I Scream, You Scream

July/August 2009 Issue | Posted by Kate Wicker in What's Cooking

By Kate Wicker

When the days are long and sizzling, you’ll find the perfect excuse to dish

up some cold, creamy ice cream. If you’re looking for a summertime treat, check out our delicious collection of creative ways to enjoy the good stuff. We’ve

got everything from old-fashioned creamy indulgences to cold treats made

with healthy ingredients like fruit and yogurt.

Waffle Berry a la Mode

1/2 cup strawberry topping

1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and

sliced

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 cup raspberries

4 frozen waffles, toasted

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Whipped cream

4 whole strawberries for garnish

Gently toss 1/4 cup strawberry topping with berries; set aside. Place waffle on serving plate. Spoon 1/2 cup berry mixture on waffle. Top with a scoop of ice cream, 1 tablespoon topping, and whipped cream. Garnish with additional strawberries. Makes 4 servings.

Easy Ice Cream Cake

No need to invest in a pricey ice cream cake at your local bakery or ice cream shop. This homemade version is easy, inexpensive, and the perfect addition to any summer celebration. You can get creative with ice cream flavors and garnishes.

1/2 gallon quality ice cream (any flavor

or combination of flavors)

Frosting:

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Allow ice cream to soften at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes. Pack ice cream into an 8-inch round pie pan or soufflé dish. Smooth top. Cover dish with plastic wrap and freeze for at least five hours or overnight.

To add variety, layer different flavors of ice cream (we like using a chocolate ice cream topped with a cookies and cream flavor) or mix in candies. We love mashing peanut butter cups into chocolate ice cream.

Once ice cream has frozen solid, loosen the edges of the ice cream with a warm knife, and dip the pan quickly into hot water (be careful not to melt the ice cream too much; you want to hold the pan in hot water for just a few seconds to loosen it). Carefully invert ice cream cake onto a large plate and gently remove the pan. Return ice cream cake to freezer.

Beat cold heavy cream until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until stiff. Frost the top of the frozen cake with the whipped cream. Immediately return it to the freezer for at least 20 minutes or until set. Take it out of the freezer just before serving.

For a cake that’s both yummy and delicious eye-candy, try these decorating tips:

• Embellish a Cookies and Cream cake with Oreos. Coat cakes with M&Ms, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and other candies for toppings, depending on what flavor of ice cream you use.

• Dye your frosting blue, and make Goldfish crackers swim along in the waves for a nautical theme.

• Add fresh fruit to your cake for a splash of color and extra nutrition. Make flowers, using raspberries as the centers and sliced almonds for the petals.

• For a garden theme, crumble chocolate cookies like Oreos in a blender or food processor. Sprinkle crumbs on top of the cake and add gummy worms to the “dirt.” Add edible flowers such as pansies. Line the side of the cake with wafer cookies to serve as the garden “fence.”

Pomegranate Pops

These pops are healthy and delicious. You can also just drink the mixture straight out of the blender as a smoothie.

1 cup frozen cherries

1 cup plain yogurt

8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

1 banana

1 cup pomegranate juice (check your

grocer’s produce section)

1 tablespoon flaxmeal (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze. If you don’t have popsicle molds (see page 71), you can pour mixture into small paper cups. Freeze until partially firm, and then insert plastic spoons or popsicle sticks for handles. Freeze until solid.

Triple Chocolate Crunch Shake

2 chocolate cookies, broken into pieces

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

2 scoops chocolate ice cream, softened

1/3 cup of milk

Garnishes:

Whipped cream

Candy sprinkles

Place all ingredients except garnishes in blender. Cover and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth. Garnish blended mixture with whipped cream and sprinkles. Makes 1 serving.

Keep It Cool

The International Ice Cream Association offers these tips to keep your store-bought ice cream as tasty as fresh-scooped:

• Do not allow ice cream to repeatedly soften and re-freeze. When its small ice

crystals melt and re-freeze, they can eventually turn into large,

unpalatable lumps.

• Set your freezer thermostat between -5 and 0 degrees. Ice cream is easy to

dip between 6 and 10 degrees, the ideal serving temperature range.

• Store ice cream in the main part of the freezer,

not in the freezer door where it can

be subject to more fluctuating

temperatures.

• Keep the ice cream container

lid tightly closed when stor-

ing in the freezer.

• Don’t store ice cream along-

side uncovered foods; odors

may penetrate ice cream and

affect its flavor.

Frosty Fruit Bars

When we’re having company, I make this yummy dessert my aunt shared with me. It’s a refreshing way to top off a summer barbecue.

8 ounces cream cheese

1-pound can crushed pineapple, drained

10-ounce package frozen strawberries,

thawed, or 1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

3 bananas, sliced

9-ounce container frozen whipped topping

3/4 cup sugar

Cream the cream cheese and sugar. Fold in the pineapple, strawberries, bananas, and whipped topping. Place mixture in either a 13-inch-by-9-inch pan or cupcake pans lined with paper (the recipe will make about two dozen “cupcakes”). Freeze. Allow to thaw about 20 minutes before serving.

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Watermelon Slushie

Nothing says summer quite like sinking your teeth into juicy, cold watermelon. My whole family loves this easy-to-make slushie. I’ll often serve it as our drink with a summertime meal.

Seed and puree any amount of watermelon. Toss in blender with some ice cubes. Add sugar to taste and blend until “slushy.” Serve in glasses.

Cherry Sorbet

Sorbet is a fruit-based frozen treat made without milk that has a softer consistency than sherbet. This easy sorbet uses cherries, which are in season during the summer.

5 cups pitted sweet cherries

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 cup sparkling white grape juice

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel

Puree cherries in a blender or food processor with one cup of the water. Press mixture through fine-mesh sieve and discard pulp. Combine strained cherry mixture, remaining water, sugar, sparkling grape juice, and lemon peel, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour mixture into a 2-quart baking pan, and freeze for about 6 hours or until almost firm. Once frozen, break into chunks. Transfer chunks into a large, chilled mixing bowl. Place baking pan back in freezer. Then beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth but not melted. Remove cold pan from freezer and immediately return the cherry mixture to it. Cover and freeze for 6 to 8 hours more until sorbet is firm.

Yogurt Pops

A healthy, homemade popsicle my kids love.

1 cup orange juice

2 cups plain yogurt

1 banana, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon honey

Combine all ingredients, and mix together with a fork until smooth. Pour mixture into popsicle molds or paper cups with popsicle sticks (see sidebar). Freeze.

To keep fickle taste buds happy, try substituting different kinds of juices, such as pineapple or apple juice for the orange. You can also pour mixed ingredients into a 1-inch deep 8-inch-by-8-inch pan and freeze until very firm. Cut into squares and use as a filling between graham crackers.

St. Elizabeth’s German Black Forest Ice Cream Sandwiches

This is one of many delicious recipes I discovered in Saints at the Dinner Table (St. Anthony Mes­ sen­ ger Press). Each chapter is dedicated to a different saint and in­ cludes an entire meal inspired by the life of the saint, as well as a dinnertime prayer and questions for meaningful dinner discussions.

Chocolate Cookies:

10 tablespoons butter or margarine,

softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Filling:

2 pints softened cherry cordial ice cream or substitute Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream. (If neither is available, use softened chocolate chip ice cream and add 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together in a large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and thoroughly mix together. In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Slowly mix in flour mixture with the butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Place golf ball-sized dollops of cookie dough on baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool on a rack. When cookies are completely cooled, scoop 2 to 3 tablespoons of ice cream on top of one cookie, and then top with another cookie. Store in freezer until ready to serve.

(Recipe reprinted with permission)

Cool Tools

1. Make your kids homemade ice cream sandwiches, or let kids have fun crafting their own creations, using the Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich Molds. Set of 3 for $11.95, at Amazon.com. Stamp molds onto a sheet of cookies to make the top and bottom of the sandwich, and then use the press to fill in the ice cream middle.

2. Freeze leftover smoothies to make popsicles, or create your own pops, using the Tovolo Groovy Ice Pop Molds. Set of 6 for $11.99, at Amazon.com. Or, you can always go low-tech and use paper cups and popsicle sticks to make your homemade treats. Empty, clean individual portion-sized yogurt containers work well, too (they won’t leave any paper residue on your pops).

3. Make delicious, homemade ice cream anywhere in about 30 minutes with a nifty LL Bean Ice Cream Ball. Just fill the lightweight ball with ice and rock salt, add ice cream ingredients to the top and then let the kids shake it up. $39.95 (including recipes), at LLBean.com. Check out the Ice Cream Ball Flavor Pack to go with your Ice Cream Ball. It includes enough flavoring for four quarts of ice cream. $12.95, at LLBean.com.

4. If you’re a real ice cream junkie, consider splurging on an at-home ice cream maker. A reasonably priced model is the countertop Cuisinart ICE-20, which churns out 1.5 quarts of creamy ice cream in about 20 minutes. $39.50, at Amazon.com.

­ Top 15 Ice Cream Flavors

We’ve all got a flavor we crave above all others. Here’sa look at the top 15 most popular ice cream flavors, as reported by the International Ice Cream Association:

Vanilla

Chocolate

Butter pecan

Strawberry

Neapolitan

Chocolate chip

French vanilla

Cookies and cream

Vanilla fudge ripple

Praline pecan

Cherry

Chocolate almond

Coffee

Rocky road

Chocolate marshmallow