Favorite Princeton Area Ice Cream Spots

Owowcow's strawberry rhubarb crumble features a light, sweet cream rhubarb base with generous swirls of fresh strawberry and rhubarb compote, plus a buttered brown sugar oat crumble for a little crunch. Yum! ?

The summer is heating up and we know that New Jersey loves to cool down with delicious creamy frozen treats. The region is stacked with yummy options, so there’s no excuse for not indulging in a summer heat wave. We’ve built our list of the best in the area and we are here to give you the scoop on where you need to be eating ice cream this summer.

THE SPOTS:

The Bent Spoon

    35 Palmer Square West, Princeton

    609-924-2368

    Mon-Tues 12-6PM, W-Th 12-10PM; Fri-Sat 12-11PM; Sun 12-10PM

A follower favorite, people raved about The Bent Spoon. Known for their inventive ice cream and sorbets made from local & organic ingredients along with baked sweets,” the shop has been around since 2004. People’s favorite included Blue Mascarpone, Coconut Sorbet, Banana Whip and Sweet Corn.

Recently, the shop collaborated with Pennsylvania’s Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey for a Dad’s Hat Caramel. And we were thrilled when Thrillist, a national lifestyle blog, included them recently in best ice cream spots in the U.S., writing, “[The Bent Spoon] has garnered a loyal cult following based on a whopping 550 flavors, which rotate in and out of the little shop 24 at a time. This is a place where seasonality is king, and while you can always get a top-notch traditional flavor or a modified classic (think habanero chocolate), the place is also doing the kind of flavor experimentation normally reserved for the chemistry lab. Think Sun Gold tomato sorbet made with the Garden State's treasured fruit, or blueberry mascarpone, or chocolate with ramps, or pumpkin with shiitake mushrooms. None of those things sound like they belong together. That they're typically fantastic -- especially when paired with one of the Spoon's legendary cookies -- is a testament to the genius being churned behind the counter.]

Halo Pub

    9 Hulfish Street, Princeton

    609-921-1710

    Sun-Fri 7AM-11PM; Sat 7AM-11:30PM

Halo Pub is Halo Farm’s baby, a sibling of Halo Pub Hamilton & Halo Fete Princeton. Here you can find Halo Farm, that has been around since the mid-1970s as an idea to create a retail dairy store where customers could buy direct, ice creams in flavors like Cashew & Caramel, Tahiti Vanilla Bean,Chocolate & Butter Pecan. Followers love their Amarillo Chocolate Covered Almond, Mocha Chip, Strawberry Chocolate Chip & especially their Mochachino Ice Cream Cake for special occasions.

The ice cream is made from the farm’s own milk and cream and does not contain stabilizers, colors, artificial flavors, gums, or preservatives. Head on over to Halo Farm, for pints of their 48 super premium ice cream flavors and also half gallons of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate chip varieties.

Yogori Italy

    3535 US Highway 1, Unit 175, (MarketFair), Princeton

    609-919-0561

    Mon-Th 12-9PM; Fri-Sat 12-10PM; Sun 12-5PM

Yogorino is a frozen yogurt and gelato shop located in MarketFair. The shop imports ingredients, to make their small batches of frozen yogurt and gelato fresh in-house, from Italy.  Gelato is manufactured using Italian machines by an Italian gelato master from Milano, so the taste is pretty close to the authentic gelato you can have in Italy. While they try to always have Italian classics and American favorites — they do have vegan options, as well as nut-free and gluten-free selections available.

According to the owner, you must try their unique frozen yogurt. It’s real actual yogurt and three ounces of it has only 130 calories and 1 gram of fat — but 350 million probiotics! With more than 50 toppings, guests can create and customize it the way the prefer.

The franchise has only two locations in the US, with 100 throughout Italy and several dozen others across Europe.

Purple Cow

    2685 Main Street, Lawrenceville

    609-896-0050

    Tues-Th 11:30AM-8PM; Fri-Sat 11:30AM-9PM; Sun 11:30AM-8PM

Purple Cow, whose namesake was inspired from a drawing that hung in the owners’ kitchen from their young daughter, offers many flavors of small-batch ice cream since 2010, served in a white cottage with porch seating.

Their number one seller is the — you might have guessed it — Purple Cow, black raspberry ice cream with delicious chocolate chips added in. A new flavor, Holy Cow, a vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge swirl, chocolate chips, m&ms and cookie dough, has been a huge hit with customers.

They do have hard ice cream and soft serve, as well as sugar-free and non-dairy ice creams.

Thomas Sweet Cafe

    1325 US-206, Schulman

    609-454-5280

    Mon-Th 7AM-9PM; Fri 7AM-10PM; Sat 8AM-10PM; Sun 8AM-9PM

Thomas Sweet was founded in 1979 and focuses on producing small batches of ice cream with the freshest ingredients — all while helping the community. The company has 4 locations, including 2 in Princeton, and sells chocolates, gift baskets & gourmet coffee in their stores, as well as online.

