Food52 Ice Cream and Friends

The first time Mrs. Mehitabel made this no-custard ice cream, she and her husband scooped it into cones, took it on a late afternoon walk, and entirely forgot about the plans they had with friends. So consider this your warning: The distinctly nutty brown butter base, the brown sugar cut with just a dab of sour cream, and the crunchy pecans will make you forget all your responsibilities.

1 cup (225g) salted butter

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tapioca starch or cornstarch

2 cups (475ml) whole milk

½ cup (120ml) heavy cream

⅔ cup (150g) packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons tapioca syrup or light corn syrup

2 tablespoons sour cream

½ cup to 1 cup (50 to 100g) roasted pecan pieces

1. Brown the butter: In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring the butter to a boil, then let simmer until it’s dark brown (try not to burn it!). Off the heat, let sit until the brown solids settle at the bottom; then, pour out the clarified butter, leaving just the solids in the pan. Reserve the clarified butter for another use.

2. Whisk together the tapioca starch and 2 tablespoons of the milk to form a slurry.

3. Add the remaining milk, the heavy cream, brown sugar, and tapioca syrup to the butter solids. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, then stir constantly for 4 minutes. Whisk in the slurry, turn the heat to low, and continue cooking for just a minute, until the mixture no longer tastes of raw starch. Off the heat, whisk in the sour cream.

4. Let the ice cream base cool, then chill completely in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours but ideally overnight. Your base may look slightly grainy—don’t worry.

5. Pour the chilled base into an ice cream maker and churn it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Don’t let Concords’ short season stop you from eating this spin on a PB&J beyond the start of the school year. The recipe’s creator has incorporated mashed bananas into the peanut butter base, and suggests folding in chopped dark chocolate if that’s your thing. She’s even ditched the sauce and swirled jam right into the ice cream. We’re dreaming of a hot honey (see below) swirl. It’s all good. Just like a PB&J.

Grape Sauce

2 pounds (900g) Concord grapes, stemmed

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Pinch of sea salt

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 cup (250g) natural peanut butter, stirred in the jar

1 cup (240ml) whole milk

½ cup (100g) turbinado sugar

1 tablespoon honey

½ vanilla bean

2 cups (475ml) heavy cream

1. To make the sauce, in a saucepan over medium heat, gently simmer the grapes, ¼ cup (60ml) water, sugar, lemon juice, and salt, partially covered, until the grapes have burst, 15 minutes.

2. Uncover the pan, turn the heat to low, and continue to simmer until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes more.

3. Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding the skins and seeds, and refrigerate until chilled, about 20 minutes.

4. To make the ice cream, in a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, milk, sugar, and honey until smooth. Add the seeds of the vanilla bean and heavy cream, and whisk until combined. Chill the base completely in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour but ideally overnight.

5. Pour the chilled base into an ice cream maker and churn it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

6. Serve the ice cream straight from the machine, like soft serve. Spoon sauce over the scoops. If you choose to freeze the ice cream before serving, know that it won’t be quite as creamy.

You’ll always find a bottle of Mike’s Hot Honey in the Food52 pantry, but making your own spicy-sweet honey (or hot rosemary honey, or hot lemon honey) is simple: Grab a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and add 2 to 4 halved hot chiles and whatever other flavors you like. How much you add depends on the intensity of your ingredients and what else is going into the honey. Pour in ½ cup (170g) mild honey, stir, then add another ½ cup (170g) honey. Seal the jar and let it sit for 1 to 2 weeks—the longer, the stronger. Strain the honey and store it in a glass jar. Drizzle over ice cream, oatmeal, fried chicken, pizza, pie—give it to loved ones, hoard it.

If butter pecan is eternal spring, this is summer rain: shameless and toasty. Black walnuts (earthier than their more faint, familiar friends) are baked in melted butter and hot honey (to make your own, see this page ). Half of the caramelly, spicy walnuts are blended into a cream base for dark peppery bitterness throughout, and the rest get swirled in before freezing. If you can’t find black walnuts, regular ones or even pecans can work—just don’t expect quite the same storm of flavors.

