Coconut Rice Pudding Ice Cream

I’m guilty of having overlooked rice pudding for many years as a genuinely excellent source of sweetness, but really, what’s not to love? For being beyond fickle when it comes to settling on a texture for my dessert, I ought to be all over rice pudding for it’s lush and creamy custard studded with chewy, toothsome bits of rice. Sadly, not until about a month ago. I made a coconut rice pudding with arborio (risotto) rice and couldn’t keep my spoon away. It’s only natural that now I would take it a step further and take rice pudding to the ice cream maker. Brace yourselves!

Corn Flake Ice Cream

File my reaction under “grotesquely surprised” if you remain unfamiliar with the existence of Momofuku’s famed Cereal Milk™. It’s okay, I’m not mad, just surprised and will now contort my face into a super unattractive expression of untainted astonishment and curiosity.

If you haven’t heard of said milk, do not be ashamed. In fact, I love you for living in a world unmarred by twisted diary dreamscapes. This magical milk essentially captures the flavor of milk at the end of a bowl of cereal. It’s made by steeping milk in toasted cornflakes with a bit of brown sugar. I first thought to make this milk and use it in a batch of waffle cones. Approximately 2 seconds later I realized the obvious: this milk should be made into ice cream!

Cherry Mascarpone Ice Cream + Chocolate Waffle Cones

I am writing to you from the cluttered aftermath of what might have been a normal, quiet evening at home, had it not been for homemade cherry ice cream. It all started with a couple of margaritas (still working on those limes!) which is really when things got fuzzy. I do remember and totally condone the Chipotle take-out that followed but after that it’s anyone’s guess.

In the cruel, condemning light of morning I see waffle cones with curious bite marks, strewn across the kitchen counter in a constellation significant of only the fiercest, most crass of midnight binges. Spoons lie littering the sink, still thickly coated with dairy. German films on VHS are stacked on the coffee table. What happened here last night!?

Ricotta Rhubarb Ice Cream + Lemon Zest Waffle Cones

Whenever I’m unburdened by necessity, I find being at the grocery store strangely therapeutic. Yeah, I get that it’s not a normal feeling. What I mean is that when I don’t have a snaking list of necessities to guide my movement through the store in a rushed and aggravated manner, I enjoy meditating on the way each section is organized. Sometimes I zone out and just read the price tags, trying distill the essence of each item into a numerical value equal with how many hours someone might have had to work in order to afford it. This usually stresses me out too much by the time I get to cheese, so I move on to just looking for new items or things I don’t usually pay attention to because I’m too frantically trying to find a jar of sun dried tomatoes before my sauce on the stove at home boils over.

Ah, the grocery store. I was plodding through bins of produce at Whole Foods the other day, looking for nothing whatsoever when a small stash of long pink stalks caught my eye. Rhubarb! I checked the sign “Conventional/ Holland; $7.99/lb.” UGH! Are  you serious!? Whatever. I said out loud to nobody. I grabbed 3 stalks and paid. I knew ice cream would be in their future.

Where My Vegans At?

I went through a phase last winter where I was experimenting with raw and vegan desserts. I don’t remember how it started but it most definitely ended with unrestrained ice cream consumption. The problem was that I discovered a secret ingredient that shamed all ice creams I had made before. Behold: the avocado! I found a recipe for raw chocolate ice cream that contained just three ingredients: avocado, raw cacao powder and raw agave nectar. Do not be put off by the avocado. It’s your raw and vegan key to extreme creaminess. The cacao totally covers the taste and your agave nectar makes it sweet. I’ve made countless ice creams since then using avocado as a base and remain baffled by it’s rich and creamy texture every. single. time. Today I offer a you a variation of this vegan treat. It’s a vegan chocolate goji ice cream.