*Peanut Butter Chocolate Flake & The Munchies*
Named after a Walt Whitman poem, Ample Hills opened last year and since then ice cream in Brooklyn has never been the same 
In the beginning stages of dating my boyfriend we would go to Ample Hills literally every time we passed it (which was once a week). Flash forward a year later and said boyfriend told me that he doesn’t really love ice cream (but loves Ample Hills when he does eat it) and was only going to please me (ya he’s a good boyfriend!). Well, he may not be a regular customer anymore but I? I can’t pass by Ample Hills without stopping in for a scoop or two!
But why do I pledge my sole allegiance to Ample Hills over the many wonderful ice cream parlors around the city? Well a lot of reasons actually….
- It’s a 10 minute walk from my apartment
- They handcraft their ice cream in small batches, using fresh, local, all-natural milk, cream and eggs
- Instead of relying solely on extracts, they source real flavoring ingredients like vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, peanuts and coffee beans!
- The place makes you feel like a kid again… from the bright vibrant colors to the crazy flavors and kids play area in the back
- The ice cream is fantastically creamy, rich in flavor, and has a great mix-in/ice cream ratio
- They are a compost-friendly business and feature a swap-o-matic, where you can put something in and take something out!
But mostly I love Ample Hills because they have over 24 rotating flavors and force me to get out of my ice cream comfort zone and try something new. I mean I would never have thought to try a Stout n’ Pretzels ice cream but with one taste I ordered a scoop of the very interesting flavor and put it in heavy rotation immediately.
But while I find myself experimenting, I still have my go to’s….the Peanut Butter Chocolate Flake, The Munchies (pretzel infused ice cream with clusters of potato chips, pretzels, Ritz crackers, and mini M&Ms), Raspberry Blonde (white chocolate ice cream w/ swirls of raspberry preserves & pieces of malt blondies), and the Monkey Lover Sugar Bomb (banana ice cream with peanut butter swirl and honeycomb candy pieces).
It’s a great neighborhood spot that’s usually very busy but TRUST ME….it’s worth the wait. If it’s nice out take the ice cream outside and enjoy your ice cream while people and puppy watching (every time I go I see the cutest dogs parked outside waiting patiently as their owners run in for a scoop)! If you find yourself in Prospect Park, at the Brooklyn Flea, at the New Barclays Arena, at Brooklyn Botanical Garden or Brooklyn Museum…then you MUST stop by Ample Hills. Even in the cold dead of winter I head there to indulge in, not my latest obsession, my “everyday, omg i have to have you” obsession with Ample Hills!
623 Vanderbilt Avenue (at St Marks) *Prospect Heights