1 cup (100g) black walnuts

2 tablespoons hot honey

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 cups (475ml) heavy cream

1 cup (240ml) whole milk

½ cup (35g) skim milk powder

¾ cup (150g) sugar

4 egg yolks

1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Scatter the walnuts across a baking sheet. Pour the hot honey and melted butter over and toss until evenly coated. Bake until fragrant and toasted, about 8 minutes—watch them carefully so they don’t burn. Cool, coarsely chop, and set aside.

2. In a pot, whisk together the heavy cream, milk, milk powder, and ½ cup (100g) of the sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then remove from the heat.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup (50g) sugar for 1 minute. Gradually whisk the milk mixture into the yolks.

4. Pour the mixture back into the pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. Add half of the chopped walnuts to the base. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Let the warm base steep for 30 minutes, then pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Chill completely in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours but ideally overnight.

6. Pour the chilled base into an ice cream maker and churn it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. During the last minute of churning, add the remaining chopped walnuts.

If you’re looking for a fudgy pop, keep walking—to this page , perhaps. With a base made from almond milk and cinnamon, the first bite will remind you of an icy horchata, but the buttery halvah crystals give a richness rare in an ice pop. It’s the sort of thing we’d be happy to eat off a stick (maybe drizzled with Magic Shell and sesame seeds) and just as happy to slurp melted through a straw.

12 ounces (340g) halvah

2 cups (475ml) unsweetened almond milk

½ cup (170g) honey

¼ cup (60g) tahini, stirred in the jar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a high-powered blender, combine 4 ounces (115g) of the halvah, the almond milk, honey, tahini, vanilla, almond extract, and cinnamon and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.

2. Chop the remaining 8 ounces (225g) halvah and divide among pop molds. Pour the almond milk mixture evenly among the molds.

Ice Creams, Sorbets & Gelati: The Definitive Guide , no surprise, has a lot of ice cream recipes. It also has four quick cures for the common brain freeze: (1) Drink a glass of water to thaw out the chilly areas. (2) Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to warm up blood vessels. (3) Trap your nose and mouth with your hand and breathe quickly to warm your face. (4) Eat slower, in smaller bites. (Ha!)

Here, almond is as fluffy as you typically know it to be crunchy. That’s because marzipan is smoothed into a light-as-air egg yolk custard (as the Italians say, zabaglione ), which is then gingerly mixed with meringue, followed by whipped cream. After freezing—that’s right, no ice cream maker needed—it’s only firm enough to just hold together. The citrus is there to counter some of the plushness, but not too much.

1 cup (240ml) heavy cream, well chilled

4 eggs, separated, at room temperature

⅔ cup (135g) sugar

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup (155g) marzipan

¼ cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons almond extract

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1. In a large bowl, beat the heavy cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Refrigerate.

2. Bring a medium pot with 1½ inches (4cm) of water to a simmer. Combine the egg whites, ⅓ cup (65g) of the sugar, the cream of tartar, and salt in a large heatproof bowl and set it on top of the simmering water. Using the electric mixer, beat the mixture on medium-high speed until opaque and foamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Off the water, continue mixing until the meringue is stiff and glossy, about 8 minutes more. Set the meringue aside. Keep the pot of water simmering—you’ll need it again!

3. In a separate large heatproof bowl, combine the marzipan, lemon juice, almond extract, and remaining ⅓ cup (70g) of sugar. Beat on low speed until smooth. Add the egg yolks and mix just to combine. Set the bowl over the simmering water. Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is dark yellow and starting to resemble a custard, about 5 minutes. Off the water, continue beating to lower the temperature of the zabaglione to room temperature, about 4 minutes more. The zabaglione will continue to thicken as it cools.

4. Fold the lemon and orange zests into the zabaglione. Gently fold the meringue into the zabaglione, followed by the whipped cream. Don’t overmix!

5. Line a 9 by 5-inch (23 by 13cm) loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving 4 inches (10cm) of extra plastic hanging over the long sides of the pan. Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Cover the top with the extra plastic. Freeze for at least 5 hours but ideally overnight.

6. Use the plastic to lift and invert the semifreddo onto a serving plate. Remove the plastic, cut into slices, and serve.

