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Subject: Chocolate Lace and Cream From: Susan Date: 9/1/2020, 3:40 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com On 9/1/2020 1:49 PM, Susan wrote: Dear ”Uncle” Phaedrus, Each Saturday, while living in Redding, CT many years ago, my husband, two sons and I would drive a back country road to Bethel, CT for our weekly ice cream fix. Across the road from our family doctor was a Victorian home-turned gift shop. A huge finger on the left of the driveway pointed to the rear of the home and read, Dr. Mike’s. A tiny porch led to a small room, (standing-room-only), with a counter on the left, housing four or five bins of the world’s best ice cream flavors, with one or two counter girls (or guys) ready to dish out ice cream. I’m an old-fashioned girl and always opted for vanilla. My husband still longs for their Chocolate Lace and Cream. A drive to Dr. Mikes is 17 hours (1,128 miles), as we now live in Florida. Shipping to hot, humid Florida is a problem. Is there any chance you could procure the recipe for Chocolate Lace and Cream Ice Cream? Even the recipe and process of how to make chocolate lace would help. Chocolate Lace is made by Hauser Chocolatier In Westerly, R.I. It is sold at The Gift Cottage in Bethel. Love your site!!!?????? Thank you. Susan P.s. If you google Dr. Mike’s in Bethel, CT, you will see it received accolades from several food magazines over the years.
Hi Susan,
I found multiple raves about Dr. Mike's ice cream and "chocolate lace and cream" ice cream. Some of the descriptions:
'Chocolate lace and cream' is a Dr. Mike’s exclusive flavor, using a chocolate-covered hard candy that is made in big, webbed sheets. The candy is broken into bite-size pieces and suspended in a pure white emulsion of sweetened cream.
Chocolate Lace and Cream, another daily flavor, is made of sweet cream (not vanilla) and chunks of brittle sugar candy sheathed in bittersweet chocolate.
There are two major difficulties that I see in trying to make this at home. The first is the chocolate lace candy. Would you make this yourself? It would be easier to buy Hauser's product, wouldn't it? I could not find a recipe for making it. It appears to be caramel lace dipped in chocolate. It's described like this:
Chocolate Lace®, an original and unique product of crisp lacy caramel covered in rich chocolate
from Hauser Chocolatier® of Westerly, Rhode Island.
You can buy it here:
There are a few recipes on the web for making decorative chocolate lace, but the ones I looked at invariably turned out to be just lace made of chocolate alone, with no caramel inside.
Once you have the chocolate lace candy, you still have to have the "pure white emulsion of sweetened cream". Egg yolks are commonly used as an emulsifier in ice cream making, but there are many others, some are commercial ingredients that might be difficult to identify and obtain. You could try mixing sweetened whole cream with egg yolk as an emulsifier, omitting any vanilla flavoring and then freezing it in your ice cream freezer. You might try using a vanilla ice cream recipe, using whole cream and leaving out the vanilla flavoring. These suggestions are off the top of my head, and are untried. I have never been to Dr. Mike's or had Chocolate Lace and Cream.
I realize that I haven't been much help. "Chocolate Lace and Cream" is an ice cream flavor made exclusively by Dr. Mike's, and "Chocolate Lace" candy is a trademarked product of Hauser, so there just isn't any detailed information available about them, particularly not for making them at home.
I will post this on my site. Perhaps one of my readers can suggest something.
Phaed
Subject: Chocolate Lace and Cream From: Susan Date: 9/1/2020, 4:44 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com I am amazed and so pleased to have heard from you so soon! A few weeks ago I tried contacting Hauser Chocolatier and learned it had moved to Westerly, R.I. I sent an e-mail, but never heard back. I also tried calling, but there was no answer. Although the product was listed on their site, there were no prices or order forms. I tried researching the chocolate lace and found it was for sale in Bethel at “The Gift Cottage.” I called and was told it couldn’t be shipped at this time of year because of the temperature. After I sent my letter to you I was motivated and tried calling Hauser again. “Barbara” reviewed the chocolate lace products available and I ordered a 14 oz. sheet for $20.00 and two 3 1/2 oz. “crumbles” at $7.00 each. They also had a 7 oz. sheet for $12.00 and a 10 lb. bulk packed dark chocolate lace crumbles for $95.00, which is mostly sold to restaurants. I will take a look at the products I receive and see if I can figure out how to create my own, as well as seeing if anything comes up on your site. Barbara suggested waiting till next week as temperatures would be slightly cooler. Although they don’t have dry ice, they do pack it in ice which keeps the product cooler for approximately 10 hours. You might be interested in reading the history of chocolate lace on Houser’s site, or perhaps already have! And if you’re ever near Danbury, CT, Dr. Mike’s is 12 minutes away! Redding, just south of Bethel is lovely. P.T. Barnum housed his elephants on “Uncle Dan Beard’s” (of Boy Scout fame) property. There still stands the elephant wall, built to keep them in. I believe it’s a trail now. Thank you for your wonderful site!!! Sometimes I get emotional and excited when reading and reminiscing about days gone by. Best regards, Susan