Caution....Women Eating Dessert....Do Not Disturb!

I cannot think of a better way to spend an evening than by getting together with some of your favorite women friends for an all girls night. Nothing but great food, endless conversation and dessert of course! A million different topics, laughter and giggling so loud it could raise the roof…….until dessert is placed on the table. In an instant all goes quiet, then it starts; “ooooooh, aaaaah, oh my God is this good” then for one brief moment your kitchen sounds more like the bedroom on a really good night. Nothing quiets a woman like a very rich, very creamy, very sticky, very decadent dessert…. I know because I did not utter a word until I scraped the last little bit of sticky goodness off the plate almost taking the designs with it!.
My dear friend Christine planted the idea in my head about coming up with a dessert using one of our favorite treats, “Schutts Homemade Fry Cakes”. Schutts is an apple and cider mill located in Webster NY. It is a family tradition for many Rochestarians. It’s a charming little place wafting with the aromas of fall; cinnamon, clove, apples and lets not forget the smell of fry cakes sizzling away in the hot oil”! They make their fry cakes fresh daily they are sooooo good to eat warm with a glass of their fresh pressed cider or how about one of their infamous apple freezes (a must try)!
Anyhow, Christine and I played around with several ideas for recipes using their fry cakes and ultimately agreed on this one. Please give it a try, you will not be disappointed, if not from this area use your own favorite local ingredients.

Caramel Apple Fry Cake Sundaes

Amounts will vary depending on number of people you are serving.

Ingredients Needed:

Fry cakes (use your favorites) we decided on the sugar cinnamon fry cakes for this recipe.
Apple pie filling (homemade or canned works just fine)
Vanilla Ice Cream or whatever flavor you prefer
Caramel Sauce (jarred or homemade)
Candied Walnuts

Just lightly warm apple pie filling, place fry cake on a plate, spoon a little apple pie filling on top add a scoop of ice cream. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle with nuts and just repeat the process depending on how many you are serving!

To candy the walnuts place 1 cup of walnuts, 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in a fry pan set to medium. Watch closely and stir often so it does not burn takes about 15 minutes but just eyeball it you will be able to tell when all nuts look like they are encased in crunchy candy.

Homemade Ice Cream Pies

In the summer months my Cousin Lori usually always has a couple of her homemade ice cream pies handy. When we come for dinner she just pulls a couple out of the freezer, puts on a pot of coffee and dessert is served. This last get together she had one with chocolate ice cream, Spanish peanuts and chocolate sauce as well as one with vanilla ice cream and strawberries. They are so good on a hot day and so much less expensive than buying those name brand ice cream cakes and pies.

1 pre-made pie crust (any flavor)

1 qt. ice cream (any flavor)

Assorted candy, nuts, cookies, etc.

Sauce, hot fudge, caramel (any)

whipped cream

Maraschino cherries (opt.)
Canned pie fillings are great to use as well.

1. Take favorite flavor of ice cream from freezer to soften for about 15 minutes.
2. Spoon ice cream into pie crust until about half full.
3. Chop favorite candy, nuts and/or cookies into small pieces using a kitchen mallet or food processor.
4. Sprinkle these pieces on top of ice cream layer.
5. Finish filling pie shell with ice cream.
6. Garnish top of pie with whipped cream, sauce, cherries, candy, nuts, and/or cookies.
7. Re-freeze for 2 to 3 hours. Serves 6 to 8 people.
VARIATIONS:

OREO PIE:
Chocolate pie crust

Cookies 'n cream ice cream

Hot fudge sauce

Crushed Oreos

PEPPERMINT PIE:
Chocolate pie crust

Peppermint ice cream

Hot fudge sauce

Crushed candy canes
Crushed chocolate bars

BANANA SPLIT PIE:
Graham cracker pie crust

Neapolitan ice cream

Hot fudge sauce

Strawberry sauce

Pineapple sauce

Sliced bananas

Crushed walnuts
Whipped cream

Maraschino cherries

Kahlua

1 (9 inch) chocolate pie shell
1 qt. coffee ice cream (soft)

1/4 c. Kahlua

Chocolate frosting

1/2 c. pecan halves

Ice Cream Melt Down

When the nice weather hits there is nothing I enjoy more than going out for an ice cream. Whether it’s a sundae, cone or shake, I’m a happy camper. Well, I do believe I went a bit overboard yesterday. In the afternoon while out and about doing some errands, my friend says;” do you want to go to Starbucks and get a coffee”? I replied; “actually I’d rather have an ice cream”. That sounded good to my friend as well, so we went to a place called Bruster’s. My friend had a brownie sundae and I had a double scoop waffle cone with peach ice cream and blueberry cobbler ice cream, it was heavenly. But wait, it gets better….later that evening a couple friends called and asked if I’d like to go for a drive and maybe a bite to eat, I said sure. Wouldn’t you know it, my friend just happened to hear about a new ice cream place we just had to try…so we did. My friend’s choice was very daring, she ordered a waffle cone with cotton candy ice cream, then had them dunk it in a bright green key lime dip, it looked very pretty. Her husband had a traditional vanilla chocolate twist……now let’s get to me, the person who just had ice cream barely four hours earlier. I cannot believe I am admitting this; I had another double scoop waffle cone. This time with pistachio almond and vanilla cherry ice cream (you had to see all the whole cherries popping out of this thing). Wait, there is more to this gut expanding story. After all this ice cream, guess what we did next? Went out to dinner of course, a nice little Italian place the food was wonderful.
I think today I’ll just have a salad!

Healthy Day After Salad

1/2 to 3/4 head lettuce, shredded (or mixed with Romaine, curly endive, spinach)

1/2 c. thinly, sliced celery

1 c. chopped or grated carrots

3 or 4 green onions with tops (sliced)

May add any additional fruit or veggie that you like.

DRESSING:

1/4 c. oil

3 tbsp. white wine or tarragon vinegar

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt (or omit)

1/4 tsp. pepper or a dash of Tabasco
Add a bit of oregano and/or minced parsley, if desired.

Combine ingredients for dressing and pour over salad about 5 minutes before ready to serve.