The Easy Way To Evenly Soften Ice Cream — Don't Touch That Microwave

Thanks to the wonders of modern refrigeration, we can keep a pint or two of ice cream in our freezers at all times, making it easy to enjoy a dessert that was long considered a decadent luxury whenever we please. But unfortunately, that doesn't always mean it's ready to scoop and eat as soon as you take it out: Depending on how long you've been holding onto that carton of Taylor Swift's beloved Ben & Jerry's, it may well be a solid block of ice and milk, unable to be handled even if you duct taped an ice cream scoop to the end of a crowbar. What do you do? Before you reach for the microwave, try another easier way: Just put the ice cream in the fridge and let it thaw.

Granted, this method presupposes that you've planned your ice cream experience in advance, rather than being struck by a yearning for Cherry Garcia and grabbing a spoon in the middle of the night. But if you're prepared to wait for half an hour, there's really no better way to get your ice cream pliant and scoopable. The cool ambient temperature allows the ice cream to ease into a more malleable state, rather than rapidly melting some parts and not others. A little patience (or a little foresight) will take you a long way.

What if you're really in a hurry, though? What if your boss is coming over, and if you don't have a bowl of Van Leeuwen's delicious strawberry ice cream in front of them, your job is in jeopardy? Well, first we'd question your boss' priorities, but then we'd allow the microwave to do the trick in that instance. With that said, however, microwaves aren't really ideal for thawing ice cream. On full heat, the microwave penetrates one inch of the surface of a given food at most; when the food in question is ice cream, that means the top is melted and runny, while the rest is still hard.

But that doesn't mean you can't use a microwave at all. Putting the microwave at 50% heat is a better way to thaw ice cream, as lower power allows the heat to disperse more evenly. It's a good idea to nuke your ice cream for 10 or 15 seconds at a time, just to make sure it's not melting quicker than you hoped. Once the center reaches an ideal softness, you can learn to scoop ice cream like a Baskin-Robbins employee in no time.