We’re big fans of Ice Cream Sundaes, as well as lists. So it was great fun pouring over some lists of the top Ice Cream Sundaes. The Ice Cream Sundae remains among the most simple, yet elegant desserts. But one thing is certain: there’s no end to what you can create using ice cream, toppings and your imagination.
Here’s a sample:
Breyers Spaghetti and Meatball Sundae
Michel’s Frozen Custard in Madison, WI, once offered the Viva Las Vegas Sundae (available now only by request) featuring vanilla custard topped with creamy peanut butter (a la Elvis), hot fudge and banana slices.
Grown ups and kids with advanced palates will enjoy the Tiramasu Sundae posted in the Augusta Chronicle from “Sundaes & Splits: Delicious Recipes For Ice Cream Treats,” by Hannah Miles. It uses homemade mascarpone ice cream with from-scratch syrup.
Blue Bunny Ice Cream has a recipe for the Cinnamon Bun Hot Apple Sundae posted in the Chatanooga Times Free Press. Think of a gooey, halved cinnamon roll with vanilla ice cream, glazed walnuts, apple pie filling and butterscotch-caramel topping.
Breyers Ice Cream and chef Gale Gand have created a Spaghetti & Meatballs Sundae with rocky road “meatballs”, sauce made of mashed strawberries and vanille ice cream extruded through a potato ricer to become noodles.
Think you make the Best Ice Cream Sundae? Now, you can prove it. Breyer’s is searching for the next best treat in its Sundae Scoop-Off Contest. Submit family-friendly entries containing 10 or fewer ingredients through September 13. The winner gets $10,000, a trip to Chicago and a private cooking lesson with Gale Gand.
And don’t be shy about sharing your favorite, and best, Sundae picks here.
We don’t want to start any arguments or anything, but an informal poll of ice cream lovers here has revealed that, hands down, the Best Ice Cream Dessert is (drum roll please…) Ice Cream Cake! It appears that 2010 has unofficially been declared the year of the Ice Cream Cake as more and more specialty ice cream shops and national chains offer their own versions.
Nothing draws guests to a party than the mention of Ice Cream Cake on the invitation – a proven phenomenon. The great go-togethers pair very well combined in a frozen treat.
But if you’re a DIY type, there are many technique tutorials and how-to’s available to help you create the perfect Ice Cream Cake for your get-together or party. Here are a batch of recipes and tip sheets to get you going:
Several sources say the idea for ice cream cake came from the trifle, an elegant dessert made by layering cream and cookies or cake in a big, glass serving bowl called (what else?) a trifle bowl. Seems anything goes with today’s Ice Cream Cakes.
What’s your favorite Ice Cream Cake, or nomination for the Best Ice Cream Dessert ever?
We’re halfway through July and would be remiss if we didn’t mention that this month is National Ice Cream Month! In fact, this Sunday, July 18, is National Ice Cream Day. It’s apt to point out the many ways to celebrate everyone’s favorite frozen treat.
As the story goes, former President Ronald Reagan in 1984 named July National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday in July National Ice Cream Day. In true populist fashion, he proclaimed the celebration pointing out that a full 90% of Americans love ice cream. Sounds about right.
There are so many ways to celebrate with ice cream from an old fashioned Ice Cream Social to trying new concoctions, like barbecue ice cream. (You read that right.)
The World Dairy Diary Blog recently featured the dessert by self-proclaimed Grillmaster Rick Browne. It’s a version of Baked Alaska you can make on the grill. (Is there anything you can’t prepare on the grill?) Check out the video and try making it yourself. Or, check locally to find ice cream festivities where you live this weekend.
Here’s some ways people are celebrating Ice Cream this year:
Scope out freebies, like these at Buffalo’s Perry’s shops.
Go for some artisanal treats. Because we in the U.S. eat more ice cream per person than any other country, every town and city has its own special scoop shop, with specially made Ice Cream, like these in Minneapolis.
Play Ice Cream Trivia while enjoying your favorite dish or cone. The Great Falls Tribune has posted a good bit of history to get you started.
Remember, you have the whole of the month to celebrate. How will you mark this cool occasion?
What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten on top of your ice cream? How about buttered popcorn? It’s perhaps the oddest on this list of weird ice cream toppings.
The best thing about ice cream is the countless ways there are to serve it. It’s the ultimate customizable treat with toppings, mix-ins and variations to please everyone.
But what’s the top ice cream topping? According to WiseGeek, hot fudge, caramel and butterscotch sauces are the most popular, with strawberry sauce and maple syrup following. My favorite, particularly with a bowl of quality vanilla, is homemade rhubarb sauce.
There’s so much more than sauce, categorized like this: fruits, candies, nuts and other fun other stuff — think sprinkles and whipped cream.
Some of the more unusual toppings listed by Quazen include warmed peanut butter, chocolate-covered coffee beans, green tea and canned pumpkin. I still say the most odd has got to be buttered popcorn. (I’d love to hear from anyone who has tried this – doesn’t the topping get mushy?) Says Quazen:
“Ooooo, gross! Nope. Give it a try. Microwave some buttered popcorn, then sprinkle a handful on top of a bowl of vanilla ice cream (or any choice of your own). It’s fantastic, with a nice mix of sweet and salty.”
Then, if you’re up for a fun challenge, try this trivia game on Sporcle where you can guess the Top 10 Ice Cream toppings. I scored a six. And buttered popcorn was not on this list.
It hit 90 this week, a rare occasion for Wisconsin in May. We officially moved full-force into summer living. The kitchen is closed. The grill is open. We’re outside working and playing, and hungry for our favorite summer treat: Ice Cream.
