Kate Bhatia’s Scoops of Success
It was 2 a.m. and Kate Bhatia was mopping her kitchen floor, a sticky mess after an evening of making batch after batch of ice cream, while her 2-year-old, Teddy, and 13-week-old, Eleanor, slept. This was all after a day of working remotely for a tech startup. It was at that moment in the summer of 2022 when Bhatia realized she couldn’t do it all, nor did she want to.
Her path was clear, although she’d never thought that being an artisan ice cream entrepreneur would be the career step after being a venture-backed tech product manager. She’d loved it, but her heart wasn’t in software anymore. Bhatia had moved to Bend from Chicago at the end of 2020 with her partner, Dr. Amit Bhatia, a psychiatrist. After their daughter was born, she turned to churning the sweet, creamy comfort food of her childhood years growing up in Rochester, Minnesota.
“Making ice cream was like a moment of desperation, really,” said the 31-year-old. “It was a little bit of homesickness, a little bit of postpartum hormones. I was just trying to recreate some of our favorite flavors, and it sort of just organically grew.” She’d make a few pints of ice cream and share it with friends and neighbors. Soon, people were asking for more.
Grey Duck Ice Cream, named for Duck, Duck Grey Duck, a Minnesota version of the game Duck, Duck Goose, was born in 2022, just two weeks after her daughter’s birth. By the time Bhatia’s maternity leave ended, she was making up to 100 pints of ice cream a week at home. She’d post the flavors on Instagram—from chocolate mixed with Tony’s Chocolonely dark and milk chocolate to cream cheese ice cream with farmers’ market blackberries and a butter-toffee-coconut graham-cracker crust. They’d be snapped up in five or 10 minutes. At 7 p.m., cars would be lined up around the block to pick up the creamy pints from Bhatia’s house.
She moved on to pedaling ice cream at farmers’ markets and parks from a custom-designed bicycle. Dropping single-serving cups of her creations from footbridges to people floating the Deschutes River below, she forged new, devoted customers. Production moved to Bend’s Central District, part of the city’s Core Area Project. Allison Platt, manager of the project, said,
“Grey Duck Ice Cream is an example of a locally and woman-owned business.”
Last December, Bhatia opened a scoop shop at The Pantry, releasing two new flavors every week. Think goat cheese ice cream with a ripple of fig jam and cinnamon streusel bits or summer flavors celebrating local seasonal ingredients such as rhubarb and sweet corn ice cream.
“We’ve always wanted a small business, and that was part of the reason we moved to Bend,”
she said. “We wanted to have a place where we could be involved and could plug into community and invest ourselves. [We] didn’t expect it to happen that quickly, and we didn’t necessarily think it was going to be ice cream.”
A sign in the production facility tells the full story. It reads, “It’s not about the ice cream.” The luscious treat is a means to an end. “The end is connection, joy and real change,” Bhatia said. “That, for us, is the crux of it.”
COOKIE SAMMIES RECIPE
Makes six cookie sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 dozen cookies, store-bought or homemade (3-inch diameter works best)
- 2 pints ice cream
Instructions
Remove a pint of ice cream from the freezer, leaving the lid on. Use a tape measure or ruler and sharpie to make two marks on the outside of the pint–the first at one inch from the top and the second mark at 2 ½ inches from the top. Use a bread knife to cut through the outside of the pint at the two marks to create three sections of ice cream. Remove paper from each section. Place the ice cream on a cookie, then top that with a second cookie, forming a sandwich. Place each on a tray in the freezer.
For the third sandwich, the bottom section of the ice cream needs to be flattened to fit the cookies. Place the ice cream between two pieces of parchment paper, pressing it flatter with the warmth of your hand. Once at the desired width, pop it onto a cookie, top it with the second cookie and place in the freezer. Repeat with the second pint of ice cream.
Note: If baking cookies from scratch, make sure they’re completely cool. Play around with different combinations of cookies and ice cream. Chocolate chip cookies with vanilla bean ice cream make the classic sandwich, but snickerdoodles and Earl Grey ice cream or Funfetti cookies with coffee ice cream are the next-level delicious.
MATCHA AFFOGATO RECIPE
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon matcha tea
- ¼ cup hot water
- 1 scoop ice cream
Instructions
Heat water to just before boiling. Sift matcha powder into a small, shallow bowl. Add water and whisk the matcha in with the water until frothy, about 45 seconds. Scoop the ice cream into a small cup and pour the matcha mixture on top.
Note: This recipe swaps out classic espresso for matcha tea. Mild-flavored ice creams, such as vanilla, work best. Don’t be afraid to use an ice cream with ribbons or chunks—it will mix easily with the matcha.
ICE CREAM BONBONS RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 cup white chocolate (substitutions: milk or dark chocolate)
- ½ cup freeze-dried fruit, such as strawberries or blueberries
- 1 pint ice cream (any flavor)
Instructions
To form ice cream balls, set ice cream on the counter to soften for five minutes. Use a melon baller or teaspoon to scoop marble-size balls of ice cream onto a parchment-lined tray. Work quickly to prevent melting. Place the tray in the freezer for two to three hours until the ice cream is solid.
To prepare the coating, place freeze-dried fruit in a blender or food processor on high for one to two minutes, or until the fruit turns to powder. Put white chocolate in a tall, narrow, microwave-safe glass and heat on high for 15-second intervals, stirring between intervals. Once the chocolate is melted, add fruit powder one teaspoon at a time, mixing well. Add enough to satisfy your color and taste desires.
Prepare a second parchment-lined tray. Remove about five balls from the freezer at a time. Using a skewer, toothpick or small fork, lift and quickly dip the ball into melted chocolate, letting the excess drip off and back into the glass. Place the coated bonbons on the tray and move back into the freezer as quickly as possible. Once completely frozen, consolidate into an airtight container. These little bites are a satisfying treat when your sweet tooth strikes.
Note: Try different combinations of ice cream and coatings, such as strawberry ice cream with a chocolate coating or coffee ice cream with a cinnamon white chocolate coating.
