Creamsicles Of The Crop
I can’t quite pinpoint when it began, my search for the food or drink that best replicates the Creamsicle.
I can’t quite pinpoint why, either — okay, for years I lived with a fridge that didn’t have a separate freezer compartment, so I didn’t tend to keep Creamsicles or any other frozen treats in the house, because cranking the temperature low enough to keep ice cream from semi-melting into a slumpy, squishy, possibly-salmonella-harboring pudding meant that everything else in the fridge’s main compartment froze as well, and using a brick of cheddar to hammer together a piece of furniture from Ikea is kind of funny until it becomes sadly clear that you’re only laughing so you don’t cry. For that reason, a Creamsicle doppelganger may have seemed more practical than an actual Creamsicle. But it’s not as though I’ve tried to reproduce any other ice-cream novelties; I don’t put eighteen sugars in my coffee so it tastes like coffee ice cream, and I don’t put food coloring on a bowlful of pennies to mimic a Bomb Pop. Why the Creamsicle? Could it have anything to do with the fact that one of my cats resembles a Creamsicle, albeit a linty, testy, toasty one more prone than most Creamsicles to the purring and the hurling and the chasing of the tail? I do not know.
I do know that it is hard to clone the Creamsicle experience in other comestible media — harder than you’d think. Vanilla ice cream in a sherbet-esque shell is a simple concept, but the secret is the proportion (and perhaps, to a lesser degree, the faint whiff of porn that attends its phallic shape and its “cream”-containing name — the graphic The Straight Dope selected to accompany a vintage entry on Creamsicles seems to suggest, rather strongly, that it’s a snack best enjoyed by consenting adults, in private, perhaps during a governmental shutdown). The Creamsicle’s primary appeal is the tension between orange and vanilla, a tension which is never resolved, and a Creamsicle-oid product that is either too orangey or too creamy won’t cast the same spell.
Not to elevate the Creamsicle to Tolkien-esque heights of two-flavors-to-rule-them-all runic symbolism over here, but I invested dozens of eleven-dollar drink orders and thousands of calories in the theory that imperfect or unsatisfying pretenders to the Creamsicle throne suffered from an overage of orange and/or a shortage of vanilla, so when I realized 1) that that wasn’t true and 2) why that wasn’t true, the insight did take on a Rosetta Stone-ish quality for me, because when I say “invested,” I mean it. I keep a mental catalog of the Orange Dream Machine “mix” at not only New-York-area Jamba Juices but also at various locations in L.A., and when Wing and Glark and I went out for our TV-pitch-meeting-vaganza five years ago, we had one right near our hotel in Santa Monica but I would ask Glark to stop at one further out because the Santa Monica one used too much orange juice. And it’s contagious. Mr. Stupidhead and I once agreed, without even speaking aloud, that even though we could see the SoHo branch of Jamba from where we’d parked, we would go twenty gridlocked blocks out of the way to the Flatiron Jamba instead because it had a better “ratio,” and what a ridonk pain in the ass that was with the circling the block and the tuck-and-roll to the curb I had to do because of traffic on Fifth Ave., but: worth it, people.
Also worth it: Creme Savers. It doesn’t look like the chewy version is available anymore — which is probably just as well, given my penchant for cramming seventy-three of them into my mouth at once — but the hard-candy original is delicious. And portable!
Alcohol, however, is a problematic addition to the recipe. A number of different Creamsicle-drink recipes exist, but regardless of how the mixology attempts to arrive at the correct fractions — orange and vanilla vodkas, vanilla vodka and OJ, sherbet and cream and spiced rum, white rum and ginger ale and orange zest — it never quite works. Vodka’s sharpness requires too much vanilla to counter; rum can taste like cream soda, which makes the drink too sweet, but adding more orange throws off the percentages; I suspect the only workable solution is to scrape a box of Creamsicles off their sticks and into a blender, pour three or four belts of your drink of choice in after it, and hit “puree.”
