While ice cream is a favorite all year 'round, it's certainly especially welcome on those redolent and balmy days of summer when the best thing to do is sit in the shade and savor a cooling treat. This said, you'll appreciate the easy and extra-tasty uses we've found for one of summertime's favorites!

Let's start with the ice cream cake. Have you ever thought of making your own ice cream cake? It's a birthday party favorite choice at our house, and I'd indulge the kids with one from Baskin Robbins®. That is until my friend, Tammy Hogan, shared her recipe for a super simple and gorgeous ice cream that you make using a spring-form pan.

This variation on the traditional ice cream cake yields 12 to 16 servings and only takes about 20 minutes to assemble. When I made my version, I substituted Rollos ® for the SKOR Bars® and added caramel sauce. However you do it, give this treasure a try:

TAMMY'S ICE CREAM CAKE

1 package (13 ounces) Mother's Macaroons

2 (1/2 gallon) cartons ice cream (different flavors that will look and taste well together), slightly softened

1 (16 ounces) jar hot fudge ice cream topping

4-5 (1.4 ounces) SKOR Bars

Oil bottom of a spring form pan. In food processor, grind to fine texture the macaroon cookies. Sprinkle ½ of cookie crumbs in bottom of pan. Cover with first ½ gallon of ice cream. Quickly spread a layer of fudge topping over the ice cream.

Sprinkle remaining crumbs over the fudge topping. Add second ½ gallon of ice cream. Quickly spread remaining fudge sauce over this. Crumble SKOR Bars and sprinkle them over top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until ready to use, at least 3 or 4 hours.

TIP: For use as a Christmas dessert, sprinkle crushed peppermint candies atop the cake, rather than the SKOR Bars.

And what about ice cream cup cakes? Absolutely! Fun, unique, and easy for guests to handle, these scrumptious treats offer a triple delight due to the 3 sources of chocolate this recipe provides. They take a little effort and time to assemble (around 35 minutes), but the outcome is worth it. Every time we serve these, people go nuts!

MALTED ICE CREAM CUPS (yield: 12 cups)

CRUST:

2 (10 ounce) packages Lorna Doone Shortbread cookies (40 cookies)

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 cup Malted Milk Balls, crushed

Preheat oven to 325 ° F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with baking liners. Using a food processor, grind cookies into crumbs; stir in melted butter; combine well. Distribute crumb mixture evenly among cups. Press crumbs firmly to form a crust in bottom of each liner. Bake for 7 minutes. Once baked, remove from oven and allow cups to cool. When cups are cooled, sprinkle a layer of crushed malted milk balls over the crusts. Reserve any leftover crushed Malted Milk Balls to garnish the tops of the cups.

ICE CREAM:

2½ cups chocolate ice cream, slightly softened

2/3 cup Malted Milk Powder

Mix together the ice cream and malt powder until smooth. Pour ice scream into cups until they are ¾ full, then freeze for at least 3 hours. (It's likely there will be a little ice cream left over, which should probably be eaten while waiting for the cups to freeze. Darn.)

CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup whipping cream

Place chocolate chips in small bowl. Heat whipping cream to just a boil, then pour over chocolate chips. Allow mixture to sit for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Allow ganache to cool. Pour ganache over the tops of the frozen cup pies and return the cups to the freezer to allow the ganache to set, at least 15 minutes.

WHIPPED CREAM:

½ cup heavy whipping cream

1-2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)

Whip cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Top ice cream cups with whipped cream and the remainder of the crushed Malted Milk Balls. Serve immediately or freeze until ready to serve.

TIP: Mint leaves or maraschino cherries make add a nice finishing garnish to this lovely dessert.

Finally, the ice cream sandwich. Maybe you've already done this; there sure isn't an easier or more charming quick ice cream treat around. The process? Spread slightly softened tablespoons of your favorite ice cream between two cookies, wrap individually, and return to the freezer so they can set.

You can use store-bought cookies or make your own. I'll often spread a rounded teaspoon of burnt almond fudge ice cream between two vanilla wafer cookies for mini ice cream sandwiches. This works best if you have a helper, though, because the small amounts of ice cream involved tend to melt quickly.

We also make our own version of Fat Boys® with our favorite ice cream slathered between homemade chocolate cookies. I use a chewy sugar cookie recipe for this, but I add ¾ cup baking cocoa to the batter.

A quick and easy way to make ice cream sandwiches is to spread your favorite cookie batter evenly across a parchment-lined baking sheet (chocolate chip cookie dough is shown here). As soon as this huge rectangle of a cookie comes out of the oven, quickly cut it into squares or rectangles and let it cool completely. When cooled, spread your ice cream over half the cookie sheet, top this with the other half cookie sheet, and with your knife, separate the precut filled cookies; wrap quickly and freeze.

Yes, ice cream in a dish or cone is always easier, but once in awhile, a treat that takes some extra effort is nice. It's a way of expressing how much you care while helping those you care about keep cool in the summer heat!

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