Cold Stone Adds New Snickerdoodle And Hot Cocoa Holiday Flavors

As the winter holiday season rolls around, foodies begin to gradually shift their focus from such cozy autumnal standards as pumpkin spice lattes and Thanksgiving-themed pies, on the one hand, to toasty holiday drinks and steaming hot desserts such as French crêpes, on the other. But the times they are a-changing, as the Nobel Prize-winning poet laureate, Bob Dylan, famously said. One consequence is that seasonal delights are increasingly fluid. Ice cream, which The Food Timeline notes had always been regarded as a summertime sweet, has lately come to be associated with the Christmas season. Indeed, it's mentioned multiple times in our roundup of the best-loved Christmas season desserts.

Moreover, despite the fact that ice cream sales have a tendency to drop off during the winter months, per Ice Cream Profits, ice cream makers have been thinking increasingly outside of the box, with the upshot being the recent introduction of such indulgences as Van Leeuwen's four new festive holiday flavors. And while Ice Cream Profits notes that winter ice cream tends to be enjoyed at home, it appears that Cold Stone Creamery isn't about to let this holiday season go by without trying to tempt ice cream lovers from their winter lairs with two new flavor offerings. According to a Cold Stone Creamery press release, its new snickerdoodle and hot cocoa holiday flavors are already available in its stores nationwide.

Last year, the ice cream chain tried to attract fudge fans with the flavors Deck the Halls with Fudge and Sprinkles and Strawberried in Fudge. This year, for a limited time, Cold Stone Creamery stores are offering two new holiday ice cream flavors that come with cookies: The Whole Snickerdoodle Caboodle and the frozen hot cocoa-inspired Cookies 'n Hot Cocoa, via a press release. 

Snickerdoodle cookies have long been associated with the winter season (via MarketBites by Givaudan), in part because of their warm cinnamony flavor. Cold Stone's new take on this includes snickerdoodle cookie-flavored ice cream, studded with cookie dough, cinnamon, and real, creamy caramel. Cold Stone's frozen hot cocoa flavor, which is now yet another way to upgrade your hot chocolate, features frozen hot cocoa-flavored ice cream, studded with Oreo cookie chunks, mini marshmallows, and gooey fudge ribbons.

Of course, not everyone's willing to trek out for winter ice cream. For those who'd prefer to keep theirs on hand at home, Cold Stone has also introduced a holiday-themed ice cream cake. Featuring the aforementioned frozen hot cocoa ice cream, layered between devil's food cake, fudgy frosting, and adorned with mini-marshmallows, the Hot Cocoa Avalanche ice cream cake is available for a limited time at participating Cold Stone Creamery locations. Sweetening the deal for those committed to letting someone else brave the elements, all of these wintry wonders are also available via delivery, per Cold Stone's website.