Your Cold Stone's Creations
 

Okay, so Cold Stone's Creamery is pretty spread out through the country, so I figured this would probably be a safe discussion topic. Hey, even if you didn't know what Cold Stone's Creamery was, everyone's still got their favorite ice cream combination, right?

If you do go to these kind of creameries where they smash/mix in your favorite toppings into ice cream, what do you recommend?

Some of my recommendations:
* Cake Batter or Cheesecake flavored Ice Cream + Raspberries
* Oatmeal Cookie Batter flavored Ice Cream + Dried Cranberries (I wanted raisins but they didn't have any)
* Coffee + Chocolate covered waffles smashed in

Hopefully you've experimented on your own and found your own creations too. I've seen some of my friends mix peanut butter and fresh strawberries into plain old Dreyer's vanilla at home.

And in before the "hey Shorty, aren't you lactose intolerant?" comment: I am, and yes, I am best friends with the porcelain after a while, but when the mercury level rises above three digits, it is quite worth the trouble.

I treat Cold Stone like I treat other restaurants: I find one or two things I know I like, and tend not to vary my routine. It's a bad thing, I know, but when you only eat at a place every couple of months, you come in knowing what you want, and you don't want to risk taking a chance on something else.

Anyway, I often get their Cheesecake Fantasy (blueberries, strawberries and graham crackers), but with banana ice cream. Unfortunately, the Cold Stone that just opened closest to me doesn't stock banana ice cream for some reason, so I just get cheesecake ice cream with graham crackers.

Unless they happen to have some strange new flavor that sounds really good, like the time they had pineapple ice cream as their flavor of the month, I generally get the same thing every time. For a long time I went with their Cheesecake Fantasy (which Nutty has already described above), but I've discovered that replacing the graham cracker with yellow cake bits makes it even better.

The last two times that I've gone to Coldstone I was in the mood for a shake instead, and their Cake 'n Shake flavor (cake batter flavored ice cream with yellow cake bits) is delicious.

Sweet Cream
Oreos
Cookie Dough

There is nary a better combination in the world.

A lot of my friends used to work here during high school and most of the time, when one was working there, I'd be able to make my own creation with whatever the hell I want at a pretty discounted price.

I do recall one I really liked though. Since they lacked some sort of S'mores recipe, I tried coming up with my own... Went something like:

- Cake Batter Ice Cream
- Graham Cracker Pie Crust
- Marshmallows
- Chocolate Fudge
- Chocolate Chips

And maybe something else... I don't recall since it's been ages since I've gone there and I don't know anyone that works there anymore. Plus, there's better ice cream places in my area anyway...

Did they have a special song for you when you came in?

The Cold Stone here used to have this Ghirardelli Chocolate flavor that I would get mixed with oreo and hot fudge. Holy shit. You don't even know.

Pssh, never. I tipped most of them NOT to sing.

Sass wanted the ColdStone people up in Maine to sing after she tipped him. They actually refused. Usually I'm in chaotic's shoes. I don't mind tipping but if I need to listen to that embarassing song, I'll just pass.

However, special circumstances, if you're supposed to, and someone asks you to, and you don't, well that's just mean =(

Cold Stone is too fucking expensive.

Sorry to all you fanboys but it's the truth.

Wow, I'd think that would be grounds for firing. I've specifically asked them not to sing when I redeem my birthday coupons, but I always thought the singing was part of the job.

Sure it's expensive Crash, but that's why you don't eat there that often. If I just want ice cream, I could buy that at the grocery store instead of going to Baskin Robbins or something; I go to Cold Stone to get all the fancy stuff mixed in (the same reason I get a Blizzard at Dairy Queen).

We don't have one here anymore. It's probably due to the fact that there were established Baskin Robbins stores both 3 and 8 minutes away in opposite directions down the street.

Also. With Crash on the expensive. If I've got extra food money, I'm dropping it on Melting Pot or Texas de Brazil.

Plus, I actually worked there for an extremely short time (extremely meaning three days), I didn't bother learning the songs. They were just THAT bad.

Like $4-5 for a medium size with a couple of mix-ins. More expensive than your standard ice cream place, but not as extravagant as the Cheesecake Factory (or Melting Pot or Texas de Brazil, that's like $40, right?) It's a splurge, but it's not going to empty your wallet.

My local Cold Stone (that just opened a few months ago) is in the same shopping center as an awesome coal-fired pizza restaurant, so it's easy to have a tasty, upscale pizza, then walk across the parking lot to Cold Stone for dessert.

Coldstone isn't bad if you only go there when you've got a buy one get one coupon.

I've also found the best trick there to make your ice cream seem like a lot more than it is is to taste some random flavor, keep the sample spoon, and then use that to eat your ice cream. It'll last about twice as long, and I swear you taste the flavor more with smaller bites.

I was actually genuinely interested in what you'd do with ice cream creations... doesn't have to be strictly Cold Stone's. =)

I agree, Cold Stone's is quite too expensive. I usually only go when it's someone else who insists on going, it's over 100 degrees outside, and someone else is paying. =P

I really only get milkshakes at Cold Stone, but usually something different each time; 2 different ice cream flavors and 1 mix-in.

Best Flavors:

Cheesecake
Peanut Butter
Banana
Strawberry
Coffee

Best Mix-Ins:

Butterfinger
Bananas
Strawberries
Cherry Topping

So we were bored last night and had extra smores goods left over from my camping trip, so we did a little at-home cold stone's. We shoved a cutting board in the freezer for about an hour beforehand, and got out some plain old vanilla and chocolate ice cream, then mixed in melted hershey bars, marshmellows (blown up in the microwave, lol), and graham crackers.

Quite interesting, is all I can say. I think I prefer smores just as it should be enjoyed. :p It was quite entertaining though as we were piss drunk and had no money to entertain ourselves with, experimenting with what food we had to create some desert was quite fun.