Summer Dessert - Berry Delight!

I am always looking for new ideas in the kitchen and this dessert creation was just that!

Let's take a look at what you will need.

Ingredients:

2 cups of crushed granola
1 half gallon of softened vanilla ice cream
16 ounces of fresh, ripe blackberries
½ cup of granulated sugar
1 to 1 ½ cups of water

In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and berries, and place over medium heat-stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture begins to bubble. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Strain the berries, keeping the liquid separate. Do not discard any of the mixture.

Place the granola into a plastic bag and seal it up. Next, using a rolling pin start crushing the granola long enough to break the larger chunks. I prefer using a natural low-fat granola cereal, but granola bars can be substituted. Pour half of the granola into the bottom of a 6 inch pie tin. The aluminum tins that are the size of a small cheese cake, work great!

You are going to create layers, using the ingredients listed, starting with the granola.

Then using a spoon or cake spatula, scoop out the softened ice cream into the tin to create a nice layer, covering the granola. Keep in mind you want the ice cream soft enough to work with, but not melted or runny as this will not set well once you freeze it. Next pour the remaining granola over the ice cream layer, creating a seal on top of the ice cream, keeping it together. Next, spoon out the strained berries onto the granola spreading them around and add another layer of ice cream, creating the top.

Finally, take a teaspoon and dip the spoon into the reduced berry liquid and create a design on the top of the ice cream, cover and place in the freezer for at least an hour. The longer it sets and freezes, the firmer the ice cream will be making it easier to cut and serve.