1st Annual Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge

Week 8, the finale of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge is here! Wait, we’re done already?! Say it ain’t so! 😊 Last, but certainly not least, this week we visited Frosty’s in Rural Valley, PA. People have been voting for them since the start of the challenge and I’ve had several messages making sure we were going to visit them. I’ve been looking forward to this one since the beginning, and they did not disappoint. From the moment we walked into their squeaky clean, beautifully decorated shop, we could see why people across the County love this place so much.

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were Frosty’s entries for the challenge:

The Classic – Our last classic of the challenge led us to yet another banana split. You’d think we would be tired of these by now, but each one is fun and unique. This one had all the classic flavors. Pineapple on vanilla, strawberry on chocolate, and chocolate on twist, but what really stuck out was the soft serve. To my knowledge, each shop uses a similar mix to make soft serve, and yet, they taste different at each place. Frosty’s had the thickest, richest soft serve of each place we’ve tried. You could almost mistake it for hard scoop. They pile it high on their large banana split and the density of the ice cream made this creation several pounds of deliciousness. Their ice cream quality really sets them apart in my book, but that may just be personal preference. This sundae would have filled up the whole family on it’s own, but we were just getting started.   

The Crowd Favorite – When Frosty’s opened 12 years ago, one of their original creations was the Pretzel Salad Sundae, and it’s been a favorite ever since. Layers of strawberries, marshmallow cream, pretzels, and thick vanilla soft serve made up this attractive and delicious treat. They pride themselves on presentation at Frosty’s, and luckily they have the flavors to match. The pretzels and strawberries tasted very fresh, and this was amongst the best things we’ve tried in all 8 weeks of ice cream.

The Craziest Creation – Our last creation of the journey was something Frosty’s is debuting right now. They call it ‘The Patriot’. Recently, they started serving Italian ice here and The Patriot features vanilla  soft serve, cherry ice, more soft serve, blue raspberry ice, more soft serve, whipped cream, and red and blue sprinkles. It’s the perfect 4^th of July creation that’s arriving just in time. It’s quite a sight to behold and the fruit flavors mixed with vanilla were both wonderful. The cherry tasted just like Twizzlers to me, so if you love that flavor, you’ll love this one too. The best part is, they’ll be donating part of the proceeds from each ‘Patriot’ sold to national and local veterans organizations. It might just be the most delicious way to support a very worthy cause.

If you’ve never been to Frosty’s, you should really make a plan to go try it. Generous portions, high quality, and unique flavors make this a must-stop whenever you’re on the eastern half of Armstrong County. It was definitely worth the wait as we finish our ice cream journey. This has been such a fun project for us as a family. I hope you’ve enjoyed the videos and articles. This is also the last week for voting, so make sure you get entered to win a trip your favorite place in the County.

The final video comes out on Sunday, July 4^th, at 7PM, so check back next week to find out who will win the gift cards and which shop will be crowned champion of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge.

If you want to vote for Dairy Queen as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Week 7 of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge took us back to the original. If you trace the invention of soft serve ice cream back to it’s roots, you’ll end up at 1950’s Dairy Queen. Since then, soft serve ice cream shops have popped up all over America, so it’s pretty cool that we get to pay homage to this legendary franchise. DQ is also based in my home State of Minnesota. I grew up visiting their old-style walk-up ice cream stands, so I have a lot of nostalgia with Dairy Queen. Even though they’ve changed a lot since then, they still make some pretty incredible ice cream.

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were Dairy Queen’s entries for the challenge:

The Classic – When I was little, I would always get a crunch cone, but when I was done, I’d always steal some bites from my mom’s favorite, The Peanut Buster Parfait. Our classic creation was a Buster Bar, which is basically the parfait frozen on a stick. It’s a layer of Spanish peanuts with hot fudge, topped with vanilla soft serve and dipped in chocolate. The older version I remember looked like a cup, but the newer style is truly shaped like a bar. In my opinion, the newer one is better. The flavors are all captures in each bite and the peanuts and fudge take me right back to childhood in Moorhead, Minnesota. My whole family loved this take home treat.

The Crowd Favorite – The Blizzard is synonymous with Dairy Queen. They continue to come up with new options all the time, but one blizzard or another is almost always on the list of favorites. This month, the favorite was the Frosted Animal Cookie Blizzard. I LOVE frosted animal crackers (maybe a little too much…), so this was right up my alley. Generous portions of cookies and three small scoops of secret pink frosting are mixed in to make this fun creation. If that sounds good to you, you’ll have to go get one soon, because the blizzards are always changing with the seasons and this one might not be around for long.

