Custom ice cream is made in small batches from close to 100 different recipes. You can buy a cup or a cone, or pick up a hand-packed pint or quart. Customers can choose flavors for a sundae or classic banana split with a variety of toppings. Shakes and floats and even ice cream pies round out the menu at Schoolhouse Creamery in Harlingen.

The genesis for Schoolhouse Creamery took shape in Robert Floyd’s home kitchen, where he began experimenting with handcrafted premium ice cream. He developed some 80 recipes and decided it was time to go into the business of offering the sweet treats.

At the time, Floyd was the assistant principal at Travis Elementary in Harlingen. He teamed up with a science teacher at Vernon Middle School, Adolfo Martinez, and in March 2015 they opened the doors of Schoolhouse Creamery at 715 N. 77 Sunshine Strip. Set up as an old-fashioned ice cream parlor with local historic photographs on the walls, the place quickly developed a loyal customer base and received accolades by winning the annual Valley Morning Star Best of the Best competition in the ice cream category.

Last year Floyd and Martinez both moved to Houston to take teaching jobs there, and Martinez’s sister-in-law, Claudia Martinez, bought the business in October 2017. She had managed the store from its opening and felt like she was ready to take over and maintain the same quality for which Schoolhouse Creamery had become known. Business continues to thrive and Martinez recently opened a second location on Stuart Place Road just north of Expressway 83.

The number of flavors has grown to about 100 as Martinez has created new concoctions. “We have been adding flavors, like Red Velvet ice cream with Oreos and brownies that we call Triple Delight,” she said. With each recipe Martinez strictly follows the same process she learned from Floyd of using quality ingredients and personal supervision of each batch. And she listens to her customers’ requests.

“They are the ones that make our business and we want to keep them happy,” Martinez said. “I am a mom and a wife and when my kids want something special I try to get it for them. So I treat my customers the same way”

With so many flavors, the choices of ice cream can change on any given day. On a recent day the display case was filled with ice cream buckets touting recipes like Caliche Road (Abuelita chocolate with toasted almonds and marshmallows), Dirt Cup (sweet cream ice cream with crushed Oreos), The Picard (Earl Grey tea ice cream with crumbles of buttery tea cookies) and Berry Me! (chocolate ice cream with strawberries).

Schoolhouse Creamery has “classics” that are always in stock, such as Mexican Vanilla (vanilla ice cream made with La Vencedona Mexican Vanilla), Brown Butter Pecan (butterscotch ice cream with butter-roasted pecans) and Nutty Brown (Nutella ice cream with toasted almonds, cashews, walnuts and pecans).

And, for adults only, there’s the Teacher’s Lounge flavors made with a splash of various alcoholic beverages. When the business changed hands last fall, the Teacher’s Lounge was temporarily taken off the menu while Martinez had to wait on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to transfer the alcohol license into her name. “That was a very slow process and it took a long time,” she said. The approval was finally given in February and the Teacher’s Lounge is open for business again.

The ice cream pies are among Martinez’s favorites and she experiments with different flavors. “That’s what I take when I go to a party,” she said. “I want people to try them and see if they like them.”

In between rushing around between the two stores, Martinez is working on what may become the next new product offering. “I want to try cake with ice cream between the layers, she said. “I want to be ready to try it for Mother’s Day.”