Copy Cat Sonic Fried Onion Rings

I ate recently at Sonic and I had forgotten how much I LOVE their onion rings.
So I asked Google and sure enough, I came up with this copy cat recipe.

A former Sonic employee states, "The secret ingredient is vanilla ice milk mix, but using melted vanilla ice cream works just as well."

Making these onion rings can be messy, so it is suggested trying to use one hand for dry ingredients and the other for dipping the onion rings into the melted ice cream. It will go easier this way.

Ingredients

2 pounds Vidalia onions - sliced, and rings separated
24 ounces water
2 cups all purpose flour
12 ounces vanilla ice cream melted
8 ounces corn meal
vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

• Peel onions. Slice onions into slices that are between 3/8 and 1/2-inch. Remove the small center of the onions, you can chop those into diced onions. Separate onions into rings, and place the rings into a large bowl of water.
• Place three containers in a row. In the first container, place the flour, in the second container, place the melted ice cream, and in the third container place the cornmeal.
• Preheat oil to 350 degrees.
• Prepare onion rings by shaking off the water, dip onion into the flour, shake off excess flour. Dip into the melted ice cream, and then dip into the cornmeal. Gently shake off excess cornmeal. Place the onion ring on a cookie sheet to dry for a few minutes before frying.
• Fry onion rings until golden brown.
  

Recipe Tips for the Cook

Sifting the flour and corn meal once in a while keeps lumps out and makes it easier to coat the rings 
When placing on cookie sheets to save room, lean on top of each other to allow entire ring to dry.

How to Make Crispy Onion Rings

Deep-fried onion rings should be crisp on the outside but tender within. 

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Allow it to heat up hot enough to fry, but not to smoke. The best temperature is 350 - 375 degrees. Use a deep-fry or candy thermometer attached to the side of your pot/frying vessel. This helps you adjust the temperature if it does not remain consistent. If the temperature becomes too low, the rings will soak up too much oil, and you will end up with soggy rings.
2. Cook the onion rings in small batches, so they don’t stick together. When one side is fried, turn them over to brown on the other side. The process should take about three minutes.
3. Don’t place your cooked onion rings directly on top of paper towels to drain. If you do so, the onion rings will soak up whatever oil ends up on the paper towel. Instead, place some paper towels on a cookie sheet and then lay a wire cooling rack on top. Place your fried rings on top of the rack to drain, so they don’t sit in oil.
4. Season with some salt and serve your perfect crispy onion rings immediately.