25 Ice Cream Treats for Surviving the Summer!

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Are you having a difficult time with the heat this summer? I hope you have a place to hang out and stay cool; at least until the end of the week! Perhaps we will get a break by then, fingers crossed! Until then, try some of these 25 Ice Cream Treats for Surviving the Summer! Stay cool!

Chocolate Icebox Cake

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With the heat of summer bearing down on us right now in North Carolina, I thought the time was right for a Chocolate Icebox Cake! Simple to make, and yummy to eat, there is no baking involved. So your kitchen will not have to feel the heat, and neither will you! This icebox cake has 4 ingredients, and if you want to make it even simpler, you can only use three ingredients. Plus, you probably have most, if not all of them, in your pantry right now!

Chocolate Icebox Cake

Patriotic Panna Cotta for #SundaySupper

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I love celebrating with red, white and blue during the summer. From the invitations, to the decor, from the flowers to the tablescape, red, white and blue is the color of summer. Which makes this Red, White and Blue Panna Cotta the perfect summer party dessert!

Patriotic Panna Cotta

Red, White & Blue Pretzel Treats

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How do you celebrate Memorial Day? We celebrate with swimming, family, friends and food. Lots and lots of food!  One of the treats on our menu this year ~ these Red, White and Blue Pretzel Treats! They are fun to put together, easy to make, and you might just have everything you need already in your pantry! Ready? Let's get started!

Red, White and Blue Pretzel Treats

Beach Cookies!

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How about a Beach Cookie to start your week and ward off the Monday blahs! Last week I was making a bunch of beach themed cookies when I came across some beachy cookies on Cake Central. I love to look at all the cookie designs and I fell in love with the pretty simplicity of this beach cookie. This cookie was submitted by Sassyzan. Well, Sassyzan's post sent me to Montreal Confections where she gave step by step video directions on how to make this cookie. Trust me, it is easy and simple to follow. You can use your own sugar cookie recipe, or use my favorite "go to" cookie and frosting recipe!

Beach Cookie

Sugar Cookie Thongs!

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I know I am showing my age here now, but when I was a little girl, flip flops used to be called thongs. Do you remember that? Of course now, flip flops and thongs are definitely 2 very different things. However, I still have a tendency to slip up once in a while and call my flip flops "thongs" and although I try to catch myself before I say it out loud, this is forever a source of humor for my husband. (So glad to be available for his amusement!)
Never the less, it is Cookie Journey Thursday and we are making sugar cookie flip flops! I have this cute little container that I think would make such a great gift if it was filled with matching flip flop cookies. So today I made two of the designs. I hope they make you smile!

Flip Flop Cookies

Outline the pink and the green cookie.

I used Americolor Soft Pink

and Americolor Electric Green

I also used a Wilton tip #2.

Fill in the pink flip flip and .....

the green one.

I made a little flower cookie for the center of the pink cookie.

Outline and fill in with Americolor Orange.

Use Americolor Electric Blue and a #2 tip to make

 a strap for your flip flop.

Attach the flower to the center top of the strap.

Freehand some white, 5 petal flowers of your green flip flop.

Place a small pink dot in the center of each flower.

Make the straps for the flip flop in the same pink as your dots.

Thanks for joining me as I continue to work on 

improving my cookie decorating skills. I am still a long way

from where I want to be, but I am closer than I was.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

That seems to be the major key.

If you are practicing with me let me know!

Watermelon Pops!

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I just love watermelon, don't you? When the watermelon is so perfectly kissed by the sun, that biting into a piece makes you close your eyes and say "mmmmm". Eating watermelon always reminds me of being a kid, when we were sent outside after dinner to eat our big, juicy slices in the backyard. To clean our hands and faces, we would squirt each other with the hose. Oh, my goodness, what fun, and what great memories!!      I hope these watermelon ice pops bring wonderful  memories to your house!

Watermelon Ice Pops

(from Cooks Country Magazine)

1/2 small Seedless Watermelon

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

1 pint Lime Sherbet, softened
12-3 oz disposable cups-paper or plastic will work
12 popsicle sticks of flat sticks

Scoop and measure out 5 cups of watermelon pulp.

Puree watermelon and sugar in batches in blender...

until smooth.  

The recipe reads that you should use a mesh strainer,

but I didn't have one, so I used cheesecloth. Throw
away anything that won't go through the cheesecloth.

In small batches, I strained the watermelon pulp into a bowl.

I covered the bowl, and put it in the freezer for 2-3 hours

until it got slightly slushy, but not frozen. 

Remove the bowl from the freezer, and stir.

Remove all the slush that may be on the sides of the bowl.

