Who Has The Best Ice Cream In Town?

This was our first time at Praline's. They are located in the food court at the mall. Praline's is a franchise and was established during the 1980's in Connecticut.

The ice cream is still made locally in Wallingford and then shipped out to several of its statewide locations.This week, the parlor featured 44 flavors of hard ice cream along with several soft serve and Flavorburst options.

For those watching their diet, there are three flavors of fat-free and sugar-free. Giant menu boards were tempting me with root beer floats, milk shakes, slushies and frozen yogurt. Waffle cones and dishes trimmed with chocolate and sprinkles were on display.

My son knew immediately he wanted a cotton candy ice cream cone. So a sugar kiddie cone topped with chocolate sprinkles was his order.

It is much harder to decide when a parlor has access to walk in and view everything. I make up my mind much quicker when I order from an outside window and can't view all of the bins of ice cream. Otherwise, I want everything.

I finally decided on Praline's version of a cassata. This was a thick slice of pound cake topped with two scoops of my choice -- Beez Neez and dulce de leche. Beez Neez is vanilla ice cream with swirls of graham crackers and chocolate-covered honey comb candy. I fell in love with the first bite. The texture was creamy and melted in my mouth leaving a bit-o-honey behind. I could have done without the pieces of  large candy but the honey and graham cracker combo were a party in my mouth. I love the sweet taste of honey and all of it's health benefits. Yumm.

The dulce de leche was just as good with it's caramel-flavored ice cream with caramel swirls throughout--yumm yumm--creamy caramel goodness.

The pound cake on the bottom was a generous portion with it's thick slice, but a bit on the overcooked side. Even so, the buttery taste went well with my scoops and whipped cream.  

I also ordered a slice of coconut-cream ice-cream pie. It had a graham-cracker bottom with a thick mound of ice cream in the middle and was topped with toasted coconut. The coconut flavor was there and delicious, but the ice-cream filling was freezer burned.

My son's cone..oops. I was so busy indulging myself with my own dessert, I forgot to taste his. Apparently, it was great because he devoured the entire thing rather quickly.

Total Bill: A good deal at $10.90 for 1 kiddie cone, 1 regular sundae with cake and 1 slice of pie.

For more information on Praline's their website is: http://www.pralinesownmade.com/