This summer, get the scoop on National Ice Cream Day!

It’s the one day set aside to honor everything cool, sweet and creamy, and celebrated every year in July.

It was President Ronald Reagan who in 1984 officially declared July as National Ice Cream Month, and established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday in July.

This year, join millions of American who will be celebrating National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, July 15, 2012 — in honor of the popular dessert that’s guaranteed to lift you up and cool you down on any hot summer day ….

Ice cream fun facts

Fact is, the U.S. nationally enjoys a whopping 48 pints of ice cream per person every year on average, making Americans the No. 1 ice cream consumers worldwide. Coming in No. 2? New Zealand.

The top five ice cream flavors enjoyed by Americans? That would be vanilla at 27.8%, followed by chocolate (14.3%), strawberry (3.3%), chocolate chip (3.3%) and butter pecan (2.8%).

Here are more ice-cream facts!

• It wasn’t until Italian explorer Marco Polo returned from the Far East (with a recipe that mostly resembled sherbet) that Europeans got their first taste of what we now know as ice cream.

• From Italy, ice cream made its way across Europe and, eventually, to colonial America where official records show that President George Washington allocated a total of $200 on ice cream purchases during the hot summer of 1790.

• In the late 19th century, America’s soda shops bowed to pressure from local churches who demanded that the newly-popular “ice cream soda” not be served on Sundays. The simple solution? Remove the soda from the recipe which led to a new invention called (you guessed it) the ice cream sundae.

• During the St. Louis World Fair in 1904, a vendor ran out of ice cream cups to serve visitors. He quickly enlisted the help of a neighboring vendor who provided rolled-up waffle cones in which to serve the sweet treat ….and the ice cream cone was born!

Below is my favorite vanilla home-made ice cream recipe: I make it often using the ice cream attachment on my  mixer. Philadelphia Style homemade ice cream contains no eggs.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia-Style

3 cups heavy cream, or 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk-add 1 Cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 TBL pure vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Delicious Homemade ice cream sandwiches

Chocolate Supermoist cake mix

You Will Need: 1-1/3 cups water, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 3 eggs.

• Heat up your waffle iron and mix the Chocolate cake mix according the directions.
• Pour the cake mix batter onto the waffle iron.  Check your manual for amounts and times.  Mine used about 1/4 cup of batter per waffle and cooked for about 3 minutes.
• Put the finished waffles onto a cooling rack to cool, add vanilla ice-cream to the top of one waffle then top with additional waffle and enjoy.

I wanted to make special cupcakes for my granddaughter’s Emma’s birthday, last week, so the search was on, for a new recipe. When the title , “Best Ever Red Velvet Cake” caught my eye, I decided that this was the one!   I will have to say, that I made 24 of the best red velvet cupcakes ever.  I can’t wait to make a layer cake next time. Instead, of cream cheese frosting, I used a recipe called the,  Red Velvet Cake Frosting. This  frosting was not only fluffy and delicious but made the red velvet cupcakes look gorgeous,also.

Author: Divas Can Cook – Monique

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 Tablespoon of unsweetened, cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1-2 oz. red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar
• 1/2 cup of prepared plain hot coffee (don’t skip this ingredient)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
4. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until combined.
5. Stir in the coffee and white vinegar.
6. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients a little at time, mixing after each addition, just until combined.
7. Generously grease and flour two round cake pans with crisco and flour.
8. Pour the batter evenly into each pan.
9. Bake in the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake as cake will continue to cook as it cools.
10. Let cool on a cooling rack until the pan are warm to the touch.
11. Slide a knife or offset spatula around the inside of the pans to loosen the cake from the pan.
12. Remove the cakes from the pan and let them cool.
13. Frost with cream cheese frosting when the cakes have cooled completely. (or frosting of your choice).
    

THE  RED VELVET CAKE FROSTING 

1 c. granulated sugar (I use pure Cane sugar)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 tbsp. flour
1 c. butter
1 c. vitamin D whole milk (don’t substitute)

Instructions:  Cook flour and milk ion low temperature, stirring constantly. Cool. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla until as fluffy as possible. Beat cooked mixture with creamed ingredients until fluffy.

I doubled this recipe to frost 24 cupcakes.

This icing must stay refrigerated, will fall apart at room temperature.

In sauce pan, melt 2 sticks of butter, add ¼ cup cocoa

Add:

2 Cups sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ cup self rising flour

1 Cup nuts-chopped

1 Tablespoon vanilla

Mix well: pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan bake

Bake: for 25-30 minutes at 350 or until done,

Add 1 bag of mini marshmallows to the top of cake, as soon as it comes out of the oven. (  7 ounce jar of cream marshmallow in place of mini marshmallows).

Let Cool

Melt 1stick of butter

Add:

1 box confectioners’ sugar

½ cup evaporated milk

1/3 cup Cocoa

Mix well:

Pour over marshmallow topping

Enjoy!!!

Yahoo, Mountain Dew! Bring these delicious apple dumplings to your next get together and everyone will want the recipe.  The texture of the rolls becomes something entirely different during the baking process: the top gets delightfully crisp, while the underneath side remains soft and mushy and more “apple dumpling-y”. And the Mountain Dew, coupled with the large amount of butter, creates a yummy, sweet sauce at the end. Serve them with ice cream, or a dollop of sweetened whipped heavy cream and you’ll be left wondering how such ordinary ingredients can be so sublime 

Ingredients

• 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
• 2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1 cup butter
• 1  cups white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Mountain Dew ™

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
2. Cut two apples into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.
3. Slice and add the remaining two apples and place between the apple dumplings.
4. Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon, add vanilla. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew over the dumplings.
5. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.