Ice Cream Sundae Dessert

In honor of the June birthdays at work I decided to make an ice cream cake. My coworker gave me this recipe that she found in the Taste of Home Magazine. It seems like it would be a very versitile recipe by changing the cookies & ice cream flavors.

Ice Cream Sundae Dessert

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 package (12 ounces) vanilla wafers, crushed

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 quarts vanilla ice cream or flavor of your choice, softened

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt chocolate chips with milk and salt; cook and stir until thickened, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.

Combine wafer crumbs and butter; set aside 1 cup. Press remaining crumbs into a greased 13x9 pan. Chill for 10-15 minutes. Pour chocolate over crumbs. Cover and freeze for 20-25 minutes or until firm.

Spread the ice cream over the chocolate. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Freeze at least 2 hourse before serving. Yield 12-16 servings.
I used strawberry ice cream to make it a little different. Don't be surprised to see this in different variations on the blog later since it was very easy to make & very delicious!!

Lemon Gelato

One of my favorite things at the farmer's market is the Italian deli. Dave & I will get one of their sandwiches for lunch then top it off with some gelato for dessert. I thought I'd try to make it for myself. It was a fairly easy recipe I found from the internet & went well with my Italian themed book club night.

Lemon Gelato

6 medium lemons
1 1/3 cups sugar
6 egg yolks
1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 2/3 cups half and half
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Grate the zest of 6 lemons and set aside in a bowl with the sugar.
Or, use a vegetable peeler to remove 3/4 cup zest from the lemons and process the lemon strips with the sugar in a food processor until zest is minced, about 30 seconds.
Set lemons aside.
Whisk the egg yolks with the cream and salt in a heatproof mixing bowl.
Put the half-and-half and lemon-sugar in a medium non-aluminum saucepan.
Bring liquid to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Remove pan from heat.
Slowly whisk the hot half-and-half into the egg yolk mixture.
Then return the partially cooked custard to the saucepan.
Stir constantly over medium-low heat until mixture begins to thicken slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes (the approximate consistency of unwhipped heavy cream).
Pour hot custard into a bowl without straining.
Stir in the vanilla.
Put a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard to prevent skin from forming.
Set custard aside at room temperature to cool.
(Can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 48 hours).
FREEZING: Squeeze 3/4 cup juice from the lemons and stir juice into cooled custard.