Deep Fried Ice Cream

I remember being in high school and for lunch we would go to Serrano's Mexican Food Restaurant in Mesa. This is totally not healthy, but we used to love eating the free chips, bean dip & salsa as our meal, and then for dessert we'd order fried ice cream. HEAVEN!!!! When I was in college, I was a waitress at a Mexican food restaurant and I tried to get the secret recipe for the fried ice cream from one of the cooks. He wouldn't give it to me, but he did tell me that one of the ingredients that this restaurant used was Frosted Flakes. So, I went home and made up my own concoction based off of what my taste buds remembered eating, and I think I nailed it! We make it every year now for Cinco de Mayo and it's a huge hit at our house. Ole!

Deep Fried Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

- 5 cups crushed Frosted Flakes (I put Frosted Flakes in a gallon ziploc bag and roll with a rolling pin)

- 2 cups crushed granola cereal (we use the yellow box of Quaker Natural Granola - Oats, Honey & Almonds cereal)

- 2 tsp. cinnamon

- 1/2 cup honey

- 2 cartons of vanilla bean ice cream (even though there are a lot of vanilla flavors out there, we think vanilla bean is the best)

DIRECTIONS: As said above, crush the Frosted Flakes cereal in a gallon ziploc bag, and then measure out the 5 cups. Pour into large mixing bowl. Do the same with the granola. Stir in the cinnamon. Then, pour the honey into the cereal mixture, and with your hands, squeeze the ingredients until everything is coated with the honey.

This next part is easier to do with a second person, however, you can still manage with one person. Have the first person scoop the ice cream into the desired size of a ball and have them scoop it into the bix mixing bowl of cereal. Have the second person thoroughly coat the ball of ice cream with the cereal mixture by scooping some up with your hands and pressing it into the ball in a cupped shape (just like when you make a snowball and you try to keep it compacted). Once the cereal has firmly coated the ice cream ball, place on a cookie sheet. Continue to do this until all the cereal has been used. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer overnight to harden.

If you want to, you can omit the actual "deep fry" step and skip to the next step. If you plan on deep frying the ice cream, then when you are ready to serve it, turn on your deep fryer (or heat up oil in a deep skillet). Using tongs, hold the ball in the heated oil for no more than 10 seconds. Place the ice cream in the dish.

We like to top ours with whip cream and Smuckers brand caramel ice cream topping.