Freezer-to-Table Fiesta: Easy Mexican Fried Ice Cream Dessert

In case you haven’t checked your calendar lately, Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner. Why not serve a dessert so good, your family will ask for it all year long? This frosty sweet combines ice cream with a crunchy cinnamon-kissed crust; a pretty darn-near perfect combo in my opinion! The best part is you can make this a full day or two ahead of time so when it comes time to serve, all you have to worry about is getting out the toppings. Let me show you how easy it is. 

First, grab your ingredients, including a box of my absolute favorite cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch! (You’ll find the complete list of ingredients in the recipe below.)

Then, in a large skillet, melt up some butter and toast up some sliced almonds.

After the almonds have cooked for a couple minutes, add your other crust ingredients and mix together. By the by, does anything smell quite as good as butter and brown sugar? I don’t think so.

In an ungreased 13- by 9-inch dish, pat your cereal mixture and bake at 375 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and cool it down in the freezer for 30 minutes.

While your crust is chilling, take out your vanilla ice cream to soften. Once it is soft enough to stir, add in a teaspoon of cinnamon. (If you can find it, feel free to substitute cinnamon ice cream for vanilla and skip this step.)

Stir the cinnamon and ice cream until thoroughly mixed and creamy.

Remove the crust from the freezer and top with your ice cream mixture.

Cover the pan and put back in the freezer to let it chill overnight. Once it is frozen, cut into squares, top with some caramel, cherries, whipped cream and enjoy! You’ll be amazed at how crunchy the crust stays and how creamy the ice cream is. It’s definitely a dessert that deserves a celebration!