The Cool List

The ice cream van may not be making the rounds, but you can cool down at home with these fab frozen treats

STRAWBERRY SHARING SUNDAE

Serves 2

Takes 25 mins

Cost per serve £1.88

Ingredients

10g white chocolate

2 pink wafers

1 tbsp hundreds and thousands

400g strawberries, hulled

2 tsp icing sugar

2 scoops strawberry and cream ice cream

2 scoops vanilla ice cream real dairy spray cream

2 tbsp chopped mixed nuts

2-3 small mint sprigs, to serve (optional)

Directions

1 Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of barely simmering water, stirring frequently. Spoon over one end of the wafers, then sprinkle over the hundreds and thousands (over a bowl to catch any that fall) until the chocolate is coated. Leave to set on baking paper for at least 10 mins in a cool place.

2 Meanwhile, blitz 50g of the largest strawberries and the sugar in a food processor to a smooth sauce. Strain through a sieve into a bowl (if you like) and chill until ready to serve. Chop the remaining berries into halves (or quarters if large).

3 Layer up the ice creams, strawberries and strawberry sauce in a tall sundae glass. Add a squirt of spray cream, then the nuts and mint (if using). Top with the wafers to serve.

PISTACHIO & MINT CHOCOLATE CONES

Makes 12

Takes 15 mins plus 8 hrs freezing

Ingredients

600ml whipping cream

397g tin condensed milk

1 tsp mint extract (or 2 tsp vanillaextract)

green gel food colouring

75g shelled pistachios

75g dark chocolate mint thins,roughly chopped

150g Refreshing Mint dark chocolate, broken into squares

12 waffle cones

Directions

1 Put the cream in a large bowl and whisk to soft peaks. Fold in the condensed milk, mint or vanilla extract and a little food colouring to achieve a mint green colour.

2 Pulse the pistachios in a food processor until roughly chopped. Remove 2 tbsp and set aside. Blitz the remaining nuts to finely chop.

3 Gently fold the mint thins and finely chopped pistachios into the cream mixture. Transfer to a freezer-proof container (a loaf tin wrapped well with clingfilm works), then cover and freeze for around 8 hrs or until solid. Wrapped well, the ice cream will keep for up to 1 month in the freezer.

4 Melt the mint chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of barely simmering water. Transfer to a small jug. 5 To serve, remove the ice cream from the freezer, scoop into the cones and, working quickly, pour over the melted chocolate. Scatter with the reserved pistachios before the chocolate sets.

SOUR WATERMELON & MINT GRANITA

Serves 8

Takes 20 mins plus cooling and 8-9 hrs freezing

Ingredients

3 limes, zested and juiced

75g caster sugar

15g mint sprigs, plus 5g to serve

1.2kg watermelon, peeled and cubed (800g prepared weight)

300ml pomegranate juice

Directions

1 Put the lime zest and juice, sugar and mint sprigs in a small saucepan. Warm over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely. Squeeze out the liquid from the mint sprigs, then discard.

2 In a blender, blitz the watermelon until broken down, then use a spatula to push it through a fine sieve into a freezer-proof bowl or container. Discard the seeds left in the sieve.

3 Mix the pomegranate juice and the cooled lime syrup with the watermelon. Cover and freeze for 4-5 hrs, then rake with a fork. Repeat again after 2 hrs, and once more after a further 2 hrs. The mixture should resemble slushy ice. Serve in bowls garnished with extra mint sprigs, or wrap really well with clingfilm and freeze for up to 1 month.