Ice Cream Machine

The sugared herb sprig is a super-easy, sophisticated garnish.

Cassis, also known as black currant, has a deep, velvety, ripe-berry flavor, along with a slight sourness; this sorbet plays up those qualities. We use bottled nectar, but if you find fresh black currants, you can certainly make your own (see cooks' note, below).

Fresh and creamy all at once, this clever combination of rich ricotta ice cream and icy-cold watermelon chunks is a twist on the classic Creamsicle. Shaved bittersweet chocolate complements both flavors beautifully.

The deep caramel flavor in this ice cream will hypnotize you. And the optional garnish is actually a must; the combination of salty and sweet is too intriguing to pass up.

Graham crackers make a fun garnish.

For a berry swirl, add some sweetened crushed raspberries during the last minute of churning. The swirl may become icy after the ice cream is frozen, so soften slightly before serving.

A perfect ending to any Asian meal.

It was summer when we received a letter from a reader requesting a recipe for fruit ice cream that was as lush and rich as Ruth Reichl's chocolate ice cream . The secret is to cook the fruit down to a jamlike consistency with sugar, which lowers the freezing point. We were working on our fall issues at the time, so we developed a seasonally appropriate cranberry ice cream ; we also couldn't resist taking advantage of the local peaches sitting on our countertop. Frozen peaches are a perfectly good stand-in for fresh in this case, and a scoop of peach ice cream on a slice of toasted pound cake can be a beautiful thing in the dead of winter. For the silkiest peach ice cream ever, work with the all-cream base for the cranberry ice cream .

Sweet and tart, this robust fruit ice cream is a perfect finish for any holiday feast.

Missy Johnson of Fairway, Kansas, writes: "My husband and i had a wonderful spiced banana ice cream at bluestem, in Kansas City, Missouri. Do you think the pastry chef would share the recipe?"

Even easier: The base for this ice cream — a warm orange custard — is equally delicious with the Apple-Raisin Crumble. Instead of turning it into ice cream, just spoon the warm custard over each serving.

Ice wine, or eiswein, is traditionally made from grapes that are handpicked after being allowed to freeze. Less costly bottlings of the concentrated sweet wine are made from grapes frozen in freezers.

Bake and freeze the Triple-Chocolate Cookies a day before filling them with ice cream. For convenience, you can make the homemade ice cream up to three days in advance. Purchased strawberry ice cream (softened slightly at room temperature until spreadable) also works in these sandwiches.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. My husband Matt and I created this recipe long before we opened The Bent Spoon. We have such special memories of picking baskets full of strawberries and making them into this bright reddish-pink sorbet, which captures their fresh-picked essence. We now use it in the top layer in our red, white, and blue cake. Because it's such a simple recipe, it's important to get fresh, organic berries picked at the height of their flavor. At the shop, we don't strain them — we like to keep the fruit as close to its natural state as possible. But if you dislike bits of seeds in your sorbet, feel free to strain the base before chilling it. The quality of the water is important as well — if your water has a bad aftertaste, so will your sorbet — so we recommend using bottled. The optional egg white helps to stabilize, emulsify, and preserve the texture of the sorbet if you are going to keep it in your freezer for a few days.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. This refreshing ice cream makes a white, creamy layer in the middle of our red, white, and blue cake. As with all cooking, if you start with great ingredients, you'll get great results. Hormone-free milk, fresh cream, and organic lemons make all the difference. If Meyer lemons are in season, try using them for both the juice and the candied peel — you'll be amazed by the wonderful depth of flavor. The candied lemon peels are optional — regular zest can be used instead. But the peels make delicious yellow chunks in the ice cream and are surprisingly simple to make.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Gabrielle Carbone, coproprietor of The Bent Spoon ice cream parlor in Princeton, New Jersey. This recipe makes a luscious, blue-purple sorbet that's perfect for our red, white, and blue cake. It's a pretty simple recipe — the quality comes from fresh, organic berries picked at the height of their flavor. The quality of the water is important as well — if your water has a bad aftertaste, so will your sorbet — so we recommend using bottled. The optional egg white helps to stabilize, emulsify, and preserve the texture of the sorbet if you are going to keep it in your freezer for a few days. Also optional is straining. At the shop, we don't strain — we like to keep the fruit as close to its natural state as possible. But if you dislike bits of seeds in your sorbet, feel free to strain the base before chilling it.

Feel free to experiment with the combination of herbs in this refreshing dessert — we were surprised to discover that even adding a sprig of something assertive like cilantro or oregano to the mix can be delicious. Serve it with the five-spice cones or topped with fresh berries.

Though we've divided this recipe into two sections, it really contains just four ingredients: rhubarb, sugar, vanilla, and corn syrup. (Adding a little corn syrup to a sorbet helps give it a velvety texture.)

This tastes like vanilla ice cream and feels like snow.