1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F./220 degrees C. (or 400 degrees F./200 degrees C. if you have convection).
Because this recipe has so few ingredients, it's critical that every element be at its best.
The essential sandwich in any ice cream sandwich arsenal is the classic chocolate cookie, bookending a simple vanilla ice cream.
Here's a delicious surprise: tiny bits of salty bacon are a wonderful addition to this creamy dessert. Maple-cured or applewood-smoked bacon seem to be ideal choices here.
Smoked almonds bring new life to the ever-popular salted caramel sundae.
Sam Arnold, creator of The Fort Restaurant in Morrison, Colorado, and western food historian, introduced me to this idea. This is my improvisation on his dessert.
Jennie Grant nurtures a barnyard of creatures in her idyllic Seattle backyard. Information about raising goats in an urban environment can be found at www.goatjusticeleague.org.
When our great-grandparents didn't want to bother with the mess and fuss of doing ice cream in hand-cranked ice cream freezers, they used ice cube trays and did this stirred version. No equipment needed and the ice cream tastes just swell.
This rich ice cream, adapted from one by Alice B. Toklas, is a sublime combination of honey, pistachios and roasted almonds, ingredients of the classic nougat candy made in the South of France.
I know that suggesting homemade ice cream for an easy after-work supper makes me sound as if I'm going into deranged superwoman overdrive, but may I put the case for the defense?