Just a few words here on cream soda, which is my other cross-platform flavor obsession. This one is much easier to copy using booze: ginger ale and a half shot of Captain Morgan’s on the rocks, spritz of lime. You have to order it weak to get the palate correct, but they go down so easy that the low alcohol content is for the best. The discovery of that summery thirst-quencher almost makes up for the fact that the cultural Visigoths at Dum-Dum Pops cut the number of cream-soda lollies in the average bag to, like, one. Elbowing the venerable cream soda aside is a menu of diabetes-to-go like bubblegum, chocolate, and the inattentively focus-grouped “blu raspberry,” and you’d better believe I had a whole bulging-forehead-artery tirade here about how strongly I associate that particular candy brand with my childhood, with going to the bank with my dad on Saturday mornings and driving up to the window and getting to put the deposit slips in the pneumatic-tube doodad, which would come back a few minutes later with a receipt and a Dum-Dum for yours truly, and how I got a bag at the drugstore last week and we all broke into it and happiness reigned for a few minutes until Rey wanted to know, and I quote, “what is going on with this cherry-cola bullshit,” at which time we filed a joint objection to the fact that the banana and the chocolate lollipops are separate entities instead of cleverly merged as they are in a Chupa Chup. But the Spangler Candy Company is not completely stupid; it’s thrown the matter open to a vote. You can weigh in on current flavors, new flavors, and future flavors, and one of the potential future flavors? Orange cream! My people! So…could you guys…go vote for that? Please? And also for pumpkin pie, which sounds so unspeakably wrong that I simply must have the opportunity to try it?
Given that the pumpkin and gingerbread lattes at Starbucks, which presented as unnatural and disgusting, ended up owning my ass, I have high hopes, but then, I had high hopes for the Orange Creme Frappuccino, and it let me down. In fact, it’s the OCF that led to my eureka moment re: the proper ratio, because the Starbucks version of the potable Creamsicle is heavy on the vanilla-bean flavoring, with the orange playing the role of vermouth in a very dry martini. It’s just what I thought I wanted from a Creamsicle — lots of Cream, not too much -sicle — but when it came down to it, I missed the orange. I reported this to Mr. S, who didn’t quite believe me when I said it needed more of an orange balance, and I told him, “It’s like when you went to sleep-away camp. I kind of couldn’t wait to get rid of your ass but then when you were gone, the house felt too big or something.” He flipped me the bird, but he knew what I meant.
Tags: food
I had the world’s best Creamsicle lip balm once. I can’t remember the brand name. I can’t remember where I bought it. I can’t remember whether it was in a squirt tube or a twist-up stick. It was like really good acid; great while I had it, but three years later the specifics are hazy and all I know is that it was amazing.
Weep with me, Sars.
But you can order a box of the cream soda flavor Dum Dums right there on the website. Or does that undermine the basic premise?
I… have nothing to say on the creamsicle front, because, to be perfectly honest, i have never actually tried anything creamsicle flavored. Including the actual creamsicle. Please don’t kill me. The concept of orange and vanilla just seemed slightly wrong.
that being said, the flavor of the day at Smoochies was Pumpkin Pie today. And I ate it, and went to heaven for a little bit.
I wholeheartedly agree on the Starbucks Orange thing – I tried it, it was okay for the first few sips (not a creamsicle, but not half bad), and then? It just got gross.
Sonic makes an orange cream blended thing that’s as close as I’ve been able to come.
Course, I pine for the McDonald’s orange milkshakes, so what do I know?
slightly related to the topic, but the 99 restaurant is running a dessert special this week called the Creamsicle Sundae. It is orange cake, edy’s vanilla ice cream, lemon sauce, and whipped cream. The lemon sauce almost takes you out of the experience as being too sweet, but the cake/ice cream combo is perfect. Yum.
::wants::
I completely second your disappointment in the Orange Creme Frap! The orange wasn’t really there, except for the swirly bits on top, and they were odd tasting. Sad.
