Frozen Cow Creamery

Cobb’s newest ice cream parlor has been open only four months, but nary a day goes by that the line for these sweet frozen treats doesn’t stretch beyond the front door, across the sprawling porch and out onto the shaded sidewalk at the corner of Cherokee Street and Big Shanty in downtown Kennesaw.

Although owners Ted and Angelique Melko had no professional kitchen experience, the duo were long-time foodies who always had dreamed of opening an eatery of some kind. They saw an opportunity when the old Bruster’s Ice Cream was shuttered on Cobb Parkway, and the rest, as they say, is history.

After drawing inspiration from a neighborhood ice cream shop near their old home in Ohio and a ton of research and training, the Melkos opened Frozen Cow Creamery with their very own recipes and using nitrogen to cool the cream. “This is a really creative outlet for the cook in us,” Ted said. “Being able to adapt stuff we like into ice cream is fun, and we love being able to serve happy people coming to have a good time.”

Frozen Cow uses premium ingredients and no dyes in its 11 flavors and seemingly endless Build Your Own ice cream combinations. Choose your base (from sweet cream, sugar-free and lactose-free), choose your flavors and toss ins (there are too many to list) and prepare to be amazed as the “scooper” repeatedly hits the concoction with nitrogen, quickly freezing it into edible perfection.

If the sheer variety of options seems overwhelming, they’ve also made a handy list of Cow Classics— personal, family and crowd favorite combos you can try. From Carrot Cake and Apple Pie a La Mode, to Key Lime Cheesecake and Brownie Treat, all cakes, sauces, pies and more are made in house and add a grown up vibe to this quintessential kid favorite. We loved the Pina Colada with rum extract, pineapple and coconut and can’t wait to go back and try the Matcha Coconut with matcha tea, coconut cream and flakes.

Sure, there may be a quick-moving line but good things come to those who wait, including a bevy of delectable ice creams that will leave you wanting more— and a complimentary science lesson to boot.

Get Frozen Cow’s Tiramisu Ice Cream recipe here.

Mayra Patino

If you’ve ever wanted to have ice cream for breakfast but decided to take the adult high road instead of indulging your sweet tooth, here’s a guilt free excuse to go ahead and treat yourself! This all natural ice cream, created by East Cobb resident Mayra Patino, is not only delicious, it’s also 100 percent vegan, gluten free and good for you too.

Patino, an SEO consultant who is constantly on the go but enjoys living a healthy, outdoor lifestyle including yoga, hiking and standup paddleboarding, almost always has a smoothie for her first meal of the day. She developed this Green Smoothie Ice Cream using one of her most favorite healthy breakfast beverage recipes— hence its name!

To give her Green Smoothie Ice Cream its rich, creamy flavor, Patino even makes her own almond milk (recipe also included below) to use in this deceptively dreamy treat. If you’d rather not make your own almond milk, store bought does work but will result in a slightly looser mix and softer ice cream.

Don’t let its good-for-you ingredients fool you, this ice cream is just down right good!

Get Mayra’s Green Smoothie Ice Cream Recipe here.

Donna Jean

History may say White Mountain revolutionized ice cream when it introduced the world’s first electric ice cream maker in 1953, but one Cobb County wife, mother and grandmother knows otherwise. East Cobb resident Donna Jean’s family ice cream recipe came down through her mother’s side, all the way from a front porch in Illinois, across three generations. It pre-dates the turn of the 20th century and, although slightly modernized, has been enjoyed by six generations of the family since.

“When my mom was growing up in Illinois, her grandparents lived on a farm and made everything from fresh,” Jean said of her mother, Kay, who also lives in East Cobb. “Mom would actually crank, and her arm would feel like it was going to fall off.”

Luckily, Kay’s uncle Frank was an inventor and professor of agricultural engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He put his ingenuity to good use sometime around the early 1930s and designed and built an electric ice cream maker for the family to use on the farm, curing Kay’s sore arm and effectively beating White Mountain to the punch by some two decades.

Uncle Frank never got the credit he deserved, but no one in the family much cared since they still got the most valuable thing— the recipe for Grandma’s Hand-Cranked Fresh Peach Ice Cream and lots of love around that old ice cream churn.

Get Donna’s Grandma’s Hand-Cranked Fresh Peach Ice Cream recipe here.

LoriBell’s Frozen Custard

For Midwest transplant Doug Williams, frozen custard was a way of life growing up in Indiana, but when he and his wife, Susan, moved to the Kennesaw area 23 years ago there was nary an ice cream shop— to say nothing of his favorite childhood treat. For years, the couple enjoyed frozen custard on family trips to Indiana and St. Louis and then, finally, in October 2010, inspiration struck and the self-serve, soft-serve LoriBell’s Frozen Custard was born.

Frozen custard is a premium frozen ice cream distinct from FroYo and regular ice cream because it must be at least 10 percent milk fat and contain 1.4 percent egg yolk. Additionally, it must have a low amount of air blended in and be frozen and served fresh daily. This combination results in a rich and creamy finished product that is bursting with flavor yet has a fraction of the sugar of its sweet treat counterparts because no sugar is added in the process.

At LoriBell’s, named for Susan’s mother, Doug uses extracts to create all his unique rotating flavors, including such hits as Krispy Kreme doughnut, Twinkie, Nutter Butter, TellaNut (Nutella), Elvis’ Breakfast (fried peanut butter and banana) and more. In addition to a ton of tasty flavors, (we adored the spiced coconut Tembleque), there also are more than 40 toppings and sauces from which to choose. Whether you have a hankering from something from the hot bar (brownies, cookies and walnuts), something from the cold bar (fruit, cheesecake bites, cookie dough, bobas and more) or some sprinkles or sauces, LoriBell’s has just about anything you could dream up! You can even put it all in a sundae, shake or “Flustered Custard” flurry style surprise.

It’s true what the wall says, you’ll definitely, “Get what you like and love what you get” at LoriBell’s Frozen Custard.

Find out more about LoriBell’s Frozen Custard here.

**Originally published in the June 2016 issue of Cobb Life magazine.