Flaming, flying ice cream snowballs

Earlier this month someone posted this bizarre mid-century ad in the Merry Kitschmas group on Facebook:

Flying sorcery? Flaming ice cream? Astronaut elves? Could they mix more imagery? One look and I knew I HAD to try to recreate the awesome wonderfulness of Flaming Ice Cream Snowballs to make our holiday heavenly! So without further ado, here’s the how-to.

Flaming Ice Cream Snowballs (makes about 8)

• Half gallon of velvety vanilla ice cream
• Approximately 8 cups Baker’s Sweetened Angel Flake Coconut
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. cream
• 10 drops green food coloring (more if you want a darker green)
• Miniature red M&Ms or cinnamon candies
• Birthday cake candles

Fill a low, flat bowl with “fresh shredded” coconut straight from the bag. A soup bowl is fine. You don’t need to dump all the coconut in at once.

Use an ice cream scoop to make glacial globes of velvety vanilla ice cream. The ice cream should be malleable but not melting. I scooped the ice cream out one ball at a time, sticking the carton back in the freezer when it seemed to be getting too soft.

Drop each ice cream ball into the coconut. Lightly press the coconut so it sticks, then carefully place the coated ball into a sandwich sized ziplock plastic bag. Squeeze the ice cream in the bag just like a snowball to firm it up. Add a little more coconut if needed. Zip the bag shut and place it in the freezer while you make the rest of the balls. I got eight out of half a gallon of ice cream.

Mix up the creamy icing while the snowballs are firming up in the freezer. Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, cream and food coloring to a bowl. Stir with a spatula until it’s thoroughly mixed. (You could use another flavor like peppermint instead of the vanilla.)

Take one snowball out of the freezer at a time to decorate. You’ll need a small pastry bag with a leaf-ish tip. (I’ve seen recipes on the internet that say you can pipe icing out of a plastic sandwich bag instead of a pastry bag, so I tried it. The bag ruptured on the first squeeze and icing glopped all over my hand. So yeah, I’m sticking to plastic lined Ateco bags, even though I have to wash them out.)

Leave the snowballs in the bags, just peel back the plastic. This is where you get all artistic and squish out icing in enlongated blobs that vaguely resemble leaves. Have fun! Stick on some mini M&M’s or cinnamon candies for your holly berries. Eat all the M&Ms that are the wrong color!

Carefully pull up the bag and zip it closed without disturbing the icing. Place the decorated snowballs back in the freezer until you’re ready to serve them for dessert. Remember, they’re perfect for formal AND informal entertaining!

Pop in a birthday candle “that really lights”! And don’t forget the spoons, as I did for the photo above, or your guests will be forced to eat with their hands.

If I can do it, you can too. Use the magic of flying sorcery yourself. Serve your family and friends Flaming, Flying Ice Cream Snowballs tonight! Or anytime! They’re guaranteed to get raved about!