That should give you some idea of how crazy life has been around here lately!

Seriously – Angel girl and I were looking through the pictures on the computer and found this one.

I had no idea what is was or why we made it.

Then a few days later I found the remainder of this frozen dessert in the freezer.

So I put my finger in it to see if I could tell what it was. Yum. I put another finger in to further test my taste buds. Then the girls saw me and put their fingers in to check it. After we had eaten at least 2 of the 4 pieces, Angel Girl remembered making this treat on her night to cook – months ago.

We had been trying to use up some of the many things left-over from the Golden Anniversary (which was in April).

Yes. It’s been in my freezer since then.

But it’s gone now. Devoured in the basement in front of the freezer using our fingers.

Since we created this dish ourselves, I’m not sure what we should call it – Left-over Surprise, Freezer Special? Hmm… maybe not.

Since we were using the left-over fixings for ice cream sundaes – let’s go with Ice Cream Sundae Bars.

Ice Cream Sundae Bars

1 sleeve of Oreo cookies (about 14)
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 quart ice cream, any flavor (we used the left-over vanilla)
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup chocolate sauce (we used Nana’s amazing recipe)
Cool Whip (as much as you want)
chocolate sprinkles (just because we could!)

Mix the oreos and melted butter and press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Freeze for an hour.

Spread the ice cream over the oreo’s and cover with the peanuts and the chocolate sauce. Freeze for another hour.

Frost with Cool Whip and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles. Freeze.

This will obviously keep for months in your freezer if you should happen to forget that you made it!

Enjoy!

It was time to bake.

I was flipping through my recipe file and found my Waffle Cookie recipe – still written in my junior high handwriting.

I remember Mom baking these cookies for my siblings and I growing up.

It was time for me to introduce my own kids to this easy-to-make treat.

Angel Girl helped me mix up the dough (which was really yummy to sample!) and bake these goodies.

The first ones we overcooked a little – then we realized that they were a little soft when they come out of the waffle iron – but will firm up as they cool.

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

1-1/2 cup sugar
1 cup shortening (we used margarine)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream the sugar and shortening (margarine) together. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well. Add dry ingredients and mix together.

Preheat your waffle iron and spray lightly with cooking spray. Drop dough on iron (I used about 1/3 cup of dough for each cookie). Close the iron. Remove the cookie when done. (I just used the light that signals when the waffle is done – the timing working perfectly!)

Now to serve them…

My favorite way to eat them was with a big spoonful of hot fudge sauce on top!

But they were also very tasty – and cute – as a “Waffle Sundae” with a scoop of ice cream, chocolate syrup, and sprinkles.

But the kids also loved them with a scoop of ice cream or raspberry sherbet as a yummy ice cream sandwich.

Any way we served them – they were a yummy way to brighten up some attitudes!

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolates and at Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

This time I was attempting to duplicate an Ice Cream Cake at Dairy Queen.

They look so simple – layers of cake followed by layers of ice cream – right?!

I can do that – right?!

Well – maybe not.

It sure tasted wonderful – but it didn’t look nearly as nice as the ones on TV!

I started with an Oreo cookie crust in the bottom of a springform pan.

When that cooled, I added a layer of softened chocolate ice cream and put the pan in the freezer. An hour later I added a layer of softened vanilla ice cream and refroze the pan.

I repeated this 2 more times until I got to the top of the springform pan.

I should have stopped there and just frosted it with Cool Whip – but no – I had to get creative.

I whipped up a chocolate sauce recipe – thinking that it would be the perfect topping. It tasted wonderful as I licked the spoon – but when I went to put it on the cake it became a gloppy mess! It never stuck to the top of the ice cream and slip off in little piles.

Oh dear!

I refroze it thinking (alright – hoping!) that it would stick. But alas – it didn’t work. The chocolate glaze remained a mud slick.

To serve the cake, I removed the side of the springform pan and cut the cake into wedges – then carefully pressed the chocolate glaze on the top before plating.

Everything tasted wonderful – you just had to overlook the fingerprints in the chocolate mud slide!

When the Chocolate Lady makes this dessert again – I will frost it with Cool Whip and make cute chocolate drizzles on the top with fudge sauce from a jar!

I may even get adventurous and trade out the ice cream flavors – wouldn’t a layer of coffee ice cream be delish with the chocolate? Or maybe a strawberry layer?

I sure do love to experiment – especially when it involves chocolate!

Enjoy!

This year we wanted to experiment a little with dessert – and came up with this strawberry chocolate delight.

You may recognize it as being very similar the Chocolate Ice Cream Cake I shared last summer. We just changed out the ice cream and modified the filling a bit.

(And yes – the modified filling was what we were experimenting with during the infamous Double Fail Brownie incident!)

It was a huge hit!

And it was so easy to assemble that high school boys did it! We made an assembly line in the church kitchen and things went pretty fast.

We did use three different brands of strawberry ice cream – since we were buying in bulk and none of our small town stores had enough of one kind.  It was interesting to note that each brand had a different pink coloring.  Blue Bunny was my personal favorite – both for coloring and flavoring!

Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

1 bag (1 – 1/2 cups) crushed Oreo cookies
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups strawberry ice cream (divided) – about one carton
3 ounces softened cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
4 ounces Cool Whip

Carefully line a bread pan with aluminum foil.

Mix together the crushed Oreo’s and melted butter.  Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the foil lined bread pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.

Open the carton of ice cream on the side and cut it in half with a sharp knife.

Cut one half of the ice cream into thirds and lay them side by side on top of the Oreo crust. smooth the top, filling in the cracks. Freeze until solid – about 1 hour. (Put the other half of ice cream back in the freezer.)

Whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar until it is creamy. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spread on top of the ice cream layer and freeze one hour.

Take the remaining half carton of ice cream and cut it into thirds and lay them side by side on top of the cream cheese layer. (This may look like it won’t fit – squeeze what you can in, and eat the rest with a spoon!) Freeze one hour.

Spread the remaining Oreo Cookie crumbs on the top and freeze.

To serve, flip the pan on to a serving platter and remove the pan.  Carefully pull back the foil and slice with a serrated knife into 8-10 slices.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolate

All year I’m on the look-out for amazing – but easy – ice cream cake recipes. My criteria is simply – something I don’t have to bake but the kids will love.

Pedro has been quite happy with his ice cream sandwich cake for several years now – but Dagmar has yet to find the perfect cake.

This year I discovered a recipe I had torn out of an old issue of Family Circle magazine. I don’t even know the year or the month of the issue!

Using ice cream sandwiches cut and stacked around the edge and filled with ice cream, the recipe was fancy enough to be pretty, but super easy!  Dagmar loved it!

Layered Ice Cream Cake

15 oreo cookies
1 tablespoon milk
8-9 ice cream sandwiches
3 pints ice cream (we used all chocolate mint – but you could do layers of whatever flavors you wish – such as vanilla and strawberry)
1 – 8 ounce container of Cool Whip

Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray and line the edges with waxed paper.

Finely crush 12 of the Oreo cookies ina food processor. Add the milk and pulse again. Set aside.

Unwrap the ice cream sandwiches and cut into quarters. Stack strips of sandwiches on end around the edge of the springform pan.  (It is helpful to have someone helping you on this step – the ice cream gets soft fast. I unwrapped and Dagmar cut and placed.) This creates the cool strips around the edge of the cake!

Spoon the cookie crumbs into the bottom of the pan and press firmly over the bottom. Freeze on hour.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer and let it soften for 15 minutes. Carefully spread the ice cream in the crust – using layers if you choose. We just filled the crust with chocolate mint ice cream.

Frost the entire cake with thawed Cool Whip

The recipe called for crushing the remaining 3 Oreos and sprinkling them on top of the Cool Whip – but we wanted more of topping, so we crushed the remaining 3 Oreos with a large Butterfinger bar and sprinkled it over the top.

Return to the freezer – overnight if possible.

