How to Make Fried Ice Cream

You've either had fried ice cream in a restaurant, or are reading this wondering what to expect from such a strange sounding idea for a dessert. The key in how to make fried ice cream perfect lies in a yummy crunchy coating that fully encloses a scoop of the cold creamy stuff inside, allowing the whole thing to be fried without melting the ice cream. So how on earth do you get the ice cream to stay... well... icey?

Crunch Crunch Crunch

Prepare your crunchy coating, by tipping a bowl of cornflakes into a freezer bag. Make sure the bag is sealed. Then, crush the cornflakes up using a rolling pin or heavy spoon. You want the flakes broken up into smallish pieces, but not beaten to dust.

Now whip up a couple of egg whites in a bowl until they are frothy.

Making Snowballs

Any type of ice cream you have in your freezer will work just fine to make fried ice cream, but vanilla is most commonly used. Make sure you have a baking sheet with waxed paper on it, and begin to make your ice cream balls one scoop at a time. A standard ice cream scoop is fine, but you can add more to the ball if you wish, and mold them into larger shapes. Wear a pair of latex gloves pretend you're packing a snowball. Put your finished ice cream ball on the tray and move on to making the others.

Roll your first ice cream ball into a shallow dish of the crunch coating, making sure it's completely coated. Now dip it in the egg white and coat the ball again - this will help an additional layer of coating stick to the ball. Roll your ice cream in the crunch coating again to double coat it, ensuring that the ice cream is no longer visible. Put the coated ball back on the baking sheet and continue with the other balls. Be as quick as you can with this – the more you handle it, the more the ice cream melts.

Now put the balls in the freezer for at least 3 hours. You can do this prep work a few days in advance.

Time to Fry

Heat a deep pan of vegetable oil to 350-375°F. It doesn't have to be as deep as the size of your ice cream balls, so don't worry if you don't have enough oil. You can gently move the ice cream around as it fries to make sure the coating is golden all around.

Take your ice cream balls out of the freezer and fry one at a time. It depends how big you've made them, but anything from 30-60 seconds is about right. Don't leave your ice cream balls in the oil for any longer or the ice cream inside will begin to melt.

Transfer the fried ice cream to a bowl and sprinkle some cinnamon over the top. There are many ways to make fried ice cream look more special – try some chocolate or caramel sauce or a squirt of whipped cream. Or, why not vary the crunchy coating by adding optional extras, such as cookie crumbs, coconut flakes, or chopped nuts. I've even heard of using slices of pound cake to coat the ice cream… but that sounds pretty tricky.