Peanut butter takes a romp to the sleeker side with this ice cream that’s stripped of eggs, an ice cream maker, and—gasp!—chocolate. Instead, the peanut butter mixture is sweetened just a little by condensed milk and spiced by curry powder and powdered peanut butter. If the words powdered peanut butter sound like molecular gastronomy, don’t flip the page just yet. It’s simply ground-up roasted peanuts, so the peanut flavor is super-pronounced. You can find it at your grocery store next to the usual jarred stuff or online—or whiz up your own. Blitz roasted unsalted peanuts in a food processor until the mixture resembles cornmeal, about 30 seconds.

If you think you’ll miss peanut butter’s sweeter side, top the ice cream with cayenne-spiced peanut brittle , flambéed bananas (this page ), toasted coconut flakes, or caramel sauce (this page )—or take a cue from those PB&Js and drizzle on some warm compote (this page ).

1. Pour the condensed milk into a large bowl. Stir in the powdered peanut butter, milk powder, curry powder, and vanilla until combined.

2. In a large bowl, beat the heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Mix a few spoonfuls of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream until fully incorporated. Don’t overmix.

Take the building blocks of this recipe to dream up other no-churn flavors: Mix 1 (14-ounce/397g) can of sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl with your flavor of choice. It’s best if the flavor is in liquid form—heavy solids will weigh down this light-as-air ice cream. Say 1 to 2 tablespoons of vanilla or almond or peppermint extract, the same amount of rose or orange blossom water, or ½ cup (160g) of jam or ½ cup (120ml) of cold-brew coffee. Taste the mixture; if the flavor’s faint, add more. Beat 2 cups (475ml) of chilled heavy cream and combine with the condensed milk mixture as directed.

Cayenne-Spiced Peanut Brittle

Makes 1 sheet pan of brittle | From Cristina Sciarra

Whereas many brittles are all-around sweet, this one has a sneaky heat that travels in small doses. To turn the big chunks (good for a gift) into a dust (for ice cream!), just cover the cooled brittle with parchment paper and use the heel of a large mug or a meat pounder to pulverize it—or pulse it in the food processor. Top or swirl the dust into creamy, warming flavors, like as shown on this page , or apple–bay leaf ice cream , olive oil–cacao nib gelato , horchata ice cream , marzipan semifreddo , or carrot cake ice cream .

2 cups (400g) sugar

¾ cup (175ml) light corn syrup

½ teaspoon kosher salt

3 cups (440g) skinless roasted salted peanuts

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, coat with cooking spray, and set aside.

2. In a large, heavy saucepan with high sides, whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1 cup (240ml) water. Boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring every once in a while, until the mixture turns light brown, about 30 minutes. Stir in the peanuts and continue to cook, stirring semi-continuously, until the mixture reaches 275°F (135°C) on a candy thermometer, about 30 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, cayenne, and vanilla until combined. Stir in the baking soda and continue stirring for 10 to 15 seconds more.

3. Working quickly, pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, using a heatproof spatula to scrape it all from the pan. Spread the brittle into a thin layer. Let the brittle cool completely on the baking sheet, about 40 minutes. When the brittle is hard, cut it into uneven chunks.

4. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.

Salted Maple Honeycomb Candy

Makes 1 sheet pan of candy | From Merrill Stubbs

Merrill calls this recipe—inspired by a popcorn ice cream with maple candy from Blue Marble in Brooklyn—a miracle of science. That’s because adding a little baking soda to a dark maple caramel will give you an impossibly crunchy, airy candy. (Baking soda’s the reason why your cakes and pancakes are pillowy, too.) We’re happy Merrill’s kind of science results in taste tests—ones we can break up into pieces to swirl into an ice cream just before it’s done churning. Malted vanilla (this page ), peanut butter (this page ), fig (this page ), and butternut squash–tahini (this page ) are all flavors that’d be happy to have this candy whirled in. For an even richer treat, dip the candy pieces in melted semisweet chocolate and let them cool before adding to ice cream.

1¼ cups (250g) sugar

½ cup (120ml) maple syrup

1 tablespoon baking soda

1½ teaspoons flaky sea salt, like Maldon

1. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or greased parchment paper.

