Big Scoops of Happy

My 11-year old daughter, Boo, is busy this summer with her Street Dance classes and fashioning her rainbow looms. While she’s watching the tutorials on YouTube, she chances upon a link leading to something called “Selecta Scoops of Happiness” (SOH), an online campaign centering around ice cream creations. The stories are similar to fairy tales, full of the princesses that Boo was in love with when she was little.

But she’s looking for something edgier now, more in line with the fantasy books she likes to read, i.e., Vampire Academy, Divergent, etc.

So I suggest making our own ice cream fantasies, certainly a fantastic way to beat the heat and bond with my growing girl. Behold our fantasies unfold:

Some more S’mores!
Boo and her dad love to make s’mores. Marshmallows and squares of chocolate are sandwiched in between two graham crackers, and heated just until the marshmallows begin to brown and ooze from under its cover. Eating it is sticky-messy fun, and dad and daughter like to see who comes away with the messiest mouth.

Streaks swirling through the hot fudge sauce-in-the-making.

Hot fudge sauce. We consider adding hazelnuts to the sauce a la Nutella but we decide against it.

“Boo, don’t touch the hot fudge!” (Thus the smear on the baking sheet).

Careful, don’t get carried away with torching like Boo and I did, lest you get melting ice cream and a mini fire.

We translate the fun into a cool(er) version of itself: an ice cream pie with alternating layers of graham crackers, hot fudge, and a chewy fudge ice cream. Then we top it with lots of marshmallows (because Boo says there’s no such thing as too many), and torched (because I like drama).

[yumprint-recipe id=’3′]Pretty In Pink
I make meringue shells (also meringue nests), inspired by something I enjoy when I was in France last February. Simultaneously crisp and chewy, they’re a versatile vessel for serving anything from fresh fruit, mousse, and of course ice cream. I think about how nice and sophisticated the shells look but wonder what ice cream flavor I should serve in them.

“What about strawberry, Mom?” Boo pipes up. “It’s so pink and looks really French-y.”

So I do and she’s right, it turns out all pink and French-y. And so pretty.

The spots of strawberry contrast beautifully with the off-white color of the shells.

[yumprint-recipe id=’4′]Peanut Butter Power
Boo and I agree that our final ice cream fantasy has to be the mother of them all. Our hearts beat in tandem for peanut butter so it’s a no-brainer that we decide on a peanut butter sundae for our scoops of happy.

Peanut butter fudge sauce

We scoop and pour, smear, and scatter. Squirrrrt! spurts out the whipped cream. Boo giggles gleefully as she licks some off her finger. “Mom, this is the peanut butter sundae of my dreams!” She exclaims. So that’s what we decide to call it.

[yumprint-recipe id=’5′]

Too much hot fudge sauce is always a good thing.