Make an Easy Summer Dessert: Put it in a Jar

Our family celebrated Miss T’s birthday recently. She and I had made some sensational high heel cupcakes for her birthday party. Now, for this family affair, I needed an easy summer dessert.

Miss T is not big on traditional desserts like pies and cakes. So I built a birthday dessert around her favorite ice cream, packed in mini mason jars.

Enter the Mini Mason Jar

This summer, I’ll be hosting small groups of friends in our garden. And, rather than presenting platters of food, I’m thinking single-serve portions is the Covid-safer solution. I had already purchased forty 4-ounce mini mason jars in preparation.

I started with my favorite brownie recipe for years, Maida Heatter’s All-American Brownies from her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. You can find the recipe here. This is an easy-to-make brownie that is extraordinarily moist and delicious.

While perfect for a kid’s birthday party, this is also an easy summer dessert I’ll be serving throughout the season, since you can make it ahead and stash the filled jars in your freezer.

Brownies and Ice Cream in a Jar

Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 pan (8 X 8 inches) brownies, cooled and turned out of the pan
• 2 pints ice cream
• Sweetened whipped cream, for topping (optional)

Materials and Tools

• 6 mini mason jars (4-ounce size with 2 1/4-inch wide mouth)
• 2-inch biscuit cutter
• 6 bamboo skewers, each about 5 inches long
• White school glue, like Elmer’s
• Decorations, such as butterflies cut from cardstock using a decorative punch (see “Make the Decorations” below)

Using a biscuit cutter, cut 6 perfect circles for the tops; set aside, covered with plastic wrap. Use the scraps, pushed together, to cut out 6 more circles (these will be for the bottom of the jar, so they can be patched).

Lay a patched circle on the bottom of each of the mason jars.

Spoon ice cream into the jars covering the brownies, dividing ice cream equally. Smooth tops. Cover jars loosely with lids and freeze until ready to serve.

If you plan to serve the dessert more than a day later, freeze the brownie circles that you’ve set aside for the topping, so they won’t dry out.

Make the Decorations

Meanwhile, using a decorative paper punch, such as a butterfly punch, punch 12 shapes from cardstock. (My butterfly punch, about 1.75 inches wide, was on sale at Joann’s at the time.) Dab the blunt end of one skewer into white glue and sandwich the skewer between two matching punched-out shapes. Set aside to dry.

If you don’t have a specialty punch, trace and cut out circles or triangles from colored cardstock. Write guests’ names in the circles.

To Serve

When ready to serve, remove lids, top each jar with a perfect brownie circle, add a dollop of whipped cream, if using, and insert a decorated skewer.

For the rest of the birthday lunch, Miss T requested the menu from the children’s etiquette dinner, which wasn’t what I would have served for a summer luncheon, but of course, we aimed to please the birthday child. A delicious time was had by all.

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