Creamsicle

Went out to the Hopkinton Winter Farmer's Market since it was an unusually nice day for February and I wanted to check out Edward's Coffee Company and Pure Pastry. As far as I can tell, every ice cream shop in Hopkinton proper is closed for the winter, but T. C. Scoops in the next town over was open.¹

There's no outdoor seating (just a dozen or so spaces of shared parking lot) but the interior space is huge - lots of spread out tables and a long serving counter. They have an unusual number of brightly colored ice cream flavors - some conventional, some you just have to ask about (like "Crazy Vanilla".)

T. C. Scoops serves Hershey Ice Cream, FoMu non-dairy (coconut-milk based) dessert, and an oat-milk-based option; they also have sorbet and "Incredible Ice".

Toppings are divided into wet (hot fudge, strawberries, whipped cream) and dry (oreo bits, heath bar bits, gummy bears), including Chocolate Jimmies and Rainbow Sprinkles. They also have "Crunchy Cotton Candy" and "Plantain Chips" which might be worth a try just for the novelty.

They have four serving sizes of ice cream, and corresponding sundae sizes, along with a top-it-yourself sundae bar. They also have specialty sundaes like banana split, brownie, and waffle cone.

They have frappes, floats, ice cream soda, smoothies, and raspberry lime rickie; they also list a decadent-sounding "frozen hot chocolate".

First Visit

I started with their "Extreme Chocolate" with Chocolate Jimmies (sort of redundant, but they're more for added texture anyway.) It was an almost black color with a strong (but not bitter) chocolate flavor; nothing mixed in. Not quite as creamy a base as I'm used to but the richness of the chocolate flavor made up for that.

A closeup of the Extreme Chocolate ice cream itself, without the layer of Jimmies hiding it.

The "Creamsicle" deserves the name - a bright orange with a "cream" swirl that reminds me exactly of the true Creamsicle® bars from my childhood. (It's not unusual to make a Creamsicle variant by swirling in vanilla ice cream - which is also a tasty treat and I'm not suggesting it's wrong, but it doesn't hit the exact nostalgic notes the way this version does.)

Another view showing the density of the cream swirl after getting halfway through the Creamsicle part.

Next Visit

Holliston is kind of small and out of the way (before this review, the town was entirely absent from my travel photography collection) so it isn't likely to become a regular haunt - but I'm likely to find an excuse to stop back at Gaetano's Bakery for their Florentine Cookies, so that would be a good chance to stop in and try some of their more unusual flavors like "Playdough" (colorful vanilla base with cookies mixed in), "Crazy Vanilla", or "Butter Brittle Crunch" - or maybe just get a Frozen Hot Chocolate (perhaps in the summer, just to compare with the classic Serendipity 3 version.)