Share This

Fierce Foodie: It’s the Time of the Season … for Ice Cream!

.

a blogumn by Roya Hamadani

 

All I want to eat in the summer is ice cream.  I want it every day, sometimes multiple times a day, in liquid, solid or semi-solid form, in a cone or a cup or a dish or a cookie.  The air in Pittsburgh in the summer gets so thick and moist that it feels like you’re walking around inside a mouth.  It’s hot, wet, and more often than not, smelly.  The only antidote is ice cream.

I prefer to get ice cream by the cone, as the tub in my freezer is usually filled with giant Kryptonian crystals.  Somehow, if ice cream lasts long enough to get put back in the freezer, there is a good chance it will stay there forever and grow stalagmites.  For example, my mother’s no sugar added, lite butter pecan has sat in the back since last fall.  So far no ice cream craving has been severe enough to get me to pull the seal off that one.

 

On a recent trip to Paris I was blessed to taste Berthillon’s ice cream.  All the flavors were amazing, but the caramel with salted butter was by far the most intense and delicious.  It had all the sweet richness of caramel with the salty goodness of the butter, exploding on the tongue in perfect harmony.

 

I have made ice cream and tasted others’ homemade ice creams; they are excellent but not necessarily better than a high quality commercial product.  Plus, it’s not exactly a quick procedure.  I save my efforts for attempting flavors not readily available, such as durian or chocolate orange.

 

But what if daily ice cream is not an option due to diet or health constraints?  Well, after the jump, find a cheat – the illusion of an ice cream sandwich without the caloric content.

Cheap and Easy Fake Ice Cream Sandwiches

 

Take a scoop of low calorie cool whipped topping and spread it between two chocolate graham crackers or other low calorie chocolate cookie.  Freeze between layers of wax paper inside a tupperware container.  Be careful of forming addictive behaviors.

 

Other suggestions: mix whipped topping with strawberry or raspberry puree for a fancier sandwich.  Use chocolate chip cookies.  Make tiny sandwiches using 100 calorie pack cookies.  Roll sandwiches in sprinkles or tiny chocolate chips.  Go nuts!