The All-American Sundae
I chose to share this recipe with you because we’ll be celebrating the 4th of July soon, so I thought you might want to make something appropriate for the moment. The book that features it, Serendipity Sundaes, notes that "The Navy commissioned the world’s first ‘floating ice cream parlor’ in 1945 for service in the Western Pacific. A concrete barge that cost over one million dollars, the ‘parlor’ could produce ten gallons of ice cream every seven seconds. The Ice Cream Merchandising Institute invented this sundae in 1942 as part of their World War II ‘Victory Sundae’ campaign."
Makes 1 sundae
¼ cup Marshmallow Sauce (recipe following)
2 scoops vanilla ice cream
2 tbs. crushed Homemade Maraschino Cherries (see below)
2 tbs. blueberries
Whipped cream (optional)
Red sugar
• In the bottom of an ice cream dish, pour 2 tablespoons of the marshmallow sauce.
• Add the ice cream and top with the rest of marshmallow sauce.
• Place the cherries and blueberries decoratively around the ice cream. Or, for a real flag look, make lines across the ice cream with the cherries and clump the blueberries in one corner.
• Top with whipped cream (if using) and sprinkle with red sugar.
Marshmallow Sauce
Makes about 2 cups
½ cup light cream
1 tbs. unflavored gelatin
1 ½ T. cornstarch
3 egg whites
Pinch cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
1 T. vanilla extract
• Combine the cream, gelatin, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Let stand for 15 minutes.
• Heat the cream mixture over low heat, stirring, until the gelatin is dissolved; do not boil. Keep warm.
• Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large heat-safe bowl of an electric mixer, and beat until soft peaks form.
• Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Wash down sugar crystals forming on the sides of the pan using a pastry brush dipped in cool water. Continue to boil and mix the syrup by gently swirling the pan, not stirring the syrup, until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.
• Pour the boiling syrup in a continuous stream into the egg whites while beating at high speed. Pour the gelatin mixture in a continuous stream into the egg white/sugar mixture while beating. Continue to beat the sauce until cool.
• Beat in the vanilla extract and chill the sauce for at least 2 hours. Beat the sauce for 2 minutes before serving.
Homemade Maraschino Cherries
Makes about 3 cups
3 cups sugar
1 T. red food coloring
4 cups sweet cherries, rinsed, stemmed, and pitted
½ T. almond extract
• Combine sugar, 1 cup water, and the coloring in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 3 minutes and add cherries.
• Lower heat to medium-low and add almond extract. Simmer cherries slowly in the syrup until juice thickens to the consistency of jam, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Seal cherries and their liquid in sterilized jars. Store in the refrigerator.
• A cherry pitter is a handy tool for pitting those cherries.
