Friday, August 19, 2011

Random Ice Cream Facts

Here are some cool facts about ice cream that surprise a lot of people:
  • It takes 12 pounds of milk to make only one gallon of ice cream!
  • In the US, in one year the average person will eat 48 pints of ice cream
  • It takes an average of 50 licks to eat a scoop of ice cream
  • The largest ice cream sundae ever made was 24 tons! And it was made in Edmonton, Canada. 

The 24 ton ice cream sundae in Edmonton, Canada-largest sundae in history.
 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Fried Ice Cream

Fried ice cream is delicious and perfect to spice up a classic dessert. For those of you who don't know, fried ice cream is ice cream with a hardened batter layer surrounding it, which is usually warm. It is both crunchy, creamy,  cold and hot all at the same time (that's pretty awesome).
Here is a recipe for making fried ice cream at home:

Ingredients

  • 1 quart vanilla ice cream
  • 1 cup crushed frosted cornflakes
  • 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes, or 1 cup chopped walnuts, or 1 cup cookie crumbs
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • Hot chocolate sauce, optional
  • Whipped cream, optional

Directions

With an ice cream scoop, form 4 large balls of ice cream. Place on a waxed paper lined sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 2 hours.
In a bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs with either the coconut, walnuts or cookie crumbs (or any combination). Spread the mixture in a shallow dish.
Dip the ice cream balls in the crumb mixture and freeze for 30 minutes.
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar. Dip the coated ice cream balls into the eggs, then roll in the crumb mixture, coating completely. Freeze for 1 hour. (If necessary, or for a thicker crust, roll again in eggs and crumbs until the balls are completely coated.)
Heat the oil in a large pot or fryer to 400 degrees F. One at a time, lower the balls into the oil and fryDrizzle with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, as desired. Repeat with the remaining ice cream. until golden brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the oil and place in a dessert bowl.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Ice cream consumption facts

Ever wonder how much ice cream a person eats in a year? On average a person will eat bout 23.2 quarts of ice cream in one year!  This isn't very surprising since 98% of households purchase ice cream!



Do you wonder what countries consume the most ice cream? The top 10 ice cream consuming countries definitely surprised me.  Here are the 10 countries that consume the most ice cream:

  1. United States
  2. New Zealand
  3. Denmark
  4. Australia
  5. Belgium
  6. Sweden
  7. Canada
  8. Norway
  9. Ireland
  10. Switzerland


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Peppermint Ice Cream

Yes, the winter holiday treat, and mint is also a great ice cream flavor!
Peppermint ice cream is very refreshing and delicious. It is a great flavor to have at the end of a hot summers day to cool you down. Peppermint ice cream tastes just like a candy cane or peppermint, but is much colder and creamier. While indulging the dessert, you might also come across some crunchy pieces of a peppermint or candy cane, which is quite a pleasant surprise. I would recommend this flavor if you are looking for a new type of ice cream to try.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Extreme Ice Cream Challenge: The Vermonster

Do you love ice cream so much you just can't get enough of it? This challenge is for anyone with a HUGE appetite and is not afraid to get messy...this is "The Vermonster Challenge"!
At any Ben and Jerry's you can order "The Vermonster" for about $35, which is served in a "Vermonster Bucket" and includes:
  • 20 scoops of ice cream (4 1/2 pounds!)
  • 1 fudge brownie
  • 4 bananas
  • 3 cookies
  • 10 scoops chopped walnuts
  • 2 scoops M&M's
  • Reese's
  • 2 scoops chocolate sprinkles
  • 4 big spoonfuls of hot fudge
  • 5 scoops of Whipped Cream

This dessert isn't very healthy either (obviously!)
Nutritional information:
  • 14,000 calories
  • 500 grams of fat




 Do you want to try "The Vermonster"?

Friday, February 18, 2011

Best and most Nutritious Ice Cream Treats in America

  1. Cold Stone Creamery Tart and Tangy Plain Yogurt:
This extremely healthy ice cream is only 140 calories making it a perfect frozen dessert! It is especially delicious with toppings like nuts and fruit! Here is the nutritional information with nuts as a topping:
270 calories
13 g fat (1 g saturated)
24 g sugars


      2.     Sonic Junior Banana Split:

This is a classic banana split complete with a nice fresh banana, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, pineapple sauce, and of course a cherry on top.  What makes this banana split so much healthier than most because it has one scoop of ice cream...but would you sacrifice size for nutrition? Here is the nutritional information:
200 calories
6 g fat (4.5 g saturated)
22 g sugars


       3.  Ruby Tuesday Berry Good Yogurt Parfait:

Although this isn't exactly an ice cream...this frozen treat is delicious and good for you.  With hints of fruit and lots of protein and fiber this is a dessert you are going to want to try.  Nutritional information: 
162 calories
3 g fat
26 g carbohydrates

  Source: http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/7-desserts-fight-fat

Friday, February 4, 2011

Ice Cream Toppings

Ice cream toppings are a great way to jazz up your ice cream as well as add more flavor and texture to it. I love adding all sorts of candies and sauces to my ice cream, especially to chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Here are some of my favorite toppings:
1. Rainbow or chocolate sprinkles
2. Gummy Bears
3. Chocolate Sauce
4. Crushed Reeses or Oreos
5. M&M's
6. Marshmellows
7. Nuts
8. Jelly Beans

What kinds of toppings do you like to top your ice cream?

