Vanilla Ice Cream with Sweet Apples Compote

Dateline: Wed 05 Aug. Was it only two weeks ago that on Amy’s regular dinner visit we indulged in a strange concoction for dessert? Why yes: homemade vanilla ice cream topped with a sweet apples compote, which was really an over-sauced stewed diced apples filling like one might use to stuff handpies with. But I overdid its runniness and had also just made ice cream and I thought: Why the heck not?

Dateline: Fri 07 Aug. A couple of days passed with that delicious runny apple filling in a storage container, and in the meantime, I’d also made pastry for a double-crust pie but only used the bottom crust. What remained in the fridge was the perfect amount of dough to create four well-filled apple hand pies, brushed with egg yolk and cream and coated with cinnamon sugar, baked to a toasty doneness, and consumed with another big scoop of that vanilla sweet milk ice cream.

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Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Adapted from "Hand-Held Apple Pies," by Diana Rattray of TheSpruceEats.com. [Updated 10 September 2019]

Sweet Milk Vanilla Ice Cream

Dateline: Fri 24 July. While the churning of vanilla ice cream coincided with National Vanilla Ice Cream Day back on July 23rd, it did not get served until after the next evening’s supper. And as is always the case, it was sweet and delicious and much appreciated by its partakers. Some chocolate fudge sauce was an added touch of grandness and it did not take long for the desserts to be disposed of.

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Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Meal No. 4157: Poppy Seed Chicken

Dateline: Sun 19 July. A small gathering of a mixed bunch from the regular crew was here so we could watch the recent film phenomenon, Obsession. That called for an earlier dinnertime and a doable menu, but I still wanted it to be a decent one. A Sunday night comfort casserole sounded perfect, and that meant dropping a seasoned whole chicken into the Instant Pot and whipping up the mushroom and onion filling on the cooktop. It all comes together in the baking dish with a Ritz cracker buttery crumb topping. When it’s dished up on the plates, the guests are advised, to their happy delight, that they shall dig into poppy seed chicken. And some roasted herbed whole green beans, too.

After the movie, I had some dessert to put together, with most of the prep having been done in advance: chocolate frosty-style shakes. Cold, creamy, chocolatey, and brain-freeze-inducing: we found the cupsful to be an entirely suitable way to close out the night.

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"Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole," by Ashley Moore in Cook's Country, February/March 2015, p. 20.

Guidance from "How to Cook Instant Pot Whole Chicken - Rotisserie Style," by Sheena Strain from noshtastic.com (formerly glutenfreepressurecooker.com). [Printed 08 January 2018 / Updated Online 21 January 2023]

"Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning," by Judith Hannemann, The Midnight Baker. [Published 22 March 2017]

"Homemade Chocolate Frosty," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Updated 04 August 2025]

Maple Pecan Praline Ice Cream

Dateline: Wed 01 July. Pushed into action by the most recent occurrence of National Pralines Day, I whipped up a batch unsuccessfully using a recipe that I've now thrown away. And then I made a maple ice cream base into which the pieces of praline could be mixed. It was a sugar-intense result in the end but served as a delightful sweet evening-concluder on the opening day of July.

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Adapted from "Maple Bourbon Pecan Ice Cream," from Alanna Taylor-Tobin of The Bojon Gourmet. [Published 29 September 2012 / Updated 22 April 2025]

"Buttermilk-Pecan Pralines," by Nancie McDermott and Jill O'Connor, from Southern Living online. [Printed 24 June 2019 / Updated 10 October 2022]

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sundae

Dateline: Mon 08 June. On a casual weeknight, I got a wild hair for coming out at dessert time with something new and different. I'd spotted online an intriguing combination of cookies and ice cream, in the form of what some call a pizookie sundae. Basically, you drop a healthy ball of chocolate chunk cookie dough into a ramekin, let it bake into full cookieness, and then top it with ice cream (and if you still have homemade chocolate syrup, perhaps a few streaks of that as well). This was really, really good, truth be told. I'll be glad to have it reappear before long.

