Happy Super Bowl Sundae!

(See what I did there?)

Today is one of my very favorite days of the year – not so much for the football, but more so for the mounds upon mounds of delicious, deep-fried, cheese-covered finger foods that typically invade American households to help us celebrate the most important sporting event of the season.

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the very best food days that this nation has to offer, second only to Thanksgiving (and maybe Halloween…because who doesn’t love an excuse to eat candy?)

In celebration of this infamous day of gluttony, I wanted to make an ice cream treat that is everything Game Day food should be: hand-held, easy to eat, and over the top delicious.

My first idea? A giant, super bowl-sized sundae decorated to look sporty and football-ish.  I Googled around to see if anything similar already existed and realized very quickly that 1) another blogger had beat me to it and 2) she did a much better job than I could ever dream of doing (don’t you hate it when that happens?)

My next idea seemed conceptually awesome, but proved somewhat challenging in real life: an ice cream version of chips and dip. I spent several days experimenting with different ingredients and ended up with an end result that looked a little bit like chicken tenders covered in hot fudge. Surprisingly tasty, but nothing to write home (or on a blog) about. Sadly, I was back to square one..

Then, the other day while at the grocery store I noticed a giant bag of frozen sauerkraut balls (one of my favorite fried treats), and remembered something an old coworker told me about covering ice cream with Corn Flakes to make a bastardized version of fried ice cream. At the time, I was secretly repulsed by the idea (Corn Flakes and ice cream? Weird.). But today, on the most gluttonous and truly American of days, it seemed just right – faux fried balls of creamy goodness, covered in hot fudge, caramel, and strawberry sauces. I was in Super Bowl food heaven.

Without further ado, I present to you these little “fried” balls of ice cream that you can dress up with whatever sundae sauces you like. These were surprisingly easy to make, and I guarantee everyone will be super impressed with these tasty treats!

What’s your favorite Super Bowl treat?

Happy scooping!

Faux Fried Ice Cream Balls

For the crispy coating:

2 and ½ cups of crushed Corn Flakes (or similar cereal)

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons of melted butter

Large pinch of kosher salt

For the ice cream balls:

1 quart of vanilla ice cream

For the Dipping Sauces:

½ cup hot fudge sauce (homemade or store bought)

½ cup raspberry sauce (homemade or store bought)

½ cup caramel sauce (homemade or…you get the point)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl, and spread out onto a cookie sheet in an even layer.
3. Bake mixture until it is fragrant and golden, about 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

To assemble the ice cream balls:

1. Scoop vanilla ice cream into ball shapes and rest atop a cookie sheet that has been covered in one sheet of parchment or wax paper. Freeze for one hour.
2. Remove ice cream balls from the freezer, and one by one cover in the cooled corn flake mixture. (I’ve found it’s easiest if you have a big bowl of the mixture and you just submerge the ice cream balls and roll around until covered). Once all of the balls have been “fried,” freeze for one to two hours or until desired hardness is achieved.
3. Serve with your favorite sundae sauces or syrups.
4. Enjoy!