Christian Kent Nelson Contributed Photo

Ice cream bar PHOTO BY TINKY WEISBLAT

I’m not a fan of fireworks, but I still enjoy the Fourth of July. It’s a wonderful day on which to celebrate the origins of our country. When the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, its members established a set of ideals to which we are still aspiring.

Celebrating the Fourth as an important anniversary began the following year. Philadelphia, the birthplace of the declaration, held a gala celebration with an enormous fireworks display on July 4, 1777. Bostonians set off fireworks that same night over Boston Common.

Massachusetts was in fact the first state to adopt the Fourth as a holiday, in 1781. It would not formally become a federal holiday until 1870.

In my neighborhood we celebrate Independence Day (weather permitting) with a pot-luck picnic by the water. Like most Americans on July 4, we do a little grilling and enjoy a variety of side dishes and salads.

If you only make potato salad once a year, July 4 is the day to make it. If you only eat hot dogs once a year, July 4 is the day to eat them. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans consume 150 million hot dogs on this holiday.

It adds that 150 million hot dogs would stretch from the District of Columbia to Los Angeles four times.

The council says that our nation’s preferred beverage with which to wash down the dogs is soda, followed by beer, lemonade, ice tea, orange juice, and wine. I haven’t ever actually seen anyone drink wine with a hot dog, but I’ll keep my eyes open on Monday.

I considered several menu ideas before I decided that my contribution to the July 4 pot luck this year would be ice cream of some sort. After all, it was one of our Founding Mothers, Dolley Madison, who popularized ice cream in Washington, D.C.

Some food historians maintain that Madison’s preferred ice-cream flavor was oyster(!), although the researchers at her estate in Virginia, Montpelier, do not agree. They don’t believe that she was the first First Lady to serve ice cream, either. That honor goes to Martha Washington.

The researchers do maintain that Dolley Madison’s fervor for dishing up ice cream as a special dessert brought a lot of fun and flavor to the White House and to the nation’s capital.

My ice cream dish is a little more modern than Dolley Madison’s creations. I’m making an ice-cream bar.

In 1922, Christian Kent Nelson, a teacher and confectioner in Iowa, invented the first ice cream bar.

According to legend (and the Smithsonian Institution), one of Nelson’s young customers couldn’t make up his mind whether he wanted to buy ice cream or a chocolate bar. “I want ’em both, but I only got a nickel,” the youth is quoted as saying.

The answer, Nelson decided, was to combine the two. He went into partnership with chocolatier Russell Stover, and the ice-cream bar was born.

Nelson called his creation an I-Scream Bar, but he and Stover soon changed its name to Eskimo Pie. (It was recently renamed “Edy’s Pie” in response to criticism that “Eskimo” is considered a derogatory term for people who live in the Arctic.)

My I-Scream bar is simpler than the one made by Christian Kent Nelson. It doesn’t have chocolate all around each bar, just on top.

The reason for this decision was twofold. First, the cookie base gives the bars plenty of chocolate flavor; spreading chocolate all around would be overkill.

Second, it was much, much easier to spread the chocolate only on the top. Nelson is supposed to have spent weeks perfecting his bar. I didn’t have that much time at my disposal.

The recipe was inspired by one that appeared recently in the “Washington Post.”

The bars in the “Post” were made with vanilla ice cream and a pretzel base, and they were given extra crunch with salted peanuts.

I prefer coffee ice cream and a chocolate sandwich-cookie base. I think my combination is, to coin a phrase, a more perfect union, but you may use any flavor of ice cream and base you like. I have to admit that the pretzel base sounds delightfully salty.

Whatever flavors you use, you’ll have a make-ahead bar to please the young and young at heart on July 4. Happy Independence Day!

For the crust and filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

24 chocolate sandwich cookies, ground in a food processor or crushed in a zip-top bag with a rolling pin; this is a bit over 2 cups

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips

Begin by making the crust. Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil. (I used nonstick foil.) In a bowl, combine the melted butter and the cookie crumbs as well as you can.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and press it into the bottom of the pan, creating a solid, flat layer. Freeze for 30 minutes.

Next, make the chocolate coating. In a medium heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water), combine the chocolate, the cream, and the corn syrup.

Warm them until about three-quarters of the chocolate melts (this will take about five minutes), stirring occasionally.

Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until the chocolate finishes melting. Let the coating cool to room temperature.

About 20 minutes before you’re ready to assemble your bars, take the ice cream out of the freezer to soften. Using an offset spatula or a large spoon, evenly spread the softened ice cream over the frozen crust. Transfer to the freezer until the ice cream is firm again, about 30 minutes.

Pour the cooled coating over the ice cream and evenly spread it with an offset spatula or the back of a large spoon. Do this as quickly as you can. Return the pan to the freezer until the coating is firm, at least three hours and preferably overnight.

Remove the foil-bottomed treats from the pan, and place them on a cutting board. Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut the bars into 16 squares (or as many as you like). Run the knife under hot water and dry it after each slice. Carefully lift the bars off the foil, and serve them. Serves eight or more.

You may double this recipe to serve a crowd and make it in a 9-by-13-inch pan.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning author and singer. Her next book will be “Pot Luck: Random Acts of Cooking.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.

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