Sundae best (+ recipes)

Finish the strawberry sundae with a wafer biscuit. Photo / Janna Dixon

Warming weather demands great icecream treats.

When I was very little it was a big event to go "to town". It was even more special when my grandfather would take me with him. He would pick me up, attired in the mode of any self-respecting man of that time: three-piece suit, white shirt and tie, classic lace-up shoes, a hat and a proper overcoat. I would have been dressed in my best.

After his business was done we would visit the Canterbury Museum or maybe the Provincial Chambers. Then it was off to have an icecream sundae treat. I always picked strawberry.

Young as I was, they seemed to cost an awful lot of money - two shillings and sixpence.

Although claimed as an American invention, according to the Oxford English Dictionary the origin of the term sundae is obscure. However, it is generally accepted that the spelling "sundae" derives from the word Sunday or, possibly, from the German Sonntag, which also means Sunday.

Here are some easy icecream sundae recipes to get the family singing your praises into summer.

Old-fashioned vanilla icecream

Make your own old-fashioned vanilla icecream from scratch. The easy recipe below comes from the W.D.F.F Cookery Book of 1965.

1 Place a tin of unsweetened condensed milk in the refrigerator overnight.

2 The next day empty into a basin with ½ cup of icing sugar, and 1 teaspoon of gelatine dissolved in boiling water (about 1 tablespoon). Beat until thick. Freeze.

Strawberry sundae

1 Cut up some strawberries, sprinkle with icing sugar and squeeze the juice of an orange over them. Allow to sit for an hour or so to develop a syrup.

2 In a tall glass, layer scoops of vanilla ice cream and the juicy strawberries.

3 Finish with a pink wafer biscuit.

* Grant Allen has been a professional cook for 30 years. He works as a caterer in Auckland. Visit Grant's Facebook page here.