Ice cream is a favorite of everyone, period. In fact, I’ve never met anyone who does not like it.
Since it’s such a favorite, innovative eaters have come up with many ways to enjoy ice cream, and all of its many forms. Food Network recently posted its top dessert trends for 2010. About half of them include ice cream, and it topped the list in 2009.
Food Network’s trends this year include:
Ice Cream Mixer: The root beer float gets company as ice cream gets mixed into all sorts of beverages to make new forms of shakes, floats, malts and coolers. The trend follows research showing an uptick in a return to the past. Says Food Network:
“Nostalgia is certainly part of this trend. Sweets connect us to pleasant childhood memories, and those of us old enough to remember fondly the old drugstore soda fountains will enjoy the new twists on those old favorites.”
Newfangled sandwiches: I’ve noticed this trend taking shape in scoop shops and restaurants across the Dairy State in recent years as ice cream sandwiches have gotten an upgrade. New flavors of premium ice cream between artisan cookies, brownies or mini brioche have emerged.
Try making some of these fancy ice cream concoctions at home (with gThanks to Food Network and Rachel Ray Magazine):
Here at gThankYou, we’re big fans of soup, ham and bean soups in particular. Pity we’re heading out of what I consider prime soup season. Before grilling season takes hold, however, I offer this humble homage to simple, versatile and satisfying ham and bean soups in this installment of Recipe of the Week.
Soup is the reason I prefer bone-in hams. There’s a good reason why so much meat clings to those bones. It just begs to be made into soup! In its recipe for Ham StockEpicurious says a shank will yield a meatier broth base. But I’ve had good results with all types. And if you need a pot of ham and bean soup and have no bone, you can always throw in a ham hock and get a great flavor, too.
Growing up, my mom always made Split Pea with Ham soup after our big holiday meal. In my mind, it remains the best ham and bean soup. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of cooking plenty of other varieties, too. Here’s a sampling of what’s out there, plus some good, basic references:
Perhaps my favorite reason for cooking ham and bean soups is that it’s actually better to make it ahead. The soup freezes well and actually develops more flavor if you serve it the next day (or day after) it is made. Enjoy a pot today, or tomorrow.
We make egg salad once a year. Bet you guessed that it’s the week following the annual visit from that famous bunny, who leaves colorful, hard-cooked eggs all around our house — in the yard if the snow isn’t too deep.
Likewise, I have favorite recipes I pull out annually following the big Holiday Ham Dinner. I make ‘em once a year and they’ve become almost as much a tradition as what we do on Easter itself.
In my estimation, there are probably about 101 ways to use up a bone-in ham. Boneless, too – although I favor a ham bone to make a rich soup stock. Here are the dishes I rotate from year to year:
It may be urban legend, but a statistic widely reported a while back stated many don’t know what they’re serving for dinner that day by 4 o’clock. If that’s true, I have to believe that, even now, those same people haven’t really planned what they’re cooking for their holiday dinner – let alone know how they’ll execute the meal.
As a public service, we here at gThankYou have decided to put together this no-fail plan (and menu suggestions) to get you started as this week’s Recipe of the Week.
Most big dinners that involve a roast of some sort needn’t be fussy to be spectacular. But it does take a bit of maneuvering if you don’t have a larger-size oven. Follow the same set of rules for cooking a Ham Dinner as other holiday meals, or dinners that include a big roast.
Plan a simple, yet elegant menu with family favorites or recipes you’re comfortable cooking. Too many new things will become overwhelming.
Include quick sides or those that be made ahead and reheated.
Write it down. Simply putting in writing the order your dishes need to go in and out of the oven, and how long they need to cook, will help things go smoothly.
Have fun and enjoy your meal!
To get you started, here’s a sample Ham Dinner menu that’s simple, yet satisfying and splendid:
If you want to make your own, these No-Knead Dinner Rolls are a big winner. gThankYou to Everyday Food.
You have to crack a lot of eggs (a full dozen!) to make this fabulous Angel Food Cake, gThankYou to Martha Stewart. We serve ours with fresh strawberries and hand-whipped cream (yum!).
No need to scramble with this menu. Use it as is or as a launching point for your own fabulous Ham Dinner.
In a previous post, I touched on the (sometimes controversial) subject of glazing Ham. While it’s a matter of personal preference, family tradition and regional rituals also come into play when deciding to glaze or not to glaze. There’s no right way to attain the perfect Ham, but as with most all things culinary, each individual dish (and cook) has its own correctness.
I remember, for instance, my aunt doing a grape jelly and ketchup glaze that, as kids, we thought was great. Today, I wouldn’t put that concoction on anything – edible or otherwise (sorry Auntie Barb!).
For some years, I’ve been in the no-glaze camp when cooking our Holiday Ham, choosing to serve au natural. But some of the following glaze recipes — this week’s Recipe of the Week – could convince me to try glazing this year. gThankYou for each and every glaze recipe!
If you love citrus flavors, try this Tangerine Glazed Ham, a recipe by celeb chef Tyler Florence posted by AptDweller.
Don’t prefer standard Irish dishes like Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Pie, or Bangers and Mash? There’s another option for St. Patrick’s Day dining you may have overlooked
This week’s recipe: Green Eggs and Ham. It’s become our favorite way to celebrate St. Patty’s since we started marking the birthday of children’s literary limerick genius, Dr. Seuss. While Theodor Geisel’s birthday is actually earlier in March, schools, libraries and literacy groups across the country mark the occasion throughout the month with reading activities. It’s a natural tie-in to cook up some Seuss’ most famous food.
Green Eggs and Ham can be dressed down or made into a special concoction served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. gThankYou for all these variations on the theme:
