Cooking & Conversation: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Cookies, and Ice Cream Dessert- Cooking with Spencer & Graham

I Scream! You Scream! We all scream for ice cream!

July is National Ice Cream Month!

While visiting our grandsons in Indiana we made a delicious ice cream dessert to go with

our Waffle Iron Pizza Pockets (see previous blog)

You can make this with any of your favorite ice cream flavors, candy, and cookies. Just have fun making this cool summer treat!

Shop for the ingredients.
Ice cream, candy, cookies, and ice cream topping!

Get the boys and get started.

Put the cookies into a ziploc bag.

Crush the cookies into coarse crumbs.
Toy hammers from the toy room work very well.

Pour them into a dish with deep sides.

Unwrap the Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups
and have Grandpa cut them into small pieces.

Sample them.

Add the candy to softened ice cream.

Pour the ice cream and candy mixture over the cookie layer.

Keep unwrapping candy and sampling the ice cream.

Keep adding candy to the ice cream until all the candy and ice cream are used.

Pour caramel ice cream topping over ice cream and candy layer.

Freeze until ice cream has hardened.

Serve!

Enjoy!

Dane with his Ninjago Fire Temple.

Ice Cream Facts & Trivia:

The History of Ice Cream

The first frozen dessert is credited to Emperor Nero of Rome. It was a mixture of snow (which he sent his slaves into the mountains to retrieve) and nectar, fruit pulp and honey. Another theory is Marco Polo, 13th century bard and adventurer, brought with him to Europe from the Far East recipes for water ices....said to be used in Asia for thousands of years.

The first ice cream parlor in America opened in New York City in 1776.

In 1983, Cookies 'N Cream, made with real Oreo cookies, became an instant hit, climbing to number five on the list of best-selling ice cream flavors. It also holds the distinction of being the fastest growing new flavor in the history of the ice cream industry.

In 1991, another flavor phenomenon was created -- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, which combines the best part of the Chocolate Chip cookie -- the raw dough -- with creamy vanilla ice cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Miscellaneous Facts

Toppings:

The favorite topping is still chocolate syrup.

The biggest ice cream sundae ever made was 12 feet high and made with 4,667 gallons of ice cream and 7,000 pounds of toppings in Anaheim, Calif., during 1985.

Sales:

Super premium and premium ice cream represent about 41.4 percent of the total dollar sales of ice cream.

Ice cream is an $11 billion retail industry.

Vanilla:

80 percent of the world's Vanilla Bean used for ice cream is grown in Madagascar.

Novelties:

Ice cream novelties such as ice cream on sticks and ice cream bars were introduced in the 1920's.

Adults consume nearly one-half of all ice cream novelties.

Ice Cream Consumption

Each American consumes a yearly average of 23.2 quarts of ice cream, ice milk, sherbet, ices and other commercially produced frozen dairy products.

The Northern Central states have the highest per capita consumption of ice cream at 41.7 quarts. The top three cities in America that purchase the most ice cream on a per capita basis are: Portland, Oregon; St. Louis, Missouri; and Seattle, Washington.

More ice cream is sold on Sunday than any other day of the week.

Ice cream consumption is highest during July and August. July is National Ice Cream Month.

Children ages two through 12, and adults age 45 plus, eat the most ice cream per person.

The average number of licks to polish off a single scoop ice cream cone is approximately 50.

98 percent of all households purchase ice cream.

(from makeicecream.com)

More Summer fun!