Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Trifle + Springtime Ice Cream Sundae Bar

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SoHoppinGood #CollectiveBias

We are so incredibly excited that spring has finally arrived, and since we are in a new area now, we decided to celebrate with a little get-together so the kids could get to know some of our new neighbors better. I pulled together a super quick and simple build-your-own ice cream sundae bar for an easy and fun party. We had a great time!

And for the grownups, I also made a crazy easy but crazy delicious trifle with brownie bites, Blue Bunny® Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge sauce. YUM.

It seriously took about 5 minutes to put together, but it tasted so good and looked pretty too. Win-win.

Let's start with the kids' adorable sundae bar, then I'll share the trifle instructions.

My kitchen hutch was really easy to deck out for spring with fresh white serveware and darling pink dishes, so it seemed like the perfect spot for a springtime ice cream party. I'm a firm believer that a simple party is the best kind there is. No need to stress out and make your life hectic and miserable to host a get-together. All it took was some yummy treats, simple dishes, and minimalistic decor to make this spot perfectly party ready.

I found the cutest little waffle bowls -- adorable, delicious, and they cut down on dishes I have to wash after everyone goes home. They are a triple threat. I set them out on a cute tray along with some spring decor.

And I put out an array of fun toppings for the kids to choose from. From left to right, we offered salted peanuts, brownie bites, rainbow sprinkles, banana slices, and chocolate sprinkles. We also had hot fudge and whipped cream, which I kept on the kitchen counter so kids wouldn't serve themselves and accidentally drip/spray it all over. The less hot fudge ends up on my kitchen floor, the happier Mama will be.

The 'Bunny Treats' sign felt very appropriate to put out on display with our Blue Bunny®  ice cream options. How cool is that new clear packaging? Love that you can see the flavor swirls through the packaging -- it makes choosing flavors in the store way more fun since you can see exactly what you're going to get!

Our tasty ice cream bar options were Blue Bunny® Super Chunky Cookie Dough (the crowd favorite!), Blue Bunny® Homemade Vanilla, and Blue Bunny® Mint Chocolate Chip. I picked them all up (along with all our party goodies and toppings) at Walmart during my regular weekly shopping trip, so it was quick and painless to prep for this party.

A few more white dishes and potted plants, and this made a cute little ice cream party station.

Now to serve the hungry little party animals! Certain little guests kept things simple with just a scoop of ice cream and no toppings (what?! why?!).

But others went all out and requested EVERY topping available. That's more like it.

But I'm pretty sure there are no wrong answers when it comes to a sundae bar. Except for maybe not partaking from the sundae bar at all.

I've never seen these adorable waffle bowls before, but I think they are going to be a must-have for future ice cream nights at our house. They were so tasty, so cute, and the perfect size for a little sundae!

My talented sister Rebekah (of Ritzy Reba designs) helped me out by designing this adorable coloring page for the kids to enjoy after they finished their sundaes. How cute is this?! Just right click on the image and hit 'save' to keep it and print at home for your own party! Please use and enjoy this design at home -- not for any commercial use :-)

For anyone unsatisfied by a build-your-own sundae bar (although I can't imagine WHO that person might be or WHAT their problem is), this amazing trifle should fit the bill very nicely. All the fun of a sundae, pre-stacked and ready to serve.

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Trifle

1/2 gallon Blue Bunny® Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, softened
1 9x13 pan of brownies (I used a box mix), cut into bite size squares
1 (16 oz) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
hot fudge sauce (enough to drizzle on top)

In a glass serving bowl or trifle dish, layer ingredients as follows:
1 - ice cream
2 - brownies
3 - whipped topping
4 - drizzle of hot fudge
5 - ice cream
6 - brownies
7 - whipped topping
8 - big drizzle of hot fudge
9 - brownies for garnish

Freeze until ready to serve, and let sit at room temperature 10 minutes before serving to soften slightly.

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Visit Blue Bunny® for more delicious #SoHoppinGood ice cream ideas!

Amazing Cake Batter Ice Cream

I've mentioned before that I really wasn't much of an ice cream fan until getting an ice cream maker and experiencing the heavenly perfection that is homemade ice cream. It made a believer out of me.

If store-bought ice cream was always something of a lame womp-womp for me, cake batter ice cream might have been the womp-wompiest of all. It always tasted vaguely chemically to me, and not at all like actual, irresistible cake batter. Jeff, however, has always loved cake batter ice cream, so I wanted to try a homemade version for him.

And you can imagine my delight at making homemade cake batter ice cream, and having my mind blown by how delicious it was.

This ice cream is all the sweet, fresh, creamy goodness of homemade vanilla ice cream, combined with the rich, buttery deliciousness of sneaked bites of raw cake batter. 

Cake batter ice cream fans--you will love this awesome homemade version. And cake batter ice cream haters--you just might surprise yourself by loving it, too.