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Making vanilla ice cream is very simple to do.  Here is a simple recipe from Food Network:
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 2/3 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
In a small saucepan heat the heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean until all the sugar is dissolved.  Then strain it into a bowl and cover the bowl and freeze it in an ice cream freezer for a few hours.  Before serving it allow it to soften.


Have you ever made ice cream before?

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Dessert Sales in America

Ever wondered how much money dessert sales produce at the end of one year?
The amount of dessert sales are immensely high, reaching almost $9 billion in the U.S. Ice cream sales are $2.3 billion in one year (according to the Nielsen survey of supermarket sales). Ice cream comes in second to cookies, which are $3.6 billion. Behind ice cream are frozen novelties ($1.4 billion) and frozen yogurt ($631 billion). This means out of the top four desserts in America, 3 are a type of frozen dish. Let's get ice cream to be number 1, Eat up!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ice Cream VS. Frozen Yogurt

Both ice cream and frozen yogurt are a very popular frozen dessert and both are very similar, but what are the main differences between ice cream and frozen yogurt? While ice cream is available in countless flavors, frozen yogurt started out as mainly fruit flavored, but is now becoming available in 
lots of different flavors also.
Whats the main difference about the way they are made? The main ingredients in a typical ice cream flavor is milk or cream with lots of sugar and other flavor ingredients added.  The main ingredient in frozen yogurt obviously is yogurt, with added sugar and flavoring ingredients.

Because of the difference in the ingredients, ice cream is a much richer dessert and therefore has more calories in it than most frozen yogurts.  So, although frozen yogurt has more calories than regular yogurt, it still has less calories than ice cream and would be a healthier alternative to ice cream.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Lemon Sorbet

I know this technically is not "ice cream" but it is a frozen dessert which i love. Sorbet is very light and tasty. Lemon and lime, especially, have a very fresh and refreshing taste, which is perfect for a hot summers day. There are also many types of sherberts, similar to sorbets, and they are just as delicious yet more fruity and sugary. What types of sherberts, or sorbets have you tried recently?

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Chocolate Cookie Dough ice cream?

A few weeks ago I had this ice cream flavor that I had never seen before...it was chocolate ice cream with pieces of cookie dough in it! Seems like a simple flavor right? But it was the first time that I had ever seen it! And it was delicious...cookie dough and chocolate go perfectly together! Have you ever seen chocolate cookie dough ice cream?

You should give it a try!

Friday, January 28, 2011

National Ice Cream Day?

Did you know that there actually is a holiday for ice cream? Well in 1984 Ronald Regan declared July the national ice cream month!  July is very hot summer month so most people consume the most ice cream during this month.  Also, the third 'Sundae' in July is National Ice Cream Day! Have you ever heard of National Ice Cream day?

Thursday, January 27, 2011

15 Most Popular Ice Cream Flavors

What are the top selling ice cream flavors in the U.S? Here are the top 15:

1.  Vanilla 29% - As expected Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor by a large percent.  Because of its sweet, plain flavor it has always been the most refreshing and most popular ice cream.

2.  Chocolate 8.9% - Who doesn't enjoy chocolate ice cream? Not surprisingly this ice cream flavor came in second to Vanilla because all children enjoy the rich and sugary flavor that it has.

3.  Butter Pecan 5.3% - Surprisingly, Butter Pecan comes in third.  The buttery tasting, smooth textured, ice cream goes perfectly with the crunch of the pecans, which is why it is ranked to highly.

4. Strawberry 5.3% - The sweet, fruity flavor of strawberry ice cream, make it perfect to eat on a hot summer's day. The natural tasting strawberries combine with the creamy ice cream to produce an exceptional flavor.

5. Neapolitan 4.2% - Can't decide on just one flavor to have? Why don't you just have 3 of the top 4 flavors at once! Neapolitan is an ice cream combined of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. By mixing these three great flavors, it makes your ice cream treat that much better. 


6. Chocolate chip, 3.9%
7. French vanilla, 3.8%
8. Cookies and cream, 3.6%
9. Vanilla fudge ripple, 2.6%
10. Praline pecan, 1.7%
11. Cherry, 1.6%
12. Chocolate almond, 1.6%
13. Coffee, 1.6%
14. Rocky road, 1.5%
15. Chocolate marshmallow, 1.3%
All others, 23.7%

Source: International Ice Cream Association, 888 16th St., Washington, D.C., 20006.



3 Weird but Tasty Ice Cream Flavors

Have you ever wanted to try some unordinary ice cream flavors? Here are a few ideas to try:

1.  Avocado ice cream: This ice cream flavor is both rich and creamy, as well as healthy, refreshing and dairy-free. Avocados contain lots of vitamins and nutrients to keep your body healthy so this ice cream is both good tasting and good for you.  It is also surprisingly  smooth and delicious!

2.  Sweet Potato ice cream:  Want a refreshing, healthy summer treat? Try the and easy-to-make sweet potato ice cream! It is a popular non-dairy ice cream flavor in the south and is often compared to pumpkin flavored desserts because of its spiciness and smooth texture.

3.  Maple Syrup ice cream: This sugary sweet ice cream is very popular in the North and is perfect to use as a topping for things like waffles and pancakes!