Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Some ice creams are meant to be slowly savored, bite by tiny bite. This is not that ice cream. This is the one that you'll want to ravage until there's nothing left but a shiny clean bowl.  

Creamy gooey stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth peanut butter. 

Rosemary Ice Cream

I have a chicken to thank for this recipe. Whenever I roast one, I always have some fresh rosemary left over. It sits in my fridge forever, and I finally throw it away. Then one day, I had the idea to use it in an ice cream. Genius, I know. 

This is one of my favorite ice cream flavors. I even made it twice, and I almost never make the same flavor twice.

Lemon Poppy Seed Ice Cream

Don't let its loveliness fool you. The lemon packs a lot of punch and the poppy seeds provide a fun little crackle with each bite. 

Inspired by one of my favorite treats: lemon poppy seed bread.

Oreo Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Behold the Turducken of Oreos. For those who aren't familiar with the Turducken, it's a duck stuffed inside a chicken inside a turkey. This recipe is essentially Oreos inside Oreos stuffed inside Oreos (meta, I know). The cookies are blended into the ice cream base with large chunks mixed in. Then, the whole thing is stuffed inside an Oreo. 

Crunchy and gooey!

Birthday Cake Ice Cream

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. In my quarter-century wisdom, I thought, "Why have cake and ice cream when I can have cake ice cream?" Yes, that "the old, the wiser" thing is true. And wow, this ice cream really does taste exactly like birthday cake. My only birthday wish: That none of those calories actually counted. 

Who says you need a cake to blow out the candles?

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?

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!

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.

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. 

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.

Peach Ricotta Honey Ice Cream

I was at the White House Farmers Market yesterday, and Zaytinya chef Mike Isabella (from last season's Top Chef) was there preparing peaches and ricotta drizzled with Greek honey (which he told me is the best honey in the world) and chopped mint. It inspired me to make this recipe. It's light and refreshing, especially with the record-breaking heat here in DC. Plus, it's peach season. 

I heart peaches.

Sesame Ice Cream

My mom recently dug up some old recipes from my grandma and found this gem. Turns out I'm not the only person in my family who loves unique ice cream flavors. The recipe calls for halvah, a Middle Eastern dessert made out of sesame paste, and is served with a sesame brittle. My grandma always did have great taste.

Chocolate Cinnamon Orange Zest Ice Cream

I've often fantasized about being a contestant on Top Chef, though mostly because I want to hang out with Tom and Padma. Now I will be competing in the next best thing... Foodie Fights! Each week, six food bloggers duke it out with their most creative culinary creations to compete for Internet fame. Normally, the challenges involve making something out of two seemingly mismatched ingredients like sesame seed and tropical fruit or dandelion and parmesan. But this week's challenge is a little different: frozen desserts. In other words, it's going to be really embarrassing if the girl with the ice cream blog doesn't win. 

UPDATE: Frozen Fix won the popular vote with 50% of the votes! Both judges named the recipe runner-up, which unfortunately, was not enough points to take home the gold. Check out how the competition stacked up and the judges broke it down. Thanks to everyone who voted!

I wanted to do a flavor that wasn't too bizarre, but that no one has probably ever tried. I also wanted to do chocolate, because seriously, who doesn't love chocolate? The the spice of the cinnamon, bitterness of the dark chocolate, and the citrus of the orange zest blend together in one sinfully decadent note. 

Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Blueberry and Raspberry Swirls

I've never been really into holidays. My Halloween costume (if there is one) is usually some last minute thing I pull out of the closet. I forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day and feel relatively indifferent about Valentine's Day. I always confuse Labor Day with Memorial Day. And I own zero Hanukkah or New Years decorations. But holiday-themed food? That's something I can get behind. So in honor of the fireworks-watching potluck I will be hosting on my roof deck this 4th of July, I made this red, white, and blue concoction. The tart fruit swirls are the perfect compliment to the silky, rich cream base. I'd take a scoop of this over a slice of apple pie any day.

Strawberry Goat Cheese Ice Cream

Sometimes food seems too pretty to eat. This would be one of those times. The sculpted scoops of pink perfection are just so... cute! Of course, not eating it would be a mistake of epic proportions. Think strawberry cheesecake in ice cream form. Oh, you want a spoon now?

Chocolate Banana Baileys Ice Cream

It's sticky hot outside. The sun scorches your shoulders, and sweat clings to you in places you didn't even think you could sweat. Every step becomes slower, and every stretch of shade feels like a distant mirage. Finally, home. You pop open an ice cream container. A boozy sweet scent and cool air waft to your nostrils. Your spoon sinks in like a finger in a peanut butter jar. First, the sharpness of dark chocolate hits your tongue, followed by a bite of Baileys and rum. Finally, the banana—mellow and sweet. The kicker: It's actually kind of healthy.

That's right, this recipe has no sugar or heavy cream. Just milk, chocolate, banana, Baileys, and rum.

Green Tea Ice Cream

I am going to let you all in on a little secret. I am going to tell you my all-time favorite ice cream flavor: green tea. My favorite place to eat it has always been Takashimaya, a Japanese department store with a basement restaurant on 5th Avenue in New York. When I'm in the city, I almost always try to make a stop for this perfect bowl of ice cream. It's creamy and calm, not too strong, but not too subtle. Unfortunately, I just learned that Takashimaya will be closing its doors forever tomorrow (June 5). Fortunately, I now have a recipe that rivals theirs.

There's a great little Japanese grocery in DC called Hana Market (2005 17th St., NW, on the corner of 17th and U). It's the only place in the city where I have been able to sushi grade fish and other Japanese specialty products. On a recent trip, I asked the owner, a very friendly old Japanese man, if he had any green tea powder that I could use to make ice cream. He found only one tiny jar that was very expensive on the shelf. Instead, he went in the back, poured a few spoonfuls (enough for several batches) of his own green tea powder into a little baggy and gave it to me. I love this man. 

Coffee Rocky Road Ice Cream

So, apparently it's National Rocky Road Day—or at least that's what the blogosphere claims. I'm not sure who comes up with these holidays and if there's any legitimacy to them, but apparently there's also a National Maple Syrup Day and National Escargot Day (for which I promise not to make an ice cream). Either way, the timing is pure luck because I just so happened to create this twist on the classic rocky road. It tastes like one of those ridiculous $8 Frappuccinos from Starbucks, except it's actually good. It's also a huge crowd pleaser. I brought it to a party over the weekend, and it was polished off within 15 minutes. 

Clove Brown Sugar Ice Cream

My all-time favorite cookies are my grandma's clove cookies. They've got the crispy edges and the gooey center, but what really makes them delicious is the clove. It's a spice that doesn't often get center stage, so people sometimes have a hard time placing it. Not me. Anytime I smell even a hint of it, I immediately think back to my grandma's famous family recipe. Call it magic or luck, but I've managed to replicate the cookies in ice cream form. It tastes like nostalgia.

Whole cloves have a much more pungent aroma than the ground up stuff.