So I go visit my parents for the holidays. The night I arrive, we are sitting around chatting after dinner, and we get onto the topic of ice cream (not surprising if you know me at all). I comment that Baileys is really good on vanilla ice cream. My dad responds that Amaretto is great with ice cream. My cousin chimes in that he likes Kahlua. At which point my dad says “You know, I think I have all of those”, and proceeds to dig around in a cabinet and start pulling bottles down. He does indeed have Baileys, Amaretto, and Kahlua, to which he also adds Cherry Marnier and Creme de Menthe. Which is impressive given that my parents aren’t really drinkers.

At this point my mom enters the conversation and says that they have vanilla ice cream, as well as some bourbon caramel I had made for them, and some blueberries which also might be a nice topping. My dad then recounts how he met some Australians who said they don’t have coffee ice cream, but just take coffee grounds and sprinkle them like a topping. Within minutes my dad is grinding coffee and my mom is washing blueberries, and the next thing you know we have assembled a Boozy Sundae Bar.

We proceeded to try every combination we could think of, which with 5 bottles of booze and 3 toppings turns out to be quite a lot. My favorites were the Cherry Marnier with blueberries, and the Amaretto with coffee grounds and bourbon caramel. Best impromptu dessert night ever.