My aunt and uncle gave me a bunch of tasty limes from their tree. Despite my best efforts to use them all up, one can only drink so many gin and tonics. Enter sherbet!

I’m happy with how this experiment turned out. The lime and honey flavors are nice and mild, so you can really taste the richness of the cream. It’d be great to serve alongside another delicately flavored dessert.

Ingredients

• juice of 2 limes (about ¼ cup)
• zest of 2 limes, grated or chopped very finely
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1¾ cup milk
• teensy pinch of salt

1. Mix that shit up.
2. Throw it in an ice cream churner.
3. Freeze.
4. Devour with pie or sugar cookies.

Successful ice cream making requires two things. Most importantly, you need a basic formula that respects the science of tiny delicious ice crystals. Secondly, you need some ballsy ideas about what flavors will work — like Kate’s wildly successful bacon ice cream.

Not that brown sugar is particularly ballsy. But it *is* particularly good. We had it with my caramel-topped birthday cake (from Fremont Diner!) last night and it was like they were meant to be.

Ingredients

• 1½ cup whole milk
• 1½ cup heavy cream
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine all ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Pour into a 1½ quart ice cream maker and churn till it’s done.
3. Scoop into a container and freeze at least an hour before serving.

I had my mom and brother up this last weekend, and Saturday night I cooked them the nicest meal I could muster. (Well, my mom helped a lot — she even peeled a box of fava beans, which is no small feat.) We had fava bean soup full of olive oil and tasty herbs, creamy rice pilaf, and a big, fluffy dry jack soufflé just to show off a little. For dessert — after we recovered — we had this ice cream.

I hoped it would turn out well, but I had no idea it would be as great as it is! It’s mind-bogglingly easy too, so I imagine this will become regular freezer fodder around here.

• 2 C heavy cream (go for the good stuff — I use Straus. You can really tell the difference)
• 1 C whole milk
• ¾ C sugar
• 8 whole cardamom pods (buy small amounts in bulk and you won’t believe how cheap it is.)

1. Mix the cream, milk, and sugar until all sugar has dissolved.
2. Open up the cardamom and discard the pods. Grind up the seeds as best as you can with a mortar and pestle. It might take a while, but the smaller the pieces are, the more flavor you’ll get.
3. Mix that shit up! All together now.
4. Pour into a 1.5-quart ice cream maker and let it churn 20-30 minutes, or according to your manufacturer’s instructions.
5. Scoop into another container and freeze for at least an hour or two to harden.
6. Enjoy, and thank the gods that you were bright enough to buy an ice cream machine.

This requires a 1-quart ice cream maker.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups Trader Joe’s mango lemonade (I know, it’s almost cheating)
• ¾ cup sugar

1. Mix all that shit up. Make sure it’s nice and chilly, or it won’t work!
2. Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine.
3. Let it churn for about 20 minutes, or until it’s all nice and creamy and mostly frozen.
4. Scoop it into a couple mason jars and put in the freezer for a couple hours to harden it.

Yum!