Half Pint is a small, owner-operated homemade ice cream company based out of Seattle, Washington. Our ice creams are made fresh weekly with local dairy and eggs and other local ingredients when possible.

One of the most common questions I get at the farmers markets is “where do you make your ice cream?” The answer to that is: Cookspace!

What is Cookspace, you ask? Cookspace is a commercial kitchen space in lower Queen Anne where lots of culinary entrepreneurs make their goods. Owners Sam and Wendi have created a fabulous kitchen space that is open, spacious, well-equipped and very conducive to the sharing of culinary knowledge and ideas. There are six workstations, lots of fridge/freezer and dry storage space, as well as Hobart mixers of various sizes, a fully-equipped dish pit, lots of ovens and ranges. For me, it’s been an ideal space to work in and to meet other culinarily-minded small business owners.

I work at Cookspace a few days a week. Typically the first day is spent making the custard base for all of my ice creams for that week. This process involves cooking down a mixture of eggs, sugar, and milk or cream (and, depending on the flavor: coffee grounds, cocoa powder, shredded ginger, coconut milk–you get the point), and then chilling the mixture overnight. Over the next couple of days, I spend hours in the kitchen with my four–yes FOUR–ice cream makers making batch after batch of ice cream. The ice cream is made in 1.5 quart batches, so it takes almost an entire day to make ice cream to last the week. While ice cream is freezing, I have great opportunities to talk with the other business owners in the kitchen. Many of them have been doing this much longer than I have and they have great ideas and advice for me as I begin to grow my business.

Working in a kitchen with a communal atmosphere has been so exciting. Business at all stages of growth exist here and it is so cool to watch as someone lands a new wholesale account or is booked for a great catering gig. Plus, hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t use me a guinea pig for a new recipe they are trying out. I never leave the kitchen hungry.

Thanks to Tiffani Jones for some great photos of Cookspace!!