Before serving, carefully remove the side of the pan and pull off the waxed paper. Cut into wedges to serve.

Then just sit back and bask in the compliments!

Enjoy!

Angel girl shares a June birthday with one of her friends. So when our families shared a meal together this weekend – I knew a special dessert was in order.

Since we were enduring some intense heat and I didn’t really want to turn the oven on – I decided that an ice cream cake would be perfect!

I found a yummy recipe for a peanut butter ice cream cake – but Angel Girl is not on the peanut butter kick that her older sister is – so I made some chocolate alterations.

The final result -

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Crust :

2 cups oreo cookie crumbs
1/2 cup melted margarine or butter

Filling:

6 cups of vanilla ice cream (divided)
4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces Cool Whip

Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch x 5 inch 3 inch bread pan with aluminum foil.

Mix together the Oreo cookie crumbs and melted margarine. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared bread pan.  Freeze for 30 minutes. Set aside the remaining crumbs.

Spread half of the ice cream over the crust and freeze for one hour or until firm.

Put the chocolate chips and milk in a microwave proof container and microwave until melted, stirring till smooth. Cool.

Beat cream cheese with the powdered sugar. Add the melted chocolate chips and mix well. Stir in the Cool Whip.

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the vanilla ice cream layer and freeze for one hour or until set.

Carefully spread the remaining ice cream over the cream cheese layer and freeze for one hour.

Press the reserved cookie crumbs on top of the ice cream and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze at least one hour before serving.

To serve, use the foil to carefully remove the ice cream cake from the pan. Slice with a serrated knife.

What a cool and yummy treat to celebrate the birthdays of two special 11 year old girls!

The teen-age grandkids have been known to finish off an entire batch during a midnight snack at Grandma’s house!

Rich and smooth, it is a great hot fudge sundae sauce, but can also be eaten by the spoonful when the children aren’t looking!

Homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Melt in microwave: 1 cup chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup corn syrup.

Add 1/4 cup of milk, 1 Tablespoon of butter, and 1/4 tsp. of vanilla.

Stir until the butter is melted. Serve warm over ice cream, or brownies, or cookies, or just on a spoon!

Keep in the fridge until ready to serve, then just heat it in the microwave.

So I tried a trick my mom used to do, I made a cool treat mid-afternoon to sweeten everybody up and cool everybody down!

Today’s treat was Homemade Chocolate Shakes.

I pulled out the blender and threw in a few scoops of ice cream, poured in a little milk and some chocolate ice cream syrup.

If it looked too thick, I would add more milk.

If it looked to thin, I would add more ice cream.

If it looked just right I poured it into a cup with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Served with a spoon and a straw, this was one treat that soothed the savage beasts (oops…I mean my hot and tired children!)

And yes, Mom enjoyed it, too!

So I decided to improvise and try an idea that I’ve been thinking about for awhile, an ice cream and brownie frozen treat.

I started with a brownie base, covered it in a deep layer of ice cream and then slathered it with hot fudge sauce.

After about 24 hours in the freezer it as solid and ready to serve.

Frozen Ice Cream Brownie Dessert

Fudge Topping:

Mix together 2 cup powdered sugar, 1 1/2 cup of evaporated milk, 2/3 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup butter. Boil 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla. Refrigerate until cooled completely.

Brownie Base:

Combine 1 1/3 c. flour, 2 cups sugar, 3/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 tsp. salt. Set aside

Combine in separate bowl: 2/3 cup oil, 4 eggs, 2 tsp. vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until mixed. You may add chocolate chips or nuts at this point. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan. bake 20-25 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Ice Cream Layer: When brownie base has cooled completely, spread it with a thick layer of ice cream, any flavor. Then pour the cooled fudge sauce over the top, cover and freeze 24 hours before serving.

You could use a packaged brownie mix for the base, any flavor ice cream and a bottled hot fudge sauce for the topping.

It’s a cold, easy, make-ahead treat that will please a house full of hungry kids (and a couple of chocoholic aunts!)