Ice Creams and Sundaes

I scream, you scream, everybody loves ice cream!

And what better way to make the most of lazy summer days than to relax in the garden and indulge yourself in an ice cream sundae?

Once you’ve bought (or made) the basic ingredients, you can leave the creating of the sundaes to your kids and their imagination.

To get them started here are a few ideas.

Toffee Ice Cream Sundae

What you need:

• Ice cream – 1 scoop each of toffee and vanilla
• Toffee sauce
• Squirty cream
• Fudge pieces
• Wafer

What you do:

Place the ice cream in a serving bowl. Pour over some toffee sauce – warm is nice – and sprinkle with fudge pieces. Add a squirt of cream and a wafer, and eat!

Traditional Banana Split

What you need:

• 1 banana per person
• Vanilla ice cream
• Chocolate sauce
• Nuts
• Squirty cream

What you do:

Slice the banana in half lengthways. Place it in a dish. Top with 2 scoops of ice cream. Add chocolate sauce, a good squirt of cream and sprinkle with nuts. Pop a wafer in and there you have it: a traditional banana split.

Of course, you can use a different sauce or flavoured ice cream, and replace the nuts with any topping of your choice. The only thing you can’t omit is the banana!

Knickerbocker Glory

A Knickerbocker Glory is the Queen of ice cream sundaes. First created in Britain back in the 1930s, it is traditionally served in a long glass - with a specially long spoon.

Because it is created from different layers, you can’t really make it in any other shaped sort of dish but any long glass will do. We’ll list what are thought to be the original ingredients but you can change any of them, or add to them!

What you need:

• Ice cream – 2 scoops vanilla and 1 scoop strawberry
• Fresh fruit
• Peach Melba sauce
• Whipped cream
• A cherry
• A wafer

What you do:

Place some fruit in the bottom of the glass. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then a spoon of sauce. More fruit is followed by the strawberry ice cream and more sauce. Then it’s fruit, vanilla ice cream and sauce before finishing off with a swirl of cream, topped with a cherry and a wafer.

What every sundae creator needs...

Toppings

You can buy a variety of these in most supermarkets, either in the bakery or confectionery sections:

• Hundreds and thousands
• Chocolate strands, buttons, flakes
• Smarties
• Chocolate Stars
• Marshmallow squares – cut big marshmallows into little pieces if you can’t find the small ones
• Fudge chips
• Nuts – as long as no-one is allergic!
• Crushed meringue pieces

Sauces

Again you can buy these ready-made:

• Chocolate
• Toffee
• Strawberry
• Maple syrup
• Butterscotch

Or make your own!

Strawberry Sauce

• 4 oz strawberries
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar

Place the strawberries and sugar in a blender and whiz for a few seconds until smooth. If you don’t have a blender, mash them together with a fork. For a very smooth sauce, push the mixture through a fine sieve.

Toffee sauce

• 2 oz brown sugar
• 2 oz butter
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• ¼ pint single cream

Melt the sugar, butter and syrup together until dissolved, then boil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Take great care – sugar syrup is very hot and sticky! Allow it to cool for 5 minutes then add the cream and stir together thoroughly.

Very Easy Chocolate sauce

• 2 oz chocolate (dark chocolate is recommended but it results in a strongly-flavoured sauce; your kids may prefer milk chocolate)
• ¼ pint double cream

Melt together in a saucepan over a low heat to make a smooth sauce.

Extras

• Wafers – fan-shaped are pretty
• Wafer tubes
• Cream – a can of squirty cream is ideal
• Chocolate coated fruit:
  Melt some chocolate in the microwave or in a small dish over a pan of boiling water. Prepare the fruit. Wash and slice apples or peaches; wash and dry raspberries or strawberries. Dip the fruit in the melted chocolate and leave on a piece of foil to set.
  
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