Mary Bilyeu, Contributor

I recently ate at The Avenue, a family restaurant in Royal Oak, which serves good old-fashioned comfort foods: enormous omelettes and other breakfast staples (with such generous portions that there are often one or two side dishes to provide all the food!), burgers, sandwiches, pasta dishes. There's a tremendous variety, and everything I've eaten there has been very satisfying.

Although I wasn't hungry by the time I'd finished my meal, I still had to peruse the dessert menu and sigh a bit over it. Pies and ice cream desserts were happily offered; but then I saw something a bit different. It was a sundae, but it wasn't just a standard issue one. There was a base, and then it was topped with the requisite sundae makings.

And what, precisely, formed the base of this intriguing dessert?

A cinnamon roll, slightly warmed so that it would transport anyone nearby with its enticing aroma.

Well, I immediately stated to my dining companions that I would have to replicate this thing of beauty that I didn't even order and was still seduced by. And so, the next day, I did!

I took a purchased cinnamon roll, as I wasn't quite motivated enough for my fix to actually wait for yeast dough to rise for a homemade version. A scoop of French vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce... and each of these simple ingredients worked in perfect harmony with the others.

This is one of those recipes that is fun and festive but which also can be thrown together incredibly quickly if you're ever in a bind. Everyone will be so impressed by how fabulous it is that they won't care in the slightest that it only requires three ingredients and a brief minute of your time to put it together!

Cinnamon Roll Sundae

1 4-inch cinnamon roll, slightly warmed in the microwave
1 scoop French vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
whipped cream, if desired

Place the cinnamon roll on a dessert plate, and top with the ice cream. Drizzle with caramel, and top with whipped cream if desired.

Voila!

Serves 1, but can easily be multiplied.

Mary Bilyeu has won or placed in more than 60 cooking contests and writes about her adventures in the kitchen. She was thrilled to have her post about Scottish Oatmeal Shortbread named as one of the daily "Best of the Blogs" by the prestigious Food News Journal.

Go visit Mary's blog — Food Floozie — on which she enthuses and effuses over all things food-related. Her newest feature is Frugal Floozie Friday, seeking fun and food for $5 or less ... really! Feel free to email her with questions or comments or suggestions: yentamary@gmail.com.

The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured in this post) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers as they cook along with her ... may you always be happy here.