Cake Batter Ice Cream
adapted from AllRecipes.com -- makes about 1.5 quarts of ice cream

1 cup 2% milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream

2 egg yolks, beaten

1 cup yellow cake mix

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and freeze according to the instructions on your ice cream maker. Enjoy right away, or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until ice cream reaches desired level of firmness. 

If desired, serve with whipped cream and sprinkles!

Cinnamon Gingersnap Ice Cream

Don’t hate me, but if I’m being honest, ice cream would almost never be my first choice for dessert. I like ice cream and I wouldn’t say no if you offered it, but if presented with other sweet treat options, ice cream would be toward the end of my list of preferences. I’d take a cookie or brownie any day over a bowl of ice cream. I hope we can still be friends.

But. But. This summer, the urge to make homemade ice cream overcame me. I don’t know how it happened . . . maybe because Jeff (a true ice cream devotee) kept bringing it home and I kept not loving it as deeply as he did, or maybe the double dose of heat from baking brownies on 90-degree days finally broke me down and sent me searching for other sugar sources. Whatever the cause, it became vitally important that I make my own ice cream, because surely homemade ice cream would inspire me to join the happy throngs of ice cream zealots in a way that store bought ice cream never could.

I am here to tell you that homemade ice cream has made a believer out of me.

I love ice cream now. I really, truly, deeply love it.



Cuisinart was nice enough to send me my ice cream machine, so I'll share a few quick thoughts on it, and then I’ll get to sharing this delicious, perfect-for-fall recipe. I’m salivating again just thinking about it.

Unlike some ice cream makers, my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker does not actually use any ice. This is part of what drew me to this particular machine—I didn’t want to deal with any mess to make ice cream. Instead, this machine has a freezable bowl that does all the dirty work. We just keep the bowl in the freezer all the time, so it’s always ready to go if we have a spur of the moment craving. And it doesn’t take up much freezer space since you can, of course, stick other things inside it.

The downside is that if you want to make a lot of ice cream, you’ll either need additional bowls or you’ll need to give yourself quite a few hours between making batches to allow the bowl to refreeze. We had friends over for an ice cream sampling party shortly after our machine arrived, and we wanted to have a few flavors ready. I could only make one batch at a time before the bowl needed to be frozen again (this takes quite a few hours), so I just had to plan ahead and make 1 or 2 batches per day leading up to our little party, leaving plenty of time between for the bowl to freeze.

This isn’t a con for me—I'd rather have to deal with refreezing the bowl than use actual ice in my machine, but it’s something to consider if you think you’ll want to make a lot of ice cream at once, or multiple flavors at a time.

Now, to see it in action. To make this delicious Cinnamon Gingersnap ice cream, I started with the classic vanilla ice cream recipe from the recipe booklet that came with the machine. Standard ice cream ingredients—whole milk, heavy cream, sugar . . . but then I decided to get autumnal allllll over the place. I tossed in cinnamon and nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice and a double dose of vanilla. It smelled absurdly good. Just whisk it together and pour it into the frozen bowl after turning the machine on.



Perhaps you will be impressed to learn that immediately after this shot, pouring and snapping pictures simultaneously got the better of me and I lost control of the bowl. I also lost probably half a cup of ingredients, poured directly onto the counter.



It takes a lot of faith those first few minutes to believe that this will ever become anything other than creamy, cinnamon-scented soup. But lo and behold, about 15 minutes later, you’re staring into a dreamy bowl of soft serve fall-flavored deliciousness. A glimpse into heaven, I tell you.



While it’s mixing, crush up some ginger snap cookies and add them to the bowl once the ice cream has reached a soft serve consistency. I like to leave some largish chunks of cookie in there. Give me ice cream with substance, I say.



Incidentally, I have discovered that the larger, 32 ounce yogurt tubs are the perfect size for storing a batch of homemade ice cream. I've started saving our old yogurt containers for this very purpose. When the ice cream comes out of the machine, it will be a deliciously lickable soft serve consistency. If you prefer a firmer texture, just toss it in a container and pop it in the freezer for another hour or two.



Forrest is an ice cream fanatic (like father, like son), but I thought he might have objections to this particular flavor. A spiced ice cream just doesn’t sound terribly kid-friendly to me, but I was wrong. He absolutely devoured this batch (which came in handy as picky eater bribery, actually!).



Cinnamon Gingersnap Ice CreamMakes approximately 1.5 quarts. Less if you dump a good quantity onto your countertop.

1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
11 gingersnap cookies, crushed

Combine all ingredients except cookies in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly, then add to ice cream maker. Mix according to machine instructions (for me, this takes 15-20 minutes). 5 minutes before mix time is complete, add cookies. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze an additional 1-2 hours if you’d like a firmer consistency.

The Fine Print: I was not paid for this post, but I did receive ice cream machine for free to review. All opinions are my own.