Don’t you dislike trying to scoop ice cream when it’s rock hard? It’s like chipping away at a block of granite, and it takes forever to fill your bowl with nothing but tiny pieces (not to mention the ache in your bicep!).

If you can relate to this annoyance, then read on, because there’s a better way. You can actually avoid the chippy-chippy and achy-achy routine. You just need to know the HARD ice cream tricks!

The first trick takes a little pre-planning. Refrigerate it: Put the ice cream in the fridge for 20–30 minutes to allow it to soften slowly and evenly throughout. You can place it on a tray to catch any moisture.

Then remove it and set it on the counter. At this point, your ice cream should be about 8 degrees throughout. If you can press gently in the middle with your finger to create a ¼-inch indentation, it's ready to scoop.

This is a smart way to do it because there’s very little chance of it getting TOO soft. If you use the wrong thawing method (in the microwave, for instance), it will leave you with melty ice cream around the edges of the carton while it's still hard in the center, thus making for a mess during dessert time (ask me how I know).

Proper thawing, that’s the secret!

But beyond wanting to get it into our bowl and then our mouths faster, more importantly, proper thawing ice cream before eating it actually makes it taste sweeter, according to science. Also, softening ice cream makes it much easier to use as an ingredient in other frozen desserts. For example, you'd want to soften it so you can more easily make ice cream sandwiches, spread it on ice cream cakes and pies, make sundaes, and so on.

All this said, what if you don't have time to wait for your ice cream to thaw? Then you can try cutting it. Here’s how, in a few simple steps:

1. Run a sharp knife under VERY hot water to heat it up.


2. Slice your ice cream crosswise.


3. Slice your ice cream lengthwise.


4. Heat up your ice cream scoop the same way you did with the knife.


5. Use the ice cream scoop to dig into your handy-dandy slices.


6. OR, just serve it as slices (an economical way to make it go farther).

I’ll close with the trick all teenagers who’ve worked in an ice cream parlor know. These kids spend hours scooping from very cold tubs and they have to do so quickly, to keep their customers happy. This system ensures that residual ice cream does not get stuck on the scooper:

1. Set a bowl or cup of cold water (not hot!) nearby.


2. Dip your ice cream scoop lightly in the water — give it a slight shake afterward.


3. Dig in and scoop up. Works every time.

The reason for dipping your scooper into water before each scoop is because ice cream sticks to a dry surface. A wet scoop releases quickly and without any mess.