Create Your Own Cool Homemade Treats

By the foodnetwork.ca Editorial Team

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Do you find yourself craving cool, refreshing sweets when temperatures climb? Rather than rushing to the corner store or flagging down the ice cream truck, try out these simple at-home recipes.

Recipe: Ice Cream Dream

You don't need a fancy ice cream machine to make your very own tasty confections. In fact, ice cream can be made in a plastic bag! This vanilla version tastes creamy and delicious, and is a wonderful summer activity to share with children.

What you need:

1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp rock salt
1 large and one medium-sized plastic freezer bag
Plenty of ice cubes

What to do:

Half fill the large freezer bag with ice cubes.
Add the rock salt, seal the bag and place in freezer until ready to use.
Combine milk, vanilla, and sugar in the smaller bag and seal.
Place the sealed smaller bag inside the larger bag and seal again with care.
Shake away! The mixture will turn into ice cream after about five minutes of vigorous shaking.
Open smaller bag carefully and enjoy!

Tips: Top fresh ice cream with fruit, syrup or nuts. Double or triple the recipe for a crowd.

Recipe: Great Granitas

Granitas is Italian for flavoured ice -- which does not do this lovely delicacy justice! Tasty granitas can be made in many flavours, so feel free to get creative and substitute the cocoa powder and cinnamon in this recipe for vanilla, caramel or fruit puree.

What you need:

4 cups water
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp freshly ground cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

What to do:

Combine sugar and water in a medium sized sauce pan.
Add cocoa to the water, and heat to a rapid boil.
Cool mixture for two minutes and pour into a roasting pan.
Cover and freeze for one to two hours.
Remove from freezer and use a large fork or spoon to break the mixture into pieces.
When ready to serve, spoon into martini or cocktail glasses, allow to soften slightly, and enjoy!

Tip: Top granitas with fresh fruit chunks.

Recipe: Sensational Sorbet

A velvety frozen treat, sorbet can be concocted in the blink of an eye using readily available household ingredients and seasonal fruits. Impress dinner guests by serving this homemade raspberry sorbet for dessert or as a palate cleanser between courses. This recipe can also be made with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or melon.

What you need:

2 pints raspberries, washed and hulled
1 1/3 cups simple syrup*
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

What to do:

Puree the raspberries in a food processor. This should yield about three cups.
Set aside 1/4 cup of raspberry puree to use as a coulis base for the sorbet.
Stir one cup of the simple syrup and the lemon juice into the remaining puree.
Taste and add remaining syrup if necessary.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and freeze for about two hours.
Drizzle coulis on plates, and use an ice cream scoop to serve the sorbet.

* To make simple syrup, combine two parts water and one part sugar in a small sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, and wait until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool.

Tip: Garnish with fresh raspberries and/or mint leaves.

Recipe: Yummy Yogurt

Scrumptious frozen yogurt can be made with only two ingredients! Add pureed berries or bananas to the mix for increased flavour intensity, or top with flavoured syrup.

What you need: