Food You Can Eat: Knickerbocker Glory

A Knickerbocker Glory is a variant of the ice cream sundae. They were both developed around the turn of the 20th century in America. The KG, let’s abbreviate, faded away in America: it varies because you use a lot of fruit and no chocolate sauce (gasp!) But the Brits can’t get enough and it shows up on a lot of menus where kids might show up, and in ice cream parlors (sorry, parlours, if they even call them that.) When I was digging around to make sure I was not subverting the spirit of the thing in some way I learned that one is mentioned in one of the Harry Potter books. I’ve never read a word of HP nor seen a minute of any of the movies so I take this on faith.

I’ll give you two versions. In essence, like the ice cream sundae, you can use all manner of ice cream and fruit, but the one I’m the most fond of is a super-strawberry version. Then, I’ll give you the Mary Berry version, which is really fun and beautifully presented; it’s why I chose it as the header image. Presentation, in fact, is a big factor of why I like these so much. So here goes.

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For the Strawberry Lover in You

In a sundae glass squirt some strawberry syrup. I don’t, but you can bet that Mary Berry makes her own syrups but it’s called coulis, because it’s not cooked, it’s pureed. It’s not tough but you have to use a food processor to pulse the fruit with sugar, then press through a strainer to distill. Better to keep bottles of syrup on hand, which you can squirt into drinks, alcoholic and non-.

Add a small layer of strawberries that you’ve sliced thin. Or you can skip this. Add one or two scoops of vanilla ice cream. I top this with sliced peaches, because even I have my strawberry limits. But now I’ve sullied the glass with this garish orange-yellow layer so here I add two scoops of strawberry ice cream. On top of this I add a thick layer of strawberries that I’ve quartered so they’re chunks. You should have room for a little more ice cream, so I go back to vanilla. Go around the rim of the glass and squirt more strawberry syrup so it runs down the sides, but not too much. Just a few streaks. This is very hit or miss in Britain but I am an American so I top the whole thing with tons of canned whipped cream. You can also spoon on homemade whipped cream but that takes too much deftness for me without half of it falling off the glass. Top with salted almonds and a maraschino cherry.

Now that we can celebrate it again without cringing you can also do this for the 4th of July, substituting blueberries for the peach layer.

With this as a template imagine the possibilities, friends! Three ice cream layers, two or three fruit layers, fruit syrups/coulises of your choice, nut toppings, the combinations must number into the many thousands. You know what not to imagine? The calories.

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When Mary Berry Has Free Time

In a large glass (see the image; they seem to have a greater variety of these things than we do) add a layer of diced mangos. Top those with a layer of blueberries. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mary, it will come as no surprise, makes her own. Drizzle over a generous portion of raspberry syrup/coulis. You actually might have to make this yourself because I can’t remember ever seeing this flavor on a supermarket shelf. Do this entire layer again, including the raspberry syrup/coulis, and sprinkle on a few chopped pistachios.

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For both of these, I need not mention, serve the glasses on plates because it’s very messy. They’re both difficult to eat if you don’t have sundae spoons, but you can rearrange the ingredients and serve in bowls.