Sweet treats beat the heat

The heat brought on by summer sun screams for cool relief. Iola’s Dairy Queen, at 323 S. State St., can provide.
From March to November every year, owner operator Laura Baker and daughter Carla Baker satisfy that urge for sweet, creamy treats.
Laura Baker has owned the DQ since 2004, although the business had been at that location for years, she said.
“I purchased it because I thought it would be a fun venture,” Laura noted.
So far, it has been.
“If a customer isn’t happy when they come in the door,” Baker observed, “they are when they leave.” Something about ice cream makes people feel better, she noted.
It could be all the toppings.
Popular here is the pecan mudslide, she said. Pecans, caramel and hot fudge top DQ’s soft serve ice cream, making a gooey, delicious treat.
More than 200 recipes are taught to each of the store’s dozen employees. “And that’s not counting novelties,” Baker said.
Novelties — Dilly Bars, Buster Bars and ice cream sandwiches — are made fresh daily at the shop, Baker said.
“There’s less preservatives and no stabilizers” in the products that way, she said.
Butterscotch, cherry and chocolate Dilly Bar coatings also are used for dipped cones, while Buster Bars and Peanutbuster Parfaits both boast chocolate fudge and salted nuts.
Blizzards offer a world of flavors, including monthly specials available for a limited time only.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the blended treat. The Bakers will offer Blizzard specials, as indicated by the parent company, throughout the year, they said. One such offering will be mini Blizzards.
Blizzard blends include cookie dough, Heath Bar, M&M, chocolate-covered strawberry and banana cream pie, among many others.
Any Blizzard flavor can be made into an ice-cream cake, Baker said.
Made in the shop, cakes can be special-order or ready-to-go. They run in price from $19.99 to $30.99, depending on size, flavor and decoration. Always on hand are Oreo, chocolate “Xtreme” and strawberry cheesecake. The cakes are all ice-cream, Baker noted, with no actual “cake” in them.
Ice-cream sheet cakes are becoming popular for weddings, too, Baker said.
She first began offering those a few years back, when a desperate call came from a local bride-to-be.
The woman’s baker had backed out, Baker said, and she needed a wedding cake in two days.
“We try to help people out,” Baker said.
She took the order.
This year, “we have an order of seven sheet cakes for a summer wedding,” she noted.
Cakes can be decorated in almost any fashion, even sporting photographs, Baker said, thanks to a printer that uses edible ink and rice paper. “We can put edible pictures on the cakes,” she said. “It can be a photo you bring to me.”
Baker prides her business on its product consistency and a well-trained staff. All DQ employees cross-train to learn about each product. Pins are offered as awards for customer service and product preparation.
New this year are lemonade and Chillers, a slush drink made with lemonade. Ever popular is the Arctic Rush, like a liquid snow cone sipped through a straw. Bright fruit flavors dominate the drinks.
For those who need something creamy, MooLattes offer a blend of coffee, ice cream and ice. “They’re addictive,” Baker warned.
DQ summer hours run 11 a.m. through 10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 10:30 p.m. on Sunday.
“This will always be here,” Baker said of the ice cream shop. “The majority of the people in this community have some memory about Dairy Queen. It’s tradition.”