If you love booze and you love to to make your own ice cream, sorbets and granitas, then this book is the one for you. Ice Cream Happy Hour is an innovative book that brings you “50 boozy treats you spike, freeze and serve”. The authors of Ice Cream Happy Hour have covered a number of old and new classics in their book and most of them seem downright yummy.
I will freely admit that I love ice cream drinks. Growing up in Wisconsin, special occasions were celebrated dining at supper clubs where ice cream drinks made regular appearances on the menu. And, it was with common regularity that the adults would cap off their meal with an ice cream drink. For the kids, we waited until the adults gave us a spoonful of their Brandy Alexander or Grasshopper which also happened with common regularity. My memories of ice cream drinks are numerous and fond.
Given that background, you can understand my excitement when we received a copy of Ice Cream Happy Hour. But, I will also provide the caveat that I was a little crushed when I realized that book was geared towards making your own boozy ice cream treats versus whipping up ice cream drinks. It’s not that the treats highlighted in Ice Cream Happy Hour are bad — they certainly aren’t! It was more about the fact that I would actually have to make ice cream to enjoy them. Personally, I don’t find ice cream all that easy to make and my attempts haven’t been overly-successful. But, seriously, that’s a personal issue.
If you are up for the task of making or attempting to make ice cream, then you will be well-served by this book. And, really, if the attempt fails, just slurp down the evidence (it’s still pretty good). This book provides great recipes that will not only allow you to serve your guests great drinks but also palate cleansers, after-dinner drinks and dessert. Try the Buttered Rum, the Chocolate Martini or the Mojito. Just make sure that you are prepared as you need to have the right ingredients and equipment as well as time to allow the mixtures to turn into tasty treats.
We know it’s a little early but we think that this book could be a huge help for your summer parties next year. There are a number of tropical drinks reduced to ice cream in the book. We can already imagine licking cones of the Creamsicle, Pina Colada and Mimosa in the dog days of summer.
