Ever wonder how when you order ice cream at a nice restaurant, they get it so smooth and round? There are 2 real secrets which are best used in conjunction. The first is the type of scoop you’re using.

Now while the mechanical ice cream scoop is perfect for many things, scooping and portioning cookie dough, crab cakes, meatballs…, it is not ideal for scooping ice cream;

Mechanical ice cream scoop

Mechanical ice cream scoop

The best type to use is the solid, one piece manual ice cream scoop.  This type of scoop makes it easiest to form a tight smooth ball, which you do by scraping the surface of the ice cream without applying too much pressure, and at the end of the stroke, scooping down to enable you to move the ball, and start again, building a couple of layers of ice cream.

One piece ice cream scoop

One piece ice cream scoop

The second secret is to dip the scoop in water before you start to scoop, which most people are familiar with. The secret comes with using cool water not hot.

Cool water will still enable you to move the scoop through the ice cream, but won’t cause the ice cream to melt and refreeze solid around the scoop.  Think of the water as a little bit of lubrication.

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