2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, maple syrup, and ¼ cup (60ml) cold water and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, just until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir after the sugar dissolves, though you can swirl the pan occasionally if you’d like. Let the mixture come to a boil and continue to cook until it reaches 300°F (150°C) on a candy thermometer and is a dark amber color, 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Working quickly, remove from the heat and whisk in the baking soda just until incorporated. Immediately pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, using a heatproof spatula to scrape it all from the pan. Do not smooth out the mixture—you’ll get rid of all those air bubbles!

4. Still working quickly, evenly sprinkle the surface of the candy with the salt. Let the candy cool completely on the baking sheet. When the candy is hard, break it apart into uneven chunks with your fingers.

5. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

If your mind wanders to images of tame, 1950s cocktail parties when you hear the words Baked Alaska , don’t let it. Because—and let’s pause here for a quick moment of adoration—would you look at this beautiful thing? She’s a thoroughly modern mash-up of recipes from Food52 contributors—there’s chocolate (Posie Harwood’s cake) on chocolate (a take on Yossy Arefi’s airy meringue), with coffee and hazelnut in Cristina Sciarra’s no-churn ice cream.

You can make components ahead—the ice cream, the cake, even the meringue—and, on assembly, use either the oven or a kitchen torch to brown (crown?) the meringue. This is a scene-stealer, but not a fussy one. Thanks to sheer size, it’ll stay pretty and frozen long after it comes out of the freezer.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Ice Cream

1 tablespoon espresso powder

2 tablespoons boiling water or hot brewed coffee

½ cup (150g) chocolate-hazelnut spread

3½ ounces (100g) dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped

1 (14-ounce/397g) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups (710ml) heavy cream, well chilled

Cake

1 cup (200g) sugar

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (110g) all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons (35g) unsweetened cocoa powder

Scant 1 teaspoon baking powder

Scant 1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup (120ml) whole milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons boiling water or hot brewed coffee

Meringue

5 egg whites

1¼ cups (250g) sugar

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1. To make the ice cream, stir together the espresso powder and boiling water and let sit for 2 minutes. Melt the chocolate-hazelnut spread and chocolate in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between each.

2. Pour the condensed milk into a separate bowl. Whisk in the chocolate mixture, then the espresso and vanilla. Let cool for about 30 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, whisk the heavy cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir a couple spoonfuls of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream. Don’t overmix.

4. Line a deep bowl that’s about 8 inches (20cm) wide with plastic wrap, leaving extra plastic hanging over the edge. Pour the ice cream base into the bowl and cover the top with the overhanging plastic. Freeze for at least 6 hours but ideally overnight.

5. To make the cake, heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9-inch (23cm) cake pan and line with parchment paper.

6. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat in the milk, egg, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat the boiling water in just to incorporate.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then invert it onto a wire rack. Remove the parchment and let cool completely. (To make ahead, wrap the cake in plastic and store for up to 1 day at room temperature, up to 2 days in the refrigerator, and up to 2 weeks in the freezer.)

8. To make the meringue, fill a pot with 1½ inches (4cm) of water and bring to a simmer. In a heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar and set the bowl on top of the simmering water. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat the mixture on medium-high speed until white, opaque, and foamy, about 4 minutes. Off the water, continue mixing until the meringue is stiff and glossy, about 5 minutes more. Fold in the salt and cocoa powder just until combined.

9. Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C) or get a kitchen torch ready. Place the cake on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Trim the cake to the size of the top of your ice cream bowl. (The trimmings are the baker’s treat.) Remove the plastic from the wide bottom of the ice cream, place your hand in the center, and invert the ice cream bowl onto the cake (the round side should be up). Remove the bowl but leave the plastic. Place the stacked cake and ice cream in the freezer while you prepare (mentally) for the next step.

10. You’re almost to your baked Alaska! Make sure your meringue, torch (if using), and an offset spatula or spoon are near. Remove the plastic from the ice cream, then, working quickly, use the spatula or the back of the spoon to cover the cake and ice cream completely with the meringue. Consider pulling the meringue away from the cake to get little spikes, or massaging the meringue in circular motions to swoops and swirls. Bake for 3 minutes or use the kitchen torch to brown the meringue all over. If you need to pause at any time, you can return the cake to the freezer.