Serve your sundae in a cookie cup. Photo
by Marcin Bania | IST.

November 11th is National Sundae Day, so why not make something special?

We’re starting with a S’mores Sundae—chocolate ice cream, marshmallow creme, crumbled graham crackers and chocolate sauce. To celebrate the season, we’re following with a Gingerbread Sundae—cinnamon, ginger and vanilla ice creams with cubes of fresh-baked gingerbread, topped with whipped cream, candied ginger and chunks of Chocolove’s crystallized ginger and dark chocolate bar. (The truly indulgent can add caramel sauce). Whatever your favorite flavors, combine them, indulge and enjoy!

Vosges’ Red Fire Ice Cream with ancho and
chipotle chiles (plus cinnamon) lets you add
some fire to your chocolate ice cream. Then,
pair it with brownies or chocolate cake!
Photo courtesy Vosges Chocolat.

Match traditional desserts like apple pie, brownies, chocolate cake and pound cake with very modern flavors of ice cream. Vosges Chocolat’s Naga (sweet Indian curry and coconut ice cream) and Red Fire (chocolate with chilies and cinnamon) ice creams are heavenly with classic cakes and pies. Vosges will overnight-deliver them (and their two other exotic flavors) to you in dry ice, but your local creameries may offer similar delights.

Another of our favorites, Reed’s Ginger Ice Cream (in Chocolate, Ginger and Original), is available at specialty stores nationwide. Ginger is a delicious pairing with pound cake, chocolate, fruit desserts—just about anything!

We recently spent a Lucullan feast of an evening at Screme, a new premium gelato chain in New York City. We tried every flavor in the place—28, to be precise. That’s the Screme way: You can taste as much as you like. We felt O.K. about that, as Screme claims 1/3 fewer calories and lower fat than regular gelato. They say they can produce such a creamy product with these advantages because of its “absolute freshness,“ which they say allows them to use less fat.

Screme, the American version of Aldo’s, the largest gelato chain in Israel, is the second international premium gelato chain to settle in our town in two years (the first was Grom, from Italy).

What makes a gelato “premium?”

A few of Screme’s flavors, made fresh daily.

While everyone will claim that his or her brand is “the best,” here’s the secret: The best gelato is made daily, or in the case of Screme, several times daily, from the fresh ingredients. For example, strawberry is not made from strawberry purée from a pouch, but from fresh strawberries. Worse, with the growth of chains and products sold to anyone who wants to sell gelato, there’s gelato mix that comes in a package that’s poured into a machine. The difference in taste is huge. One tastes generic, the other tastes like it’s worth a long drive.<

Gelato may be what a gelateria is known for, but don’t overlook the sorbets. Bursting with fresh fruit flavor, we liked them even more. The Mojito and Passionfruit were ab fab.

If you have a jones for the sweet and frozen (guilty a charged—ice cream is our favorite food category), sorbet is the better choice. There’s no dairy, fat or cholesterol, it has more vitamins and antioxidants from the fruit, and it has significantly fewer calories. It’s lighter, livelier and more refreshing. While we’re inculcated from childhood with the idea of ice cream, try more sorbet and see if you agree.

Back to Screme: There are currently two locations in New York City (one in the lobby of Madame Tussaud’s Wax Musuem on 42nd Street in Times Square—no admission fee required), one on Broadway and 69th Street), with a third location on East 64th Street opening soon. National expansion is plan. A sugar-free gelato is on the way. The products are certified kosher.

A jigger of Scotch poured over plain vanilla ice cream may sound unusual, but it creates a delicious dessert. And, it’s a “rabbit out of the hat” culinary magic trick when you need something quick and interesting for company. Porter (the beer) also works well. If your guests are culinary adventurers, give them two smaller dishes of ice cream, and let them decide their preference. You can put the ice cream in rocks glasses or sherbet champagne glasses to add to the fun, and serve them already “sauced” or provide guests with jiggers of the alcohol so they can pour their own.

• Find other ice cream ideas in THE NIBBLE’s Ice Cream Section.
• Here’s a recipe for a Chocolate Stout Ice Cream Float.

No ice cream machine is needed here, just very ripe fruit and a quart of vanilla ice cream (No Sugar Added ice cream works fine, too). Lightly purée (don’t liquefy) 3 cups of peaches, berries, stone fruit or bananas. Scoop the ice cream into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat it with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes, until soft. Add the fruit purée and blend for 1 minute. Transfer the mixture back into the original ice cream container (plus another container for the excess), and return the ice cream to the freezer for 2 hours or more. It will taste just like long-churn, homemade ice cream!

• See more ice cream sandwich recipe ideas.
• Understand the different types of ice cream in our Ice Cream Glossary.
• Take a look at our favorite ice creams.

Jeni’s uses fresh, local ingredients such as ripe summer strawberries in its Strawberry Buttermilk
Ice Cream.

July is National Ice Cream Month. We began the month with Ruby et Violette’s cookie dough ice creams; we’re ending it with two more all-stars: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, Ohio and Silver Moon Desserts in Los Gatos, California (Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco). Each is very distinctive and worth the treat of having it shipped to wherever you happen to be. Jeni’s focuses on local and organic seasonal ingredients, Silver Moon on liqueur-flavored ice cream and sorbet.

If sending away for ice cream sounds unusual to you, it’s no different from mail ordering Riviera pears from Harry & David in Oregon, chocolate from Larry Burdick in New Hampshire or USDA prime beef from Allen Brothers in Chicago. Sure, you can get a decent pear, box of chocolate or steak in your town, but when you want a special treat, get it from the best source possible.

So if you adore, luxuriate in, relish, revel in and savor ice cream as we do—or know someone who would rather get a gift of ice cream than, say, that box of pears or steak—read about two very special ice cream artisans—individuals or duos whose passion for the best ice cream led them to set up shop and make it themselves.

• Read about Wine Cellar Sorbets, a NIBBLE Top Pick and a truly different spin on sorbet.
• For ice cream lovers, take a look at everything you need to know about Gourmet Ice Cream.
• And why not read our selection of Kosher Dairy Products?

• See our cheese ice cream recipes.
• Read our Cheese Glossary: lots of great information about cheese.
• Check out our favorite gourmet ice cream brands.
  

• Read about our favorite dessert toppings.