Editor’s Pick: Phin & Phebes ice cream

As my family, friends and co-workers will tell you, ice cream is my kryptonite, my Achilles heel, my weakness. At least once a week I will treat myself to a cone or a sundae from down the street. Well, with Phin & Phebes in the freezer at the office, I will be making those trips less frequently.

Phin & Phebes was started by two friends, Crista Freeman and Jess Eddy, in Brooklyn, NY, who were dedicated to creating a quality products from start to finish. The duo attended the prestigious Ice Cream University at Penn State University. (Rest assured, if I ever go back to school, it will be for this program.)

Phin & Phebes presently makes seven flavors: Coconut Key Lime, Banana Whama (Banana Pudding Ice Cream), Ginger Cookie Snap, Vanilla Cinnamon, Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Peanutty Pretzel, and Dark Chocolate Salty Caramel. After several rounds of taste testing, every flavor is a unique, creamy, burst of deliciousness but I am partial to the Dark Chocolate Salty Caramel. The salt in the rich decadent chocolate caramel opens your taste buds allowing the ice cream to literally melt in your mouth. Like all flavors, just a few bites is enough to fulfill any sweet tooth, and leave you feeling satisfied.

Phin & Phebes ice cream starts with a 14 percent butterfat base, milk, cream, pure sugar and farm fresh egg yolks. The company doesn’t use any stabilizers or syrups. All flavors include ingredients sourced by small, artisanal producers that Freeman and Eddy have discovered throughout the United States.

Now excuse me while I head to the freezer for another spoonful.

-Claire

Editor's Choice: Daphne Baking Co.

Summer is beginning to wilt around the edges (though to many Chicagoans, it never felt like it started) but here at Fancy Food, we just put the final touches on our September Holiday issue, chock-full of winter holiday treats, grab-and-go gift ideas, and party supply tips and tricks. The winter season is in full swing in the minds of Fancy editors, so maybe it's not unusual that the Editor's Choice this week is Daphne Baking Company's Macadamia Nut Tart. While it strikes me as more of a winter-appropriate dessert, I got to try the tart (along with a sampling of other flavors from Daphne Baking Co.), and whether it was the brown sugar or the hint of maple syrup, the nutty, chewy sweetness was one that would definitely pick up and serve to friends or family. If it stayed around in my freezer long enough. The tart is great served plain, but would be heavenly warmed up with a scoop of melty vanilla ice cream. (Are you craving it yet?)

The tarts from Daphne Baking Co. come in boxes of two 3-in. tarts, and are available in not just Macadamia Nut, but Chocolate Raspberry, Lemon, Passion Fruit, Pumpkin and Chocolate as well. Find out more about Daphne Baking Co. at www.daphnebaking.com.

-Stephanie

Summer Fancy Food Show, Part I

Today was day one of the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. I wish I'd have taken pictures yesterday when our sales manager Joanne and I were there to set up and hand out ad boards -- it's like being backstage at a musical or play. You walk the aisles (very carefully! You don't want to get run over by a an electronic cart or cherry-picker!) and see booths in every stage of set-up. As of 12:30, there were booths complete with product displayed, counters draped and ready for the show opening, and there were booths that were still empty, except for a few boxes and crates marked with the company name. Boxes and storage crates of every size and shape were piled around the show floor -- I think it takes seeing the show in that stage to really get an appreciation of what goes into each and every booth on the floor.

Anyway, the first day of the show was great! I made the mistake of starting out up on the first floor, just like everybody else and their mothers. I wandered the 400-1000 aisles for a bit before heading downstairs. Here's a few of the companies I came across today:

The Cooperstown Cookie Company offers baseball-shaped shortbread cookies in officially licensed Major League Baseball packaging. New this year are the Baseball Hall of Fame vintage tins and classic Stadium Tins, including a favorite from my hometown, Wrigley Field. Now baseball fans can hang in through the seventh inning stretch with the Tube of Bunts, a cylindrical tin featuring logos from teams such as the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and of course, the Chicago Cubs. More info at www.cooperstowncookie.com.

New to the Fancy Food Show, Somebody's Mother's Chocolate Sauce (www.somebodysmothers.com) was sampling their Chocolate Sauce, Caramel Sauce (nominated for a 2009 Sofi award) and White Chocolate with Pear William Sauce, which they sampled drizzled over some vanilla ice cream -- delish! Lynn Lasher and her three children, Reese, William and Hayden, were were manning the booth and dishing out samples of all three sauces. Good luck on the nomination, Lasher family!

Local brownie bakers, Mari's of New York (www.marisny.com) was also at the show, featuring "simply marvelous" brownies. These moist little bites come packaged in a coral gift box that you might just see in an upcoming Fancy Food gift guide. The company offers seasonal brownie offers, such as Holiday Cheer and L'Orange.

Tune in tomorrow for more updates from the 2009 Summer Fancy Food Show!