Foreword

Semifreddo is no more ice cream than a brownie is a cookie. The same could be said for gelato, custard, sherbet, milkshakes, fudgesicles, and paletas. This is why we called this book Ice Cream & Friends , because in our world, ice cream has lots of chilled pals and affable toppings, and we love them all.

We were tired of books that made ice cream so serious and so difficult . Or that made readers feel inadequate for not owning an ice cream maker. We wanted a book that made it clear that frozen desserts don’t have to be a special-occasion endeavor, but something that’s much easier to whip up than most cakes. We’ve included no-churn recipes aplenty (this page ) and tips for making store-bought ice cream more interesting (this page , this page , and this page ). And there are a billion add-on ideas, give or take a few. You will learn how to make sprinkles (this page )!

And for those who have mastered ice cream, we give you new challenges in Philadelphia-style ice cream (this page ), frozen custard (this page ), and ice milk (this page ). We show you how to make velvet (this page ) and spoom (this page ). And we’ve loaded this handy book with genius tips, riffs, and mini recipes that we hope will inspire you to dream up your own creations.

Many of the flavors in these recipes are nostalgic (yet surprising). Black walnuts are candied in hot honey (this page ). Saltines form the bookends for a brownie ice cream sandwich (this page ). Others charge forward, like a gelato with avocado (this page ). We fell in love with savory tomato, peach, and basil sorbet .

But perhaps our most beloved ice cream friend of all is Burnt Toast Ice Cream . Although the two of us are very experienced cooks, we burn toast. All. The. Time. Our toast mishaps were so frequent that we originally named our company Burnt Toast (Food52 won out over time). As we recently discovered, there’s no longer a need to scrape the char from our singed bread or throw it away. Next time, save it for a batch of ice cream that will embrace the toast’s accidental condition and transform it into something addictive and delightful.

We hope that you, too, will make friends with this book and fill your freezer until it’s bursting!

—Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs, founders of Food52