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"Mini Individual Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae (Pizookie)," from Melissa Stadler of ModernHoney.com. [Published 04 February 2017 / Updated 09 September 2018]

Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Chocolate Frosty Shakes

The first Sunday of June was also National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, apparently, and it was therefore fitting that I'd made a new batch of homemade chocolate milk to freeze into cubes to then be developed into a blender-based chocolate frosty shake...à la Wendy's. This was my second attempt to make a Frosty this way, and once again I was very disappointed that my very expensive Vitamix blender seems unable to handle the job. Of course, once I research it further, I'm sure I'll find out it's just user error. But with guests waiting for their dessert, I did not like that my hosting efforts were jeopardized when that expensive appliance did not perform as expected.

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"Homemade Chocolate Frosty," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Updated 04 August 2025]

Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake & Chocolate Frosty Ice Cream

As May wrapped up, the Roediger House found itself in a celebratory mood with all of its favorite locals on hand for a movie-watching extravaganza that lasted all day, as noted in yesterday's blog post. We did also indulge in dessert later that evening, featuring a new and an old recipe. On its maiden voyage here was vanilla Texas sheet cake, inspired in part because of how much we all liked the recent lemon version I'd made. It also proved to be a winner, in a warmer vanilla bean-boosted way. And as revealed in the photo above, there was also ice cream, a return to the simple churning chest freezer version of a chocolate Wendy's Frosty ice cream (first made in 2012 and based on a long ago Southern Living blog post). Best served when it's got its icy features and mouthfeel, I thought it achieved a strong chocolate punch, perhaps helping it to be acceptable enough for the gang.

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"Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake," from Karli Bitner of Cooking with Karli. [Published 11 March 2026]

The recipe for a copycat Wendy's Chocolate Frosty was originally discovered in a discussion thread on the discontinued Southern Living blogs, posted by user Patricia Elizabeth (Pat) Martin (pbj1118), proud alumnus (Class of 1969) of Isaac Litton High School in Nashville, TN. (Recipe accessed September 2005.) Similar recipe is available at The House of Elyn Ryn: "Wendy's Chocolate Frosty: An Easy Copycat of a Classic Treat," from Rynn Hennings. [Published 11 August 2022]

Homemade Chocolate Milk based on guidance from "Homemade Chocolate Frosty," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Updated 04 August 2025]

Flavor boosted with homemade chocolate syrup, from a batch based on "Hershey's Chocolate Syrup," from Stephanie Manley of CopyKat.com. [Published 25 August 2020 / Updated 15 September 2021]

Red Velvet Ice Cream with Cream Cheese Swirl

When I get a little carried away, it sometimes creates the kind fortune of more of a good thing. With heavy cream needing to be used up, I ignored my recent problematic morning weigh-ins and put together a double batch of red velvet cream cheese swirl ice cream, first served last Sunday night. Just sweet enough, a welcome hint of chocolate, the tang of the buttermilk, the richness of the egg-and-cream base, all in the vibrant alternating red-and-white color scheme of a glorious scoop (or three) of ice cream to die for. (Or of. I overdid it yet again.)

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"Red Velvet Ice Cream with Cream Cheese Frosting Swirl," from Jocelyn Delk Adams of GrandbabyCakes.com. [Published 19 July 2022 / Updated 12 August 2024]

Cream Cheese Swirl based on "Red Velvet Ice Cream with Cream Cheese Frosting Swirl," from Annie Marshall of Annie's Eats, a food blog. Accessed May 2015. [Published 08 February 2013]

Chocolate Frosty Cups

On Saturday night, I scrambled to throw together a dessert, and on that occasion I tried out a new way to make chocolate frosties, à la Wendy's. While it almost burnt up my Vitamix blender (and I do not understand how that's possible), these cups of icy chocolate goodness were a pleasing end to the dinner gathering...before I dashed off down to the UNC School of the Arts for the second round of Fourth Year thesis film screenings, which were again excellent.

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"Homemade Chocolate Frosty," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Updated 04 August 2025]

Meal No. 4039: Deviled Beef Short Ribs

On Friday a week ago, the homestead enjoyed a shifted timing for the regular visit of Amy for dinner and hanging out. My grocery trek earlier in the week after all our winter weather manifested some exuberance—likely caused by pent-up demand in me—and I'd really stocked up on good foods to make. For us that evening back on February 6th, we had marvelous deviled beef short ribs with a tangy mustard sauce and a panko coating. The faithful side dishes of roasted spiced potatoes and herbed roasted whole green beans went along nicely. I was the eager beaver making a nearly-full plate of seconds, throwing all caution to the wind, and gorging on all that deliciousness.

