Frozen Dessert

Bacon and maple are a classic combination. Here, the dynamic flavor duo teams up in a sweet-and-salty maple sauce studded with caramelized bacon. The sauce is spooned over ice cream and sprinkled with toasted pecans to create the ultimate sundae. Serve any leftover sauce with pancakes or waffles.

The matzoh layers are soaked in coffee and though softened, they dry out when chilled and hold the dessert together. The first version of the recipe was made in a loaf pan and served ten but I quickly realized that on Passover, the crowds are bigger. To serve ten, just halve the recipe and prepare in a 12-inch loaf pan.

The combination of chocolate and cinnamon gives this treat its Mexican flavor. The cake needs to freeze overnight, so be sure to plan ahead.

The brown-butter cookies used to make these dessert sandwiches are great with many different flavors of ice cream.

The base for this fun frozen dessert cocktail can be prepared up to one month ahead. Keep a batch in your freezer for an almost-instant treat.

Almond-flavored cookies make up the crust; broiled peaches are mixed with ice cream to create the delicious filling.

Raw sugar adds a caramely note (and a tan color) to this tangy ice cream.

To make these at home, look for ice pop molds with narrow openings for inserting the sticks. They can be found in cookware stores and at amazon.com. The author makes these and other pops for New York-based People's Pops.

Ciao Bella has made this classic Italian flavor since the beginning, and it's the favorite of our president, Charlie Apt. Campari, invented in the 1860s by Gaspare Campari, is an alcoholic beverage made with a secret mixture of herbs and bark that gives it its characteristic bitter edge. Here that bitterness is intensified by the sharpness of the grapefruit, which makes this the quintessential palate cleanser; if you want to serve it as a dessert, increase the sugar to 2 cups. Campari's distinctive red color lends a beautiful gentle pink tone to the sorbetto. For a nonalcoholic grapefruit sorbetto, simply omit the Campari.

Tangy, tart, and refreshing, with a bit of graham cracker crunch—just like the pie.
One of Ciao Bella's most popular recent flavor creations, this started as a seasonal offering for our chef customers and became wildly successful in our gelaterie. The popularity of Key Lime with Graham Cracker Gelato was a bit of a surprise because its flavor is decidedly tart, while Americans tend to have sweeter palates. There's always a fine line between creating what chefs appreciate and what customers will like, but in this case everyone was happy. This flavor is so popular that in less than a year it became our number-one retail gelato flavor in New York City.

Cajeta is a goat's-milk caramel popular in Mexico where it's made into candies or drizzled over ice cream and other desserts. The word cajeta is Spanish for "small box," named for the containers the caramel was traditionally packed in.
Making your own cajeta is worth the extra bit of work, but you can also buy it or substitute its South American cousin, dulce de leche.

A cool treat inspired by spumoni, the classic Italian frozen dessert of ice cream, whipped cream, rum, nuts, and candied fruit.

The exotic flavors of passion fruit and guava are layered in these pretty ice pops. To create perfectly defined layers, chill the guava mixture while the passion fruit mixture is freezing.

This grown-up dessert is perfect for a backyard bash.

This simple dessert is completed in the freezer—no ice cream maker required. Feel free to use your favorite red wine in this recipe, but keep in mind that a lighter-style wine (like Beaujolais) will really let the strawberries shine. If you choose a deeper red, such as Merlot or Zinfandel, the strawberry flavor will be less pronounced.

If you don't believe the saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, this simple yet incredibly good sorbet is proof positive that it can be true. This is my all-time favorite sorbet.

Your standard celebration staple—guacamole, salsa and chips—deserves a cool upgrade. The classic ingredient combo isn't only yummy, it's also good for you. The healthy monounsaturated fats in avocados help you absorb more cancer-fighting carotenoids from the tomatoes.