According to owners, their chocolate chip cookie ice cream is unique and a favorite with guests. Instead of just bits of cookie dough mixed into vanilla ice cream — it is a cookie dough-flavored ice cream. Yum!

Other popular favorites include “The Jersey Shore,” which boasts swirls of sea salt and caramel in a vanilla base and “The Midnight Jersey Shore,” a chocolate ice cream swirled with brownies and sea salt caramel.

Gil & Bert’s Handdipped Ice Cream, Cranberry

    69 N Main Street, Cranberry

    609-203-6931

    Mon-Sun 11:30AM-9:30PM

Gil & Bert’s, which has been around since 2008 and promises “old-fashioned goodness with a smile, ” offers guests a rotating menu of homemade ice cream flavors & al fresco seating from an outdoor counter-serve.  You must try their new “Unicorn Delight,” touted as  “a magical mix for 2 ice creams in one. Sweet vanilla is fairy dusted with a pastel rainbow of confetti and then stirred together with ultra-violet bubblegum.” The owner’s favorite is Chocolate Almond, a rich chocolate ice cream packed with pieces of crunchy chocolate covered almonds. Just remember paper bills, as they are cash only.

Uncle Ed’s Creamery

    155 W. Delaware Avenue, Pennington

    609-818-0100

    Sun-Th 12-9PM; Fri-Sat 12-9:30PM

One Facebook user touted Uncle Ed’s as a “quaint little place that has THE BEST ice cream on this side of the Atlantic!” Uncle Ed’s makes all of their ice cream on the premises. You’ll always find 32 flavors of ice cream. Ice cream cups and cones, milkshakes, floats and sundaes are a few top menu items along with ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cakes and ice cream pies.  Custom hand-packed pints and quarts are also available. Our readers raved about the coffee ice cream and the mint chocolate.

While Uncle Ed’s also makes fine chocolates, truffles & cookies, the owner insists that the Ice Cream Pies are where it’s at. Varieties sell for $19.95, serve 8 and include options like Cookies and cream, Mint Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cup and Chocolate Lovers.

Cream King, Pennington

    49 NJ-31, Pennington

    609-737-0283

    Mon-Th 11:30AM-10PM; Fri-Sat 11:30AM-10:30PM; Sun 12-10PM

Cream King has been around since 1958 and prides itself on being a pillar of the Pennington Community since then. Locally owned and operated, Cream King offers soft serve and hand dipped ice cream, creative sundaes & milkshakes and items from the grill.

Owners say that they are best known for their creamy soft serve, which comes in vanilla, chocolate, twist and orange creamsicle. You can enjoy your ice cream or burger on picnic tables under umbrellas on the patio or lawn. Ask about their punch card, where you get 1 punch for every $5 spent, to earn yourself some free ice cream.

Red Barn Milk Co.

    392 NJ-31, Ringoes

    609-466-6455

    Sun-Mon 11AM-9PM; Tues closed; Wed-Thurs 11AM-9PM; Fri-Sat 11AM-10PM

Red Barn Milk Co. is a partnership between Hun-Val Dairy Farm of Ringoes, Double Brook Farm of Hopewell and Brick Farm Market. The shop, open from April to October, offers milkshakes, ice cream, burgers, fries, hot dogs & brats. All ice cream, which is the only certified Jersey Fresh ice cream in the state, is made with milk from their very own herd of dairy cows (from Hun-Val farm) and crafted in-house.

The farmers say that Brown Sugar Bourbon ice cream is one of their signature ice cream flavors and that their soft serve is pretty special to them, as they don’t use a mix.

Try their food — whether grass-fed burgers, heritage pro or pasture-raised turkey — as it gets rave reviews, and wash it all down with Marchese Farm’s farm-fresh press juices!

Owowcow Creamery

    237 N Union St, Lambertville

    609-397-2234

    Sun-Thur 11AM-9PM; Fri-Sat 11AM-10PM

Owowcow touts 5 local locations and a dozen accolades including reviews from Zagat, Philadelphia Magazine, Huffington Post and more. The company produces their premium ice cream using locally sourced, natural and organic ingredients in small batches.

Owowcow says it is a “virtually a recipe-free environment” compelling them to imagine new flavors daily.  The house-made ice cream base is crafted with local cream, eggs, and honey. Flavors include chocolate salted caramel pecan, sweet honey cream, blueberry lemon, sunbather and jelly, blood orange raspberry and more. You can find a fuller list on their website.

Besides ice cream you can enjoy novelties in-store like hand-dipped ice cream pops, ice cream sandwiches made with chocolate chip cookies they make themselves and ice cream cakes. They also have monthly flavors and specials available in each store. In June, they featured different strawberry flavor rotations like strawberry rhubarb crumble, strawberry basil balsamic, and strawberry pie.

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