Ice-cream maker at Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream

1622 ½ N 45th St, 547-5105.

Why open an ice-cream shop, other than to locally combat global warming?

I worked at an ice-cream shop in Missoula during college—at a place called the Big Dipper—and loved it. Our shop was the center of the community; it was a gathering place for different generations, and for all types of people. When I was ready for a career change, I decided that I wanted to do something that would focus my attention locally and build community, and an ice-cream shop naturally came to mind.

Where do your toppings come from?

Dana Cree, the amazing pastry chef at Veil, makes them.

What about the funky flavors you've got? How many 8-year-olds request balsamic strawberry ice cream?

We have some classics (vanilla bean, chocolate, bubblegum), but a lot of the more unique flavors came from trial and error, and were inspired by different places. Some were successful at the Big Dipper, like our cardamom ice cream, which kids really like. Flavors like balsamic strawberry and salted caramel aren't totally kid flavors, but then again, kids can be pretty open-minded. They love our Thai iced tea ice cream, and our "scout" mint.

What's "scout" mint?

It's peppermint ice cream with Girl Scout Thin Mints crushed up inside.

Delicious! What's your favorite flavor?

I would say that in general, lemon is my favorite ice-cream flavor. But the flavor I'm most proud of is the Vivace coffee. Most ice-cream makers brew extremely concentrated coffee and add that to the dairy, so the mixture is very acidic. I just take the best Vivace beans, rough grind 'em, and add it to the dairy to let it cold infuse overnight. That way, you get all of the flavor without the acidic bitterness of brewed coffee.

Yum. So what's it been like, opening a new ice-cream shop during Seattle's coldest summer in the history of hell?

Great! I actually hit my one-month profit goal in the first two weeks we were open.