Just for Fun » Geology Field Trip Ice Cream

Yes, I admit it . . . there’s a lot of ice cream in Hatching Magic, and maybe part of the reason is that Boston boasts a lot of great ice cream parlors. Bostonians are almost as passionate about ice cream as they are about baseball, and Boston boasts no fewer than five Red Sox related ice cream flavors.

In the book, Theodora and her dad go to Coneheads, and later the chocolate-addicted dragon, Wycca, breaks in to Coneheads and eats an entire batch of Toucan’s Chocolate Addiction (bitterweet chocolate ice cream with whole Brazil nuts and chocolate-covered coffee beans) guaranteed to give any dragon a sugar-and-caffeine buzz.

I personally do my best to keep my local ice cream parlors in business. My own favorite flavors are generic coffee oreo and Toscanini’s burnt caramel. There isn’t a Coneheads Ice Cream parlor in Cambridge, but there is Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream (in Inman Square, a few blocks from my very first Cambridge apartment). Their Mexican Chocolate is wicked good.

If there really was a Coneheads, and a Geology Field Trip ice cream, it would taste something like this. (Thanks to Henry and Liam for their help as frozen dessert engineers, food stylists, and tasters.)

Ingredients

Ice cream in several flavors (coffee and chocolate work well to give a sedimentary effect, or just look for a couple of flavors with good color contrast, like a mocha fudge ripple)
Crushed chocolate cookies for gravel
Animal crackers or gummi candies (dinosaur shaped, if possible) for fossils
Any of the following, to taste: Miniature marshmallows, chopped nuts, candied fruit, chocolate sprinkles, miniature butterscotch chips
Strawberry syrup or frozen raspberries (optional)

Equipment

A large clear glass bowl with straight sides or individual tall glass ice cream parfait dishes
Small bowls for the ingredients
Wooden spoon or metal spreader
Waxed paper or plastic wrap
Blender (optional)
Serving tray covered with foil (optional)

Let ice cream soften so it's spreadable but not yet approaching melted. Arrange your crushed cookies, "fossils," and other ingredients in small bowls. Start with a layer of one flavor ice cream in the bottom of your chosen container, using the wooden spoon or metal spreader to spread it evenly, and top that layer with crushed cookie "gravel" and some of your extras. Cover loosely with waxed paper or plastic wrap, then let that layer firm up in the freezer for five minutes or so. Then take the container back out, remove the paper or wrap, and repeat the process with a different flavor of ice cream and different toppings. Continue to just below the top of your container, ending with a layer of cookie gravel, then top with waxed paper or plastic wrap and leave in the freezer until ready to serve.

Volcano variation: Layer ice cream in smaller and smaller circles on a foil-covered tray to achieve a volcanic cone, using cookie "gravel" and other toppings between layers. When the cone shape is complete, make a crater in the top with a spoon. Press crushed cookies into the sides of the volcano. Just before serving, add "lava" made from strawberry syrup or raspberries pureed in the blender.

Martian Field Trip variation: Color vanilla ice cream Martian red with a few drops of red and yellow food coloring; substitute crushed vanilla wafers for the chocolate cookies, gummi aliens for the animal crackers, small sour candies for the chips, etc. Top each serving with a gummi alien or spaceship favor.