The Craziest Creation – DQ is a limited with how crazy they can get with their creations since they are regulated by their corporate office. I was expecting something a little bit more subdued from them, but we still ended up with something wonderful. They call it The Brownie Cupfection. It’s layers of chocolate sauce, Oreo cookies, marshmallow crème, and soft serve topped with a large cup shaped brownie. It was a chocolate lovers dream. Down to the last bite, it was rich and well balanced. I never knew this existed, and I might have just found my new favorite item at this nostalgic shop.    

Dairy Queen might be just another fast-food place to you, but for me, it is full of memories. I was glad they agreed to be a part of the challenge because the reality is, probably none of our other shops would exist without them. They pioneered soft serve, blizzards, ice cream cakes, and so many other things that everyone else has copied and tried to improve upon for decades. Next time you’re at your favorite ice cream place, say a little Thank You to DQ.

The next video comes out on Sunday, June 27^th, at 7PM, so check back next week as we continue the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge!

If you want to vote for Dairy Queen as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Week 6 of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge is here! It’s tough to believe that we only have a couple weeks left. This week we landed in Distant PA for yet another incredible ice cream shop; Sweet Delights. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and they were already busy making food and selling tons of ice cream. We knew right away that this place must be pretty special.

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were Sweet Delights’ entries for the challenge:

The Classic – Every fall, Sweet Delights makes homemade apple dumplings. They baked one just for our visit as a Fall Classic creation. It was nearly as big as an entire apple pie, with full flavored, buttery crust. A la mode gets you four huge piles of vanilla ice cream on the side topped with the star of the show; homemade cinnamon sauce. One of the best parts of small town ice cream places are the unique recipes that we’ve seen along the way. This was something really special that everyone should give a try when autumn comes around. If you aren’t able to eat it there, you can get it to go with the cinnamon sauce and you can add your own vanilla ice cream at home. We’re already counting the days until these come around again in August.

The Crowd Favorite – Several times each season, Sweet Delights makes their legendary Peanut Butter Soft Serve. They knew we were coming and bumped it up in their schedule for our visit. I’ve had a couple peanut butter ice cream treats before, but this was unlike any other. This ice cream was so rich, it needs no other toppings. It is packed with so much incredible peanut butter flavor that it sticks in your mouth as if you were eating a spoonful from the jar. It was my favorite soft serve of our journey so far and you can bet I’ll be watching their sign in the future to get another taste of this one soon.

The Craziest Creation – We’ve gotten to try a lot of banana splits on our journey so far, but this one was different than all the rest. The Earthquake split is a banana split with all the toppings drizzled over every part of the creation. Each bite was full of different flavors and gives you an opportunity to try many of the fresh flavors at Sweet Delights in one family sized treat.   

Sweet Delights was yet another shop offering unique, high quality, homemade options at really reasonable prices. Not only that, they have a huge food menu with tons of grilled and fried options. We tried many of them and all our food was fresh and delicious. Between the massive ice cream creations and a massive burger, I don’t think I’ll need to eat for a few days…

The next video comes out on Sunday, June 20^th, at 7PM, so check back next week as we continue the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge!

If you want to vote for Sweet Delights as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Week 5 of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge took us to the newest ice cream shop in Armstrong County. We traveled all the way to Parker, Pennsylvania to Holy Sundae! They opened their doors less than a month ago after converting an old Catholic Church into a restaurant and ice cream place. It was the farthest journey of the challenge, but I’m so glad we took the time to go.  

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were Holy Sundae’s entries for the challenge:

The Classic – There were so many items on the menu, we had some trouble picking just one classic option. We settled on milkshakes! We tried two flavors: Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Many places have gone towards competing for the thickest shakes, but Holy Sundae makes a more traditional (drinkable) milkshake. They use generous amounts of ingredients; two big scoops of peanut butter, chocolate milk AND Hershey’s syrup, etc. Both options had wonderful, rich flavors and were not too thick to drink! After my taste test, the kids tried them and both cups were empty in less than a minute. Must have been good…😊

The Crowd Favorite – The Holy Whirl is Holy Sundae’s take on a tornado or blizzard. Their most popular is the cookie dough, so we got to try that one. They used three heaping scoops of cookie dough pieces and after it was blended, it was overflowing out the cup. I kept waiting to run out of cookie dough and get to part where it was just ice cream, but it never happened. They are not skimpy on ingredients here!

The Craziest Creation – We tried two crazy creations while we were here. (For you, of course. Ha!) The first was called ‘Chocolate Overload’. Chocolate ice cream, tons of hot fudge, Hershey’s syrup, and Oreos on top. This creation was super rich and made for a surprisingly delicious treat. The hot fudge made the ice cream melt into an amazing texture that was difficult to put down. I had to compose myself because the most impressive creation was still to come: The Island Delight.

