso maker is a great gift. While most people think of espresso machines as large, super-expensive, noisy things, a stovetop espresso maker works just as well and is practical for normal home use. At around $35 (USD) a Bialetti three cup stovetop espresso maker (aka a Moka Express) is affordable and makes a good espresso. Perfect for affogato* lovers and slow morning savorers as well. Just make sure you get the espresso maker and not the coffee maker! Bialetti makes both and their designs look similar.

*(hot espresso poured over ice cream)

{ 15. Microplane Zester }

Adding a pinch of freshly zested lemon or a dash of just-grated nutmeg to a recipe can elevate a plain ice cream to a brighter, more interesting flavor class. What makes these touches even easier? A good microplane zester! I have been stuck using box graters for ages and they are clunky and awkward. While a box grater works well for grating cheese or carrots, when it comes to fine grating they often miss the mark… I also get tired of shredding the distal part of my fingers when grating tiny ingredients like nutmeg. Microplane zesters handle superbly and even the nicer ones are still very affordable!

OXO Measuring Cups are made with the cook’s comfort in mind

{ 16. Precision (Liquid) Measuring Cups }

Precision measuring cups are a boon to all cooks, no matter what they’re cooking. This is doubly true when it comes to cooks who use recipes from around the world. A good set of measuring cups will allow your favorite ice cream aficionado to bounce back and forth between metric and imperial with a lot of time saved. Historic New York cookware company OXO has a fantastic range of precision measuring cups. This 3-piece angled measuring cup set allows cooks to see the amount of liquid in the cup even from overhead (no more pesky crouching down to counter level) and clocks in at $20 (USD). They also have a fun-colored “nestled beaker” set for measuring small amounts which I love. German company ESMA also makes something called “The Perfect Beaker” which a lot of cooks are head over heels for. It’s angled shape and mixed measurements is apparently one of the most precise measuring cups you can buy.

If you have any suggestions for more great ice cream cooking gifts for us, please let us know in the comments below!

Gift Ideas That Will Make Any Ice Cream Lover Very Jolly This Winter

Gift Ideas That Will Make Any Ice Cream Lover Very Jolly This Winter

Laura | December 2019