Self-warming ice cream scoop and butter knife review

I love ice cream and I love butter, but what I don’t love is having
to wait for them to soften and melt so that I can scoop and spread them.
Is there a solution other than just waiting? Maybe… The self-warming
ScoopTHAT and SpreadTHAT ice scream scoop and butter knife claim to
solve these issues. I’ve been testing samples of each. Let’s see if
their claims are true.

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

ScoopThat! ice cream scoop

First up is the ScoopThat! ice
cream scoop. At first glance it is a really nice scoop with a
comfortable non-slip handle and large Teflon coated scoop.

Look
closely at the handle in the image above, see the bubbles? The handle,
which they call the energy reservoir, is a plastic cylinder which is
full of liquid. It’s designed to absorb the cold from the ice cream
scoop allowing the special cutting edge to easily scoop perfect frozen
ice cream scoops right out of the freezer without the aid of electricity
or moving parts. At least that’s the claim.

Unfortunately, in real life the experience was disappointing. I
bought a brand new quart of vanilla ice cream just for the review (yeah I
know, I have a tough job!). I placed the ice cream in the freezer and
didn’t touch it until a day or so later, so it was definitely frozen
solid. When it came time for the test, I removed the lid from the ice
cream and tried to scoop it with the ScoopThat! scoop. As you can see
from the image above, my scoop yielded more like half a scoop. It wasn’t
any easier than a traditional ice cream scoop or just using a large
metal spoon like I usually do. I thought I was probably doing something
wrong, so I retrieved the packaging to look at the instructions. There
were none. I looked up the product on the manufacture’s site, no
instructions there either. I looked for tips on the retailer’s site who
sent the sample. Strike three. So I tried experimenting by running the
handle under hot water and then trying to carve out a scoop. Same
results. I then turned the ice cream and ScoopThat! over to Jeanne to
give it a try. Again, same results, always half scoops, never the
promised perfect scoops. Even scooping the half scoops wasn’t any easier
to do.

I’ll probably continue to use this ice cream scoop only
because it’s well made and I don’t already have an ice cream scoop. I
won’t except it to scoop any faster than a normal scoop though.

Verdict: nice idea but it doesn’t work as advertised…

SpreadThat! butter knife

I had bigger hopes for this one as
we use more butter than ice cream in our house. Typically Jeanne calls
me before leaving work to remind me to set out the butter so it will be
softened by the time she gets home for dinner. When I forget or ignore
that request, I usually get the evil eye. I didn’t want anymore evil
eyes, so I was looking forward to the SpreadThat! solving that problem.

At
first glance, the SpreadThat! looks more like a Titanium tongue
depressor than a butter knife. It’s a hefty oblong bar of metal with a
non-toxic Titanium coating. The knife is designed to transfer heat from
the palm of your hand to the blade of the knife. All without
electricity.

The SpreadThat! doesn’t have a sharp blade, it has a modestly thin
edge on one side that is the designated cutting edge. The other side is
wider and more blunt, so you need to pay attention to how you hold it
since it isn’t real obvious which side is which without actually looking
at it closely.

We use real butter in my house, no fake margarine
junk, so the test was with a brand new stick of butter that had been
placed in a glass butter dish in the fridge for a day or so. I removed
the lid, placed the cutting edge of the SpreadThat! knife on the butter,
pressed down and TWACK! You know that sound when the knife slides off
the cold butter and hits the dish. Ok, I thought, maybe I tried cutting
too thick of a slice, so I tried again. Not much better. Hmmmm… Then I
rubbed my hand on my pants leg to warm it up, grabbed the knife again,
held it in my hand for 20 seconds to transfer the heat and tried it
again. Same result.  Next I ran the knife under hot water for about 20
seconds, dried it off and tried again. Same results. None of my tests
had results that were any better than a normal run-of-the-mill butter
knife. Bummer.

Verdict: nice idea but it doesn’t work…

At
this point I realize that just leaving the ice cream or butter out for
15-30 minutes before using is the easiest and cheapest way to go.