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
Sprecher Orange Dream soda! (http://www.sprecherbrewery.com/soda.php) To me, each of their sodas tastes like Cream Soda w something added (Root Beer, Cola, Orange). Not sure where you can get them outside of the Midwest, but it sure is good.
re: autiger23,
If no one’s chimed in already about this, there’s at least one in Georgetown and if you’re ever in Silver Spring there is one in Whole Foods.
I used to live in California and got hooked there. I actually wrote to Jamba begging them to open one up here in Fredneck but no luck thus far. Bet if I opened one myself, though, I’d bury the new Ben and Jerry’s. :oD
Best boozy creamsicle ever is Ke Ke Beach Lime Liqueur and Orange Pop. Mmmm.
Here’s the link to the Ke Ke Beach page:
http://www.mccormickdistilling.com/kekebeach/product.php
I work at Starbucks… so I’ve got a bit of the inside scoop… If you feel like giving it another go… try ordering the Orange Cream Frap with one less pump of orange and one pump of vanilla syrup… (for a tall)… I experimented around and that mixture came way closer to an actual creamsicle than the recipe.
btw… I’ve never commented before but I love love your site
Coincidentally, my sister was just telling me the other day about how much she craves the Creamsicle cake from Cru Cafe in Charleston, SC. I have never heard her get so emotional about dessert. Of course, this is probably not helpful to you.
Otherwise, Sprecher makes excellent soda, and I hear many good things about their orange dream soda.
Not to dis the flavour aspect of Creamsicles, but I think Sarah’s right re the coldness being part of the attraction. I always loved a Creamsicle best when it was just out of the freezer & the orange part was practically crystalized & Just Right.. Once the whole thing started melting, not so much – the ratio went off badly as the orange melted off the side of the vanilla until I was left with a melting vanilla ice cream bar, bleah.
I’ve never tried the orange Stewarts, but must try it now – their Black Cherry is excellent (second only to the truly awesome Dr Brown’s, who also make a very fine cream soda) and their Key Lime is sublime.
Also, on the mixology side, I’ve had some success with vanilla vodka + mandarin liqueur + 7-Up. It’s not perfect, but the mandarin is safer than using OJ, with its unfortunate curdle-y tendencies, though there is a point where mandarin liqueur used to excess will start to taste like the old orange-coloured Triaminic cough liquid. My stomach heaves just thinking about that – ick.
I LOVED the orange Triaminic! To the point where I would occasionally feign a cough so I could have some.
Now, the yellow Triaminic…[shudder] Tasted like mildew and about as effective.
I worked at an ice cream store in high school, and in our down time, we worked on developing the best possible creamsicle-flavored beverage with the ingredients at hand. The best I recall, it was a shake made with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a slightly larger scoop of orange sorbet, plus whole milk. It also worked with soda water instead of milk, plus a shot of vanilla syrup. Orange Crush floats, however, are way too sweet.
My alcoholic cream soda substitute is Sprite and a whole shot of Captain Morgan’s.
Karen, way to spot the nickname! Also, thanks for the heads-up on the Chapstick — I’m going to hit Wal-Mart as soon as my husband gets home.
For those of you who were grooving on the Creamsicle scents and lotions, Claire’s (I know, I know) makes this kickass roll-on body glitter that smells exactly like real Creamsicles. It makes you want to lick yourself and do unspeakable things, like eat an entire carton of sherbet bars. It’s awesome.
The lipglosses from Bloom cosmetics have a really nice orange-vanilla flavor.
Sars, you scare me sometimes. LOVED orange Triaminic?!?!?! Wha….ehhh…aayyyyy….
I forgot about yellow Triaminic – mildew, yes & corrosive mildew, at that. I must have suppressed that traumatic memory, thanks so much for hauling it out. I’m shuddering, too – I need a Creamsicle. Ice cream break time.
Eurgh. Sars, you obviously weren’t raised to only know Weight Watcher’s orange creamsicles. I’m not sure I can explain just what’s wrong with them, but I’ve been scarred for life. And THEN, since my family was so married to the weightwatchers pseudo-dessert, you won’t be surprised to hear that my mom went on a year-long experimental liquid diet (which later became optifast) and every meal she had for 13 months was buzzed up in the blender and made with diet orange soda and the sorta yeasty vitamin-smelling vanilla-esque powder and it just smelled up the whole condo. Bleh. I’ll have my fudgie-wudgies, thank you.
Sherbet push-up pops from Schwan’s were the greatest. Good call.
Another great substitute is TCBY vanilla swirled with orange sorbet. The orange isn’t cream-based, so I like that the textures are different. Plus I fell less guilty about eating yogurt.
