Improvise with melted ice cream to create
a dessert sauce. Photo by Rie Shoji | SXC.

1. Melt a pint of ice cream at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

2. Stir in 2 ounces (jiggers) of Bourbon. Makes 2 cups.

Melted caramel, chocolate, coffee and dulce de leche ice cream also work as sauces. Instead of Bourbon, you can use rum, chocolate liqueur, coffee liqueur, orange liqueur or other spirit that picks up accents in your dessert.

Instead of pouring them over (or under) a dessert, you also can serve these “sauces” in jiggers or liqueur glasses as a “chasers” to the dessert, right before coffee.

• Find reviews of our favorite dessert sauces plus recipes in our Dessert Sauces section.
• What’s the difference between a coulis and a purée? Crème anglaise and sabayon? See our Dessert Sauces Glossary.