For Katelyn Williams of Kate's Ice Cream, making ice cream is a labor of love: she’s been crafting plant-based versions based on her own recipes for eight years, originally for her sister who couldn’t eat dairy. Previously, Kate's operated as a pop-up on NE Sandy, with pints sold in local grocery stores like Providore and New Seasons. On March 18, she opened her own scoop shop on Mississippi in the old Ruby Jewel space (3713 N Mississippi Ave); ice cream lovers can grab scoops daily from noon to 10 p.m.

It’s a sunshine-y, pastel-painted shop with a cheery yellow door, a golden floor, and plenty of indoor seating at maple chairs and tables. Everything in the shop, from ice cream to cones to cookies, is entirely plant-based, gluten-free, and made in house. Standout scoops, all made with coconut milk, include the marionberry crumble full of crunchy walnuts and tangy local berries, the super-nutty and refreshing pistachio (our favorite of the bunch), the fragrant rose cardamom (though a bit too floral for us), and the childhood-dream-come-true Mississippi Mayhem that she launched with the shop’s opening. It’s a light purple-colored, cotton candy-flavored base with chunks of rotating, housemade baked goods like Oreos and brownies. Several flavors are nut-free. Right now, there are 11 flavors on offer, but Williams plans to offer 16 starting in May. One of those, she reveals, will be lemon-blueberry cheesecake, with jam from local blueberries and chunks of house-made graham cracker crust. 

Get your scoops on a crisp house-made waffle cone—not quite the same as your typical ice cream shop, but head and shoulders above the average vegan, gluten-free cones. Williams recently launched a separate business, Kate’s Waffle Cones, to distribute her cone mix to ice cream shops across the country. Or sandwich your scoops between two house-baked chocolate chip cookies, then roll the whole treat in pastel sprinkles for maximum cheer.