Pear Spice Sorbet

Most holiday desserts will make you feel more like a stuffed turkey than a hot chick. But unlike Paula's whoopie pies, this recipe gives you all the holiday flavor without the Santa-like waistline. The pear is silky and sophisticated, sexed up with some cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. And because no holiday is complete without a little liquor, there's a shot of rum to finish it off. 

Cloves, ginger, cinnamon.

Gingersnap Ice Cream

I'm no Cookie Monster, but a bite of this stuff squashes my inner Grouch. It may look innocent enough, but this flavor is not for the preschool palette. It's got a mean zing and crunch blended into a seductively smooth cream base with a mischievous hint of rum. 

How high can you stack 'em?

Clementine Sorbet

I'm addicted to Clementines. I could easily overdose on those sweet seedless slices in a single sitting.  Each year as the temperature drops, these "Christmas oranges" are flown in from California or South America or some other magical place where fruit, um, grows on trees. And just when I begin to bore myself crazy with pumpkin recipes, clementines bring back that summer fruit nostalgia.

If you want to be really sophisticated, add a scoop to a glass of champagne for a mind-blowing mimosa.

12 Recipes with 4 or Fewer Ingredients

A few weeks ago, I went to see Mark Bittman (AKA The Minimalist) speak about his new book Food Matters. It got me thinking about the minimalist's approach to ice cream and sorbet making. People often have the misconception that it's a long process with lots of complicated ingredients. In fact, many of the recipes on this site can be prepared in less than 20 minutes (pre-freeze time) and contain just a few basic ingredients. 

Scroll over the photos to see the flavors.

Culture of Content Creation Video

Over the summer, my friend Eve filmed me making ice cream and talking about blogging and social media for an online project commissioned by Elastic Lab about the culture of content creation. Watch as I whip up a batch of Rocky Road in my tiny kitchen and try to sound profound about the internet and food. There's a whole bunch of bloggers and podcasters who've been featured in the project. You can see the entire series here. Good work, Eve!

Sweet Potato Brown Sugar Ice Cream

The people have spoken. They wanted sweet potato brown sugar ice cream, and I have (finally) delivered. This is my very first Official Fall Flavor. I'm pretty sure that means the leaves will now change, the temperatures will drop, and I'll have to start wearing socks again. I have to confess summer is my great love, but if we have to say goodbye, autumn is a worthy rebound. After all, who wouldn't want to lock lips with this seasonal sweet treat?

If you like pumpkin pie, you'll like this recipe because it tastes awfully similar. Instead of using brown sugar in with the ice cream base, I decided to mix in candied brown sugar bits.  It's like finding the marshmallows in your Lucky Charms. 

Black Tea Orange Marmalade Ice Cream

This dessert may be frozen, but the flavor makes me think warm and fuzzy. Imagine curling up with a cup of English Breakfast or Earl Grey (heavy on the cream) and a muffin smeared with orange marmalade. Except, you know, it's ice cream. This frozen fix really does taste like tea with cream and sugar. It's swirled with the sweet citrus of orange jelly and the bitterness of bits of orange zest. The only question that remains: Is it best served in a mug or a bowl?

I have to give credit to a long lost high school friend for inventing this flavor. She mentioned it on Facebook, and I immediately knew I wanted to try it. Thanks for the inspiration, Lauren!

You Choose The Next Frozen Fix

I recently realized that readers have submitted 42 flavors on my Suggest a Flavor page, and I have not made a single one. I know, shame on me. To make up for it, I'm letting you decide what I make next. You can vote through Friday for your favorite flavor below, then check back next week to see the final result.

The Best Frozen Yogurt

The people of DC love frozen yogurt like Paula Deen loves butter, y'all. A flurry of fro-yo spots have emerged over the past couple years, and I've heard them debated more fiercely than the midterm elections (and this is Washington, DC). Personally, I'm partisan to Mr. Yogato. But the best frozen yogurt I've ever had? It came straight from my kitchen. And it's insanely simple too.

The secret to truly epic fro-yo is just the right balance of tangy and sweet.

