FOOD
FESTIVE FLAVORS Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams releases limited-edition Holiday Collection STORY BY KAMALA KIRK | PHOTOS COURTESY OF JENI’S SPLENDID ICE CREAMS
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Jeni’s Splendid Holiday Collection features festive flavors including Pistachio Macaron, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Sugar Plum, White Chocolate Peppermint, and Cognac with Gingerbread. 26 26 PLAYA PLAYA VISTA VISTA DIRECT DIRECT || DECEMBER DECEMBER 2021 2021
ust in time for the festive winter season, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams has released a limit-edition Holiday Collection that includes two new flavors, Pistachio Macaron and Mexican Hot Chocolate, along with three returning fan favorites: Sugar Plum, White Chocolate Peppermint, and Cognac with Gingerbread. “Our Cognac with Gingerbread, Sugar Plum, and White Chocolate Peppermint are returning flavors – back because I love them deeply,” says founder Jeni Britton Bauer. “They just scream ‘holiday’ to me. Two are reimagining classics I made years ago, Mexican Hot Chocolate and Pistachio Macaron. The latter is the flavor I can’t stop thinking about lately. It’s gorgeous in its simplicity – double-toasted pistachios with bitter almond and a touch of honey that gives the cream this meringue-like texture. It’s heaven on earth.” Pistachio Macaron is a two-toned roasted pistachio ice cream with a touch of almond and meringue-like texture. Mexican Hot Chocolate, a velvety milk chocolate cream with red-hot cinnamon and a kick of cayenne, is the flavor that inspired Bauer to make ice cream more than 20 years ago. “It was 1996 and I was a pink-haired art student obsessed with scent,” Bauer recalls. “On a whim, I smashed cayenne essential oil into a tub of chocolate ice cream and served it at a dinner party. Everyone went wild. It was cold and sweet. And then burst into flames in the back of our throats. I knew right then and there that I’d be making ice cream for the rest of my life. I opened my first scoop shop not long after. Mexican Hot Chocolate was on my very first menu. It’s had a few names since, most recently Queen City Cayenne. The flavor is just as delicious as ever.”
