As perfect of a treat as ice cream floats make, I certainly wouldn't complain if they packed a bit harder of a punch for those long summer nights. Thanks to someone's kindhearted ingenuity, these wine ice cream floats combine all that childhood sweetness with my favorite grown-up beverage: red wine. It's the best of both worlds.
The recipe for this tasty little ditty, originally published on Purewow, is short and sweet with very few ingredients. All you need to whip one up is a tall glass, one pint of vanilla ice cream, a bottle of red wine (the creator recommends something fruity), some sparkling water, and a jar of sweet maraschino cherries.
To keep the ice cream nice and solid, the glass should be placed in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes — think frosty beer mugs and you'll have the right idea. Once it's nice and cool, you'll want to fill the glass up about two-thirds of the way with ice cream (two scoops should do it). Then you'll slowly fill the glass with wine and sparkling water, being sure to keep the ratio of wine to water even. Pop a couple of maraschino cherries on top of the mixture and you're ready to enjoy a tasty treat with wine.
Considering the extensive health benefits attributed to red wine and the potential benefits of ice cream as part of a healthy diet (and all God's people said "amen!") one could almost file these floats in the healthy recipes category.
For all the moms out there who can never make a snack without sticky little fingers reaching over to say "gimme," this recipe can easily be adapted for children — without the wine, obviously. Swap out the wine with a fruit juice or root beer of your choosing, and you have a good old fashioned float for the little ones. Hey, making floats can be a family affair.
Now, I'm sure there are a few wine aficionados out there face-palming this pairing, but hear me out. While I'm all for the fine art of pairing wines with foods, sometimes you just want to combine two of your favorite things together to create something beautiful, culinary laws be damned. What I'm saying is, save me the spiel about acidic red wines not working with dairy because I'm having none of it.
Personally, I'm all for any sort of rationalization that leads you to eating one — or a whole bunch — of these fabulous floats. Call it family bonding, call it an investment in your wellbeing, call it happy hour. If you need me, I'll be busy stuffing my face.
