I love when food trends give tired products new life, like making a Pop-Tart ice cream sandwich, or curing your gummy candy. Wrapping ice cream in Fruit Roll-Ups is the TikTok trend that’s currently reviving the 80s lunch box snack and, though it’s sure to spike my sugar levels, it’s a surprisingly entertaining eating experience.
The star-power of this super-saccharine snack lies not only in the flavor but the unexpected change in texture. You can immediately feel how the temperature of the ice cream begins to transform the once flexible gummy wrap into a rigid, crispy casing. When you take a bite, the ice cream melts on your tongue and the Fruit Roll-Up shatters in your teeth. As you chew, another exciting texture change occurs, and the hardened gummy candy reverts to its original, chewier, stretchier form. It seems easy enough, unfurl your Roll-Up, scoop ice cream in, and roll, but there are a couple ways to make this bizarre snack even better.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Roll it the easy way
If there’s one thing I know about ice cream it’s that the stuff is going melt faster than you expect it to. Have your Fruit Roll-Up unrolled and ready before you grab the ice cream. Once you scoop a couple dollops in a line perpendicular to one edge, it’s time to roll. The inclination might be to lift the one end and start curling it over the ice cream, pushing it, hoping it will roll over, similarly to making a jelly roll or rolling cinnamon buns. However, the rapidly melting ice cream makes that quite difficult, as there’s no traction on the smooth surface of the Roll-Up, so it just slides away. Instead, after you scoop the ice cream onto the candy wrap, lift both edges on opposite sides of the ice cream and let gravity do half of the work. Make a little cradle, then tuck one end over the top. Any excess gets folded over.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Add other ingredients
You can make some very interesting pairings with ice cream and Fruit Roll-Ups, like a classic Strawberry vanilla combo, Sour Roll-Ups with black cherry, or the tropical flavor Fruit Roll-Ups with raspberry cheesecake that I put together. To take your ice cream tube to a new level, play around with texture and flavor. Add fruit, like a slice of tangy mango, or a few blueberries. Sprinkle in even more texture with a few chocolate chips, chopped nuts, crispy cooked bacon, or actual sprinkles, or try adding a swipe of peanut butter, chocolate sauce, or jam.
Bulk prep and freeze
Once you’ve successfully rolled a fruity tube of ice cream, the Roll-Up hardens quickly, and you can (technically) immediately enjoy the textural delight that is a crispy, fruity shell paired with soft ice cream. Consider yourself warned, however, as the softened ice cream will try to flood out the other end. Unless you’re in emergency-dessert-desperation-mode, place the wrap on a piece of foil and pop it in the freezer for 20 minutes to solidify. In the event that you fall in love with this sweet snack, you should prepare them in bulk. Unwrap four (or more) Fruit Roll-Ups, lay them on a small sheet tray, and fill them there. Once they’re rolled and ready, place the entire sheet tray in the freezer for 30 minutes until the ice cream has set, then drop them all into a zip-top freezer bag. Keep them in the ol’ ice chest, ready for when the mood strikes.
