Not long ago Lo surprised Scott for his 40th birthday with a beer tasting party in our backyard (you can see all of the deets here)! I have to say, we all seriously had a ball!! It was such a relaxed, kick back vibe with yummy food, great drinks, awesome peeps and amazing music! And, the weather cooperated! Planning an event outside anytime of year in the Vancouver area is a seriously risk, so we were uber grateful! As my mom would say, the air was soft…no jackets required!
Laurel wanted the evening to be all about Scott’s faves. I have been seeing a lot of ice cream pops on Pinterest lately, so I offered to make a few kinds based on Scott’s favorite flavors!!! I actually had a lot of fun with it. Here’s what I came up with…
I decided to make small pops so that people would feel welcome to try more than one flavor. I used 3 oz. Dixie bath cups and Elmer’s mini craft (popsicle) sticks that were just over 6cm long (I found mine at Walmart). This was the perfect size for sampling!!!
I honed in on three of Scott’s favorite flavor combos…
Rolo – start with mini Rolos, vanilla ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce, more vanilla ice cream, and then Skor bar bits
Mint Chocolate – mini chocolate chips, mint chocolate chip ice cream, oreo cookie crumbs and chocolate sauce, more mint chocolate chip ice cream, and then crushed up chocolate wafer mints
Tiger – black and orange sprinkles, tiger ice cream, and then cut up black licorice
Ok, I’ll be honest….I can’t stand tiger ice cream, but Scott LOVES it (and Jason does too), so it had to be made!
Here are a few tips for making these little gems….
Soften the ice cream, but don’t let it get too soft. The tiger ice cream especially can’t be stirred too much or you will end up mixing all the licorice strands in with the orange ice cream and it will look grey. If you are making layered pops, like I did with the Rolo and Mint Chocolate, freeze in between the layers for about 1/2 an hour. What I did with the Rolo was I put the mini Rolos in the cups and then half of the vanilla ice cream. You want to make sure that the ice cream is soft enough so that it encompasses the Rolos so that the Rolos become part of the ice cream when it freezes. I then put them in the freezer for about 1/2 an hour. Then I added the chocolate and caramel sauces. Freeze again for about 1/2 an hour. Then add the next layer of ice cream and the Skor bar bits. Press the Skor bar bits into the ice cream. Freeze again for 1/2 an hour. Then insert popsicle sticks leaving enough for a “handle” and freeze overnight. When ready to serve, just peel the cup off and you are set!!
Here’s what the pops look like out of the freezer before you peel off the Dixie cups.
So yummy and soooo easy! You just need to work the night ahead before your BBQ…these don’t work for last minute guests!
I’m already thinking of other flavor combos to try…
- mocha – Oreo baking crumbs, coffee ice cream, chocolate sauce, coffee ice cream, mini chocolate chips
- s’mores – graham crumbs, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, mini marshmallows
- cookies ‘n cream – mini chocolate chips, vanilla ice cream, broken up Oreos, chocolate ice cream
- salted caramel – vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and sea salt, vanilla ice cream, toasted chopped almonds
- peanut butter cup – mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, milk chocolate shavings or chopped peanuts
The Rolo pops were a hit with my girls!
Ok, the options are endless. I know that I’ll be trying a lot of different flavor combos this summer. What kind would you like to try?