This was one of the most unique options we’ve had on the challenge so far. They have Disney style Dole whip at Holy Sundae and they used two flavors, Mango and Pineapple, to create this fruity option. Vanilla ice cream, fruit toppings, coconut, pecans, whipped cream, and cherries topped off the Dole whip goodness. It was huge and the fruit and vanilla flavors were amazing together. This was the kind of dessert you can enjoy and not feel lethargic after. We loved it. I think it would be worth the journey just to taste the pineapple and vanilla together again. It was like being transported to Orlando without ever having to leave the County.

For being such a young business, we were incredibly impressed by Holy Sundae. They have their food and ice cream operations dialed in. You would have thought their employees had been there for years. I will have trouble ever traveling to the northern part of the County without stopping there for dinner, or at least some Dole whip + vanilla. Make plans to go visit for yourself! You get a beautiful drive on the way, and wonderful treats at your destination.

The next video comes out on Sunday, June 13^th, at 7PM, so check back next week as we continue the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge!

If you want to vote for Holy Sundae as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Week 4 of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge can be described in one word, BIG! The fourth stop on the challenge is at Jordan’s Soft Serve. The owner, Jeff, greeted us with a smile as soon as we walked in the door. We’ve been to Jordan’s a couple times, so we knew a little bit about them, but I wasn’t quite prepared for what was coming.

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were Jordans’ entries for the challenge:

The Classic – When I walked into the kitchen to try out the classic creation, they explained that in order to make a large cone at Jordan’s, they had to take off the drip tray. They are too tall to fit! The ice cream kept coming and coming. Jeff’s mom has been making cones for 40 years and she was somehow able to keep that cone upright to finish it off. It must have been a foot tall. They flipped it over into a quart sized container and it filled it up completely. As I was considering whether a human person could actually eat one of these, I realized I should probably taste it. The soft serve here tasted a bit lighter to me than some other places, and the flavors were all well done. It was a joy to eat, even though I could only finish half of it. There was much more ice cream to come after all.

The Crowd Favorite – Our third banana split entry of the challenge was featured here. This one had a couple differences vs Speedy’s banana split milkshake and KICK’s creation. For one, this one was bigger…way bigger. Lifting this creation literally felt like a bowling ball. There were heaping mounds of vanilla (with pineapple), chocolate (with Hershey’s syrup), and Jordan’s strawberry banana twist (covered in strawberry sauce). It was all wonderful, but even with 6 family members, we still ended up taking almost half of it home. I was so thankful to get to try this creation, because I think I found my favorite thing at Jordan’s, that special fruit soft serve. I’ve never gotten the chance to try strawberry and banana in a twist cone, so that’s what I’ll be getting on my next trip.

The Craziest Creation – Last up was another full quart sized container of goodness. A brownie sundae with chocolate peanut butter soft serve, fudge, peanut butter sauce, whipped cream, crunch, and a cherry on top. It was quite a sight! I had a few bites before I really started to slow down. This was a really rich creation. Most people would probably need some help to tackle in one sitting. My favorite parts were getting to try another soft serve combination and of course, the brownie goodness on the bottom.   

We loved our trip to Jordan’s! Jeff runs his shop with a family atmosphere and a jovial attitude that is infectious. He had a million one-liners, and I could spend the whole day in their kitchen just listening to his stories. Their generosity, unique soft serve, and joyful vibe left no mistake for why so many people call them their favorite ice cream shop.

The next video comes out on Sunday, June 6^th, at 7PM, so check back next week as we continue the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge!

If you want to vote for Jordan’s Soft Serve as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Week 3 of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge is here! The third stop on the challenge is right in our backyard and the first stop in Kittanning, Kristin’s Ice Cream Korner, better known as KICK. Since it’s close to home, KICK has always been one of our favorites and we were very excited to see what Kristin had in store for our visit. She is energetic and creative, and they certainly did not disappoint.

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were KICK’s entries for the challenge:

The Classic – They showed off the quality of their hard scoop ice cream with a truly classic creation, The Banana Split. Made with three large scoops of their vanilla, double chocolate, and strawberry and topped with chocolate, strawberry, and pineapple sauces, this creation was full of wonderful flavors. Topped with whipped cream, peanuts, and a cherry, this was a mountain of goodness. Our family of 6 devoured it in no time at all and the kids would barely let me get my taste test for the video! The strawberry ice cream is the best I’ve ever had and the double chocolate was rich and velvety. We all loved this classic creation.

