VICTOR — You know you’ve hit the big time in the ice cream world when you walk into a shop and the people inside begin to cheer for you.
It happened to Lily Turner, a 23-year-old Victor resident and Houghton College grad who won the second Molly V’s Homemade Ice Cream flavor contest, topping more than 180 other ice cream flavor entries.
“Oh, you’re the Churro Cheesecake girl,” Turner said, laughing at the memory.
Leave it to a self-described “cinnamon type of girl” to come up with a cheesecake-based flavor with, what else, cinnamon and fudge with cinnamon graham crackers. Yum! But for someone like Turner, who, among her job descriptions at Teknic Inc. in Victor is building motors, ice cream is a piece of cake.
Molly V’s owner Michael Vistocco made samples of each of four finalists, which were given to customers to decide the best of the best.
“It was a close race, but Churro Cheesecake came out on top,” Vistocco said.
How Molly V’s narrowed 180 ice cream entries
More than 180 people submitted flavor ideas in this second annual contest. A team of judges, who did not know the names of the contestants when poring over their ice cream recipes, whittled the field down to a final four at the end of May.
Vistocco then made the four flavors, with customers sampling each and then deciding on the winner. The flavor with the most votes won.
“He did a really good job of making it represent what I was looking for,” Turner said. “It tasted better than I thought it would.”
Churro Cheesecake edges out three other flavors
Here’s what Turner’s Churro Cheesecake was up against.
This flavor almost forces one to leave the diet and take the Cannoli Siciliano, which was a creamy sweet ricotta ice cream with crunchy cannoli shell pieces and miniature chocolate chips.
The Hole in One was an ace of a flavor, with mint ice cream, which represented the fairways, and marshmallows (golf balls), graham crackers (sand traps) and crushed Andy’s Candies (divots).
And for a USA 250th anniversary theme, here’s the Yankee Doodle Dandy: Vanilla ice cream with red raspberry and blueberry swirls, small chunks of sugar cookies and chocolate.
Her Churro Cheesecake was a last-minute idea after having second thoughts on what she was originally going to submit, Turner said. Even then, she wasn’t sure if she made the right call, especially after reading the ingredients for the cannoli entry.
“Shoot. Why didn’t I think of that?” Turner laughed. “That was a good one.”
But obviously hers paid off.
“It was really bizarre walking in one day and then seeing my name as one of the top four,” Turner said. “It really threw me off even more that I won because I was scared that I wasn’t going to win.”
And the Molly V’s winner gets …
Turner, who lives in Victor, receives a free Molly V’s ice cream cup or cone for a year.
And her flavor is available at the Victor shop.
“People really like it!” Vistocco said.
More about Molly V’s Homemade Ice Cream
Molly V’s Homemade Ice Cream is at 31 W. Main St., Victor. Hours are 1 to 9 p.m. daily. An ice cream trailer and cart are available for events.
For more details, call 585-433-5911 or visit https://www.facebook.com/MollyVsIceCream/ or https://www.mollyvshomemadeicecream.com/.
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. He can be reached at mmurphy@messengerpostmedia.com. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Trust the judges. You’ll want to try Molly V’s ice cream winner
Reporting by Mike Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mike Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | USA TODAY Network
