'BLOW YOUR VALENTINE SWEETIE AWAY' ~ CHOCOLATE-CHERRY ICE CREAM BOMBE

"All I really need is love,

but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!"

~ Lucy Van Pelt (in Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz)

~Valentine Tulip

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CHOCOLATE-CHERRY ICE CREAM BOMBE

~Begin making this a day ahead. Chill the mold well before filling it. Allow several hours for the bombe to freeze and mellow before serving time. This easy recipe is from Bon Appetit (February 2000).

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1 16-oz. jar hot fudge sauce

(Sanders Bittersweet Fudge - the best)

1 12-oz. package semisweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp. water

1/4 cup brandy

3 pints (slightly softened) cherry-vanilla ice cream with chocolate chunks or fudge flakes

1 1/2 (slightly softened) pints chocolate sorbet (or frozen yogurt)

or chocolate-cherry sorbet (or frozen yogurt)

1 9-oz. package chocolate wafer cookies

• Stir first 3 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in brandy. Cool.
• Line 10-inch diameter, 10-cup metal bowl with plastic wrap, extending over sides. Spread cherry-vanilla ice cream over inside of bowl to within 3/4-inch of top edge, leaving center 6-inch diameter hollow. Freeze 30 minutes.
• Fill hollow completely with sorbet (yogurt); smooth top. Overlap half of cookies (about 22) atop ice cream and sorbet, covering completely and pressing gently. Spread 1 cup fudge sauce over cookies. Overlap remaining cookies atop sauce. Cover; freeze bombe overnight. Cover and chill remaining sauce. (Can be make 3 days ahead. Keep bombe frozen).
• Rewarm remaining sauce over low heat, stirring often. Turn bombe out onto platter. Peel off plastic. Cut bombe into wedges. Serve with remaining sauce. (12-16 servings)