Ice cream cones are the indisputable symbol of summer, so it’s only fitting as we enter the waning days of this luxurious season that we pay tribute to that most quintessential of ice cream treats: the dipped cone.
Dipped cones were first sold at the original Dairy Queen, which opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940.
Soft-serve ice cream — that is, low-fat ice cream with a high air content volume introduced at freezing — is swirled into a cone and then dunked into a vat of liquid chocolate mixed with fast-hardening coconut oil. This mixture results in the hard “magic shell” that transforms the soft-serve cone into a highly Instagrammable summertime sculpture.
At Fairway Creamery, Mission’s new donut and ice cream shop courtesy of master sweets man Christopher Elbow (of the award-winning Christopher Elbow Chocolates, yes, that guy), those nostalgic dipped cones get an upgrade.
Elbow, who is also the creative genius behind Glacé Artisan Ice Cream, is a flavor purist, and his vanilla bean soft serve is made with no artificial ingredients. It falls like silk into a simple sugar cone, and guests can opt to have it dipped in Vahlrona chocolate, cherry or butterscotch flavors. (There’s always a rotating soft serve flavor, too. If it’s available, go for the mocha.) Biting into this frozen and fantastical unicorn horn will doubtlessly unlock precious childhood memories and, we’re certain, a new addiction.
The good news: Even though summer is coming to a close, Fairway Creamery is open year-round.
Fairway Creamery, 5938 Mission Road, Fairway, Kan. 913-608-5515, fairwaycreamery.com. 6 am-10 pm Tuesday-Friday and 7 am-10 pm Saturday-Sunday. Artisan donuts are served until 3 pm. Ice cream is served 11am-10pm.
