Dessert For Dad!

Gluten Free, Nut Free Buster Bar... Ice Cream for Dad!

Dad’s Day & Dessert… that just goes together.  Every Father’s Day, I find myself planning dessert.  The presence of “grilled food” is just a given.  But the dessert is the main event!  This year I enlisted the help of my kids to figure out what would be a great Dad treat.  My first offering… scrumptious gluten free banana bread (which they gobble up like crazy).  I got weird looks.  Okay, back to the drawing board.  Several nutritious (but definitely treat worthy) options later we landed on something with ice cream…

My Dad loves a good bowl of ice cream.  As a kid I recall stopping after church for an ice cream sundae on numerous occasions.  Plus, anytime we wanted to celebrate something, he would take the family out for ice cream.  If the Ice Cream Man came around, there was always a dollar in his pocket and he was quick to the curb.  My husband is no different.  If ice cream is in the house, he is so very glad to have it!  He also loves taking us to our favorite spot for frozen treats, Graham’s on 3rd Street in Geneva.  The staff at Graham’s is always so accommodating with our nut free needs and they have a great attitude about their procedures when someone asks for “special treatment due to allergies”.  As a reminder, anytime we have chocolate, we use Enjoy Life’s chocolate products to ensure that we do not have any issues with nuts.  They really save us in this area as just about every chocolate out there has a nut cross-contamination issue!

So, today I was challenged as to what to do to make our plain vanilla ice cream a lot more fun.  Seeing my kids anticipation, I recalled an awesome ice cream treat that my mom used to make… Buster Bars! The only challenge that I could foresee was how to make this decadent treat without peanuts and with what I had on hand.  So, we talked through some options, and came up with the following recipe that really hit the spot!

Buster Bars, Gluten and Nut Free 

A whole pan of icy bars right after topping with chocolate!

• 10 oz. cookie crumbs (traditionally, these are made with crushed Oreos but we were out of our gluten free favorites* see my note below for substitutions)
• 7 Tbls unsalted butter or Palm Oil Shortening, melted (you could also use coconut oil)
• 1 Quart Vanilla Ice Cream (any kind you like, so this can also be made dairy free if need be!)
• 1/4 cup Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds, toasted, salted and cooled (if you cannot have seeds either, just omit them or use another crunchy/salty item like crushed gluten free pretzels or toffee bits)
• Chocolate topping (an additional 1/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips or mega chunks, 1/4 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, about a 1/2 cup milk or non-dairy alternative, 1 tsp gluten free vanilla)

Method:

1. Remove ice cream from freezer and let soften on your counter.  Prepare a 9×9 inch square pan or glass baking dish by brushing with butter, palm oil shortening or gluten free pan spray.  Set aside.
2. In a food processor, crush cookie crumbs very fine.  Then, with the machine running, pour in the melted butter/shortening through the opening on the top.  Process by pulsing until the cookie crumbs are well moistened with the butter/shortening.
3. Pour the cookie crumbs into the prepared pan and press down firmly all over to compact.  This is your “crust” layer.
4. Once the ice cream is soft enough to spread, use an ice cream scoop to dollop the ice cream all over the crust layer.  Working quickly so the it does not melt completely, sprinkle the 1/4 cup chocolate chips and the sunflower seeds all over.  Using a spatula, smooth the ice cream layer, pressing down on the chips and seeds so that they are somewhat mixed in.
5. Cover the pan with saran wrap and place immediately in the freezer to chill and set for at least 3 hours or overnight.
6. About 15 minutes before you wish to have dessert, make your chocolate topping by adding all the topping ingredients to a small sauce pan.  Heat over low heat until every thing melts together and begins to bubble.  Stir constantly until thick, about 4-5 minutes.  You may have to adjust your milk to get the proper consistency.  Cool slightly.
7. Remove your pan from the freezer and pour the chocolate topping over the ice cream.  Cut into bars or wedges and serve with extra sunflower seeds or cookie crumbs for sprinkling on top.  You can also do this step in advance and just put the whole thing back in the freezer to setup and serve at a later time if you wish.  Just make sure your ice cream has set for a few hours so that the chocolate topping pretty much freezes on contact for best results.

Happy Father’s Day to my Dad and to my husband, the two best dad’s in my life!

(By the way, I did make the gluten free banana bread… it will be a great treat at work I think!)

* Note: To substitute for the Oreo’s, you can use Kinnikinnick Foods KinniToos Chocolate Vanilla Sandwich Cookies or any other cookie crumbs you prefer… does not have to be a chocolate variety.  I actually did not have the KinniToos on hand this weekend and ended up using some vanilla cupcake crumbs from an “oops – that didn’t work” baking experience that I had stashed in the freezer… more on that later!