Today is not only the first day of Summer, but it’s National Ice Cream Soda day. What this is, is an excuse to add sugar to your sugar dessert by putting it into sugary soda. But, one ice cream soda for the year never hurt anyone. You may as well have it today. And if you’re going to have one, you may as well use one of Ina Garten‘s recipes. If there’s one chef whose recipes we trust pretty much implicitly, it’s the Barefoot Contessa.
She has recipes for both chocolate and raspberry ice cream sodas. The recipes are below:
If you want to make your own chocolate syrup, you’ll need:
3/4 cup cocoa powder, sievedPinch kosher salt1 1/2 cups sugar1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules1 teaspoon vanilla extractDirections, via Food Network:Combine the cocoa, salt, sugar and 1 cup of water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the coffee granules, and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the syrup into a bowl and add the vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
For raspberry syrup:
1 pint fresh raspberries, sliced in 1/21/2 cup sugarJuice of 1 lemonDirections, via Food Network:Combine the raspberries, sugar, and lemon in
a container. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Strain the syrup into a pitcher, pushing down on the berries to extract all the liquid.
For the ice cream sodas:
Raspberry or Chocolate SyrupPure vanilla extractHeavy cream, chilledClub soda or seltzer, chilledVanilla ice creamStrawberry ice creamChocolate ice creamCoffee ice creamDirections, via Food NetworkPour 3 tablespoons of Raspberry or Chocolate Syrup or 1 teaspoon vanilla plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream in a tall ice cream soda glass. Whisk with a fork, then slowly, while still whisking, add the club soda until the glass is three-quarters full. Add 2 scoops of ice cream, add soda to the top of the glass, and serve with a spoon and a straw.
Happy Ice Cream Soda-ing!
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