In spite of all that and disregarding good sense, I still dug out the last of some sweet milk vanilla ice cream and dressed it up with some stored-away homemade hot fudge sauce for our dessert. It might have been just enough, so that we could peer at but not tumble over the proverbial food top.

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"Deviled Beef Short Ribs," by Jeremy Sauer. In Cook's Country, April/May 2014, p. 12-13.

Roasted Russet Potatoes majorly adapted from but dependent on "Roasted Sweet Potatoes," from Chelsea Lords of ChelseasMessyApron.com. [Published 04 March 2019]

Adapted from "Hot Fudge Sauce," a recipe shared with me by former neighbor Jessica Atkinson.

Made the previous weekend and stored away, but the ice cream recipe comes from "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago; it is no longer available on their website.

Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake

Sometimes dessert must be a wee bit overdone, as in: it was all too much. That seems to have been the collective view on Monday evening last week, when the three of us with already full bellies still found a way to conquer bowls of chocolate pudding cake with vanilla ice cream. If one can be happily miserable, that’s what you could put beside my senior superlative.

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"Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake," from Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 13 May 2020 / Updated 07 July 2020]

Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Shortbread Cookies and Vanilla Ice Cream

While the baby back pork ribs dinner enjoyed on the first Saturday night of 2026 might well have been sufficient to leave us all satisfied, I still felt like we were due a dessert offering. I'd made and stored away some vanilla ice cream, using a perfect and perfectly dependable approach from King Arthur Baking. Then I also whipped up a batch of shortbread cookies, which are generally supposed to be left to set up but I went ahead and served 'em warm and a bit pliable with the sweet frozen dairy scoops of heaven.

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Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

"Shortbread Cookies," from Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTinEats.com. [Published 16 March 2019 / Updated 18 June 2025]

Meal No. 3991: Homemade Bolognese over Pappardelle

When a neighbor came for lunch last Wednesday, I used it as a reason to make a big pot of homemade bolognese, some to lay atop pappardelle pasta right then and there, and the rest to be tucked away into the freezer for some future shortcut to a meal. We enjoyed a side salad with homemade Thousand Island dressing as well, and then we finished out with delicious homemade ice vanilla ice cream.

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"Homemade Bolognese Sauce," from Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 17 January 2023]

Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Apple Turnovers & Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream

When Kristen and Mookie came for dinner and a movie Saturday a week ago, I figured we'd better have a dessert that could be orchestrated in a way that left me free to partake of that evening's streaming cinema. Ice cream is an easy way to prepare in advance, and I reached for the amazing brown sugar cinnamon version that is widely admired in these parts. But I also wanted something befitting of the season to go with it. That could have been apple pie, but an Instagram post caught my eye and got me excited about a small burst of possible culinary styling. What was produced instead were woven puff pastry apple turnovers, silly little creations to give us something stacked alongside that amazing ice cream. Into these delectables we dove, once the pastries came out of the oven, and it all masqueraded as a more special dessert than the labors warranted.

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"Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream," from Heather Tullos of SugarDishMe.com. [Published 11 September 2015]

Braided Apple Pie Turnovers inspired by:

• "Basket Pastries," by Sema Cenik, who posts as pastalimpus on Instagram. [Published 23 July 2025]
• "Easy Apple Turnovers," by Natasha Kravchuk from Natasha's Kitchen. [Updated 16 September 2024]

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Cream Sauce and Sweet Milk Ice Cream

Saturday a week ago had a sweet finisher for our supper for three: white chocolate walnut blondies with maple cream sauce. This is reminiscent of a dessert that was long featured at Applebee's. And might still be, for all I know, given that I cannot remember how long it's been since I might have ventured into that chain. These marvelous squares of combined sweet glory are just the right size for a big scoop of homemade ice cream...in this case, a sweet milk vanilla ice cream that I'd whipped up the day before. But then, once you let a gooey dollop of maple cream sauce ooze all over the whole kit and caboodle, well, now you know you've probably shaken hands with the devil and two of his henchmen.

