Mini Cookie & Ice Cream Dessert Pizzas

by Connie
(North Dakota)

These little dessert pizzas are very easy to make, and you can have lots of fun with variety and “decorating” them. I have to watch my sugar, so like to shop in the health food section. I use more natural cookies sweetened with fruit sugar or concentrates, or with honey. You can find all sorts. I also use natural chocolate sauce. I think it would be very good for elderly nutrition to use the more natural products.

The basic idea is, you have a cookie, topped with a layer of ice cream, and then decorated the top with sauces, fruit, nuts, candies, etc. The secret is in the type of cookie you use, paired with the flavor of ice cream. I use more natural ice creams. If you’re familiar with Rice Dream (very good – made out of rice instead of cream and is naturally sweet) – you can use it as a substitute. You can get kinds of ice creams made with fruit sweeteners, found at health food stores or aisles. All-fruit sorbets are good too!

What you’re going to need –

* Box of cookies of your choice. Or two. Or three.
* Pint of ice cream of your choice. Or two. Or three.
* Variety of nuts
* Variety of fresh or frozen fruits, sliced or chopped (banana, strawberries, raspberries, coconut shavings, nectarine slices, pitted cherries, kiwi, peaches, apricots, etc.
* Hot fudge, caramel sauce; also all-fruit jam (optional)
* Variety of candies (optional)

You need to slightly melt the ice cream, then mix it so it’s smooth, so that it is a little “spreadable.” Place your cookies on a platter or cookie sheet to assemble it all together. Spread a thick dollop of ice cream on top of the cookie. If you’re using hot fudge, drizzle it on at this point. Top with nuts and/or fruit. You can also add another layer of ice cream and top it with a fun candy. Then freeze it all until serving. You can place them in a plastic container with a lid before you put them in the freezer. When I serve them, I put ice cubes or crushed ice in a very large bowl under my platter, and put the platter directly on top of the ice. This keeps them chilled so they don’t melt as quickly before eating. Some people have those specialty serving trays that use ice.

Ideas –

Chocolate peppermint type cookies – with chocolate or peppermint ice cream. Top with raspberries. Also good is hot fudge. If you do a second layer, top with crushed peppermint candy, or a small round peppermint. Coconut shavings are also good.

Pecan cookies – with butter pecan ice cream. Top with a pecan half. I’ve tried them with a banana slice too – but I put it on after it comes out of the freezer. Caramel sauce is also good to drizzle over the ice cream first. A butterscotch candy is good on top of this.

Sugar cookies – Anything goes with this. I like strawberry ice cream topped with a strawberry. Sugar cookies are also really good to use with sorbet. Another really good thing to add on to these is a natural all-fruit jam on top of the ice cream or sorbet.

Chocolate, chocolate chip, or a sandwich type cookie – of course chocolate ice cream is great, topped with chocolate chips, or a raspberry or strawberry. But I also just love mocha ice cream too. Coconut shavings are very good. For a double layer of ice cream, you can top this with just about any candy you can think of. Want to go decadent? Top it with a truffle.

Cinnamon swirl type cookie – again, mocha ice cream is my favorite with this. A peach slice is good on it. Or, if you use vanilla ice cream, you can add caramel sauce. A peanut is fun on top too, or a walnut.

Gingersnaps or ginger cookies – I’ve never used a sauce topping on this one. But butter pecan ice cream or just vanilla are really good. Top it with a pecan or walnut. A really good item to put on top is a small chunk of candied ginger.

Those are just a few ideas. You can really get imaginative for these. You can also turn them some of them into faces, especially if kids will be eating them too. Have fun!