Cobb scoops: cool ice cream spots around town

There’s a reason the saying goes, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” It’s certainly something to shout about.

Luckily, Cobb County has plenty of options from all different varieties, from cream and fresh ingredients frozen before your eyes to specialty ice creams from around the country. Cobb is home to plenty of mom and pop shops looking to please its customer base and keep them coming back month after month and year after year. Not to mention that the festival and outdoor concert season is one of the best times to enjoy everything from stuffed shakes to cookie dough to banana splits or an adult ice cream cone.

Here are some of the spots that you won’t want to miss.

Frozen Cow Creamery

2870 Cherokee St. NW, Kennesaw

Owners: Ted and Angel Melko, Cassandra DeLuca

Must Try: Strawberry cheesecake, brownie treat, Key Lime pie

Have you ever seen ice cream made right before your eyes? At Frozen Cow Creamery, that’s how things are done, with liquid nitrogen and a mixer making things one bowl at a time.

They start with an empty bowl, add in the fresh cream that gets frozen by the liquid nitrogen at minus-325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then add in the toppings — cake, brownie, fudge, caramel or whatever ingredients you choose.

There are 5,500 different combinations you can choose from, owner Ted Melko said.

“We pride ourselves on our good fresh clean taste,” Melko said. “The process makes a stellar ice cream with no crystallization. Our process delivers an extremely full mouth feel.”

Melko, a master plumber, designed the system himself after seeing a few others use a similar process before the shop opened in 2016.

Frozen Cow is known for its traditional flavors and fresh, homemade ingredients. They make everything from their syrups to brownies fresh.

But they also recently began serving adult ice cream. Because of their liquid nitrogen freezing process, they are able to have full drink strength options, from pina colada to the Kentucky Derby (vanilla, pecans, bourbon, caramel) to Irish coffee or a Pick Your Poison option where you choose your own combination.

Sweet Southern

4460 Marietta St, Powder Springs

Owner: Kenneth Brewer

Must Try: Ice cream cookie sandwich

Sweet Southern owner Kenneth Brewer won’t settle for any cookie. He needs them fresh and, when they are in stock, the ice cream cookie sandwiches go quickly.

Brewer had a similar shop in Douglasville for a year that closed in 2019. But he restarted his business in Powder Springs and has been amazed at the community support for his dessert shop. Sweet Southern serves everything from ice cream to sundaes, milkshakes, coffee and bubble tea.

“It’s been amazing,” Brewer said about the community support he has received. “It’s a great community. I’m happy I’m here.”

The shop is located right in front of the amphitheater at Thurman Springs Park in Powder Springs and events there bring in the crowds.

“Once school and college gets out, it will be crazier,” Brewer said.

The shop has been open for a year and Brewer, who grew up in Franklin, said that people love to stop by for the Superman ice cream or to try out the cookies and cream or butter pecan flavors or even order a loaded sundae or a shake.

Sarah Jean’s Ice Cream

109 North Park Square NE, Marietta

Owners: Hunter, Steve and Theresa Cook

Must Try: Banana split, big brownie sundae

Plenty of things change on the Marietta Square. But one thing that hasn’t is Sarah Jean’s Ice Cream, a mainstay under its third owners since it opened in 1996.

The Cooks make the shop feel like a family since purchasing it in 2006, with local ingredients and local students from Marietta and Harrison High School or Kennesaw State University working the store.

They’re an ice cream store, for sure, but the biggest and baddest thing to order is the banana split, though they are trying out churros that could become a favorite as well.

One thing that’s certain is its popularity, from the return of Taste of Marietta in April to summer concerts at Glover Park.

“It’s craziness from the end of April until around Christmas,” said co-owner Hunter Cook.

One of the busiest months is September, with a lot of events around the square.

Sarah Jean’s has roughly 40 different ice cream flavors and “we always have options that are inclusive to everyone,” Cook said.

That includes dairy free, gluten free and vegan options.

They have Italian ice and also have seasonal ice cream options or specialties such as Blue Moon, Superman and strawberry cheesecake. They are open from noon to either 9 or 10 p.m. depending on the occasion.

“A lot of them are locally sourced,” Cook said.

My 2 Scoops Creamery, Inc.

27 Golf Crest Dr, Acworth

Owner: Chris Hyde

Must Try: Stuffed shakes

Ever heard of a stuffed shake? If you’ve been to 2 Scoops in Acworth, you have.

There are eight varieties of Hershey’s Ice Cream stuffed shakes – Better Brownie Batter, Cookies & Cream, Cookie Dough, Green Mint Monster, Kinder Bueno, Peanut Butter Cup, Salted Caramel, S’mores, Strawberry Cheesecake and Magical Unicorn – and they all come in a Mason jar that you take home with you.

“It was a life-long dream of my parents to open up an ice cream store,” owner Chris Hyde said. “But I didn’t want a chain, I wanted to do it myself.”

Hyde and his parents bought an old ice cream shop and decided to customize it and make it their own, specializing in Hershey’s ice cream and ‘50s and ‘60s décor.

“We have already exceeded our expectations for what we would do through the winter,” Hyde said. “We have been shocked with how much the community loves this. Customers show up just to support us.”

They have 36 scooped ice cream flavors and even funnel cakes, directly from a fair distributor.