It's Hot!: {Root Beer ICEE Floats}

Yep, it is hot again. I know, broken record - 110 today in Tucson and I heard it hit 118 in Phoenix - scorcher!  But today, no more cooking in the car, today we decided to cool off!  To celebrate Independence Day (and our baby's birthday which was yesterday) we had a pool party and BBQ with some awesome friends.  We topped off the night with a fun, all-American treat - the root beer float - with a "It's Hot! Hot! Hot! Summer Series" twist!

My daughter loves root beer (as do I) and on a hot day, what is better than an ice cold glass of root beer with a scoop of ice cream.  A while back I came across a fun post for a DIY Coke ICEE at Bake at 350 and just knew I had to give this a try.

So I pulled out the ice cream machine and 4 cans of root beer, poured them in and 20 minutes later we had very tasty root beer ICEEs.  Mmmmm.

*** Must use full sugar soda for this as the diet soda will not get slushy.  I tried, it simply froze to the edge of the tub and almost burnt out my motor!

Of course, they are MUCH better with a couple of scoops of ice cream inside.  I especially loved this treat as my favorite part of a root beer float is when you get the icy root beer crystals around the ice cream.  Starting with the root beer ICEE base brought back the memory of those yummy, creamy crystals.

Some fun variations to try would be...

* Brown Cow, which is essentially a root beer float using chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. 

*  Add some whipped cream on top for some extra flair.

*  Add a shot or two of root beer schnapps to the ICEE mix could be fun for a "grown-ups" party!

*  Try other sodas.  I am thinking orange soda with vanilla ice cream would be like a dreamsicle.  Dr. Pepper and cherry ice cream sounds yummy too!  Oh, the possibilities.

Hope you are finding a fun way to keep cool this holiday weekend. 

Happy 4th of July everyone!

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