I Scream, You Scream: Readers’ Favorite Ice Cream Stops and How to Make Tin Can Ice Cream!

Best Ice Cream Spots Around Tacoma and the South Sound

Want to plan an cream road trip? Or maybe you’re just looking for the best place to take the kids for ice cream near you? This drool worthy list is courtesy of our Fb readers. I haven’t gotten to most of them yet personally, so use the provided links if you’d be making a special trip, and do leave a comment if you have a review or know a sweet spot we should add!

South King County Ice Cream Shops

Sweet Necessities Enumclaw

Ice cream, chocolates, candy, and other treats

Nutty Squirrel Gelato Maple Valley

Unique flavors and readers rave about it. Also has Seattle locations.

Mora Covington 

handcrafted from their own recipes. Looks delicious!

Menchies Froyo, Federal Way  Now multiple locations  Check for deals on Amazon Local or Groupon-they often have ’em.

Sub Zero, Federal Way Also now in Puyallup It’s flash freeze ice cream-fun to watch them make it.

Cafe Noir Federal Way

I can’t find a good link to share with you, but our readers say the shaved ice is delicious. Looks like there are locations in Federal Way and Silverdale?

Tacoma Ice Cream Shops

Bliss Tacoma All natural ice cream made with local ingredients. I tried some at an event, and it was ah-mazing.  They’re opening a scoop shop in UP eventually. For now you can follow their fb page to see where their cute trailer is.

Here is their website.

Shake, Shake, Shake in Tacoma  They also have burgers, but feel free to go straight to the shakes. Hard ice cream, inventive, yummy flavors. I have a review here. I wrote it quite a while ago, but I think most of the scoop is still good.

Gelato at Metropolitan Market, Proctor Feeling fancy?

Ice Cream Social, Tacoma  This is amazing, gourmet quality stuff with locally sourced ingredients. Yes, there will be a line. They now also have a location on Ruston Way

Milkshakes at Frisko Freeze, Tacoma Sort of Tacoma’s answer to Dick’s. It’s been around forever. Picnic in Wright Park if you decide to get a burger.

Lucky’s Drive-In Parkland/Spanaway I haven’t tried it yet, but the owners have some pretty serious restaurant cred, and the wife of one left a personal recommendation on our fb page. Let me know if you try a shake or lemonade.

Flippin’ Out Burgers  Reader Leah recommends the milkshakes here

Puyallup/Greater Pierce County Ice Cream Shops

Gabe’s Ice Cream Puyallup

Elements Frozen Yogurt, Puyallup  Downtown; This is a fav at our house. Great service; love the toppings. Get a punch card!

Whittaker’s Bunkhouse in Ashford + on the way to Mt.Rainier

Ben & Jerry’s, Uptown Gig Harbor There is also a Menchie’s in Uptown

Olympia Ice Cream Shops

Milkshakes at Van’s Burgers, Olympia  This place has earned a reputation for being a restaurant that is “never open.” It is open on Thurs-Sat, unless they run out of product, or the temperature is over 100 degrees, or unless they are, well, closed. On the website they offer a current schedule, including planned closings. They say a small staff and limited hours ensure a quality experience.

Seattle Ice Cream Shops

Handcrafted Ice Cream at Husky Deli, West Seattle

Full Tilt Ice Cream, White Center + Seattle Locations

Famous Milkshakes at Luna Park Cafe, West Seattle

Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream Shop, Snohomish

Tin Can Ice Cream Recipe

About a thousand years ago, I spent many happy summers working as a camp counselor and unit coordinator. Tin can ice cream was a favorite treat for the kiddos. Try it yourself!

Ingredients

1 cup milk (This makes ice milk; if you want true ice cream use cream. Duh, I know).
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon sugar
Ice
Rock or ice cream salt (Kosher salt or sea salt would also work)

You can vary the amounts of the ingredients as you like. It’s the ice and rock salt and stirring that’s making the magic. If you use less of everything, it will be a quicker project.

To make it, you place a small tin can inside a larger one. Fill the larger one with ice and sprinkle with rock salt. Take care not to get ice or salt into your smaller can.

Now, fill the smaller can with your ingredients.

At this point, you have a decision to make: If you can figure out a way to seal the whole lot, you can let your kids roll it back and forth. Lidded coffee cans are ideal for this project, but I only drink instant coffee in case of true emergencies-like if I’m camping, or in an earthquake or something. Anyway, if you can come up with lids, you’re in luck. If you can’t, then have them stir it. We always used popsicle stick stirrers at camp.

It does take a while, and you may have to replenish the ice/salt, but I promise it works, and it’s so delicious, even if they give up and drink it in shake form.

Of course, shortly after we started this project, the neighbor boy rang the doorbell, and off my kids went. Oh, well. It was sort of meditative sitting in my quiet kitchen stirring away. Yes, they showed up to eat the finished product. Surprise, surprise

There are loads of variations on this idea around the web. If you don’t have cans handy, you might try making ice cream in a bag. It’s basically the same recipe, using ziploc baggies-I would spring for the pricey ones here.

You can also make a lot more by making it in big coffee cans. If you’re in charge of making vats of coffee for church or the office, you’re in luck!

This site explains the science behind using salt. (Scroll down past the recipe and “tips” section.) Btw, if you need to come up with a project for the science fair this year, this one screams, “Winner!” to me-try it with or without the salt, write up the results, pass samples to the judges…….hello, blue ribbon.

The only way to mess up here is by using leaky cans, or doing the roll method without having good seals. Watery rock salt is just not a good ice cream flavor. Period.

If you try any of these, or you have your own variation, let me know!