I made this dessert yesterday for my boys and wanted to share it with you because is the perfect warm weather treat for your Labor Day cookout. I’ve served it at a couple parties we’ve thrown and both adults and kids “ooh and ahh” over it because of the presentation. Yet it is super simple & quick. So simple it kind of makes you go “duh…why haven’t I tried this before?” It can be made with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen and can be lightened by being smart about the ice cream and toppings being used.
Makes 12 “snowballs”
Ingredients:
- Ice cream (I used Harris Teeter’s All Natural Vanilla Bean in my photos). For a lighter version, choose a lower calorie all natural ice cream or one of the wonderful frozen Greek yogurt options.
- muffin cups
- One 12 cup muffin pan
- Ice cream scoop (try to get a good one with a spring release like this. Makes for great portion control.
- Toppings of choice for rolling your ice cream balls. I used crushed graham cracker, peanut butter chips, reduced fat unsweetened shredded coconut, crushed pecans and a little chocolate sauce. Again, this recipe can be lightened by choosing toppings with lower sugar (like the unsweetened coconut).
Directions
Pour your toppings in shallow bowls that are large enough for you to cover the entire ice cream ball. To crush your graham crackers, cookies or nuts, just place them in a quart-sized ziplock bag and either roll with a rolling pin or get to stomping (I find stomping very therapeutic).
Line your muffin pan with the paper baking cups. Leave your ice cream out for about 10 minutes. You want it to be kind of soft, but not too soft because you won’t be able to form snowballs and it will be a soupy mess.
Using your spring release ice cream scoop, form a ball and then start rolling it in your toppings. While you are rolling you are going to have to keep molding it back into a ball. Then just place in a muffin paper. Top with a couple more chocolate chips, nut pieces, etc for presentation.
Once you have all of your muffin cups filled, just cover tin with plastic wrap and place in freezer until your ready to serve. Wishing everyone a sweet Labor Day! – CC
[…] 3 Tbs of Pecan pieces (I like to pulverize these in a plastic bag and turn them into a meal consistency). I actually thought of using them because I had them left over from my recipe here […]