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Spokandy puts its treats into ice cream

Spokandy manager Natalie Vlasaty tastes a mint ice cream and Spokandy Mints cone at the store in Spokane. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Lorie Hutson lorieh@spokesman.com(509) 459-5446
Spokandy manager Natalie Vlasaty tastes a mint ice cream and Spokandy Mints cone at the store in Spokane. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

A longtime Spokane chocolatier is making its treats even harder to resist.

Spokandy is now stirring its signature candies into Mary Lou’s Homemade Ice Cream, says owner Todd Davis.

The new ice creams are available by the scoop or the half gallon only at the Spokandy headquarters in downtown Spokane, at Third and Maple. The downtown factory was recently remodeled to expand the retail store and give visitors a glimpse of the candy as it is made.

There are eight new flavors of ice cream including: mint studded with Spokandy’s best-selling pastel mints; coffee with dark chocolate chunks; chocolate with pieces of fudge; vanilla with English almond toffee pieces; vanilla with macadamia nuts, peanut brittle, coconut and white chocolate; huckleberry; peanut butter with Spokandy’s soft and crunchy peanut candies; and maple walnut with whole maple buttercream candies buried inside.

“We’re having a lot of fun with them,” says Davis. The ice cream arrived in the store last week.

A single scoop of the premium ice cream in a waffle cone or cup is $3.50. A double dip is $5.50. A smaller-sized scoop for children or seniors is $2.50. Take home a half gallon of ice cream for $9.

Mary Lou’s Homemade Ice Cream is made in Spokane. The business is owned by Ed and Kris Ritchie. The original ice cream parlor was opened in 1978 by Mary and Lou Sjostrom at Broadway and Evergreen in the Spokane Valley.

Spokandy has been making chocolates in Spokane since 1913, when Terrence J. Riley opened the original candy store. Davis bought Spokandy 19 years ago.

The company recently closed two of its four retail stores to focus more on the wholesale operation. Retail sales are available at the factory in downtown Spokane and the store in the Ironwood Center in Coeur d’Alene.

Spokandy recently added truffles to its lineup of decadent treats with the purchase of Michele’s Truffles, a Clackamas, Ore.-based chocolatier. Michele’s Truffles are carried by Spokandy and vice versa.

Also, Spokandy is introducing a new dessert line that includes ice cream toppings, cocoas and sipping chocolate. Davis is also working with local coffee-roaster Thomas Hammer to make a Chocolate Dessert Coffee, which features whole bean Arabica coffee infused with Spokandy chocolate oil.

Davis plans to keep experimenting with ice cream flavors as he discovers what is popular with customers. He already has two in mind: a Murphy and caramel.

Murphys are hand-dipped chocolates with a whipped vanilla center. The treats, created by Spokandy founder Riley, are finished with a roll in toasted coconut.