Celebrate National Ice Cream Month - Baked Alaska & Fried Ice Cream

Not that we ever need an excuse to eat ice cream but July is National Ice Cream Month (Developed by Ronald Reagan in 1984 - Go Reagan!). You may be wondering what ice cream is doing in a baking blog, but actually two of my favorite desserts that involve ice cream require additional cooking, The first one is Baked Alaska. A nice combination of ice cream, cake and meringue. The second one is Fried Ice Cream. Yes my friends you can do this. This dish brings back happy memories growing up. As a child/teenager I would go with my family to Chi-Chi's (once a Mexican food chain) and one of us would pretend it was their birthday (if you go within the same month it still counts). The wait staff would bring out the big floppy sombrero, sing happy birthday (with some clapping involved) and most importantly would give you a free fried ice cream dessert. I can still taste the combination of vanilla ice cream, with a light fried crunchy cereal coating on top, drizzle with honey and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Of course these dishes require a little extra preparation and baking so if you just want the good stuff may I recommend the Key Lime Pie Ice Cream from Brusters. My new motto, if you can't bake it, at least lick it. Enjoy!