Italian Dessert Italian Drink

How to make Egg Cream at Home

I’m sharing with you today how to make the perfect egg cream at home with just a little effort! This sweet treat serves a wonderful memory of mine while growing up in New York City.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF EGG CREAMS – A WONDERFUL NEW YORK CITY MEMORY!

At a young age, I was very aware and fond of the corner candy store in our neighborhood. In fact, it has been one of my focal points in my neighborhood life as a child. In my New York City lifetime, there were two candy stores that were important to me. First, there was Ray’s on 2nd Avenue at 43rd Street. This was where my Dad and sisters stopped for cigarettes and it was where we bought our three newspapers – The Daily News, The Daily Mirror and on Sunday, we buy The Journal American.

For me, I stopped at Ray’s for some school supplies, penny candy and Dixie Cups, which was a two-flavored ice cream and the inside of the lid had a picture of a movie star or baseball hero. I also buy there the occasional egg cream or Mello-Role, an odd shaped sugar cone on which you unrolled a vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Ray’s store had the latest news in the neighborhood too.

The second important candy store in my life was Rudy’s on 2nd Avenue at 48th Street. Egg creams, malted milk shakes, ice cream cones, a good greasy hamburger, grilled cheese sandwich, newspapers and candies were all available there, along with Pepsi, Coke, cherry lime rickey and Two Cents Plain! But as for my teenage self and friends, the experience at Rudy’s was much more than food and drinks. There were booths in the back of the store with the juke box playing. It was a place for hanging out with friends, romantic dates and for those whose hearts were broken.

Before the advent of personal phones, a daily stop into Rudy’s after school was important to catch up on the latest news and stories. It was a perfect place to also spend a few minutes with your boyfriend while sharing together an egg cream before your part-time job. You definitely wanted to be seen in the neighborhood candy store on a Saturday with your hair in curlers and tied up with a kerchief. That just meant you had a date that night!

I remember the running joke at Rudy’s which was when a gallon of milk went up a penny, egg creams would go up by 2 cents.

 

THE EGG CREAM

In a perfect world, you would make an egg cream with a seltzer siphon bottle or seltzer canister. However, there is always an alternate suggestion if you lack these tools. But a must-have is Fox’s U-Bet Syrup in chocolate or vanilla flavor.

Note: There are no eggs or cream in an egg cream, it’s the froth that gives it the name!

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Fox’s U-Bet Syrup in chocolate or vanilla flavor
  • whole milk
  • seltzer water

METHOD:

  1. Squirt ¾-inch of Fox’s U-Bet syrup in a large glass. 
  2. On top of the syrup, pour an inch or so of the very cold whole milk. Fill the glass about halfway up with seltzer and stir. But only stir the bottom of the glass to make sure the syrup is well mixed with the milk. 
  3. Fill the glass with more seltzer until the foam reaches the top. Ahh, so good! Ahh, the memory!

Gone for many are the neighborhood candy stores but the search for a good egg cream will always remain!

Buon Mangiata!

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