The Crowd Favorite – We featured two different crowd favorites. One you can get at the shop every day, and one you can take home. The take home creation was their strawberry pretzel salad pie. It features strawberry ice cream, pretzel pieces mixed in, with some other secret ingredients that I’m not allowed to disclose 😉. We can see why they sell out so fast every time they offer them. I could eat a whole pie myself and I think it was my wife’s favorite creation so far since she is staying away from chocolate. The other option was a double scoop cone with Cookies & Cream and Salted Caramel Coffee ice cream. Both flavors were really well done, but I especially liked the Salted Caramel. The salt keeps the ice cream from freezing hard, but you still get the richness that hard scoop ice cream allows versus soft serve. Getting both flavors in one bite was an experience you should all try someday soon.

The Craziest Creation – Kristin and Don are mad scientists when it come to trying hard scoop ice cream experiments. (Peanut butter pickle ice cream anyone?!) They pulled out all the stops for our visit and made us two really crazy flavors, Pizza and Ranch Ice Creams. I was pretty skeptical, but I love those two flavors with real food, and I like to try new things, so why not?  It’s difficult to picture what pizza ice cream should taste like, but it really did taste like pizza. Pizza crust, spices, tomato sauce, and two different cheeses were mixed in and it was wild. The ranch was more subtle, mixed in with vanilla ice cream. The two flavors together were an experience I won’t soon forget.  I don’t think I’d ever be able to order it for real, but if you value new experiences and trying crazy things, you need to follow KICK on social media to see what they’ll come up with next.  

One more item to note for KICK. Their shop has a really fun vibe. The bright colors, inviting outdoor space, and artistic flair give them some bonus points. It’s always a good time to go get ice cream, but it’s even better when the space and people are fun too.

The next video comes out on Sunday, May 30^th, at 7PM, so check back next week as we continue the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge!

If you want to vote for KICK as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Week 1 of the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge is in the books! The first ice cream shop we tried was Speedy’s Tasty Treats in Ford City, PA. They certainly set the bar high with their ice cream creations!

Speedy’s has over 10,000 followers on Facebook, which is extremely impressive in a town of 3,500 people. With that kind of following, they must be doing something right and we were certainly not disappointed.

At each shop we travel to, we ask to try three ice cream treats: The Classic, The Crowd Favorite, and The Craziest Creation. For more details on the categories, check out this intro video: https://youtu.be/ZQ2LE8x9AyA.

These were their entries for the challenge:

The Classic – Speedy’s makes 1,000 chocolate chip cookies each week to make 500 of their famous chipper sandwiches. These local staples are loved by just about everyone who tries them. Frozen cookies sometimes get a weird texture, but theirs tasted fresh and the frozen soft serve in the middle makes for a great classic treat. The kids (and the adults) loved them.

The Crowd Favorite – We couldn’t decide between their two options, so we went ahead and tried them both. (You’re welcome! 😊) The first was a Turtle Sundae. With layers of soft serve, pecans, hot fudge, and hot caramel, this was a really rich treat. I personally love caramel, so this was right up my alley. The caramel was some of the smoothest and richest that I’ve ever tasted. Not to be outdone, we had our first creation that contained no chocolate: The Strawberry Shortcake Sundae. This creation started with a piece of white cake soaked in strawberry juice and covered in vanilla soft serve, more strawberries and whip cream. The homemade cake was light and fresh and was a great contrast to the Turtle Sundae. They really seem to have something for everyone at Speedy’s.

The Craziest Creation – I had never heard of a banana split shake before today. Some time ago, they had a customer ask for all the things in a banana split blended together and the Banana Split Shake was born. By the time they made it, it weighed in at 32 ounces! I wasn’t sure about having all of those flavors together in one drink, but this creation really surprised me with how good it was. The flavors hit you one by one with every gulp. Banana, pineapple, strawberry, peanut, and finally chocolate. It was super unique and still worked well. If you’ve got the space for 32 ounces, give it a try!

Overall, we can see why Speedy’s is so well loved by Ford City and the surrounding area. It’s a wonderful option anytime you’re passing by and would definitely be worth the drive from anywhere in Armstrong County. Make plans to visit them soon and don’t forget to follow them on Facebook to check out their weekly flavors and specials.

The next video comes out on Sunday, May 16^th, at 7PM, so check back next week as we continue the Armstrong Ice Cream Challenge!

If you want to vote for Speedy’s as your favorite ice cream place, you’ll be entered to win the $25 gift card to their shop. Make sure to fill out the quick form here to be entered for the giveaway at the end of June! 8 lucky winners will receive a gift card for their favorite shop, and one lucky winner will receive $10 to all 8 shops so they can create their very own Armstrong Ice Cream Tour. Thanks for participating and good luck!