Sundae

Guess whose is whose. Yogurt and sorbet with fresh fruit is a luscious and healthful way to get your sundae fix. Or you can go whole hog and pile on the ice cream, peanut butter, fudge, and cookies! As kids growing up, we always got single scoops at the Dairy Queen; we couldn’t ask for the banana split—it was the most expensive thing on the menu. It’s safe to say we’ve made up for lost time on that one, though!

Purchased ice cream becomes a party-worthy dessert with the addition of homemade caramel sauce and a little toasted coconut.

An entirely new kind of sundae: A light ice cream flecked with crunchy, bitter cocoa nibs is topped with a creamy chocolate-caramel sauce and a sprinkling of spicy, tangy peanuts.

Put out several flavors of ice cream and let guests help you by making their own desserts!

Pretty sundaes that have tons of mint flavor—in the fudge sauce, sugar topping, ice cream, and crumbled cookies.

Not your average sundae: Strawberry sorbet takes the place of ice cream; Prosecco sabayon (an airy, foamy custard) is the sauce; and sugared almonds add crunch.

Just a few minutes in a hot skillet gives the sauce a complex flavor. If you've got an extra minute or two, skip the chocolate chips and garnish the sundaes with chocolate curls shaved off the edge of a chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler.

Blood oranges have a thinner and less bitter peel than navel oranges, so it's okay to eat—as in this dessert.

With its warm, gooey goodness, this dessert will bring bananas Foster to mind. You'll have some sauce left over, which will be handy because, we assure you, you'll be in the mood to have this again the next night—if not sooner.

Doughnuts meet bananas Foster in this playful dessert.

This recipe comes exclusively to Epicurious from Suzanne Tracht of Los Angeles's Jar restaurant.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Ted Allen's The Food You Want to Eat. This recipe can be doubled, using a 9x13-inch baking dish. Cooking time may need to be adjusted slightly. For Allen's tips on throwing a Thanksgiving party, click here. These brownies are made to live under a blob of vanilla; as such, they're intentionally cakey, buttery, and not too sweet. This can be made ahead, and the brownies reheated for 30 to 60 seconds in your microwave; the sauce reheats perfectly over low heat.

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 all-American soda fountain classic gets a fabulous tropical makeover.

Even die-hard chocolate lovers won't miss the hot fudge in these sensational sundaes.

In July of 1864, the Confederate cavalry rode into Owings Mills, Maryland, where an ice cream factory's employees were loading a shipment bound for Baltimore. With rations low, the soldiers seized the ice cream and ate it straight out of the ten-gallon freezers for breakfast. Many of the mountaineers had never seen ice cream before. Some put it into their hats and ate it while riding, while others thought it too cold, so they put it in their canteens to melt.