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Have you ever been so busy with day-to-day tasks, or madly marking jobs off your to-do list, or so buried in work that you don't even notice the winter changing into spring? You want to carpe diem but you feel lucky to get out of the house with matching shoes? Spring bulbs are pushing their way out of the cold earth, and daffodils are waving their bright yellow blooms at you, but you're lost in your own tangled thoughts.
Life in the bakery in Mystic Water keeps Anna busy–so busy sometimes that she often sleeps less than 4 hours at night. During the winter months, when the days are long and dark, Anna can lose herself in her job. She gets up before the sun rises, and she's still working when it sets.
So as a reminder to herself to be thankful and slow down and find the joy in the everyday, she sets a reminder on her calendar for the first day of spring. Anna whips up Unicorn Ice Cream, full of colors and sparkles and goodness, just like spring. She fills a bowl (or glass or any container nearby) and steps out onto the patio to listen to the birds and notice the beautiful flowers and buds everywhere.
The townspeople also love when this colorful concoction beckons them from the window. Take one scoop of Unicorn Ice Cream, and joy will flutter through you. Be daring, ask for two scoops, and you'll feel a playfulness you haven't felt in years. Go ahead and be adventurous, ask for the extra large bowl, and watch how the world sparkles and shines and how you see the good in everyone you meet.
Unicorn Ice Cream
Difficulty Level: Much easier than finding a unicorn in your backyard
Serves: 12
Ingredients
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 14-oz can sweetened condense milk
(OR 1 quart of vanilla ice cream)
Cool Whip
5 colors of food coloring (I used neon pink, neon green, neon yellow, neon purple, and blue food gel)
sprinkles, sparkles, rainbows from Lucky Charms cereal, and colored mini marshmallows
How to Make
In a large mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream until medium peaks form.
Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk into the whipped cream, and fold the whipped cream and condensed milk together until completely combined.
OR if using store bought ice cream, let the ice cream sit out of the freezer for 20–30 minutes to soften.
Separate the ice cream into 5 bowls. Add the desired amount of food coloring to each bowl (1 color per bowl). Use a spoon to mix in the food coloring until it is evenly distributed in the ice cream base. You can add more food coloring as needed to reach your desired color. Do this quickly because the more work you do with the ice cream, the faster it melts.
You can use a standard loaf pan or a brownie pan or any serving dish that is okay in the freezer. Then layer the ice cream. Place ½ of each color in the pan in big dollops. (I layered the darker colors on the bottom to start and then followed with the lighter colors of pink and yellow.) Then repeat the color layering.
Run a butter knife through the ice cream a few times in each direction to swirl the colors together. Do this gently and not too much. You want a light swirled effect, not a globby mess of colors. If you overmix, the purple will turn the beautiful colors into gray.
Top the ice cream with your sprinkles and sparkles of choice because everyone needs a little bit of sparkle in his or her day.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 8 hours or until the ice cream has set up.
To serve, mix pink food coloring in with the Cool Whip. Serve ice cream with dollop of Cool Whip and more sprinkles.
The Baker’s Man can be purchased in paperback or for the Kindle from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and other major retailers.