Cracker Jack ice cream sundae, a dessert my dad would have loved

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My dad was a sugar addict. I don't use the word "addict" lightly, but when it came to my dad and candy, addiction is the only way to describe it.

Daddy pretended he never ate candy. He hid his stash where he thought none of us would find it: the desk drawers and credenza in his office, the bathroom, the trunk of his car.

I think I was a teenager when the family finally caught on. We were sitting at the kitchen table after dinner craving a little something sweet. My mom, ever calorie-conscious, suggested an apple. Daddy went out the door to the garage and came back with jelly beans. "Where'd you get those?" my brother and I asked. "Doesn't matter," he replied with a smile, tossing them on the table. The next time I followed him out to the garage and found him rummaging in the back of his Corvette. I looked over his shoulder and saw his impressive stash - the Corvette's trunk isn't that big, but it holds quite a bit of candy when it's packed to the brim.

Daddy loved licorice all-sorts, jelly beans, Boston "baked beans," and Cracker Jack snacks, but he also kept lollipops and hard candies in a rainbow of flavors. I try not to eat a lot of candy now - my teeth, my waistline! - but sometimes, especially when I'm missing my father, a sweet treat is just the thing. When I do indulge, I always reach for my dad's favorites.

When the folks at the Cracker Jack brand asked if I'd be interested in trying some of their new flavors, I had to say yes. My dad passed away almost five years ago; their email felt like a sign. And when the samples came and I opened a bag and took my first bite, I started to cry. I ate the whole bag without stopping, thinking about the baseball games, fishing trips, and summer family dinners of my youth - many of which included Cracker Jack snacks.

Whether you buy original flavor Cracker Jack popcorn snacks or the delicious new Kettle Corn or Butter Toffee flavors, I bet many of you will experience the same rush of nostalgia I felt. The sweet crunch of the popcorn punctuated by the occasional salty peanut - Cracker Jack snack is one of the iconic tastes of my childhood.

I'm always happy to eat Cracker Jack snack on its own, but for a twist try tossing them on top of an ice cream sundae. This one has rum raisin ice cream because it was my father's favorite, although judging by how many stores I had to hit to find rum raisin, I'm guessing it's not such a popular flavor these days. If vanilla is more your style, go right ahead.

Note: The team at the Cracker Jack brand provided me with free samples of Cracker Jack snacks to use when writing this article. No other payment changed hands. All memories and opinions are, of course, my own.

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Cracker Jack ice cream sundae

by Erika Kerekes June-24-2013

This ice cream sundae combines three of my dad's favorite sweet flavors: rum raisin ice cream, gooey caramel sauce and Cracker Jack snacks as a crunchy topping.

Ingredients

• 3 scoops rum raisin ice cream
• 2 Tablespoons caramel sauce (make your own or buy a bottled brand)
• 1/2 cup Cracker Jack snack (Original, Kettle Corn or Butter Toffee flavor)

Instructions

Scoop the ice cream into a bowl. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the ice cream and top with the Cracker Jack snack. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 3 mins Cook time: 2 mins Total time: 5 mins Yield: 1 serving

Chocolate orange chip frozen yogurt

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Every now and then a girl needs to buy herself a present.

Which is why I bought myself a Cuisinart ice cream maker last Mother's Day. I saw it at Costco. It was less than $25. I had to have it.

We actually used to have an ice cream maker, an old Danvier. My husband contributed it to the marital household. It involved a hand crank. The most action it saw was in 2003, when baby Weston's favorite pastime involved carrying the guts of the ice cream maker from the kitchen to the bathtub at the other end of the house.

With the new ice cream maker, I mix up my favorite flavors, pour the goop into the machine, turn it on, and come back half an hour later. The hardest thing about using the new ice cream maker is making room in the freezer for the canister. Oh, and portion control - the thing doesn't hold as much as I thought it did, which I found out when one batch of ice cream overflowed its banks and flooded the kitchen counter.

I'm just as lazy when it comes to frozen desserts as with everything else I make. No egg custard base for me. I put my ingredients in the blender, whip them up, and freeze. Works out fine.

I created this dark chocolate frozen yogurt flavored with orange and studded with chocolate chips for my husband, whose college diet relied heavily on chocolate orange chocolate chip milkshakes. He smiled when he tasted it.

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Chocolate orange chip frozen yogurt

by Erika Kerekes October-30-2012

This tart, creamy frozen yogurt takes just a few minutes to prepare and is one of the best reasons to own an ice cream maker.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup cream
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup raw sugar (substitute turbinado or demerara sugar)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• 3/4 cup miniature chocolate chips (semisweet)

Instructions

If you have the kind of ice cream maker that requires the bowl to be pre-frozen, make sure you put it into the freezer the day before you want to make the frozen yogurt.Put the yogurt, cream, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and orange extract into a blender and whip until well blended and frothy. Pour the yogurt mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the directions for your machine. During the last 5 minutes of churning, add the chocolate chips.When the frozen yogurt is done churning, spoon it into a freezer-safe container and cover tightly. Freeze at least 2 hours. Serve, obviously, very cold.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: approximately 1 quart

Fruit smoothie sorbet

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From time to time I get all excited about smoothies. I put together all this fantastic fruit, sometimes vegetables too, I blend it up, I pour it into a glass, and I stick a straw in it.

And then I remember that I just don't like smoothies all that much.

It's a consistency thing. I like my food to have texture. I like to chew.

So what's a girl to do with leftover smoothie? Well, if she's the girl who bought herself an ice cream maker for Mother's Day, she puts the leftover smoothie in the ice cream maker and turns it into sorbet. Yep - it works. No added sugar, no added water, nothing. Put your leftover smoothie in the ice cream maker and see what happens.

The batch above included cherries, apricots, strawberries, cucumber, lettuce and lime juice. Use whatever you like. The thicker your smoothie, the creamier your sorbet will turn out. If you add avocado or yogurt you might even get a texture closer to ice cream. Experiment!