Here are two ideas for cooling-off drinks, courtesy of ChocolateBox Café in Malibu, California.

Instead of an ice cream soda, scoop gelato or ice cream into an iced espresso and sorbet into iced tea.

 
Pre-chill the glasses in the freezer for a frostier drink.

Cool off with an iced espresso combined with
coffee gelato. Photo courtesy
ChocolateBox Café.

What’s the difference between ice cream and gelato? Sorbet and sherbet? See our Ice Cream Glossary.

Savory or sweet, there’s a pretzel treat for
everyone. Photo courtesy Kim & Scott’s.

These jumbo, soft, whole grain pretzels are stuffed with savory and sweet ingredients and sold frozen, ready to be baked or microwaved into rewarding treats. While we prefer the savory varieties (read our review), with Kim & Scott’s, there are varieties for the sweet tooth as well.

• THE PRIZE: One winner will take home the Original Variety Sampler: 10 sweet and savory gourmet stuffed pretzels. For snacking or save them for a party or special brunch. Approximate retail value: $28.00.
• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Snacks Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, July 26th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• To learn more about Kim & Scott’s, visit KimAndScotts.com.

The Washington State Fruit Commission has a beautiful new website devoted to preserving fruit.

Whether you’re an experienced preserver or a newbie, create a fun event that lets you make gifts (great for the holidays) and treats for the home.

The website has templates for pretty labels for your jars of fruit, as well as an A-to-Z guide to doing it right. There are also instructions for hosting a memorable preservation party.

Pick a party date and head to the website.

Make your own preserves this summer.
Photo courtesy Washington State Fruit Commission.

Take-out food with a good, affordable wine
makes for a pleasant evening. Photo
by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

But every town has its favorite take-out spots. In a survey conducted by Turning Leaf wine, 38% of respondents nationwide said that Friday night—after a long week—was their favorite night for take-out food.

Most Americans enjoy their take-out on the sofa or the dining table. We recommend adding a nice glass of wine to the experience. Here are Turning Leaf’s take-out-and-wine pairing suggestions:

• Cabernet Sauvignon: cheeseburger, cheese pizza, meatball hero
• Chardonnay: grilled cheese, spring rolls, mozzarella sticks
• Merlot: dumplings, gyro, veggie burger
• Pinot Grigio: garlic knots, miso soup, tortilla soup
• Pinot Noir: falafel, taco, salmon roll sushi
• Riesling: chicken tikka masala, pad thai, spicy tuna roll
• Sauvignon Blanc: broccoli with garlic sauce, green curry, seaweed salad
• White Zinfandel: California roll, General Tso’s chicken, rainbow roll

Find our favorite special-occasion wines in our Wine Section.

In addition to buttercream and cream cheese frostings, the busy bakers came up with a third concept: icing cupcakes by dipping them in chocolate sauce (a.k.a. hot fudge).

We like that idea—especially since our Top Pick Of The Week is Sassy Sauce’s delicious line of chocolate sauces (and caramel sauces).

A good chocolate sauce is like fudge-in-a-jar. Chocolate sauce becomes “hot fudge” (as opposed to calling it “hot chocolate”) when it’s heated to a liquid consistency. (There is no official definition of “hot fudge”; see our Dessert Sauce Glossary for details.)

To create our own hot fudge cupcake topping, we first tried using Sassy Sauce’s chocolate sauces (in Bittersweet, Peanut Butter, Spicy and Milk Chocolate Caramel) right from the jar at room temperature. In another test, we warmed the sauce slightly—10 seconds in the microwave.

We copied Saint Cupcake’s idea. Here, a
peanut butter cupcake frosted with
chocolate sauce and garnished with peanuts.
Photo courtesy SaintCupcake.com.

• Check out our recipe for dark chocolate cupcakes and preheat the oven!
• Prefer buttercream or cream cheese cupcake frosting? Here are recipes.
• How about some easy cupcake decorating ideas?