Add the mini chocolate chips and stir again.
The almost frozen state of the watermelon slush
makes it easy for the chips to suspend in the slush
 and not fall to the bottom. 

Place your disposable cups in a muffin tin. on a cookie sheet.
I started with a muffin tin, but it was unstable in the freezer,
and it refused to sit flat.
I used plastic cups, and they worked great.

Spoon watermelon puree to within a 
1/2" of the top of the cups.  

Place in the freezer until puree is solid, but not rock
hard-about 1-2 hours.

Spread softened sherbet on top of the puree
in each cup. Make the sherbet come to the top of the cup, 
and smooth it with the back of your spoon.

Cover each cup with plastic. 
Cut a slit in the top of the plastic. I did this with a 
sharp knife. I also made the slit deep for the sticks.

 Insert a popsicle stick or flat stick into the pop
so that the stick almost reaches the bottom of the cup.
Freeze until solid, about 5 hours and up to 2 days.

To unmold, let the pops sit at room temperature for 
1 minute, then gently pull out from the cup.
 If you used paper cups, peel the paper away.
I had a hard time getting mine to come loose, so I ran
cold water very carefully on the cup for just a few seconds.
They came off quickly.

I hope these make you say "mmmmm"!!

Thanks for joining me today!

Cookie Journey Thursday ~A Tropical Palm Tree

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It has been really hot here in Las Vegas. Well ok, it is always hot here! But I am talking record breaking HOT! HOT! HOT! And I am beginning to daydream of cool ocean breezes, sipping a smooth, fruity concoction and relaxing under a swaying palm tree. Oh, my! How nice would that be! But instead, I am here making cookies, (which I love) and trying to stay cool in the air conditioning (which I love, but am sick of)! So I did the next best thing~I made palm tree cookies!

I used a #2 tip for the trunk and the top.

I used Americolor Chocolate Brown and a mix of 

Americolor Forest Green and Leaf Green.

Outline the trunk. Make an indentation at the top for

a palm frond that is in front of the tree trunk.

Fill in the tree trunk and let dry before moving forward.

Outline the palm fronds.

Fill in the top and let it dry completely.

If possible, let it dry overnight. 

While you are waiting for the top to dry,

put a few upside down v's on the trunk 

to give it some dimension.

Once the top is completely dry, outline the top again

in the same color and in the way as you did the first time.

Immediately sprinkle green sanding sugar along the outline.

Completely cover the outline.

Let dry.

When it is totally dry, turn the cookie over and let the excess sugar fall.

 Don't shake it.You don't want to risk breaking it after all your work.

Just gently brush the excess sugar off of the cookie with a thin paint brush.

Now you have your own beautiful palm tree.

I can feel those ocean breezes already!

Thanks for joining me for 

Cookie Journey Thursday

as I attempt to improve my meager cookie decorating

skills. I hope you are baking along with me!

Marshmallow Wands

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Nothing really says summer like marshmallows! Yes, they are available all year round, and we eat them no matter what the time of year. But summer seems to bring out the marshmallow lover in all of us! These simple Marshmallow Wands are an ode to the biggest holiday of the summer. With their sparkly sugars and their chocolate covered goodness they bring to mind warm summer nights, blinking fireflies, giggling with friends in the backyard under a blanket of stars, and wishing the summer would never end!

Marshmallow Wands

Marshmallows

White Candy Melts
Candy Sticks

Chocolate Candy Melt

Red Sugar

Blue Sugar

Red, White and Blue Icing

Red, White and Blue Sprinkles

To make the wand with one blue end and one red end
dip one end of the marshmallow into

the white candy melt. Go a little over the edge like in the pictures.

Immediately dip it into your bowl of blue sugar.

Dip the other end the same way, but use red sugar.

Let dry.

 Melt the white candy melt.

Dip the end of each stick into the candy melt,

and while it is still wet, stick the wet

end into the marshmallow.

This will help the marshmallow stay on the stick.

To make this wand with the stripes going around it,
dip the top into the candy melt and

the blue sugar. Then take an offset spatula, dip

it in to the candy melt, and immediately sprinkle with sugar.

Rotate red and blue all the way around.
To finish,  dip the stick into the white candy melt,
just like above.

To make the chocolate covered marshmallows,

insert the marshmallow onto the stick, and let dry.

Dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate melt.

Let it dry, and the decorate with icing.

Go have fun!

Thanks for joining me on my 3rd day of the

15 Days of Red, White and Blue!

I hope you stop by tomorrow. See you then!

We are partying over at these places:
Tasty Tuesdays
Patriotic Project Parade Linky Party