Stewart’s Orange ‘N’ Cream soda. http://www.drinkstewarts.com/flavors.html
The Key Lime also rocks my world.
My most recent creamsicle combo was a scoop of blood orange sorbet in a glass of Natural Brew Vanilla Creme Soda.
I’ve also had good luck making orange cupcakes with vanilla frosting, because they improve on Hostess orange cupcakes, which were always much harder to find than the chocolate ones.
In a pinch, the orange scone at Au Bon Pain or Barnes and Noble will do.
Holy crap, good to know the Dum-Dum-pops-in-the-bank-whooshy-tubes phenomenon stretched all the way from Texas to New Jersey. I find that weirdly comforting…
I am all about the Orange Cream Slush at Sonic, but it needs more creaminess. Maybe a shot of vanilla next time…hmm…
The Silver Diner (DC chain) used to do a creamsicle milkshake, and I heard it was just vanilla ice cream and orange juice, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to try it. I fear curdling.
For a cream soda approximation, I’ve discovered that a shot of vanilla Stoli in a pint of Newcastle (tap) is pretty decent. Sounds weird as hell, and I first tried it as the bar guinea pig after some random girl ordered one, but I’m now hooked.
Should I even admit that when I was maybe 12 I mixed up a big glass of orange juice and milk in an attempt to reinvent the Creamsicle as a dinner beverage? There was curdling. And maybe a little throwing up. I’m still kind of pissed at my mom for letting me try it.
There’s a local restaurant here in Michigan, Olga’s, which has a lovely creamsicle-esque drink called the Orange Creme Cooler. Yum! If you ever end up here on accident (or on purpose), I highly recommend you try the drink. They seem to have managed the vanilla-orange pairing quite well.
When I worked at Ben and Jerry’s (7 summers ago) they had a orange sherbet-vanilla swirl. Perfect and so good! Now discontinued, unfortunately.
Preach it, sister. Sadly, the DC metro area doesn’t have Jamba Juice, only Smoothie King, but I go 45 minutes drive out of my way for their version of Creamsicle which is awesome. It’s been so lone since I had the Jamba Juice’s version that I’m not sure which is better. And I too, have been on a non-ending quest for other non-ice cream versions of creamsicle and found most wanting. I’m very glad to know that Starbuck’s Orange Cream isn’t great, because I’ve been eye balling it for a while. I may ask them what the orange in it is though, and see if they can’t add more in. I had the Potbelly ner me do that with their Creamsicle smoothie and it helped a bit. They still needed more, so next time I’ll tell them to triple the orange and see if it’s the right blend. If they manage it, I’m sure to gain about thirty pounds because the combo of delicious Italian sammich from there along with a creamsicle smoothie would make it like a weekly or bi-weekly stop for the rest of the summer. Hell, I’d skip their gooey oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a creamsicle smoothie done right. Hey, good thing I just bought some creamsicles at the store! I think I’ll go have one! :D
I didn’t really like Creamsicles (or Dreamsicles) when I was a kid. But, my mom loves them, so sometimes that was the only frozen treat we had. Not that my family is opposed to other ice cream and popsicles, we just go through dessert really quickly. So, sometimes I ate the Creamsicles just because they were sweet and cold. And they grew on me, A LOT! I now want one and I know that while there are 4 gallons of vanilla ice cream and some Edy’s frozen fruit bars in the freezer, there are no Creamsicles. Sniffle. I may have a bowl of vanilla now and I can try to drown my sorrows in some chocolate syrup.
There is a company that made orange sherbet/vanilla ice cream swirl ice cream that you could buy in gallon containers but I think it’s seasonal. Maybe it’s back for summer!
I’m both a devoted orange Fanta and Creamsicle fan, and the only mix I’ll allow with my sacred Fanta is vanilla vodka – it certainly doesn’t approximate the consistency of Creamsicle, but it has the balance of flavors.
I trace my Creamsicle affection back to Orange Julius. I remember when they had an Orange Julius stand in the middle of the mall…
Colleeeen!!!
