Homemade Buster Bars

When I was a kid, we rarely went out to eat, but looking back on it now, that is what made the experience so much better.

I know this post is about ice cream, but I have to tell ya a quick little story about take out when I was a kid.

On the occasions my Mom didn't make dinner, which I mentioned were few and far between, we would go an pick up a pizza from a pizza place called Big Fred's Pizza.

It was the ONLY place we had pizza.

It was actually where my Dad took my Mom on their first date... can I get an "Awwww?"

Anyway.... I remember going to pick up the pizza with my Mom, and sitting in the front seat of our (GIANT) Ford LTD holding the warm pizza box on my lap.  There is something about the way that Big Fred's pizza smells, especially in that box.

My husband knows if our family plans to get pizza and he asks where I want to go...where I will pick!!

Goes to show you, that the sense of smell is one of the greatest, and can sure trigger memories, can't it?

Ok, enough about pizza! This post is about ice cream!

Once or twice a summer my parents would load my brother and I in the car and we would get to go to DQ for ice cream.

My parents ALWAYS got Buster Bars. 

 It wasn't until I was a little older and they talked me into it, that I got one,

I haven't ordered anything else from DQ since!

Ice cream, hot fudge, peanuts all dipped in chocolate.  yum.

I decided this summer we would make them at home.

The twins and I got our ingredients, and made them one night and dipped them the next.

Here's what you need:

Homemade Buster Bars

recipe adapted from Eat at Home

8 plastic small plastic cups

8 Popsicle sticks

1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

Spanish peanuts

1 jar of hot fudge

12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

Line your cups up, in the bottom spoon about 1/2 T of peanuts, then drizzle with about 1/2 T of hot fudge.

the one with no peanuts is for my hubby...he says he's allergic...he really just doesn't like them!

Place a scoop of ice cream over that, and press it down firmly.

Top that again with about 1 heaping T of hot fudge, smearing it on top of the ice cream, top with 1 T peanuts.

Next more ice cream, press it down, more hot fudge and peanuts.

Place a Popsicle stick in the middle of the cup, and place the cups in the freezer.

We froze ours for 24 hours.

in they go!

After they are good and frozen, you can begin the dipping process.

Pour your chocolate chips and oil in a microwave safe bowl.  Melt in 30 second intervals stirring in between until chocolate is smooth. Let it stand for just a minute, so it isn't super hot.

I used a taller sour cream bowl to dip mine in, it needs to be pretty tall in order to be able to dunk it all of the way in and get it on the bottom by the stick.

Lightly squeeze the outside of the cup to release the ice cream.

I had to run a butter knife around the outside to loosen it up. 

(I think I got a little carried away with the fudge!)

messy messy!!

Looking at this picture now, makes me laugh.  Hayden kept using his fingers in the chocolate drippings on the counter.  You can see right where he's been!

Dunk it into the chocolate, and hold up for a second, giving it a slow twirl to distribute chocolate and let the excess run off.

Place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper, and place back in the freezer.  We ate ours the next night, to make sure they were good and frozen!

Notes:

I made these using the ingredients that the original recipe's ingredients.

But she only put the hot fudge and peanuts in the middle of the two layers of ice cream.

In my recollection, there were nuts and fudge on the top and bottom, too?

(Maybe that's just my dreamland that looks something like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory river?)

But that is how we did it.  So...mine got to be a little taller than what the original recipe did, therefore I ran out of dipping chocolate.  I just made more, no harm no foul.

But if you want to make them like I did, and have them full of nuts and gooey hot fudge, I would suggest making 6 instead of 8.

Make sure to PACK the ice cream down firmly!! 

I only had one stick come loose when I was dipping, and I know that's why.  I bought the wide Popsicle sticks at our Hobby Lobby, they held well!

Enjoy...but be sure you have a napkin! ;)