Making a Maple Ice Cream Cantaloupe Bowl (With Yummy Variations!)

What could be better than fresh cantaloupe? Making it into a personal bowl full of ice cream topped off with your favorite flavors and toppings! Great for the kids, date night, or as a tasty treat all for you, this recipe is sure to please.

• 1 ripe cantaloupe, sliced in half, seeds removed
• 1 large scoop of vanilla ice cream (or other flavor if preferred)
• Dark maple syrup (or other grade, color or flavor as preferred)
• 1 large spoon
• Ice cream scoop
• Large knife
• Serving bowl, plate or platter
• OPTIONAL: chocolate or caramel sauce, pinch of cocoa or hot chocolate mix, maraschino cherry, chocolate chips, cookie or brownie crumbles, other fruit syrup, (cake) sprinkles, hazlenut/chocolate spread

Use a large knife to cut the cantaloupe in half, width-wise. Also cut off a small portion of each of the halves back ends so that the cantaloupe halves can rest, flesh side up, without wobbling on your plate or bowl.

Use the spoon, or the ice cream scoop to gently scoop out the seeds until there is a clean, seedless, well formed hole in the cantaloupe halves. Discard the seeds and rinse your utensil as it will be needed later.

Take a large scoop of vanilla ice cream (or more than one if space permits) using the spoon or ice cream scoop, and place it in the hole left by the seeds in the cantaloupe halves. Gently push the ice cream down until it is securely inside.

Drizzle maple syrup over the ice cream and cantaloupe. Lightly swirled maple syrup can also work well decoratively, on a serving platter or plate.

Use a great big spoon and enjoy! Whether you use the spoon to scoop both ice cream, syrup and cantaloupe together, or opt to eat the ice cream before enjoying the creamy-topped cantaloupe is up to you.

VARIATIONS:

Instead (or in addition to!) a maple syrup drizzle to enhance your cantaloupe ice cream bowl, consider the following:

*Chocolate or caramel sauce (homemade or store bought)
*A pinch of cocoa or hot chocolate mix.
*A marashino cherry to top off your creation
*Chocolate chips or Hershey kisses/hugs
*Pieces of your favorite chocolate bar
*Cookie or brownie crumbles
*Other fruit syrup
*Cake sprinkles
*Melted hazlenut/chocolate spread
*Cinnamon sugar