Stewart’s Key Lime Soda is the most perfect and fantastical beverage ever created!!! I wrote them an entire letter about it. I’m patiently waaaaaaaaaaaaaiting for Diet Key Lime to make its star studded debut. Any day now, STEWART.
>I haven’t been able to bring myself to try it. I fear curdling.
A lazy-version treat I enjoy is a nice cold diet root beer with milk – it’s like a melted root beer float. Someone suggested I try the same with diet orange pop, and the results were disastrous. While the root beer concoction simply has that pleasant root beer float-y foam on top, the orange and milk combo results in a curdly SCUM. It is naaaaaaasty.
I love the photo at the top of this entry, because I recently bought some “creamsicle” fudge. And it was pretty disappointing, now that you point it out. heh.
I am backward and strange. The first time I tasted an actual Creamsicle(tm) as a kid, I was mildly disappointed because it did not precisely replicate the flavor of the ice-cream-and-OJ concoction that my family referred to as a “creamsicle float.”
Similar to Colleen’s mention of an orange cream soda, Henry Weinhard’s makes a soda like that which I quite like, but I’ve not compared it to other brands. Not sure how easy it is to find Weinhard’s on the east coast though.
I have a similar Dum-Dum memory, but it involved a gas station, not a bank. Not just any gas station but one that was housed under a WWII B-17 bomber: http://www.thebomber.com/Restaurant.asp. You’d get your gas and then go to a little hut at the end of the pumps to pay and the cashier would give Dum-Dums to the kids in the car.
Heh, I’m just looking at the menu for the restaurant which is still next to the plane. The food has flying- and WWII-related names: French toast is “De Gaulle’s Special”, the side orders are the “Allied Forces”, there’s a Tail Gunner chiliburger…. *groan* And some interesting items on the menu: their famous burger has peanut butter on it, and there’s something on the kids’ menu called deep fried mac & cheese… ?!
Ohhhh, the creamsicle. My hometown had an awesome smoothie joint (uh, since I was a weester, we’ll have none of your upstart Jamba tomfoolery) that made an excellent creamsicle shake. It was the least wholesome thing on the menu, but it was delicious. Maybe because it used soft serve rather than hard ice cream and that blended better…?
Sadly, that place is long gone. And tangentially, my favorite ice cream place at home makes an Orange Dutch Chocolate flavor that is heaven on earth, and I ordered the Orange Mocha at Starbucks on Saturday to see how that worked out… and adding coffee to the mix made it downright gross. Waste of money. Alas.
If you like a booze-y creamsicle, you might want to try a TGI Friday’s drink mix (I think they call them Blenders) flavor they call Orange Dream. Not too booze-y tasting, but 12.5%. I had it a few years ago – YUM! Tasted JUST like a creamsicle!
The orange in Starbucks’ orange creme frappuccino is a syrup. A sweet, sickly, sugar-filled syrup that you can certainly request more of in your beverage. I’ve only tried the free samples they put out next to the register, and while it’s pretty tasty, I can’t bring myself to try a biggun.
My ex-boyfriend’s stepdad had a sno-cone machine with a bunch of syrups, and one of them was creamsicle. It was great ‘cuz you could slurp all the syrup out of the ice and just add more. Why I didn’t drink it straight from the bottle is beyond me…
Oh, sing it, Sars! Creamsicles were one of my childhood favorites. There’s a restaurant here in Philly–Tangerine–whose signature cocktail is a glorious marriage of creamsicle and alcohol. At least, that’s how I remember it (I *was* kind of sloshed at the time).
I second Stewart’s Orange ‘n’ Cream, even though it’s a little heavier on the orange side. Or maybe that’s just the color…
Chapman’s makes an Orange Creamsicle Swirl ice cream that’s appeared as a special edition in Ontario the last two summers. It’s yummy.
