Frozen Dessert

As thick and creamy as the richest milkshake, this can also do double duty as a dessert. Serve half portions in pretty stemmed glasses with the cookie crumbles sprinkled on top. Be sure to make this in two batches, because the ingredients will overflow your blender container.

This might be one of the more esoteric shakes in this book, but I hope you find it intriguing, not off-putting. The extra step of roasting the pineapple is well worth your time. Roasting concentrates the pineapple’s flavor and intensifies its sweetness as the heat of the oven caramelizes the fruit’s natural sugars. Tart lemon sorbet is added to balance that sweetness and for its icy texture. Using pineapple juice gives this shake a depth of flavor and refreshing quality that milk wouldn’t provide.

The layers of coffee, dark cherry, and chocolate flavor make this dessert interesting, and the addition of the quick raspberry sauce at the end makes it pop!

This is a great recipe if you have a craving for something sweet but don’t want to indulge in an overly caloric dessert. With each serving having only 85 calories and 2 grams of fat, you can save yourself the trip and the cost of going to a coffee shop with a friend and indulge right in your own kitchen.

As you’ll notice throughout this book, I use very few fat-free products beyond milk, yogurts, and ice creams because I don’t think they taste good. So if you haven’t tried fat-free ice cream in a while or you’ve never tried fat-free double churn, it’s definitely worth giving it a try. It’s come a long way from the fat-free ice cream of even a few years ago. The marshmallow used in this recipe is an actual sundae topping. If you can’t find it easily, sub in marshmallow creme and stir just the tiniest touch of water into it so it’s not so thick. You won’t need as much to get it spread over the sundae. If you’re having trouble finding fat-free hot fudge, check the labels of all hot fudge at your grocery store. A number of brands make fat-free versions, but some don’t say it on the front of the jar.

Make several of these low-fat chipwiches at once and store them in your freezer so you have some on hand for later. For freezing, stick the wrapped sandwiches in resealable freezer bags to keep the ice cream from getting icy.

When I was a child, I don’t think I ever saw my mother drink unless we were on the occasional vacation and she ordered a piña colada. I do, however, distinctly remember her spooning a touch of Kahlùa over her vanilla ice cream a fair number of times—and every time, she had a big smile on her face as she ate it. I remember her looking so happy. So in honor of her, I created this scrumptious sundae.

I don’t consider myself a snob at all . . . except maybe when it comes to brownies. I’ve tasted very few brownies that are low in fat that I truly love. My favorites are my Chocolate Chocolate Brownie Cups, from The Most Decadent Diet Ever! (Broadway, 2008), but I must say the No Pudge! brownie mix is astoundingly tasty for a boxed product. The brownies and these sundaes are definitely worth a try.

Pat: The name of this decadent sundae speaks for itself. The recipe serves four, and makes a nostalgic dessert that will drive your dinner guests wild. But I’ll tell you something—when that silky sauce is sittin’ in the fridge, calling out my name, it serves one! I’ve already confessed my fondness for late-night desserts, and I can only think of one other thing I’d rather be doing in the middle of the night. Although you can use any roasted peanuts in this recipe, try to seek out Virginia nuts. They have a crispy snap all their own, and a peanut flavor that can’t be beat.

Pat: This cool, creamy pie is as refreshing as a glass of lemonade—and it goes down just as easy. We use lemonade concentrate, sweetened condensed milk, and whipped cream to create a fluffy, light-textured filling, then cradle the filling in a graham-cracker crust and freeze the pie before serving. The result is a beat-the-heat, not-too-heavy dessert that can easily follow a big feast—and still disappear (not that anyone in our family is ever too full for dessert!). The lemon-zest garnish is not essential, but it sure is beautiful and fun to make, and it adds another little kiss of lemony love.

Tartufi made with homemade chocolate ice cream are delicious. You can make your life simpler by substituting store-bought ice cream and proceeding to form and coat the tartufi as described below.

A simple way to make spumoni in the shape you remember is to use tall 10-ounce paper cups, like the ones you get when you order a soda. You can make the layering process simpler by spooning in a level layer of vanilla ice cream, then chocolate ice cream, then flavored whipped cream. If you’d prefer to serve one large spumoni instead of individual ones, prepare the spumoni in a 6-cup soufflé dish, layering it into the dishes as described below. Let the frozen large spumoni stand at room temperature 10 to 15 minutes before inverting it onto a serving plate. Cut it into wedges to serve.

If you don’t have the means to make espresso at home, use American-style coffee. (This is also a very good way to use leftover brewed American coffee.) To make up for the lack of coffee punch that you’ll find in an espresso granita, sample your coffee and stir in instant coffee or espresso to taste. Keep in mind that the technique used to make coffee granita can be applied to juices, teas, herbs, or any flavored and sweetened liquid of your choice. Liquids that contain alcohol don’t work well for granita, since alcohol does not freeze at the temperatures that household freezers reach.

Granita is nothing more than a flavored liquid (in this case lemon) sweetened with sugar and frozen until crystallized. Understanding this makes it very easy to make any flavor granita that you desire. You can also use orange juice for granita; simply freeze it as is. Should you choose to flavor your granita with alcohol, don’t add it to the syrup—it will inhibit the freezing process. Instead, pour it over the granita just before you serve it. It will get slushy, but a good slush on a hot summer day might be just the right thing.

If you’re going to take the time to churn your own ice cream, I think it should be chocolate, don’t you? This is sweetened with agave nectar instead of artificial sweetener because the nectar gives the finished stuff real unctuousness and body—almost like the real thing.

Time to go through the impulse purchases you’re storing in the attic or basement and dig out that old-fashioned ice cream maker you thought you couldn’t live without. Here’s a very good reason to unpack it.

This recipe was created for my friend Bill, who told me he couldn’t get his daughter to eat fruit. I asked him what her favorite food was and the response was “ice cream.” (Well, what would you say?) These pops are mostly fruit, with just a little bit of “ice cream” made from low-fat Greek yogurt and sugar substitute. But when the pureed fruit was mixed with it, she couldn’t tell the difference. At just about 60 calories a pop, you can eat these all summer long.

I won’t count this one—it’s a dessert, not a meal—but it has three Boo favorites in one dish.