Hee. I loved the orange Triaminic, too. Also baby aspirin, a flavor desriptor used disparagingly by people who don’t like creamsicles.
Oddly enough, I don’t much care for real oranges.
Jones Soda makes an Orange ‘n Cream soda as well. I’m not a fan of that particular flavor, but friends of mine who are say it’s quite accurate. On top of that, they make it with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, so it’s better for you.
http://www.jonessoda.com/files/products-glass.php
Grand Marnier is a great booze for *hinting* at creamsicles, with the orange and vanilla notes. I once made a fancy cake with orange mousse filling, vanilla creme anglaise and Grand Marnier-sprinkled lady fingers. Maybe I’ll just go swig some from the bottle right now.
In the DC Metro area, I know there’s a Jamba Juice at the Clarendon Whole Foods — I would imagine they’d be in a lot of the WF.
Jess, Food Lion brand orange sherbet tastes EXACTLY like cold baby aspirin. Not a selling point from my POV, but there you go. :)
My 2 cents on the alcoholic cream soda substitution: Absolut Vanilla + Ginger Ale. If there is no ginger ale to be had, then Captain Morgan + 7Up is an excellent choice.
Now I need to go find my self an orange push-up pop.
I actually was craving something Creamsicle-y this weekend, and so I decided to make orange cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I put the cake batter into flat-bottomed ice cream cones and baked them in there so the cupcakes puffed out the top (thanks, Real Simple!) and then iced them.
They weren’t actually very Creamsicle-y, but they made me happy in my mouth.
The best Creamsicle-type drink I ever had was at the tiny coffee shop inside a Nordstrom’s department store. It got to the point where the downtown mall was the only acceptable mall to patronize (despite an otherwise perfectly acceptable mall-type mall being literally across the street from our current apartment) ) because the downtown mall was the only one in town that had a Nordstrom’s.
I seem to recall it involved orange juice, either heavy cream or half-and-half, vanilla syrup, and lots of ice, heavy on the OJ. And it worked. Oh my, how it worked.
Of course, this was back in 2000 or so. I don’t know if Nordstrom’s still have coffee shops at all, let alone if the shops still make the drinks.
I’ve approximated a drink that’s similar to a Creamsicle. I came up with it in an attempt to make something like a lemon Italian ice. It ended up reminding me more of a Creamsicle, so I’ll share it with you.
1.5 oz. Liquor 43 (thicker vanilla flavored liquor)
.75 oz. Grand Marnier or Cointreau. (I wouldn’t go too inexpensive with the orange liquor because it starts tasting nasty pretty quickly.)
juice from half a lemon
splash of pineapple juice (I know, it sounds like it’s starting to get iffy, but stay with me here)
three swirls of whipped cream
Pour all of this over ice and shake shake shake so that the whipped cream gets mixed in well. Strain into a martini glass or serve over ice. I prefer the martini glass because the melting ice waters it down rather quickly.
I hope this works for you! It’s a secret when I make it where I work, but I’ve gotten quite a following on it. I figure I don’t mind telling my secret here because I get so much pleasure from reading your writing. Thanks!
Okay, y’all are gonna be super jealous, but my mom makes a CREAMSICLE PIE. That’s right, people–CREAMSICLE. PIE. It is cold and orangey and creamy and delicious. If I remember, I’ll ask her for the recipe and email it to Sars, who I’m sure would be kind enough to post it on her site, once she gets done licking the pie plate clean.
Am I the only one who refers to a creamsicle as a 50/50 bar? It’s what my mother always called them … maybe it’s a back-in-the-day rural thing.
While not exactly a creamsicle, my childhood was spend eating the orange/vanilla swirl cones from Kohr’s on the Seaside Heights boardwalk in Seaside, NJ. Orange flavored ice cream mixed with vanilla custard. I think I’m going to have to drive to NJ this weekend to get one… Yum!
Kat- I’ve heard the called 50/50 bars before, too.
And STEWARTS. The Orange Cream is simply amazing and the Key Lime is heaven. I worked at a Cracker Barrel for a while and used to bring home the orange all. the. time. I worship that company.
Just wanted to say thanks to the DC folks who gave me the heads-up on the Jamba Juice locales. Sadly, they are all over an hour from where I live, but the next time I’m in the city, I’m there! Woot! Tomato Nationites, unite!
Panama Jack’s spray on sunscreen has a creamsicle scent. It’s not strong enough to gross you out (or attract any bugs), just enough to make you crave the real thing.
>I did love the orange sherbet push-up pops that my grandma used to get >delivered from Schwan’s in the summer.
OH MY GOD, other people had the Schwann’s man????
My friends in college thought I was crazy, or that it was just so QUAINT and midwestern to have a door to door food salesman.
