For year-round ease, we use a mix of red and green grapes soaked in Myers’s Rum, a dark, mellow rum, which hits the spot. They’re easy to prepare: just wash and pull off the stems. You can try any of your favorite fruits, cut into small pieces. Take advantage of cherry season; cherries in rum are always a hit.

Serve the fruit in brandy snifters, demitasse cups, sake cups, jiggers or anything that you have on hand. You can mix and match the glassware if you don’t have enough of any one type to serve all guests.

Use a citrus drink rimmer to decorate the glass rims for an even snazzier effect. If you have cocktail picks or small lobster picks, use them to spear the fruit; otherwise toothpicks are fine. Yes, you get to drink the rum too!

Click here for more dessert ideas.

Add some rum and serve! Photo by
Zsuzanna Kilian | SXC.

Sprinkle olive oil ice cream with sea salt
or shaved Parmesan. Photo courtesy
Canard Inc.

Like olive oil ice cream.

If the concept sounds strange, the flavor blew us away when we first had it in 2003, at Mario Batali’s Otto Enoteca in New York City.

The pastry chef, Meredith Kurtzman, made a trio of brilliant ice creams—we recall fig and crème fraîche ice cream were part of a trio that included olive oil ice cream.

Now, we’re about to make a batch with some fresh, fruity Lucero Olive Oil from California.

Get the recipe and make your own batch.

Find more of our favorite ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt and sorbet in our Gourmet Ice Cream Section.

Due to temperature fluctuations or other improper storage, crystals of moisture can form, degrading the texture and the flavor. The reason that older containers often get these crystals is because the freezer door has been opened that many more times bringing in warm air, or temperature fluctuation.

Three tricks to try:

• Cover the surface of the ice cream with a layer of plastic wrap. Press the wrap onto the surface of the ice cream itself.
• Store opened cartons upside down.

We protect every spoonful of our favorite
Pomegranate Chocolate Chip ice cream from
Sheer Bliss. Photo courtesy Sheer Bliss.

• Buy a plastic storage container especially made to hold a half gallon. If you can’t stop the ice crystals problem with the first two tricks, it’s an excellent investment. The containers are available in round and rectangular shapes. Find them at housewares stores, hardware stores and Amazon.com.

Find our favorite ice cream brands and ice cream recipes, and learn the different types of frozen desserts in our Gourmet Ice Cream Section.

Make these Black Forest Cupcakes as a
special treat. Photo from Chocolate Bliss,
courtesy Celestial Arts Publishing.

You can meld all three with this delicious recipe for Black Forest Cupcakes.

While they can be made year-round with canned or frozen cherries, take advantage of the fresh ones that are around for the next month or so.

This recipe, from Susie Norris, author of Chocolate Bliss, starts with your own favorite chocolate cupcake recipe.

Or, use our recipe for dark chocolate cupcakes.

Find more cupcake recipes in our Gourmet Cakes Section.

It’s hot chocolate that’s chilled and served on ice. It’s easy to make:

1. Prepare hot chocolate with milk (regular, lowfat or fat-free). Don’t use cream or half and half, which is too heavy for a tall iced drink.

2. Consider flavoring the hot chocolate—with Aztec spices, chai spices, mint or other favorites (steep the spices as you cook the hot chocolate).

3. Chill in the fridge. Consider making iced chocolate ice cubes, so as not to dilute the drink.

4. Optional garnishes: whipped cream with or without shaved chocolate, fresh mint, a strawberry or raspberry.

5. Add an optional scoop of ice cream and serve for dessert!

Three flavors of iced hot chocolate:
traditional, spicy Aztec and white with
lemon myrtle. Photo courtesy VosgesHautChocolat.com.

• See our favorite hot chocolate mixes.
• Learn the difference between hot chocolate and cocoa (or, if you will, iced cocoa and iced hot chocolate).