Stirring up something sweet in Rockville
Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream owner builds flavors from scratch — one batch at a time
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Jacqueline KalilJune 9, 2026 10:11 a.m.
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Editor’s note: This story is part of Bethesda Today’s occasional series of interviews with local chefs.
The rich scent of cooking sugar filled Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream’s in Rockville, where owner Rollin Amore stood over a fragrant pot of bubbling sugar crafting one of the shop’s crowd-favorite flavors: salted caramel.
Behind the counter at 12274 Rockville Pike, Amore carefully stirred the mixture as it slowly transformed into a sauce the color of deep amber — the foundation of the shop’s salted caramel ice cream.
“Butterscotch and caramel are almost the same,” Amore, 73, explained Wednesday to Bethesda Today while stirring the mixture. “Butterscotch uses brown sugar, caramel uses white sugar.”
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On this day, Amore was also preparing a batch of Mimi’s signature butterscotch ice cream. The process began the day before, when butter and brown sugar were melted together to create a rich butterscotch sauce. Amore demonstrated how the sauce is blended into an ice cream base and churned in a batch freezer before candied pecans are added by hand. Each batch produces enough ice cream to fill about two tubs — roughly 4½ gallons in total.
Building flavors from scratch is central to Amore’s philosophy.
“I only use real flavors, no fake flavorings,” Amore said.
That approach has helped fuel the growth of Mimi’s Handmade, which has a location in Clarksburg as well as shops in Arlington and Fairfax, Virginia. After decades working in finance, Amore, who lives in Arlington, launched the business in retirement, turning a personal project into a growing regional brand.
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Amore opened his first ice cream shop in Arlington in the summer of 2021. After expanding to three locations over the past five years, he says he plans to sign leases for two more stores in the DMV region by the end of this year.
While butterscotch remains one of Mimi’s most popular flavors, the shop is perhaps best known for its more unconventional offerings inspired by Amore’s extensive travels throughout Asia during his previous career.
“We create really fun and different flavors here,” Amore told Bethesda Today.
In the display case sat colorful examples of those influences: ube ice cream made from purple yams commonly used in Filipino desserts, sweet potato-inspired flavors and Thai iced tea ice cream infused with the spices and flavors of the popular drink.
Amore said he draws inspiration from history to create other flavors. One cucumber ice cream flavor traces its roots back thousands of years, according to Amore.
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“This was very big in Persia 3,000 years ago,” Amore said of the cucumber flavor, explaining that early civilizations discovered ways to preserve ice in caves and create primitive frozen desserts long before modern ice cream existed.
Seasonal offerings rotate regularly and can include ice cream flavors such as mango, passion fruit and sweet corn custard, as well as various fruit sorbets.
“New flavors are usually visually and aromatic inspired. If I see or smell an ingredient, it comes quickly. I was in a Thai grocery store and smelled especially fresh Thai basil. Once I returned from the store, I began infusing the basil into a cream base. The next day, I churned the ice cream,” Amore told Bethesda Today.
Behind the scenes, producing those flavors is labor intensive. Amore said it takes about a full day to create a batch of a new flavor. During peak season, production, which Amore says begins as early as March, rarely slows.
As customers visited the shop, the smell of buttery sugar drifted from the kitchen — a reminder that at Mimi’s, even a simple scoop starts with making nearly everything by hand.
“In the summer, we make ice cream maybe five or six days a week from March on,” Amore said. “It’s just a never-ending basis.”
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine