You may be familiar with the old-school American dessert – the classic ice cream sandwich and fortunately for Capetonians, Terri Lockhart has been creating this double whammy of a treat since early 2015 and she’s been on our radar ever since. We visited Terri’s vintage ice cream parlour (on what was possibly the hottest day ever!) to chat and taste all things Cookies & Cream.

Terri’s Cookies & Cream Dream

Before opening up her Cookies & Cream store on Buitengracht, Terri was slugging away at this dream, which is why you may recognise her and her bubbly personality from her Cookies & Cream stand, which popped up at many Cape Town markets.

Terri started Cookies & Cream from her tiny Cape Town apartment, with just her domestic sized ice cream maker. She jokingly giggles that between making the custard base, cooling and churning she would take micro-naps, while the rest of us were sleeping.

It wasn’t until faced with adversity did she realise that she needed to make the leap of faith – an all or nothing moment if you will. And she bravely took the plunge towards creating her ice cream parlour dream.

What makes for great ice cream?

In a sunny beachside city like Cape Town, there is no shortage of artisanal ice cream spots; one really needs to be exceptional to get a smidge of recognition here. So, what keeps us coming back to Cookies & Cream you may ask? Well, it all comes down to Terri’s appreciation for the science and art of ice cream making.

For Terri, the ideal scoop of ice cream lies with four basic principles; the custard base, the sweet savoury balance, the density/chewiness and striking that perfect velvet creamy texture. And once you have a scoop of her ice cream you’ll quickly subscribe to her ice cream philosophy.

Double Trouble Creaminess

Cookies & Cream is Terri’s way of paying homage to the old school, back-to-basics way of ice cream making, which becomes apparent once you have a taste of her Double Cream flavour. The double cream is the base for all her ice creams and is an unflavoured custard that has a deep luxurious creaminess to it, that is honestly, out of this world.

If you’re looking to go beyond plain cream, then we would definitely recommend the chocolate. It’s made from medium chocolate sourced from Afrikoa; the 50% cocoa beans strikes the perfect balance for a creamy base.

Terri explains, “medium chocolate is best for ice cream, too dark and there’s not enough fat to give it a creamy texture and too milky will give you a more runny yoghurt like texture.”

There is also a cookie dough flavour, strawberry sponge cake and many other creative offerings. We simply couldn’t pick a favourite.

Baked Goods

And for those that need to feed their inner cookie monster, you won’t be disappointed. Having married an American, Terri has mastered the art of cookie and brownie making. She’ll admit it took a few tries to get the perfect texture but she’s definitely nailed it now.

Her husband, Mitch, comments that South Africans don’t know American-style cookies – a fair point. And after sampling their selection, I have to admit that I’ve have been living under a cookie rock.

There’s the thin crunchy snickerdoodle, which is similar to what we would call a sugar cookie and it’s not too sweet that it competes with the ice cream. But, if you want to be over the top then you must look out for the Fluffanutta, which pops up every now and again as a special. It’s everything you can imagine, a gooey peanutty inside and a crunchy outside – not for the faint-hearted.

But Wait… Bubble Waffles?

And, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, out comes the Bubble Waffle. You may have seen this topsy-turvy waffle like cone structure on Instagram and now you can have it at Cookies & Cream. Terri has brought this Hong Kong street food to Cape Town and we’re sure glad she did.

The bubble waffle is not like your regular waffle, it’s puffy in all the right places and is golden and a chewy inside. When dolled up with ice cream, caramel sauce, marshmallows and chocolate covered pretzel sticks you have yourself one very snappable and Instagram worthy pic. Oh, and a delicious treat to eat as well!

The next time you find yourself craving real ice cream, be sure to give Terri a visit at Cookies & Cream, and take our advice… go hungry.

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