Fresh from the Freezer

  For how dead simple it is to make, it’s well worth it. How am I supposed to know when it’s the right time to throw away holiday leftovers? Right now, it’s the end of January, and as of about a week ago, I still had opened, storebought eggnog in the fridge from December. Is that fine, or… am I… gross? My political view is that if it smells fine, looks fine, and tastes fine, then it’s fine. This is the capaign I’ll be running on. Please pledge your support for me in the next general election. Anyways, this is an extremely easy, one-ingredient recipe you can try if you, like me, have leftover eggnog you haven’t yet thrown out. Pour eggnog into a Ninja Creami pint up to the maximum fill line, stir in two tablespoons of dark rum (optional, but strongly recommended), and voila. Done. That’s all you need to make this. You can also add crunchy cookies as a mix-in if you’d like, but keep in mind that they won’t stay crunchy the longer they sit. I enjoyed adding speculoos cookies (B...

  I couldn’t find any other recipe for persimmon sherbet on the internet, so… voila! Sherbet is a bit more on the traditional side, isn’t it? Off the top of my head, I can only name a handful of flavors: orange, lime, raspberry, rainbow (which is usually a mix of the previous three), sometimes strawberry, and that just about covers it. It’s an old-fashioned treat that no one wants to disrespect by changing things up. But doesn’t sherbet deserve a little more recognition and diversity in flavors? It makes an excellent blank canvas for all fruits, with dairy rounding out the sharper edges of whatever fruit flavor it hosts. It’s also fun to invent new things, and I couldn’t find any other recipe for persimmon sherbet on the internet, so… voila!   I have heard that persimmons can be very sharp in taste when they aren’t ripened enough, but I thankfully have not experienced this yet. I got my hands on some Fuyu persimmons and waited to eat them until they were soft and ...

  Olive oil and pretzels create a mysterious yet addictive flavor that’s greater than the sum of its parts. This flavor combination is one of my favorites so far. Olive oil and pretzels aren’t strangers when it comes to desserts—think orange olive oil cake and chocolate-covered pretzels—but these star-crossed lovers aren’t often paired together for some reason. This ends now. Olive oil and pretzels create a mysterious yet addictive flavor that’s greater than the sum of its parts. It tastes a little like both ingredients, but the combination of the two also tastes like some secret third thing that’s been difficult for me to pinpoint. Whatever it is, I’m really, really into it. I’ve already made this flavor a few times now because of how fantastic it is. I had two other people try it and guess the flavor, and their guesses were nothing short of strange: white bean, onion, possibly toast, and a few others I can’t recall. The taste testers knew what weirdness I’m capable of. ...

I decided to take the inside of roasted sweet potato, mix it up with gelato ingredients plus a splash of rum, and presto! This Japanese sweet potato gelato was born. From the very first bite, I’ve been addicted to Japanese sweet potato, also called satsumaimo. There are so many confections from Japan that use Japanese sweet potato because of its gentle, chestnut-like flavor, including everything from cakes to cookies to puddings and then some. My favorite Japanese sweet potato dessert by far, however, is a baked treat that is literally just called “sweet potato.” Sorry, I know it’s confusing, but there is a dessert in Japan called “sweet potato” that is made out of the plant which is called “sweet potato” in English. To avoid too much confusion, I’m going to refer to the dessert as “suiitopoteto,” which is the Japanese pronunciation, and the tuber itself as “sweet potato.” These are suiitopoteto I made using this recipe  if you'd like to try making them.  They're bette...

  This recipe is basically just liquid Key lime pie meeting whipped cream, as it should be. Isn’t it always so nice to reconnect with old friends? I recently got into contact with a childhood friend of mine who I’ll call D, and I sent her a link to this blog. She expressed interest in a no-churn recipe. No-churn ice cream is easy and accessible. All you need is a can of condensed milk and a pint of cream. However, I have always hesitated with no-churn ice cream recipes because I anticipated them having several big problems:  1. Having a greasy mouthfeel  2. Melting too quickly  3. Being way too sweet I kept wondering what flavor might help mitigate those issues, and then it hit me—Key lime pie. Yay, I finally get to use this tray I bought at a souvenir shop!  I don’t mind doxxing myself just a little bit. D and I both grew up in Florida. She’s since moved away, so I thought this would be perfect to give her a little taste of her former home. The tartness o...

  This recipe contains no fruit, but it is my forbidden fruit. When I first tried corn ice cream, it was from Adrienne Borlongan’s wonderful cookbook The World of Ice Cream , which I reviewed here . I tried a slightly modified version of her recipe and loved it. Corn ice cream is sweet and buttery. Corn ice cream feels like a secret that Southeast Asia and South America have been keeping from North America, and for good reason; almost every time I tell someone here about how delicious it is, they do not believe me. I know people like to stick to their classics, but come on. Corn ice cream is fantastic . What, did you think I was going to call it a-maize-ing? Well, I would not do that. That would be too corny. Ahem. Sorry. Honestly, with how major of a crop corn is in the U.S., I am shocked it is not more popular as a dessert flavor. Corn has quickly became one of my favorite ice cream flavors right up there with vanilla and strawberry. Corn is a trigger food that hurts my...