Try My Ice Cream at the Mid-Atlantic Red Fruit Festival on Sept. 24

If you've ever dreamed about trying some of my freaky frozen fixes, now you have the chance! My green tomato marbled goat cheese ice cream (seen above) is a finalist in the Mid-Atlantic Red Fruit Festival's tomato recipe contest. Fifteen foodies have been selected to serve their winning dishes with the help of a local chef at the festival. I'm ecstatic to be paired with Executive Chef Mike Lund of Zynodoa Restaurant in Staunton, VA, who previously worked under Patrick O'Connell at the famous Inn at Little Washington. A few of my favorite food bloggers will also be there as well. Mary Cunningham of The Arugula Files is serving up a grilled heirloom tomato pizza, and Olga Berman of Mango & Tomato will present a roasted tomato and dark cherry balsamico soup. The event will be held from 6-8 pm Friday, September 24 in the Pavilion Room Woodrow Wilson Plaza at the Ronald Reagan Building. Tickets are $35. Attendees get to vote for their favorite dish, so come out, enjoy some food and wine, and help me win! Get more information here, and check out the full menu after the jump.

UPDATE: Chef Mike and I tied for the popular vote and won runner-up from the judges!

Junior Mint Ice Cream

On a recent trip home, I promised my 10-year-old brother that we would make any ice cream flavor he wanted. Of course, he chose a combination of gummy bears, Warheads, Snickers, M&M's, and what would otherwise have been the contents of a very large Trick-or-Treat bag. But no matter how cute the kid, sometimes you need to exercise veto power.  I asked for his second choice, expecting this one to include Fruit Roll-Ups and Butterfingers. Instead, he surprised me with a rather sophisticated selection...

If you like mint chocolate chip, you will love this ice cream.

Blackberry Sorbet

I've been off the grid on a Pacific Northwest getaway. (OK, semi-off the grid... I brought my iPhone.) Between a work trip to LA and a family visit to Colorado, I traded one Washington for the other. More precisely, Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle where I spent summers growing up. In true island fashion, my mom and I lived off the land (plus beer, wine, and baguettes from Central Market). We dug clams and geoduck from the beach, ate them steamed with butter and lemon, then tossed the empty shells from the deck back into the ocean. We slurped raw oysters grown by a neighbor. And of course, we picked ripe August blackberries.

I've been fantasizing about picking blackberries and making this sorbet all summer. Anyone who has ever had blackberries straight from the vine knows they taste nothing like the kind in the grocery store. They're bursting with juice like the orange roe you sometimes get on sushi, and they're so sweet they taste like they've been injected with powdered sugar.

Reverse Root Beer Float

That's right, root beer ice cream in vanilla cream soda. Eat the ice cream by itself and it tastes just like a traditional root beer float in creamy frozen form. Add a couple scoops to a glass and pour some cream soda over it, and you've got your favorite childhood treat—only this one plays mind games on you. The flavor flip never ceases to confuse your taste buds, up until the very last slurp. 

Apricot Champagne Sorbet

I'm over peaches. Apricots are where it's at. This is a very simple recipe that will easily impress. It's the perfect light finish to a summer meal or snack to savor in the mid-afternoon heat. The apricots give it a tangy sweetness, and the Champagne brings an extra zing and an incredibly soft, airy texture. 

Vegan and Lactose-Free Recipes

People are always asking me about vegan ice cream recipes or lactose-free ice cream recipes. I am neither vegan nor lactose-intolerant, but I can appreciate how hard it must be to find decent recipes. So, I've compiled 12 frozen fixes with no dairy, eggs, or animal parts. Enjoy!

Scroll over the photos to see the flavors.

Green Tomato Marbled Goat Cheese Ice Cream

Last year, I submitted a green tomato ginger ice cream recipe to the Washington Post's tomato recipe contest. It didn't win, but it did get a shout-out here and here. Inevitably, it's a boring recipe that wins. (Last year, it was a tomato stack salad.)  Convinced that I could make a tomato ice cream that was just as delicious as it was creative, I came up with this: green tomato marbled goat cheese ice cream. It's a play on fried green tomatoes with goat cheese. The sweet and cream goat cheese base is contrasted by a slightly tangy swirl of green tomato jelly. It is in fact delicious, but again, it didn't quite make the cut. In today's Post Food Editor Bonnie Benwick writes: "Attempts at ice cream have come close; keep trying, and we'll keep testing them." Time to start plotting for next year.

Green Pea Ice Cream

I came across a green pea ice cream on a recent trip to New York, the Holy Land of bizarre ice cream flavors. I immediately thought it was a brilliant idea, because peas are already naturally sweet. (I once made a corn ice cream that was fantastic.) Also, I can't think of a better way to trick kids into eating their veggies. Or adults, for that matter. 

Full disclosure: This ice cream still tastes like peas.