Cherry cheesecake ice cream

A rich and creamy ice cream that taste like a cheesecake filling with fresh summer cherries makes for a cool and delicious dessert.

Pawpaw ice cream

Sweet and custard-like pawpaws are the perfect base for a rich, creamy, and flavorful ice cream. This ice cream is a lovely treat for those who love pawpaws.

Sweet corn ice cream

Homemade custard ice cream is infused the all the fresh summer flavor of sweet corn in this delightful frozen treat. This is a dessert that is perfect for a hot summer day.

Honey orange sherbet

Does everyone remember the brightly colored sherbet that comes in orange, strawberry, lime, and probably other flavors? I was never a fan as a kid (I much preferred ice cream). 

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I hadn't had sherbet in many years. After a bit of reading, I figured out that sherbet is made from fruit juice with a bit of dairy to make it creamy (unlike a sorbet, which is all fruit juice). It's really simple in ingredients, but the flavor, especially using fresh oranges, is so bright and really makes your tongue dance. 

It must have been the warm-up to above freezing that put me in the mood to make a frozen treat (although as I write this, a blizzard warning has been issued for tomorrow). If you've never made sherbet before, I recommend giving it a try - it's really delicious and made with ingredients you can recognize!

Chocolate mint chocolate chip ice cream

It's really been heating up around here and that means ice cream and, um, more ice cream. When it's hot out, I really don't like to cook as much as I usually do, but churning up some fresh ice cream is another story. 

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After using fresh basil and lavender in previous ice creams I've made, I was inspired to incorporate another herb -- this time choosing mint -- which I have in my herb garden. Mint is perfect for ice cream because it's so refreshing, especially when it's cold. 

Rather than making mint chocolate chip ice cream (which I love), I decided to make the ice cream chocolate and mint. It was a great choice! We loved this ice cream and I'll definitely be making more of it as the summer continues.

Strawberry-basil ice cream

My first ice cream of the season! I wanted to make a strawberry-basil ice cream last year, but strawberry season was over when I finally bought my ice cream maker. 

So I've been waiting anxiously to make it until this year. This was my second batch. The first batch tasted just as great, but I left the strawberries in quarters, and ended up not liking the texture. 

This time, I mashed the strawberries, and it worked much better - they were evenly distributed but it still had a little texture so you knew there were strawberries in it.

We ate this ice cream on a hot day (as you can see from the photo - it was rapidly melting) and the best description of it is refreshing. Very refreshing. 

You may think basil is an odd thing to add to a dessert, but I love herbs in sweets. The basil is a nice and refreshing background flavor that really takes the ice cream to the next level. It makes it more complex and plays nicely off of the sweet strawberries. 

This recipe will make about a quart of ice cream.

Pumpkin pie ice cream

I had my first taste of pumpkin ice cream a few years ago at a local ice cream shop. Ever since then, we go there each year in early October when they first have it available and get a dish.  

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When I got my ice cream maker this year, pumpkin pie ice cream was at the top of my list, even though it was only spring. I've waited patiently until now and finally made my own. 

This ice cream is fall in a dish - it's basically like frozen pumpkin pie filling without the crust. I read a few recipes and found that they were all really low on the pumpkin for my liking and all contained a lot of egg yolks. 

I decided to forgo the eggs and really pack in the pumpkin so I could taste it. The pumpkin is already creamy, and the end product was perfect for me in terms of pumpkin flavor. This ice cream is not super sweet, so taste the base before you freeze it and add more brown sugar or even a tablespoon of molasses if you want it sweeter.

I'm so glad to know that I can make ice cream now with only a few simple ingredients and not all the additives and artificial flavors that are in most commercial ice creams. 

I've been loving my ice cream maker this year and even have a wintery ice cream flavor or two that I'm hoping to try near the holidays. This recipe will make a bit more than a quart of ice cream. It's great topped with chocolate sauce (we had ours with a homemade chocolate sauce, not pictured) or caramel. I think that some ginger snap cookies broken up into it or on top would also be delicious (and act like a crust).

