4th of July Fireworks Ice Cream Soda

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A kid-friendly recipe that's fun for everyone! This ice cream soda is red, white and blue - perfect for the 4th of July! And it has a little fireworks action from a sprinkle of Pop Rocks!

Prep Time15

Chilling Time1 30

Total Time1 45

Course: Chilled Dessert, Dessert, Drinks, Ice Cream, Summer Dessert, Summer Drink

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Nancy Mock

Ingredients

2 .33-ounce envelopes of blue Pop Rocks: look for Tropical Fruit Punch flavor
2 cups vanilla bean ice cream, softened
24 ounces (two 12-ounce bottles) red cherry soda (I used IBC brand), chilled
4 tall chilled glasses plus straws & spoons

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare the ice cream:

Open one package of Pop Rocks and pour them over the softened vanilla ice cream.
Stir them together just until the Pop Rocks leave streaks of blue through the ice cream. You want the streaks to be bright and visible.
Cover the ice cream with plastic wrap, pressing it to the surface of the ice cream and place it in the freezer. Freeze the ice cream for 1-2 hours until it has firmed up.

Assemble the sodas:

Divide the cherry sodas between the four chilled glasses, half a bottle into each glass.
Use a ¼-cup scoop and gently place two scoops of the Pop Rocks ice cream into each glass.
Open the second envelope of Pop Rocks and sprinkle them over the top of the ice cream sodas - and watch them pop!
Place straws into each glass and serve them immediately, along with a spoon for each. Makes 4 servings.

Notes

To get the blue for your red, white and blue drink look for the Tropical Fruit Punch flavor of Pop Rocks.
If you are really pressed for time, you can skip the step of swirling Pop Rocks into the ice cream - there's no chilling time necessary this way.
There are lots of brands of cherry soda, with colors ranging from neon pink to garnet! Pick your favorite - my family preferred the flavor of the IBC Dark Cherry Soda.
To keep the sodas looking, tasting and popping their best, serve them immediately after assembling.
The combination of cherry soda and vanilla ice cream here is for the delectable flavor (of course) and for the red-white-blue theme. Feel free to experiment with other sodas and ice creams, ices or sorbets.
Steps you can do in advance: stir the Pop Rocks into the ice cream, chill the sodas and glasses, have everything laid out and ready to make the drinks (straws, Pop Rocks, spoons), and you can scoop the ice cream ahead of time. Just place the scoops of ice cream on a small baking sheet, cover them with plastic and hold them in the freezer.

Nutrition