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"White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Cream Sauce," from Jillian Hatsumi of ABajillianRecipes.com. [Published 23 July 2018]

"Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

What I Did for a Homemade Klondike Bar

As we tipped over from August into September, I decided the latest small batch of leftover egg whites did not need to be tossed aside. As I enjoyed my late summer break and some extra time at home before the start of the fall travel season, the inspiration for an ambitious dessert endeavor took hold: homemade Klondike bars. Between 2019 and 2021, I made these a handful of times, always to delightfully satisfying result, but after a four-year hiatus since the last round of 'em, these rascals seemed to be plenty overdue for a revival. That first serving of the bunch followed our chicken and soy sauce ramen supper Wednesday a week ago, and I must say: it's pretty cool to know these came out of my very own kitchen endeavors!

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"Homemade Klondike Bars," by Stella Parks, editor emeritus and former Pastry Wizard at SeriousEats.com, and the current reigning monarch of Bravetart. [Published 06 September 2018 / Updated 14 February 2025]

Super Awesome Eggnog Ice Cream

While the weather last week was making me feel pretty blah, I still found something to celebrate: the deliciousness of a fresh batch of homemade eggnog ice cream (no actual eggnog was harmed in the making of this treasure!). The base was made last Tuesday, and the ice cream got its churning Wednesday morning, and then it was put away to set up in the freezer to be ready to serve after dinner on Friday night. And it wasn't alone: I also whipped up a chai-spiced sweet cream cheese and apple strudel, and they were a fine pairing!

Also, best I can tell from the blog, it's been almost three years since I made eggnog ice cream, and it's been almost four years since I used this particular recipe...in spite of how good it is!

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"Eggnog Ice Cream," from Bi-Rite Creamery's Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, by Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, and Dabney Gough. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press (2012), p. 186-187.

Based on "Easy Apple Strudel with Puff Pastry," from Hyegyoung "Holly" K. Ford of BeyondKimchee.com. [Published 15 September 2021 / Updated 29 October 2023]

Apple Filling based on "Apple Turnovers," by Sam Merritt of Sugar Spun Run. [Published 08 September 2022]

Chai-Spiced Sweetened Cream Cheese Filling loosely adapted from "Blueberry Cream Cheese Pastry Braid," from Sally McKenney of Sally's Baking Addiction. [Published 16 February 2014]

Peach Butter Swim Biscuits

When Amy comes for dinner, I sure don't want to let her down by failing at the dessert challenge. She's also so very easy to get along with and that means I get to try out and experiment, which is what happened on the final Wednesday night of June. While it was a bonus that she filmed her Instagram reel wearing a UNC Tar Heels shirt, Zee the Introvert sold me on peach butter swim biscuits: easy to put together, and so satisfying to consume. I'd saved a couple of containers of the dense New England-style vanilla ice cream to go with it. You shoulda been here.

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"Peach Butter Swim Biscuits," from Zakia Boyd. On Instagram: zeetheintrovert. [Published 17 May 2025]

Dense, Chewy New England-Style Vanilla Ice Cream

If one batch can be amazing, there's all the more reason to double it, and that's how I handled the oversupply of separated egg yolks back in the middle of the month after using all the egg whites for the super epic rainbow layer cake. That's right: I had no choice but to make delicious ice cream, in abundance, and it was freakin' awesome. This meant pulling out the chest-style ice cream freezer, with the churning motor and all the ice and rock salt, and letting it hum away in the utility sink in the laundry room for a while. The first bowl of it served as dessert Friday night a week ago, and then other scoops made their way into evening affairs on subsequent days.

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"Dense, Chewy, and Rich New England-Style Ice Cream," from Max Falkowitz, former senior features editor of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 26 July 2022]

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Mascarpone Maple Cream Sauce

The rule in this household is almost ironclad, that Amy is not to be denied her due dessert when she's so graciously agreed to spend an evening here. Last Wednesday, after we'd feasted on roasted cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, I had a dessert option that was do-able and delicious: white chocolate walnut blondies with mascarpone maple cream sauce. And sweet milk vanilla ice cream to boot. Those cozy little bowls of heaven might prove to be hell on our hips, but it was all glorious on our lips.

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Based on "White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Cream Sauce," from Jillian Hatsumi of ABajillianRecipes.com. [Published 23 July 2018]

"Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on the King Arthur website.