The Schwann’s man doesnt come anymore, and my mom is beside herself over the loss of Schwann’s chocolate ice cream, which she considers beyond compare.
Me, I can always find a chocolate ice cream I’ll enjoy. heh.
I’ll back up Sars and a few others on the Orange Triaminic. Tastiest drug EVER. I was always happy when I got a cold and got orange triaminic. When I got a cough, however I would hide from the bottle of burgundy colored Robitussin. It tastes like DEATH. DEATH I tell you. euuuuughhh.
mmm, creamsicle pie. I must try this. Now-ish.
There was a patient in the nursing home where I worked who was always served a glass of orange soda and a glass of milk with supper, which she would then mix together and drink. Something tells me this woman could have appreciated your thorough pursuit of the perfect orange creamsicle substitute, Sars, although I never had the guts to try her concoction, so I can’t say for sure.
Word on the orange Triaminic. Glad I’m not the only one that would fake sick to get it.
@Kat: oh yes, I call them 50/50 bars, too and most of the time, I get a quizzical face in return.
For those of us in vicinity of Ruby’s Diner, they have a. fan. tastic. 50/50 shake. It is the perfect combination (or it has been, anyway) of orangey and creamy. So good.
http://www.rubys.com/2-locations/locations.aspx
On the alcohol front, the Fat Tuesday bar on South Street in Philadelphia makes a pretty passable-for-the-original Creamsicle frozen drink. At any rate if you have two large ones the taste won’t matter much anyway.
Ah dang, someone beat me to the Jones Soda plug.
Still, though, you can’t beat the idea of gravy-flavored soda.
American Girl makes (or made?) the best Creamsicle lip balm (tube form and with a whisper of sparkle). I lurve it with all my squee.
Look at all the crazy creamsicle love! I’m going to Target tonight to get Chapstick, Triaminic, and Creme Savers. Also, I”m wondering how the Mandarin flavor of Izze would be with a scoop of vanilla ice cream?
I am now off to make a Creamsicle Smoothie, recipe from Cooks Country, 8/2005.
Makes 5 1/2 cups
1 (12-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate
2 small bananas , roughly chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients in blender until smooth.
Oooooh, orange push-up pops. The memories! My sister and I used to walk down the street to this cute little old-time candy shop, and with a mere fifty cents, we could load up on tons of candy–Airheads, Sixlets, Pop Rocks, and those…whaddya call it…the Dippin Candy stuff where you got a little candy stick and little packs of Kool-aid mix to dip it in. If we had seventy-five cents–or even, on a really good day, a whole dollar–we could get orange push-up pops for fifty cents. (Wow, that makes me sound old, but I’m only in my twenties!)
Arby’s recently had an orange cream shake thingy that was pretty tasty, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had an actual Creamsicle, so I can’t attest to its flavor proximity. Ditto Yoplait’s Creamsicle yogurt. Tasty in and of itself, but I don’t know how Creamsicle-ish it is.
I’ll see that Sonic Orange Cream Slush and raise you a Cherry Cream Slush, because let’s not forget the Cherry Creamsicle, which also totally rocks.
What the slush has, of course, is the slushiness, because it isn’t just the flavor of the popsicle shell that matters, it’s the texture of the popsicle shell in contrast to the ice cream in the middle (or ice milk, if you’re a Dreamsicle fan like me).
Now, could you please get on the trail of the Banana Fudgesicle? I spent one entire year of my adolescence eating a Banana Fudgesicle and a chocolate longjohn for lunch … every single day. The Lunch Lady was even known to save the last one for me if she hadn’t seen me in line yet.
What the hell ever happened to that thing???
Kwach
The local Wal-Mart did not have orange Chapstick.
Did you all hear me? NO ORANGE CHAPSTICK. How is this possible in a place that sells live lobsters and Lightning McQueen pinatas? Wal-Mart sells M.A.C. and Wet’n’Wild IN THE SAME AISLE. Why can’t they carry orange Chapstick?
No love, Sam. No fucking love.
“For those of us in vicinity of Ruby’s Diner, they have a. fan. tastic. 50/50 shake. It is the perfect combination (or it has been, anyway) of orangey and creamy. So good.”
What? WHAT?? There’s a freakin’ Ruby’s Diner about 200 yards from where I work! I always loved their food but I somehow missed that milkshake… I must rectify this.
I third (or fourth, I’ve lost track) the Stewart’s orange ‘n cream soda…go to a Stewart’s restaurant and get the orange ‘n cream drink whose name I forget…the one that has orange ‘n cream soda in slushy form layered with vanilla soft serve…it is AMAZING. If you felt like comparison-shopping next time you’re in Jersey, there’s a Rita’s with Orange Cream Ice off of Springfield Ave. right behind the Berkeley Heights movie theater, and then a little bit further on, on the same side of the street, there’s a Stewart’s restaurant in Gillette or Stirling or Long Hill, one of those little towns that doesn’t have a high school. The Stewart’s restaurant is right on the outskirts of Warren, on the part of Springfield Ave. after it turns into Valley Rd.
