Divine Society

Almost six months ago, Xavier Bishop, the owner of Zay’s Signature Creations—the parent company of the renowned dessert treat Bookie’s Brookies—began a collaboration with Rebecca Swindle of PLK 1848 Ice Cream, based in Houston, TX.

Bookie’s Brookies recently landed in the Black woman owned Pearland coffee and bookstore Lit Java, which we covered in June (Bookie’s Brookies take Lit Java by storm! – Divine Society) since then the confectionary magician has been very busy expanding his brand and his staff that he refers to as his royal court, as he calls himself the Brookie King.

In the midst of his growth, he has been working behind the scenes to launch the new Brookie Ice Cream with PLK 1848, and last week Xavier and Rebecca hosted a private tasting at Lit Java in Pearland, TX where attendees were invited to taste the new ice cream as well as one of Rebecca’s Sweet Cream recipes paired with Red Velvet Brookies and Chocolate Chip Brookies. I asked her what the base was for the Brookie’s and Cream (tentative name) and she told me that she has multiple sweet cream recipes and that we had tasted only two of them.

Attendees raved about the taste of the ice cream, with most indulging in more than one sample—it was that good. However, simply enjoying the smooth, silky, cold, and creamy Brookie ice cream wasn’t enough for me. I needed to know how this masterpiece was created. When I asked Rebecca for details, she revealed that she used her signature method of crafting small-batch, super-premium ice cream. This involves using high butterfat to achieve the rich taste and luxurious texture of the sweet cream base.

“I wanted to use a similar recipe, but these are definitely not the same,” Swindle explained. “There’s a different sugar content in this one. You can taste subtle notes of caramelized sugar—it’s perfect for pairing. The Brookie ice cream is meant to be Brookie-forward, so I used a different approach to let the Brookie shine and truly be the star for whoever is enjoying it.”

Rebecca shared with the tasting attendees the history of the vanilla bean and the inspiration for her brand PLK 1848 Ice Cream. She chose the year 1848 to pay homage to the year of independence for Edmond Albius, who as a 12-year-old slave on the island of Bourbon (modern-day Réunion) invented a method to hand pollinate vanilla orchids. This method was landmark due to the fact that vanilla orchids had been stolen from Mexico by Hernando Cortez and were fruitless in any locale they were planted as they were previously only pollinated by the Mexican stingless Melipone bee. Read More

Xavier says this is just the first of many collaborations with Rebecca and others. His goal is to take his leading brand, Bookie’s Brookies, to the next level and ultimately open a store of its own. According to Bishop, “What we’re doing here is building momentum toward our brick and mortar. We’ve got coffee shops, ice cream collaborations, a kiosk at NASA, and, in the next year, we’re looking to place them in high end bars and restaurants as we move closer to that ultimate goal. We want you to be able to get in your car and drive to our storefront to get your Brookie fix.”

In the meantime, you can visit Lit Java in Pearland for Bookie’s Brookies daily, and soon you’ll be able to stop by the Bookie’s Brookies kiosk at NASA to taste our favorite dessert, as well as following them on Instagram to keep up with pop-up locations and vendor markets. The PLK 1848 Brookie Ice Cream will be available for pre-order soon, visit www.bookiesbrookies.com and sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss that announcement.

Photo Credit: DarnaldJr Productions – Photography & Videography

Do you have an event coming up and you’d like me to cover it? Send an email to sheba@mscreativeaf.com or learn more about me and my business at www.mscreativeaf.com