When I was bodybuilding, I was very fond of “Grow” extra-creamy protein powder blended up with ice and orange Crystal Lite. It was the closest thing to a treat I ever got, among the fields of steamed broccoli and the thundering herds of skinless, boneless chicken breast. I remember it as very Creamsicle-like, but I might have been hallucinating from a general lack of tastebud stimulation.
Me, too, Colleen and Robin, on the Stewart’s Orange and Cream. And I agree, I’m not sure if it’s just a little too orange-y or if the color makes it seem so, but! it can be fixed with one shot of vanilla vodka per bottle, if you’re into that.
I make my fake cream soda drink with Canada Dry ginger ale and vanilla Stoli (other brands tend to be too sweet). God, it is the perfect summer porch-sitting drink
Wow, I just took the Dum Dum polls, and Blu Raspberry is freaking winning the “favorite current flavor” poll. WTF? I have met the generation gap and it’s name is Blu Raspberry.
(Orange cream is currently in 3rd for future flavors.)
And dammit, the next time I go to the store I’m going to have to buy Creamsicles, because it’s been decades and that just seems wrong.
Oh, dear lord. I’m so happy to know I’m not the only Creamsicle freak on the planet!
I have a misty, vague early-childhood memory of a very special ice cream that came in a rectangular box (super old-school). It was orange sherbet and vanilla in a checkerboard pattern. That was the bomb, yo. I will die a happy woman if I can find it again.
And the best cream soda (to my inexperienced 12-year-old palate) was Blue Cream Soda from the convenience store. Blue soda, purple-ish foam- yum!
On a booze-related note, the Bacardi Orange Breezer (I don’t think that’s the actual name, but their site is down and I have poor memory skills today) is good. I find it a bit too fizzy to be truly Creamsicle-esque, but otherwise excellent on a hot summer day.
Once upon a time some candy manufacturer that made orange creamsicle twists (like licorice). I thought it was a pretty decent replacement.
It took a bit of research to find evidence of this. http://sugarsavvy.net/2006/08/23/title_121/
The fine people of Haagen Dasz had, for a few years a pint of vanilla ice cream swirled with orange sorbet. So divine, so creamsicly. So very gone now.
Sigh.
If you want to go full-on Creamsicle crazy, you can buy Creamsicle perfume from Demeter Fragrance Library (I think you can find it at Urban Outfitters).
I third the Stewart’s. It has a picture of a Creamsicle on the bottle!
I had that Creamsicle Demeter scent for a while — AND the matching lotion. I would use more Demeter stuff (their Tomato lotion is amazing) but it’s got no SPF, boo.
Have you ever tried the Jelly Belly Creamsicle Jellybean?
There IS a Jamba Juice in DC, its on the GW Campus, “The Marvin Center” 800 21st Street, NW
See, that’s the reason I don’t like Orange Julius. Too much cream/vanilla, not enough orange. And you can say “Heavy on the orange,” and they’re all, “Right, Captain,” but in the end it still tastes too vanilla-y.
Oh, creamsicles, how I love thee.
My most recent creamsicle experience was a Creamsicle-flavored cupcake from The Cupcake Shop in Vancouver. It was actually a very close replication in ratio, but it had some slightly chemical-y taste that didn’t match the Creamsicle chemicals. And there is the matter of texture. No matter how much something tastes like a Creamsicle, only a creamsicle has that texture of the slightly resistive coating that snaps apart in a certain grain, and the incredibly melty ice cream.
I need to go buy some creamsicles now. And bookmark this post for later creamsicle goodness.
My fake cream soda is vanilla schnapps and club soda. Yum.
Breyer’s makes a Creamsicle Swirl flavour, but it seems to be only available in Canada. [http://www.breyersicecream.ca/canada/products/product.cfm?u=58779-77408&b=1&lang=en]
I hate the stuff, but Mr. tita used to eat it by the gallon before he swore off dairy (last week). He tells me it’s just like the real thing, which isn’t all that surprising, since it’s ice cream.
I have half a bucket getting crystally in my freezer right now. I’ll mail it to you if you want.