An infantry officer buddy of mine who’s in charge of a Basic Training unit was telling me about the joys of messing with privates.
“Get over here!”
[run run run run stop salute]
“Sir?”
“Listen up! There’s this new cookie in the MREs. This Kreamsicle cookie. Y’all heard a this? It’s s’posed to taste like a Creamsicle. Y’all bring me a Kreamsicle cookie in 3 minutes or y’all’r all doing push-ups till y’all’s arms fall off. Go.”
[salute about-face run run scramble scramble panic whew run run stop]
“Sir! We found a Kreamsicle cookie, Sir! Here it is!”
[rustle rustle rip rustle chomp chomp chew swallow cough]
“DAMN! That tastes just like a Creamsicle! Amazing! Go away.”
[salute about-face run run scramble hide whew]
[…the fuck was that all about? shrug shrug]
***********
Anyway, they don’t need refrigeration.
The trick to creating an alcoholic Creamsicle is Absolut Vanilla and Tang. I didn’t believe it either until I tried one, but it’s remarkably close to the original. The Tang really delivers that fake orange flavor. Enjoy.
I like to mix together pretty much equal parts vanilla yogurt and pulpless orange juice. The first time my sister made this for me I thought it was very creamsicle-ish, though since I haven’t had a creamsicle in I don’t know how long, my flavor memory might be off.
I have not had a Creamsicle for many an age.
I am the saddest creature.
That cream soda booze recipe sounds delightful, though – gotta try that.
There is a really awesome looking orange creme pie recipe on http://www.cookiemadness.net at the moment…..
it’s made with orange jello mix and vanilla pudding and cool whip on a base of twinkies. yum.
All of you recommending Sonic are making me sad. They torment me here in NJ with delicious looking commericals, but as far as I can tell, they don’t exist further east than… *checks website again* ooo! Closer! They’re in the eastern half of PA now, though unfortunately not very far into it.
If it’s chewy Creamsicleness you’re craving, try to find a bag of fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls. There are always too many Vanilla ones, which are bland on their own. But when eaten simultaneously with an Orange Tootsie, you get a tastebud delight (vanilla-lime and vanilla-cherry are also good). You can also easily adjust the flavor sensation by cutting down on one flavor or the other.
However, their shape might make them adhere even more easily to the roof of your mouth than the Creamsicle disc candy.
For orangey pastries:
Starbucks’ orange and cream reduced-fat coffee cake was astonishingly delicious and moist. I don’t know if they’ll still have it now that they’ve moved on to raspberry, but it was better than any of the orange drinks and far exceeded my expectations.
Sysco distributes a cake called Florida Sunshine Cake. I don’t know if you can find it in local specialty bakeries, or if you know a chef who can order it for you, but it is orange cake filled with delicious orange-vanilla pudding and frosted, and then dusted with white chocolate chips. You have to scrape off a lot of the frosting to cut the sweetness, but oh – so sublime. It’s especially good really cold, or practically frozen. Frosty, crysatl-ly orange-vanilla pudding? Incomparable.
As far as Triaminic goes – what I remember most about the orange variety is that it always seemed to get especially crystallized and crusty at the top of the bottle. My favorite was always grape Dimetapp. Just keep the Robitussin away from me – ew.
Okay, I *was* craving a creamsicle but now all I want is to be 5 again so I can fake cough until my mother gets so annoyed she lets me swig some orange Triaminic even though we both know I am healthy. Has anyone seen the episode of the Sarah Silverman Program where she is swigging from all of the cold medicine bottles in the drugstore and then goes for a trippy car ride? That is the feeling I get when I think of orange triaminic…like I could chug it and then live forever in a hazy but delightfully colorful LSD trip. Sniffle.
Did anyone ever try the Tropicana vanilla ice cream and orange sorbet (or was it juice) frozen popsicle? The orange part was supposedly more “natural” – but was in any case less sweet, if you are after the slightly more healthy version of the creamsicle. I’ve been out of the US for awhile, so I’m not sure if they are still making them, but they were really good.
And for M – who mentioned The Bomber gas station/restaurant – dang, I grew up right down the road from that place. Small world.
I’m also part of the “I faked sickness in order to get the orange Triaminic” club. However, upon looking for it as an adult, the “orange” flavoring they currently have didn’t look like it had the same coloring as the version from the 80’s. Has anyone tried it recently?