Today’s recipe for easy “Fried” Ice Cream with Honey Cinnamon Drizzle is made with just 5 ingredients that turn into a decadent frozen dessert treat. It’s like Mexican-style fried ice cream without frying for a no-fuss dessert.
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🤍We love this ice cream dessert
No matter how much we love luscious desserts, spending countless hours in the kitchen creating a treat with lots of ingredients is not always fun. And in the middle of summer, turning on the oven is the last thing you want to do!
Today’s recipe has just five ingredients, requires very little prep work, and you don’t need to turn on the oven.
This ice cream ball recipe is a great make ahead dessert, just make the balls and freeze them. When you are ready to serve just make the honey drizzle. This is a great way to pull out one or two of the ice creams for a snack or make days or weeks in advance for serving at a party.
- If you are looking for a fruity frozen dessert make sure to try this Strawberry Raspberry Cheesecake Mousse it tastes amazing and it’s easy to make with simple ingredients. Oh, and it’s pink too!
- If you love fresh fruit in your ice cream, make a batch of our favorite no-churn Peach Blackberry Ice Cream made with just four ingredients.
📃You need 5 ingredients
- Ice Cream – Choose your favorite flavor! I’m using French Vanilla
- Honey Bunches of Oats cereal – or a similar cereal
- Butter – The butter adds flavor and richness and holds the cereal flakes together
- Honey – Just to add some sweetness to the dessert
- Cinnamon – Because we all need some spice in our lives!
🥄 Instructions
Step 1. The first step is to learn how to make round ice cream balls. Using the right scoop helps. The Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop has a heat-conducting core and the shape of the scoop makes the best round scoops, this works great on really hard ice cream.
You want to scoop about a third to a half cup of ice cream then put it in a muffin tin lined with paper liners, or silicone muffin cups, this way you can easily get the ice cream balls out of the tin. And, if it’s 100 degrees outside like today, work fast. Freeze the ice cream balls for an hour or until firm.
Step 2. While the ice cream is refreezing, make the crunchy topping.
- Put 4 cups of the cereal in a plastic zip top bag and crush with a rolling pin.
- Next melt the butter in a skillet, add the crushed cereal, and toast on medium heat stirring constantly for about 6-8 minutes. Transfer the toasted cereal to a pan or bowl to roll the ice cream balls in.
Step 3. Remove the ice cream balls from the freezer and remove the paper liners. It’s easier if you do this one at a time. Roll the ball of ice cream in the cereal until it is nice and coated. Press the cereal into the ice cream to create a nice thick coating. Quickly roll the coated ice cream ball in the palm of your hand to make it nice and round.
Step 4. Put the coated ice cream balls back in the muffin tin inside clean paper liners. That’s it, now let the coated ice cream balls refreeze for several hours before serving.
Tip – Keep the muffin tin in the freezer and as you roll each ice cream ball put the coated ball directly in the freezer. This works like a charm. No melty ice cream balls.
Step 5. While the ice cream balls are refreezing make the cinnamon honey mixture. Simply place the honey in a small bowl and sprinkle in the cinnamon and stir until combined.
Step 6. When the ice cream balls are nice and firm, remove the paper liners, place them in your favorite bowls and drizzle the honey cinnamon on top.
Dessert is meant to be shared with friends and family. These ice cream balls are simply fun to make and fun to eat.
📖 Variations
- Instead of cereal, you can roll the ice cream balls in graham cracker crumbs or crushed shortbread cookies.
- Other cereals to try are crushed Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Rice Krispies
- Add some extra flavor to the coating with spices like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, or nutmeg.
- Add toasted coconut or cacao nibs to the coating.
- Of course, any flavor of ice cream will work with this recipe.
- Instead of honey, drizzle the ice cream balls with melted chocolate, hot fudge, butterscotch, or caramel sauce.
- A dollop of whipped cream on top would be fabulous.
❔ FAQs
There are so many varieties of ice cream scoops. For this recipe, you want about a third cup of ice cream and I use the 2-ounce scoop dipper for this recipe because it makes a nice round ice cream ball.
You can change up the cereal, but it is best to use something that has flakes, or a biscuit-type cereal that can be crushed down into small pieces so they stick to the ice cream balls.
To keep the ice cream nice and cold while making the ice cream balls and rolling the ice cream in the cereal, just make sure you only do a few at a time and immediately put the ice cream balls back into the freezer. So do two, put those in the freezer, do two more, and so on.
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No-Fried Mexican Ice Cream Balls
Ingredients
- ½ gallon Ice Cream your favorite flavor
- 4 cups Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
- ⅓ cup Butter
- 1 cup Honey
- ¾ tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
Making Ice Cream Balls
- Prepare a 6 cup muffin pan with paper liners. This needs to go into your freezer so make sure you have room.
- With a large ice cream scoop make six ½ cup rounded scoops of ice cream and place in the paper-lined muffin tin, then immediately place in the freezer.
- Let the ice cream balls freeze for at least 30 minutes.
- Measure the cereal into a large plastic bag and lay it flat on the counter. Using a rolling pin, roll over the cereal to coarsely crush it to make smaller pieces.
- In a large skillet melt the butter over medium heat then add the crushed cereal and toss to coat. Cook on medium heat for 6 – 8 minutes to lightly toast the cereal, stir constantly. Pour the toasted cereal into a deep bowl to cool.
- Mix the honey and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
Coating The Ice Cream Balls
- One at a time, roll the frozen ice cream balls in the cereal to evenly coat, pressing the cereal into the ice cream. Once the ball is coated you can quickly roll the ball in your hands to make it nice and round. Immediately put the ice cream back into the freezer and freeze until firm.
Serving Time
- Place the ice cream ball on a small serving plate and drizzle with the honey-cinnamon mixture.
- Store any uneaten ice cream in a freezer container and store in the freezer for up to three months.
Notes
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Nutrition
First published: July 12, 2018, Last updated: July 27, 2022, for better readability.
About Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory recipes with all my baking friends.
I recently tried making the Fried Ice Cream Balls recipe and they turned out amazing! The crispy outer layer paired with the cold, creamy ice cream center was a perfect combination and the cinnamon-honey topping just added that extra touch of sweetness.
So glad you like them. They are such a great treat.
Wow, were these tasty and so fun to make! The kiddos really enjoyed them. We will be making again!
This was such a great recipe. The creaminess of the ice cream with the sweet drizzle was a huge hit with my family. Will be making again for sure.
These ice cream balls were incredible! Everyone in my family loved them!
Ive been so curious about fried ice cream, and this recipe definitely is pushing me over the edge to finally make it! LOVE that honey cinnamon drizzle!!