Pickle Juice (Snoopy) Sno-Cone (Chaser) Recipe

I was in deep Texas, Stephenville to be exact, visiting the origin of Angie's Enchiladas, when we pulled into the Coconut Hut where they serve sno-cones. On the menu was something that immediately caught my eye: the Pickle Juice Sno-Cone. That's right, pickle juice. Now of course, I tried to get one, but they were "all out." Next day, same deal. Pickle juice sno-cones it seems are 1) very popular, or 2) they don't get many calls for pickle juice sno-cones, and just cause a Yankee stops by one day asking for one doesn't mean they're going to get a new shipment the next day when he comes by checking again. No worries. See the thing is, the idea of a pickle juice sno-cone taps into some very deep childhood cravings. If there's one thing that I loved to eat when I was a kid (right, cause there was only one — this coming from the kid who would eat four, count them, four different full breakfasts on Sunday morning and be finished with the first three before anyone else in the family was finished with their first and only) it was pickles. Pickles dipped in tomato sauce was a classic when-no-one-is-looking-after-school snack. And sno-cones, well, there's the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine (if that's not the toy commercial from the '80s that I remember the most, I don't know what is). If you don't know it (sad for you) the jingle goes like this: It's yum-yum fun and it's cool and clean and its name is the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine You put ice cubes in and get a sno-cone out Yum-yum fun is what it's all about. (Pause) It's yum-yum fun and it's cool and clean And its name is the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine! I mean, do they write them like that anymore? No! It's very obvious from the lyrics and the song that this is one of the most pure and yum-yum fun things you're ever going to do in your life. Let's be honest. I mean, can you have more fun without risking arrest or severe bodily harm? Probably not. And guess what? This is cool and clean! No need to worry about getting arrested or injured! Watch the video and tell me you don't agree.     You put the ice cubes in! You take the sno-cone out! It's like two plus two! There's no complication! There's no fuss! What comes out? Fun, fun, fun! Gosh darn it, that's what it's all about! Do they write any more pure truisms than that? No! Here's the sad fact: I was by no means a spoiled child — but as the firstborn male in a third-generation Italian-American family, I was loved, and given plenty of gifts as a kid — but this gift, the gift of (cue music) yum-yum fun, a gift that's cool and clean, a gift of the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine was one that, Mom, Dad... I never received. As much as I yearned to put ice cubes in and get a sno-cone out, it just never happened for me. So when I learned that this week's recipe could feature both the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine and pickle juice, well! Wha-whoah. I was on it faster than you could get on the train to Flavor-Town. What's the point of being an adult if it doesn't mean you can't just act on being a kid! Problem was my Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine ordered on Amazon was too slow to arrive, and Toys 'R Us was all out. Toys 'R Us did have a Sponge Bob Sno-Cone Maker, which filled in enough to give you this recipe. Sure, the cupholder seems better thought out, but it wasn't the same. A "Maker"? I want a ma-CHINE! And so, sad day, that elusive yum-yum fun has yet to happen for me. Some day, some day. In the meanwhile, this pickle juice sno-cone makes a good chaser for a shot of whiskey, an iced pickleback if you will. Something to drown away your Snoopy Sno-Coneless sorrows until that day in the future when things all come together for you. Cheers, friend. Click here to see more D.I.Y. Frozen Desserts.