October 14 is National Dessert Day: A Fried Ice Cream Recipe

Ice cream itself is believed to have been invented in China several thousand years ago. But fried ice cream has much more recent beginnings.

Fried ice cream is generally made by breading a scoop of ice cream and then deep frying it very quickly. The result is a nice warm shell on the outside and the cold taste of the ice cream on the inside.

There are different stories about how this tasty treat first came about. Some say it all began at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Others give credit to a small company in Philadelphia which began making the dessert near the end of the 19^th century. Still others assign its creation to the Japanese tempura restaurants in the 1960s.

In the United States, fried ice cream became linked to Mexican food primarily through Chi-Chi’s, a chain of Mexican restaurants in the 1980s that made the fried dessert.

Here is a recipe for some Mexican fried ice cream from TasteofHome.com:

You will need:

• One-half gallon of French vanilla ice cream
• Three cups of crushed cornflakes
• Four teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• Oil for deep frying
• Honey and whipped topping

To make:

• Put nine scoops of ice cream on a baking sheet. Each scoop should be about three inches in diameter. Put them in the freezer for one hour.
• Combine the cornflakes and cinnamon in a bowl. Then roll the ice cream balls in the mixture. After rolling, put the balls on a baking sheet and put them back in the freezer overnight.
• Using either a skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil to 375 degrees. You want to fry one scoop of the ice cream at a time for just 8 to 10 seconds. Top with some honey and whipped topping and serve them right away.
• If you want to store them for later, you can wrap each scoop individually in plastic wrap after rolling it in the cornflake mixture and put them in a freezer bag. They will keep up to two months.

While we don’t offer friend ice cream on our dessert menu, we do offer flan, tres leches and sopapillas. Visit a Mattito’s soon to enjoy great Tex-Mex cuisine – and don’t forget to leave room for dessert!

Image courtesy of Hungry Dudes/Flickr.com