5 ideas for cold desserts

After a meal, many of us lick our lips anxiously awaiting dessert, and there’s no doubt that’s the case in summer too. Although, at this time of year, cold desserts are the most in-demand.  And the temperatures are showing no signs of letting up, so to combat them, the only option is to choose recipes that allow us to cool down our throats.

Without further delay, let’s take a look at the summer desserts that are going to be a hit over the next few months. Take note, we’re getting started!

Cherry and yoghurt ice cream

Ice cream is one of the easy cold desserts that you can make at home during the summer months. It’s easy to see why: it is simple to prepare and can be left in the freezer or fridge to rest. It couldn’t be any simpler.

In the case of this recipe for cherry and yoghurt ice cream, the added advantage is that it doesn’t contain sugar. You can use sweetened yoghurt, but you can also allow the fruit itself to provide the sweetness. Let’s look at how to make this exquisite ice cream.

You will need:

-500 g cherries
-1 natural yoghurt

The first thing you need to do is wash the cherries and remove the pits. Next, leave them in the freezer with the yoghurt. When everything is extra cold, place it in a food processor and blend to form a creamy ice cream. So much so that you won’t need to place it back in the freezer to harden: you can eat it straight away. If you want to add a final touch, you can pour some melted chocolate on top. Addictive.

Dark chocolate and coffee mousse

Coffee is a vice for some people - even in summer-, and is present in homemade cold desserts like dark chocolate and coffee mousse, two ingredients that always work well together and taste delicious.

Make a note of the ingredients you will need:

-200 g dark cooking chocolate
-4 egg yolks
-75 g sugar
-1 tablespoon instant coffee
-200 ml milk
-200 ml liquid cream (for whipping)

Start by melting the chocolate. To do so, use the microwave or a bain-marie. Next, heat the milk in a saucepan and whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until they are frothy and whitish in colour. Add the yolks to the coffee dissolved in a few drops of water. You just need to add the yolk and sugar mixture to the milk and leave everything to cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Important: it shouldn’t reach boiling point.

The next step is to pour this cream on top of the chocolate and stir. The idea is to get a smooth and homogeneous mixture. Then leave to cool. Now it’s time to whip the cream and incorporate it to the previous mixture when it cools. All that’s left to do now is to pour it into small dishes (or small casserole dishes, for example) and leave in the fridge for 2 hours.

Cheese cake in individual dessert dishes

Simple but fabulous. That’s how we would describe this recipe that has won a place among the quick cold desserts that we can make this summer. The good thing about this version of cheese cake is that, being in individual dishes, it is very easy to serve and enables each one to be personalised with the desired topping.

To make this dessert, you need:

-80 g biscuits (Digestives, Maria or crackers)
-125 g cream cheese
-200 ml liquid cream for whipping
-1 egg
-8 g vanilla sugar
-25 g sugar
-20 g baking flour
-1 pinch of salt

The first thing you will need to do is preheat the oven to 160 ºC and prepare 4 oven-proof dessert dishes to assemble the portions. Crush the biscuits and cover the base of each dish with these crumbs (you can add a little melted butter if you like to add more flavour). Whisk the cream cheese in a bowl with the cream and egg so you get a homogeneous mixture. Next, incorporate the vanilla sugar, normal sugar, salt and flour and whisk a little more.

Pour the mixture into the dishes and bake for 40 minutes, enough time for them to brown on top. Next, you need to wait for them to cool (minimum of an hour before serving) to decorate them with whatever you like: red berries, jam, whipped cream, melted chocolate...

Watermelon sorbet and lemon ice cream

If there is one word to define our next dessert, it has to be refreshing. This is thanks to its undeniable star ingredient being watermelon. Moreover, the presence of this fruit also makes this a very healthy cold dessert recipe.  

You will need:

-600 g watermelon
-100 ml water
-25 g grated coconut
-50 g sugar
-250 ml lemon ice cream
-mint leaves

Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Peel the watermelon, chop and place in the blender jug. Blend it a little, add the liquid mixture and blend together. Now mix the lemon ice cream and place everything in a large tin or dish that you will place in the freezer. So it doesn’t crystallize, you need to stir the sorbet occasionally.

Finally, scrape the sorbet and place into glasses. You just need to sprinkle with a touch of grated coconut and decorate with the mint leaves.

 Ice cream sandwich with chocolate and almond crunch

Our final option for our list of easy cold desserts. It’s no surprise that the ice cream sandwich is one of the most in-demand desserts, and lots of people go crazy for this mixture of biscuit and ice cream. It is also perfect for the little ones of the family.

What ingredients will you need? Let’s take a look:

-16 biscuits
-250 g dark chocolate topping
-1 l  vanilla ice cream
-200 g almond crunch
-mint leaves

Take the ice cream out of the freezer and leave at room temperature for 15 minutes. Using an ice cream scoop, form a ball of ice cream and place it in the middle of two biscuits, like a sandwich. Using a small knife, cut off the excess ice cream that protrudes from the sides. Repeat the process with the rest of the biscuits and ice cream. Next, place them on a tray, over with clingfilm and place in the freezer.

Now you need to prepare the chocolate. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and place in a smaller bowl. Then, dip half of the sandwich in the melted chocolate and then in the bowl of almond crunch, so it sticks on top of the chocolate. Repeat the process with all of the sandwiches and voilà!

If you don’t want the sandwiches to melt straight away, you can freeze a large container with water and place the sandwiches on top, on a plate.