This week, I reached out for a Champ! Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae ice-cream cone, new from Blue Bunny. You know Blue Bunny — the affordable ice-cream and Bomb Pop frozen-ice folks in the freezer at your local supermarket.

Hey, I like a double-dip cone at Ben & Jerry's, Marble Slab or Cold Stone Creamery as much as anybody, but times are tough — I'm not prepared to take out a loan just for dessert. Last week, I put a banana split on layaway at Häagen-Dazs.

There's something about a good old-fashioned, on-sale supermarket ice-cream cone that makes me rip open the box and eat all six of 'em. And I kind of knew something called a Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae cone might taste pretty darn special.

Here's the blueprint: low-fat vanilla ice cream with a thick swirl of chocolate-fudge sauce and whipped cream sauce, loaded with brownie chunks and topped with a drizzle of more fudge and chocolate swirls in a chocolate-covered cone. Why even bother with the cone? I'll just go to the Blue Bunny factory in Le Mars, Iowa, and dive into the ice-cream machine.

Total calories: 230. Fat grams: 9. Dietary fiber: 1 gram. Carbs: 35 grams. Manufacturer's suggested retail price: $4.99 for a six-pack of cones. Obviously, since this is stored in a supermarket deep-freeze, there is no actual hot fudge on this Champ! Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae cone.

But check out all the chocolate in this treat. There's chocolate through and through. Obviously, the person in Blue Bunny's research and development is very disturbed, so we won't quibble with the naming rights. Blue Bunny has unleashed two other new cones in its Champ! Line —Chocolate Malt Shoppe (chocolate-malt ice cream with swirls of chocolate, topped with malt balls) and Banana Split (vanilla ice cream with swirls of strawberry and banana sauces, topped with cherry pieces and peanuts).

The ice cream in this Champ! Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae cone is low-fat, which I interpret as a license to eat too many — if it's possible to eat too many ice-cream cones packed with this much chocolate goop. There is some sort of chocolate in every bite. I'm not surprised. Blue Bunny also has an ice-cream sandwich with three different chocolate ice creams side by side, Neapolitan-style.

In recent years, partly due to the economic crunch, sales of premium, super-rich ice creams have gone up. Expensive ice cream has become an affordable luxury. Maybe that powerboat is on the back burner, but you still can afford a Ben & Jerry's milkshake. So, you may have forgotten how terrific a slightly smaller, slightly lighter, but lots cheaper supermarket ice-cream cone tastes.

And Blue Bunny makes the best ice-cream treats that you can jam into your freezer at home. Even the boxes and wrappers are fun, with lots of bright pictures and exclamation points: NEW! Champ! More delight in every bite! It's easy! For the whole family to enjoy!

Blue Bunny recommends that you store these cones in the deepest deep-freeze, around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Stick them behind that package of chicken thighs from 2003. Congratulations if your freezer is that rock-solid cold. But let the cones sit on the counter for a few minutes before serving.

You won't get Hot Fudge, but you'll get an ice-cream cone that won't chip your kids' teeth when they bite in. I hadn't had a Blue Bunny treat in years. But I'm going to start looking past those priceless pints of Häagen-Dazs and land on the kids' stuff more often now. Who doesn't want to play like a Champ?