Hi there–it’s been a while, but things got busy recently. Here’s one that’s been half-finished in my draft queue for way too long.
We got onto a “ridiculous desserts” kick recently, and made 15-14: Knickerbocker Glory along with its similar cousin, 15-7: Banana Split. If you’re still holding off on going out somewhere for ice cream, either one of these are pretty easy to make at home and are definitely ridiculous. Not quite on the level of “cake hanging off of a milkshake for Instagram“, but also definitely not something you’d eat very often.
“Knickerbocker glory” is a real thing that Simply Delicious didn’t just make up, and has been around for about a hundred years at this point. They were allegedly invented in the US (at the Knickerbocker Hotel), but seem to be a much bigger deal in the UK these days than they are here. They’re even mentioned in Harry Potter!
Since Independence Day is just around the corner, maybe you can make these as an “American” summer treat–especially if it’s super hot where you are right now.
The hardest part of this otherwise very easy recipe might be trying to find appropriate glasses in which to serve these. A regular drinking glass or pint glass might do in a pinch–anything somewhat tall and thin. Maybe even the perennial hipster restaurant favorite, drinking jars?
Ingredients. Instead of fruit-flavored ice cream, I used sorbet. I’m also using some frozen mixed berries instead of just raspberries, and some non-dairy whip instead of whipped cream. Finally, I’m using some peach fruit cups instead of fruit cocktail.
Overall, nothing too crazy. Keep in mind, there’s no one way to make one of these: just as long as it has red/white stripes (that’s the “knickerbockers“). Hence, my choice to go with the hipster drinking jar option (previously seen in 15-30: Champagne Sundaes and 15-29: Raspberry-Lemon Parfait) for my glassware.
Blending up the frozen berries in the mini processor.
Mixing this purée with the water and powdered sugar essentially gives you jam–just use jam if you want to speed this process up even more.
Draining out the liquid from the peaches. These were just out of date at the time–but I took these pictures last summer (2020).
Chilled my glasses jars, as mentioned in the TIPS.
My attempts at layering–it’s slightly harder in a jar where the opening is narrower.
I used to make root beer (and real beer) floats at the restaurant I worked at, and we used the same sort of jars for those. Same problem–tough to get the ingredients in and make them look nice.
There’s definitely red, and definitely white. At least we’ve checked those boxes. ✅
More white to go with that red. There’s also that peek of orange from the peaches at the bottom.
I happened to have some whipped “cream” left over from 15-7: Banana Split, so I used that on top. If you haven’t checked that one out, it uses a lot of the same ingredients (which is why I did them at the same time).
Final picture–it’s got red, it’s got white…I think it counts as a knickerbocker glory. Add some blue (berries?) and maybe a few fireworks 🎇, and you’re ready for some 4th of July fun as well.
Grade: A
