These sweet treats offer simple yet sophisticated ways to take your ice cream creations to the next level.

If we had to pick one food that’s intrinsically tied in our minds with summer, it has to be ice cream.

Everyone has a summer memory or tradition tied to this classic dessert: chasing the ice cream truck after a game of kickball, making one-of-a-kind sundaes at home with your family, or eating it right out of the tub on an indulgent night in (no one’s judging here). It’s the kind of sweet treat that fits in just as well at a backyard BBQ as it does on the dinner menu at a fine dining restaurant.

For times when you want to make new memories with friends and family, why not make your ice cream creations more memorable, too? Inspired by Western Family’s line of 15 decadent and unique ice cream flavours, available at your local Save-On-Foods, we’ve come up with three irresistible ways to upgrade your favourite frozen treats. Combining ice cream made from 100 per cent Canadian dairy with recipes that are 100 per cent delicious, these desserts are sure to impress your guests. We’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not to tell them how easy they were to put together.

Death by Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sundae

This one might inspire you to make “Sunday Sundaes” a weekly tradition. This luxuriously indulgent recipe encourages you to build a typical sundae on a not-so-typical foundation: the waffle. Made with real cream, the aptly named Western Family Death by Chocolate Ice Cream is bursting with chocolate truffle pieces, chocolate covered almonds and chocolate chunks. Pair with a scoop of Western Family Espresso Almond Fudge Ice Cream, which comes loaded with chocolate almond pieces. Finish with sprinkles, hot fudge sauce and a bright red maraschino cherry on top.

Photography: Mark Burnham | Food and Prop Styling: Leah Bjornson

Total time

10 minutes 

Portion size

4 servings

Ingredients

4 scoops Western Family Death by Chocolate Ice Cream

4 scoops Western Family Espresso Almond Fudge Ice Cream

4 maraschino cherries

Hot fudge sauce

Rainbow sprinkles

Dessert Waffle:

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method

In a large bowl or mixer, beat the eggs, gradually adding the sugar to the mixture. Add the flour, baking powder, butter and vanilla until a smooth batter forms.

Spray your waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray before pouring the batter onto the griddle. Close waffle iron and cook for 2-3 minutes. Your waffle should be golden brown and cooked all the way through.

Place each quarter waffle onto a plate and top with a scoop of Western Family Death by Chocolate Ice Cream and Western Family Espresso Almond Fudge Ice Cream.

Drizzle with hot fudge sauce before dusting with rainbow sprinkles. Top with a maraschino cherry and serve!

Test kitchen tip: For light and fluffy waffles, separate the egg whites from the yolks before mixing. Add the yolks to the wet ingredients, then beat the egg whites separately before folding them into the final batter.

PB & Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches

The trick to making the perfect ice cream sandwich is threefold: stack responsibly (or risk your sandwiches toppling over); use a blend of subtle and strong flavours that complement and enhance each other (like Western Family French Vanilla and Peanut Butter Cups Ice Cream); and think outside of the cookie jar. Brownies, blondies and even pie crust can make excellent bookends to your creamy creations. For this recipe, we used peanut butter cookies because they’re inherently soft and gooey, then rolled the treats with dark chocolate sprinkles for a salty but sweet finish.

Photography: Mark Burnham | Food and Prop Styling: Leah Bjornson

Total time

60 minutes 

Portion size

12 servings

Ingredients

1 tub Western Family French Vanilla Ice Cream

1 tub Western Family Peanut Butter Cups Ice Cream

Dark chocolate sprinkles

Peanut Butter Cookies:

1 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Heat oven to 375°F (190°C).

In a large mixing bowl, blend butter, peanut butter and both white and brown sugar. Crack in the eggs and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, you’ll want to mix your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Once sifted, stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let dough cool for one hour in the fridge.

Roll dough between your hands, forming small balls, and place onto a baking sheet. Using a fork, flatten each ball, pressing crosswise. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are a light golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Using a measuring cup, scoop out 12 ice cream rounds, placing them neatly on the sheet. Put sheet in freezer 5-10 minutes so ice cream becomes firm.

Once ice cream is firm and cookies are cooled, simply press two cookies on either side of the ice cream. Empty dark chocolate sprinkles onto a plate, and roll all sides of the sandwich through the mixture.

Test kitchen tip: Underbake your cookies ever so slightly so they’re soft and chewy. The cookies will harden in the freezer, so start softer and your guests will thank you.

Cool Summer Fruit Cups

When you’re rushing to the beach or a friend’s BBQ, you want to bring foods that are easy to make and even easier to eat. Enter the Cool Summer Fruit Cups. These tiny but powerful desserts are bursting with the flavours you crave in summer: namely, real fruit and real cream ice cream. Layer a plastic or paper cup with Western Family Cool Summer Ice Cream, add a layer of homemade raspberry sorbet, and finish with another scoop of Western Family Strawberry Jubilee Ice Cream. You can always use premade raspberry sorbet, too, for a shortcut.

Photography: Mark Burnham | Food and Prop Styling: Leah Bjornson

Total time

2 hours 30 minutes (if making sorbet from scratch)

Portion size

4 servings

Ingredients

2 scoops Western Family Cool Summer Ice Cream

2 scoops Western Family Strawberry Jubilee Ice Cream

5 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, plus more for serving

3 cups water

1 cup sugar

Method

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the sugar slowly until completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

Add raspberries and sugar water to your food processor in batches, around one cup of fruit at a time, and blend until smooth. Cover and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

Once your raspberry sorbet is ready, begin layering your fruit cups: layer 1/2 scoop Western Family Cool Summer Ice Cream, 1/2 scoop raspberry sorbet, 1/2 scoop Western Family Strawberry Jubilee Ice Cream, smoothing the top of each layer as you go.

Put cups into the freezer and let chill until firm, around 10 minutes.

Top with fresh fruit and serve!

Test kitchen tip: Feel free to mix it up. All Western Family ice creams are made in Victoria, B.C., so embrace the island lifestyle with Western Family Nanaimo Bar Ice Cream. Or, give into your fruity cravings with Western Family Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ice Cream. The possibilities are endless!