ORANGE JULIUS! I’m with Rebecca; my love for this flavor combo comes from them. I live in the midwest now and hardly anyone’s heard of it.
I don’t get the Blu Raspberry thing either. I think it’s the tongue-dying that does it.
I didn’t necessarily eat creamsicles, but I did love the orange sherbet push-up pops that my grandma used to get delivered from Schwan’s in the summer. Man, that brings me back. They were actually kind of messy, but oh so yummy. Something about orange sherbet just makes it the perfect summer snack.
Today the closest I think I can find to the real creamsicle experience is Friendly’s Orange Creme Swirl ice cream. They stock it at most grocery stores around here in MA. It tastes just like a creamy orange with a hint of vanilla.
Weight Watchers makes a decent orange/creme swirl bar. Which is how I justify eating three of them in a row.
I fourth the Stewart’s orange cream soda. Even if my mother is losing it and doesn’t remember that my sister is the freak for the orange and cream while I prefer their root beer and brings me a 4 pack of OC whenever it’s on sale.
I’m a barista. When I heard we were coming out with Orange Mocha, I was all “the hell?” and it is awful. And I agree that the OCF is not orange-y enough, I cringe when I have to make either one. Thank God we are switching to Raspberry Mocha as the featured drink next month.
SaraWR: the Chapstick orange lip balm, though it calls itself “orange” solely, is UNCANNILY like a Creamsicle. I am ADDICTED.
And yes–Orange Vanilla Creme Savers are damn close as well.
But nothing else I’ve found does it like the real McCoy does.
Thanks a lot, you guys. Now I’m going to have to swing past the gas station on my way to work. I’ve gone years without tasting the sweet, sweet orange ice and creamy ice cream variant combo and now I feel like if I don’t have one right now I may end up pulling out all my hair.
Around Canada Day (AKA the Fourth of July for people who still have the Queen on their money and -25 degree winters) my town has a waterfront festival and one of the annual stalls is erected by our own beloved Fudge Lady. My friend and I made it a ritual. She would get the mint chocolate and I would go for the fruit/nut/liquor flavoured ones. Man, that lady could make a strawberry shortcake fudge like none other.
While I used to love the Creamsicle fudge the Fudge Lady often sold, it just wasn’t the same as eating an actual Creamsicle. Munching on my rapidly softening wedge, I couldn’t put my finger on it until I realised that temperature had something to do it. To me, true Creamsicle flavour has to do partly with temperature. You can’t have the refreshing without the cold, right? Sadly, my attempts at refrigerating the fudge were mediocre at best and my attempts at freezing are best left undiscussed.
The closest thing I’ve had, to piggyback on the other comment here, is the orange and cream Stewart’s soda. They make a pretty ripping cream soda, too.
Rita’s has an Orange Cream Ice that I haven’t tried (yet), but I always love their stuff: http://www.ritasice.com/products_frozenCream.cfm
Closest Rita’s to you may be Staten Island, Sars.
I’ve got a to throw a vote in for the Sonic Orange Cream Slush. Oh so good, and it makes me sad that you can essentially only buy a medium. I want a Route 44 or whatever the obscenely huge cup size is of fruity creamy slushiness. Mmmmm….
I just had a Hershey’s Orange Blossom Swirl (or whatever it’s called) with my lunch. It’s not too bad; I had one when I worked here last summer. The texture of the orange isn’t quite right, though. Not creamy enough. I prefer to let it melt a bit and then stir it all up, anyway. Still, it’s a nice substitute for the real deal when you’re craving something orange-y here at the Boat. Or elsewhere.
And a big ol’ “word” on the Creme Savers. I’ve found few other hard candies that truly taste like the intended ice cream. Go figure, though: Baskin Robbins has a sugar-free mint and chocolate hard candy that tastes EXACTLY like mint chocolate chip ice cream. I bought a bag of them once and ate them all during a marathon session of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64. Highly addictive.
Gen’s dad recommended Rita’s, actually, but you’re probably right — S.I. or NJ is my only hope in that regard.