Peach-nutmeg frozen yogurt

Peach season is something I look forward to every summer. It's a bittersweet time of year because I know it means the end of the summer is coming, but there's so much wonderful produce. 

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My husband works up in peach farm country and we always end up with a lot of them once their peak hits this time of year. We eat them as much as we can, but some of them end up needing to be sacrificed into a dessert or two.... 

Since I've been absolutely loving making ice cream this summer, I thought I would make a peach one. Then I decided to give my first frozen yogurt a try. I absolutely loved this yogurt. 

The peaches were very ripe and since they were in season, they were so flavorful - which made the yogurt incredibly peachy. I added some nutmeg to give the yogurt a little more depth of flavor. The yogurt was very creamy and slightly tangy - making this dessert very palate pleasing all around.

If you find yourself with a couple extra peaches, please try out this recipe. It will make about 1 quart of frozen yogurt.  

Lavender-honey frozen custard

It's possible I am getting a little obsessed with making ice cream this summer.... But, really - who can blame me? I mean, it has been so hot and I have been enjoying trying out new flavor combinations that you aren't likely to find in your grocery store's freezer section. 

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There's also something so satisfying about knowing that you've made your own ice cream from real, whole ingredients with no fillers or artificial colors/flavors. 

This recipe is inspired by the movie It's Complicated where Meryl Streep's character makes a honey and lavender ice cream. Ever since seeing that movie, I've wanted to try it. So, when I went to my mother-in-law's and saw all her lavender in bloom, I knew it was time.

For this recipe, I just read some basic vanilla ice cream/custard recipes and used that base as a start. I used honey as the only sweetener and infused the ice cream base with fresh lavender blossoms. 

I tasted the base and thought that it was too much like perfume and wasn't sure I would like the end product. But, after the ice cream froze the lavender really mellowed. It was a subtle flavor that highlighted the wildflower honey. It was delicious! 

I call this a frozen custard versus ice cream because of the addition of egg yolks, but it seems that these terms are being used pretty interchangeably when I read recipes. It will make about 1 quart.

Avocado-lime ice cream

Don't be afraid of using avocados in desserts. I've been reading all sorts of ice cream recipes since getting my ice cream maker and avocado keeps popping up and sticking in my head. 

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The avocados make this ice cream so thick, rich, and very creamy. Most of the recipes I saw used a little lemon or lime juice (to keep the avocados from browning), but I wanted to use the limes to add so extra tartness and flavor punch to the ice cream. 

A lot of the recipes used sour cream as well. I almost went with just milk, but since I had an open container of sour cream, I gave it a try. It worked.

So if you haven't used avocados in a sweet way before, I hope I am convincing you to give it a try. The ice cream recipe is really quick and easy - no cooking needed. 

Plus since it's so thick, it sets up pretty quickly. This recipe is inspired by numerous avocado ice cream recipes out there and it will make about 1 quart of ice cream.

Pistachio cardamom ice cream

So I finally got an ice cream maker!! I'm quite excited about this because it's shaping up to be a hot summer already. 

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I've been dreaming up all sorts of flavors I want to try, not only in ice cream, but frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato.... Mmmmm.... I'm really glad that I can get good, local milk, too - not raw, but still non-homogenized, pastured milk. 

I was flipping through Gourmet Today because there's quite a few ice cream recipes in there and came across this one. I knew it was destined to be my first ice cream because a friend of mine had just given me some green cardamom pods. 

I didn't realize quite how laborious this ice cream would be. I mean, I knew it would take time to cook the base, chill, churn, freeze - but I didn't realize that I'd basically be making my own condensed milk for this recipe, which took quite a while. 

The end flavor was superb, don't get me wrong, but a part of me is still wondering if I could have gotten away with using a can of condensed milk.... 

Anyways, this ice cream was quite heavenly and worth the time. The aroma and flavor from the green cardamom were fantastic. 

I didn't realize the difference there is between black cardamom, pre-ground cardamom, and these wonderful green pods. The pistachios were really second fiddle to the cardamom - it paired so well with the creaminess and sweetness. 

This recipe will make about a quart of ice cream and is extremely delicious. No doubt there will be more ice cream postings in the near future!