As we noted a couple of weeks ago, Ben and Jerry's recently sought to harness the idealistic fervor of Barack Obama's supporters by renaming their butter pecan ice cream "Yes, Pecan!" To the company's credit, it has agreed to donate all of the profits from the sale of this flavor to Common Cause, a voting advocacy group. While I am not a huge fan of Unilever, the current owners of Ben and Jerry's, and have numerous problems with the additives that started creeping into the ice cream after it sold out in 2000, I have to admit that this seems to be a well-intentioned (if transparently exploitative) move.

My cousin, Cathryn Michon, aka The Grrl Genius, is a great deal less cynical than me. Moreover, she has a definite skill when it comes to adding sweet ingredients to each other; consequently, I advise prefacing this recipe with a nice big shot of insulin. Enjoy!


Smoking Hot Fudge Barack Obama "Yes, Pecan!" Inaugural Sundae

Two Scoops of Ben and Jerry's "Yes, Pecan" ice cream (or any brand of butter pecan ice cream)
1/4 cup candied pecans
1/2 cup Godiva hot fudge (or brand of your choice)
1/2 cup whipped cream
1 George Washington honorary Maraschino cherry
1/4 ounce dark rum
Hawaiian orchid (for garnish)

Warm hot fudge according to package directions and pour over the ice cream. Place the pecans decoratively on the sides of the sundae and lay the decorative orchid at the base of the serving dish. Spoon on a generous serving of the whipped cream, creating a trough in the whipped cream that resembles the cone of a live Hawaiian volcano. Set the cherry in the trough and fill with dark rum. Set the rum on fire with either a long match or a butane lighter to symbolize our smoking hot new President and the sweet hope that will sustain us in all the days to come.

Serves one happy world citizen!

Many of the Ice Cream holidays seem to be in July: National Ice Cream Day, National Ice Cream Soda Day, National Vanilla Ice Cream Day, even Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. Today it's Hot Fudge Sundae Day.

Of course, there are many different definitions of a hot fudge sundae, and many ways to make them, depending on what you like. Here's one for an Italian Hot Fudge Sundae, which uses espresso and Amaretto. Here's a Hot Fudge Sundae Cake you can make, while CDKitchen has some Hot Fudge Sundae Brownies.

For a real basic recipe, check out eHow's step by step guide. But I would just go crazy and put together the ice cream and toppings you like. Nicole had a nice list of sundaes a while back and most of them including hot fudge.

I recall once reading a book where the main character liked to choose unusual sundae toppings. She might have pineapple, butterscotch and whipped cream on top of two scoops of chocolate fudge and blueberry ice cream. Inevitably, the staff would cringe as she ordered, but I couldn't help but wonder if she was on top something. Is there a certain point at which more flavors just taste better? The number of ingredients is probably a matter of personal preference, and the ultimate sundae might even be defined by its price tag, but these are eight of our top sundae combinations and you won't go wrong with any of them:

A classic sundae starts with vanilla ice cream and is topped with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, chopped nuts and a cherry. Don't forget to put some sauce on the bottom, too!

A peanut butter cup sundae should begin with chocolate ice cream, followed by swirls of softened peanut butter, lots of hot fudge and a topping of crushed Butterfingers, for added texture and crunch.