My Favourite Mexican Treat!

When I was growing up, almost every Sunday after church we'd go to the only decent Mexican restaurant around - Chi Chi's. Regrettably, it closed down when I was still very young, but I can still remember the decor, the song they'd sing on birthdays (Happy Birthday, OLE!!), and most importantly, the FOOD! It's hard to put into words just how much my entire family LOVES Mexican food and sometimes I think we should've called ahead to notify them we were on our way so they wouldn't run out of food.

I could write, in detail, about the fresh tortilla chips and the tastiest salsa (packed with my favourite Mexican herb: cilantro), the tacos, or the generous portions of rice and refried beans. My brothers, Yankee Noodle and Hot Dry Noodlin', may elaborate in subsequent posts about the all-u-can-eat Sunday lunch buffet...more specifically, the all-u-can-eat sopapillas, but I'm writing today to discuss my favourite Mexican dessert: deep fried ice cream! I've even been known to lick the bowl clean of the remains of this dessert - it's just SO GOOD!

If you've never heard of (or tasted) Mexican deep fried ice cream: FOR SHAME!! It is a giant ball of vanilla ice cream that is coated (typically) with a combination of corn flakes, cinnamon, and sugar that is then deep fried to golden, crispy perfection! Once fried, it is either served in a bowl OR (even better) a cinnamon and sugar coated, fried tortilla bowl. It is then topped off with whipped cream, a cherry, and your favourite dessert topping: chocolate fudge, caramel, or strawberry sauce. The best part is cracking through that hot, corn flakey crust and seeing your spoon disappear into the cold, soft ice cream. It's sweet, soft, crunchy, warm, AND cold - all in one dessert.

I was at my cousin's place the other night and she told me she had made her own version of Mexican fried ice cream and I could have cried tears of sheer happiness. Her's weren't deep fried (for those of us trying to stay somewhat healthy) but they still tasted absolutely divine!! She coated the vanilla bean ice cream balls in a vanilla almond cereal (maybe Special K?) and topped them off with a cherry and beyond-generous helpings of chocolate fudge drizzle. Below is a before chocolate drizzle shot and an after chocolate drizzle shot.



Before
After
My cousin definitely out did herself - it was almost unimaginably delicious!!! I'm not entirely certain how to fully express my deepest gratitude to her for making this and bringing me back to some of my fondest childhood food memories...maybe I'll take her out for Mexican Fried Ice Cream sometime :)