Way Cool Frozen Desserts

Just like the candy! We made this melt-in-your-mouth treat with a hard chocolate shell.

2 cups chocolate pudding

1/2 cup plain malted-milk powder

2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

Magic Shell chocolate topping

1. In a large bowl, whisk together pudding and malt powder. Gently whisk in whipped topping until completely blended.
2. Pour Magic Shell into 10 paper souffle cups or a paper-lined muffin pan. Divide chocolate mixture among lined souffle cups. Place a stick in each cup. Freeze 3 hours (and up to 2 weeks). Makes 10.

We took your kid's fave lunch-box sandwich and turned it into an awesome dessert.

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding

1 envelope (1.3 oz.) whipped-topping mix (such as Dream Whip)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup strawberry preserves

Vanilla wafers

1. Prepare pudding and whipped topping according to package directions. In a large bowl, fold pudding, whipped topping, and peanut butter together.
2. Place 1/2 of the mixture in a 9-inch square baking pan. Randomly spread strawberry preserves onto peanut butter filling. Cover with remaining filling; smooth and freeze.
3. To assemble sandwiches, use a small biscuit cutter to cut out circles of filling, then sandwich each circle between two vanilla wafers. Makes about 40 sandwiches.

Healthy, refreshing, and super easy (and you don't even need to use an ice cream maker).

1/2 cup each sugar and water

2 Tbs. lemon juice

Fruit of your choice (see options below)

1. If you're not using bagged frozen fruit, freeze chopped fresh fruit on a plastic cutting board or a baking sheet sprayed with vegetable cooking spray.
2. In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, then boil until sugar is dissolved. Let cool; stir in lemon juice. Place frozen fruit in food processor and puree while slowly adding sugar syrup.
3. Transfer to container or ice-pop molds and freeze, or eat soft.

5 cups strawberries (or one 20-oz. bag of frozen berries)

3 cups sliced peaches (or one 10-oz. bag of frozen slices)

2 cups blueberries (or one 16-oz. bag frozen berries), plus 1 large banana

4 cups diced watermelon

1 cored fresh pineapple (in the container, core removed)

4 cups seedless green grapes

4 cups diced cantaloupe

4 cups diced honeydew

This scrumptious, sliceable version of the classic dessert is much less messy.

1 frozen deep-dish pie shell

1 1/4 cups vanilla ice cream, softened

1/2 cup chocolate fudge sauce

3 bananas, sliced

1 1/4 cups chocolate ice cream, softened

2 1/2 cups strawberry ice cream

Whipped cream

Maraschino cherries

1. Bake pie shell empty according to package directions and let cool. Cover bottom of pie shell with vanilla ice cream. Place fudge sauce in a resealable plastic bag and snip off corner. Drizzle 1/2 of fudge sauce over ice cream, top with 1/2 of sliced bananas. Freeze for 15 minutes.
2. Layer chocolate ice cream on top of bananas; repeat layers of fudge sauce and bananas. Freeze pie for 15 minutes more.
3. Place scoops of strawberry ice cream around edge and in middle of pie. Put whipped cream in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, then pipe dollops of cream between strawberry scoops. Top each slice with a cherry. Makes 8 servings.

Who needs a campfire? We packed our favorite summer dessert into a delicious ice cream log.

1 circular container (1.75 quarts) vanilla ice cream, softened

1 jar (7.5 oz.) marshmallow spread

1 cup chocolate chunks

1 1/2 cups honey Teddy Grahams

1 cup chocolate sprinkles

1. Put ice cream in a large bowl. Rinse and dry the circular ice cream container. Line the inside of the container with a gallon-size freezer-weight resealable plastic bag, pulling the top of the bag over the sides.
2. Add remaining ingredients except the sprinkles to the ice cream, mix together, and scoop back into the bag-lined container, pressing ice cream mixture down to pack. Firmly press ice cream into log shape. Seal bag and freeze container until ice cream sets, about 2 hours.
3. Remove log from container and bag. Roll log in sprinkles, place on a serving plate, and cut into 10 slices.

Copyright ? 2006. Reprinted with permission from the August 2006 issue of Parents magazine.