Frozen Dessert

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.

These tasty cones are perfect for the five-herb ice milk, but they also liven up plain old vanilla ice cream.Instead of forming the pizzelle into cones, you can serve them flat, like cookies.

We found a significant difference in the amount of liquid exuded by fresh versus frozen sour cherries when cooked. If your cherries give off a lot of liquid, you may have to reduce your syrup a little longer.

Be sure to clean the grill rack thoroughly with a metal brush to remove any bits of grilled food that might impart an off flavor to the cake. Reheat the cake on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven before serving.

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.

Marsala, a Sicilian fortified wine, is traditionally used to flavor zabaglione, a light dessert custard. In this recipe, rum is added for a more intense flavor.

This simply elegant ice is inspired by the Bellini, a mix of peach nectar and Prosecco made famous at Harry's Bar in Venice. Scoop it into flutes and top with Prosecco for a lovely aperitif. The ice is good on its own, too, especially between courses.

Although the name means "half-frozen," a semifreddo is made by freezing a mousse-like custard in a mold. The result is an airy confection, which may explain the impression that it is only semifreddo.

Nieve, or "snow," is Mexico's sorbet, sold from carts throughout the country. Ours is a quick version, made with passion-fruit nectar instead of puréed and strained fruit. For the best flavor, look for a nectar that contains just water, passion-fruit juice, and sugar.

The dense, velvety texture of avocados produces a gelato of exceptional smoothness, with no added cream or egg. Though avocado may seem unusual as a sweet, it's commonly used as a dessert ingredient in Latin America. We call for a crushed vitamin C tablet here, which is the trick to retaining the bright green color of the avocados without affecting their flavor.

Mint-chocolate truffles frozen in vanilla ice cream create a polka-dot dessert.

This sherbet is the perfect ending to an Asian-themed meal.