Editors’ Picks: 5 Last-Taste-of-Summer Treats

We may have just started September, but our editors aren’t ready to give up on summer yet€”here are five of our team’s favourite summer treats.

Drumstick

The musical tones of an ice cream truck create a Pavlovian response in me (and, oh, anyone who’s a human being) that’s both thrill and anxiety at the same time. Thrill: ice cream! Anxiety: will I find my mother in time before it passes us on the street and WILL SHE GIVE ME MONEY?! Now that I’m a grown up, the auto-response is still there, but lucky me! I’m in control of my own budget—which gets blown on a $4 Drumstick whenever I’m at the beach. —Anicka Quin, Editor-in-Chief 

Homemade Fiddlestix

I have no shame in enjoying these fiddlestix year ’round, but they taste even better in the summer. (It’s science. Look it up.) They’re impressive to make, but not too laborious: sure, you make your own homemade Magic Shell coating, but you also get to cheat and use store-bought ice cream inside. And better still, they offer plenty of opportunity to get creative—nuts are classic, but if sprinkles or coconut flakes are your thing, go wild. Find the recipe here. —Stacey McLachlan, Associate Editor

Razzle Dazzle (a.k.a. Raspberry and Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich)

The ice cream sandwiches of my youth with the bleached white vanilla layer between doughy chocolate wafers were tasty, but I’m a huge supporter of the emerging gourmet ice cream sandwich trend that puts fancy flavours between actual chocolate chip cookies. Presidents Choice has a wickedly rich version of this with chocolate ice cream, but one of my latest favourites is the Razzle Dazzle from Brown Paper Packages Ice Cream. Each voluptuously proportioned treat is handmade in small batches and individually wrapped in brown paper (so you can take it to-go!). The Razzle Dazzle, one specialty concoction of many, is chocolate and fresh raspberry ice cream stuffed between two double chocolate chip cookies. In Vancouver you can find them at Pizzeria Barbarella in East Vancouver or at Pazzo Chow in Chinatown, (and find them you should!) —Julia Dilworth, Staff Writer

Mexican Dulce de Leche Ice Pops

Victoria chef Brett Black and I share a love of Mexico, especially its food and flavours. For his shop, Kid Sister, he’s taken cues from Mexico’s tradition of paletas, those colourful, fruit-forward ice pops found in every beach town worth its weight in guacamole. Being a chef, his versions take a creative twist. That means organic ingredients from cream, sugar, eggs, chocolate, herbs and spices, vanilla, and summer fruits and vegetables—many of them sourced from his Saanich farm. Seasonal flavours from pear with riesling, or peach and lime, even a savoury gazpacho make repeat visits worthwhile, but I can’t resist the classic Mexican dulce de leche. It’s a dream team of vanilla-flecked ice cream covered in a blanket of chocolate providing the right snap topped with a pecan for a crunchy flourish.  Brain freeze never felt so good. —Shelora Sheldon, City Editor

Dark ‘n Stormy

As a general rule, warm weather and drinking spirits are a recipe for a mid-afternoon nap, but the Dark ‘n Stormy skirts this problem—assuming you wait until 5 p.m. to start tossing them back. It’s a weirdly spicy drink—you must use ginger beer, never ginger ale—and I think that’s the key to why it’s so refreshing. It’s also important to be generous with the lime and discard the depleted husk into the drink as well—this isn’t a proper drink, but a casual one and should be treated as such. As for the rum, Gosling’s Black Seal is the traditional and they’ve gone so for as to patent the drink, which is sort of a jerk move but there’s no denying their rum works best in it. —Neal McLennan, Food and Travel Editor

Dark ‘n Stormy

– 2 Ounces Dark Rum

– Top with Ginger Beer

– Juice and husk of half a lime

– Lots of Ice