Top Iowa Ice Cream Picks!

Happy National Ice Cream Day!  This just might be my favorite holiday.  I mean, who doesn't like an excuse to eat ice cream!  Every June, in honor of National Dairy Month, my family goes on an Iowa Ice Cream Road Trip.  This is a fun and sweet tradition that not only lets us see new places across the state, but we get to eat great food too.  Through our travels we've had a lot of great ice cream, and through some hard deliberation around a bowl of ice cream, we have selected our top soft serve and hard ice cream in Iowa!  Someone has to do the hard work, and for you Iowa, our family has sacrificed calories to do so. ;)

Top Iowa Soft Serve Ice Cream:  The Whippy Dip in Decorah, Iowa

The Whippy Dip is a seasonal walk-up ice cream stand that serves creamy and rich soft serve ice cream in the heart of Iowa's "Dairy Country" in Northeast Iowa.  This ice cream shop even sources its milk from a local dairy - you wouldn't expect anything less would you?

The Whippy Dip keeps its ice cream simple by offering vanilla or chocolate.  While the ice cream alone is good, our family thinks it is even better by adding some mix-ins and creating a Tornado (think Dairy's Queen's Blizzard - but better!).  Our top recommendation is their Cookie Dough Tornado.  They layer real cookie dough (none of that frozen cookie dough mini-ball stuff - we're talking a slab of real cookie dough you could actually bake into a cookie) in their soft serve and then mix it up.  They then add an extra scoop of cookie dough and mini chocolate chips on top!  Every bite is guaranteed to have cookie dough in it.

Top Iowa Hard Ice Cream:  Heyn's Ice Cream in Iowa City, Iowa

Heyn's Ice Cream is in the heart of Iowa City.  Their cute Holstein dairy cow decor and over 40 flavors of hard ice cream make for a fun ice cream experience!

Their flavors of ice cream offer so much variety and rich flavor, we feel like the best way to eat it is simply served in a cone (or maybe in one of their Dream Cones which are hand dipped and rolled in sprinkles or Butterfinger crumbles).  Our pick, which is also their top seller, is their Monster Mash, a vanilla ice cream with monster cookies mixed in it.





So there you have it!  Our pick's for Iowa's top soft serve and hard ice creams!  Enjoy and celebrate National Ice Cream Day today!  What is your favorite ice cream shop?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Iowa Ice Cream Road Trip at Heyn's Ice Cream in Iowa City

It's June Dairy Month, so that means our family is celebrating by visiting iconic Ice Cream Shops and Parlors around the state of Iowa as part of our 2nd Annual Iowa Ice Cream Road Trip!  During the first week of June we visited Snookies Malt Shop in Des Moines.  Week two we traveled to Iowa City for a wedding so we figured we'd better make it a blogging experience too by visiting Heyn's Ice Cream!

Heyn's Ice Cream is in the heart of Iowa City, or at least it felt that way for this Cyclone family...  To tell you the truth we've never really been to Iowa City and have definitely never drove that far in to Iowa City.  But I'd have to say it was worth it!  Heyn's Ice Cream was delicious!

My Farmer making his decision...

Upon entering the ice cream parlor we couldn't help but check out the cute Holstein dairy cow decor and the wide variety of ice cream flavors and serving options!  Heyn's makes over 40 flavors of hard ice cream, so you should be able to find something that fits your taste buds.  I wanted to try several flavors but decided to go with their top seller - Monster Mash!  Monster Mash is a vanilla ice cream with monster cookies mixed in it.  It was perfect for me since I love cookie dough ice creams.  My Farmer went with Kara's Creation (which is an Oreo cookie, caramel, peanut ice cream) and gave it a two thumbs up review!

Cone options at Heyn's Ice Cream

Like I said earlier, they have a variety of serving options for their ice cream - shakes, sundaes, twisters (think Dairy Queen's Blizzard), parfaits, banana splits, and of course several cone options.  We decided to splurge and go with one of their hand dipped Dream Cone options.  Both My Farmer and I enjoyed their Butterfinger Dream Cone.

The finished product!
Single scoop Monster Mash in a Butterfinger Dream Cone

A friendly Hawkeye family guarding the entrance to Heyn's Ice Cream

So, if you are ever in Iowa City, or anywhere within an hour... you should make the trip to Heyn's Ice Cream, even if you're a Cyclone.  Don't be scared of the Hawkeye families that guard the outside of the store.  You can buy the homemade ice cream in take home containers of pint, half gallon and gallon sizes if you feel like you need to make a quick exit! ;)  But seriously, it was very good ice cream - it was rich, flavorful, creamy and fresh!  Heyn's now holds my spot for top hard ice cream in Iowa.  (My pick for top soft serve in Iowa is the Whippy Dip in Decorah.) And the people, Hawkeyes and all, were friendly.

Have you ever been to Heyn's Ice Cream?  What is your favorite flavor if you have been?  Do you prefer soft serve or hard ice cream?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!