Do you feel that homemade ice cream just isn’t rich enough? Do you make it with cream, whole milk, egg yolks and sugar, but still feel that something’s missing, calorie-wise? Then this is the recipe for you: mascarpone ice cream.

We got this, of course, from David Lebovitz. It’s a variation on his crème fraîche ice cream, which also sounds magnificent, but we had some mascarpone left over from making Elise’s strawberry mascarpone tart, and you don’t want to waste mascarpone, do you?

Jon halved the recipe (or two-thirded it, or something), but it was so rich it still took us days to get through it. Some of it we ate with fresh strawberries, which was of course lovely, but it was best on the first night, when we made affogato. We scooped it out of the machine into bowls, then poured hot espresso over the top. It began to melt instantly, of course, necessitating hasty consumption, but that really wasn’t a problem. The swirls of cold ice cream and hot coffee dance together in the bowl, creating one of the best desserts on earth.

Affogato with Mascarpone Ice Cream

adapted from Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 cups mascarpone

Warm milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan.

Whisk together the egg yolks in a bowl. Pour the warmed milk in, whisking, then pour everything back into the saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Strain and cool. Chill.

Whisk in the mascarpone, then freeze in your machine. Get a pot of espresso going (or whatever strong coffee you like best).

When the ice cream is ready, scoop into bowls and pour hot espresso over the top. Eat instantly.

When I first brought home a library copy of David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop (shortly before we bought our own copy – it didn’t take long), one of the very first recipes we opened it to was this one: a custard-based ice cream with orange zest and crushed Sichuan peppercorns, wow! Jon’s been wanting to make it ever since, and we finally got our chance. We had friends over (fresh ice cream wants an audience) and made Chinese pork ribs and scallion breads, followed by this ice cream for dessert.

It was amazing: rich and creamy, with a deep aroma of fresh oranges, with each bite finishing on a tingle of Sichuan pepper. I can only imagine what it would be like with really fresh, numbing peppercorns.

Also, since it called for the zest of four whole oranges, we had a lovely excuse to have fresh squeezed orange juice the next morning.

Orange-Sichuan Pepper Ice Cream

adapted from Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompanimentsby David Lebovitz

• 3 Tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 oranges
• 6 large egg yolks

Coarsely crush the peppercorns in a mortar. Put them in a saucepan with the milk, ½ cup of the cream, and the sugar, and heat until warm. Zest the oranges directly into the pan. Once warm, cover, remove from the heat and let steep for one hour. After steeping, warm it back up.

Pour the rest of the cream into a bowl. Set a strainer over it.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture in, whisking all the time, then pour it all back into the saucepan. Stir over medium heat until it thickens and coats your spatula. Pour through the strainer into the cream and stir. Cool over an ice bath and refrigerate until ready to run the ice cream maker. Freeze as directed.

David recommends serving this with a red wine-poached rhubarb compote - I think we shall have to try this when our rhubarb comes up. But we ate it straight and it was sublime.

I used to really hate figs, but I thought I was overcoming the problem: I’ve had several restaurant salads with fresh figs and goat cheese that I really liked, so I figured my tastes were finally maturing. However, it does not appear to be a complete cure as yet. This is one of the only things we’ve made from The Perfect Scoop that hasn’t been a complete success – ah, well. I don’t know if it was just us or if the figs weren’t quite ripe yet – the ice cream just tasted like a cold fig newton, kind of vegetal and strange.

The fresh Brown Turkey figs were awful pretty, though.

Things may be a little quiet around here for a couple days. I got a tooth pulled yesterday, and in between naps and trying to remember which pills I should be taking, I’m now casting around for ideas of things to eat with as little texture as possible, with the added fun of nothing hot, acidic or alcoholic.

As you might imagine, I’ve had a lot of yogurt. And cream of tomato soup. We had macaroni and cheese with steamed cauliflower last night, that went down pretty easy. So I’m not starving, but it all seems a little dull. And not very photogenic, either.

On the other hand, it was a perfect excuse for J to make me some ice cream! We dug out our copy of The Perfect Scoop, which hasn’t been seeing much use the last couple months, and I decided that plain old chocolate custard ice cream would do the trick. So J got hold of some good bittersweet chocolate and did it up, and oh my god it’s good. Like a fudgsicle, but a million times better. I can’t believe there’s a pint of it in my fridge right now and I’m not currently eating any. After the custard had chilled it was like a wonderful chocolate pudding, we almost didn’t want to put it in the ice cream maker – but it was even better afterwards.

You don’t need to wait until your next date with oral surgery to try this ice cream – go right out and make it now!

Bittersweet chocolate ice cream

from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 5 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cups sugar
• pinch of salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Whisk together half the cream with the cocoa powder in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, then stir in the rest of the cream. Scrape into a large bowl.

Combine the egg yolks in a medium bowl. In your saucepan, combine the milk, sugar and salt, and warm them up, then pour the mixture into the yolks while whisking. Pour everything back into the saucepan. Stir over medium heat until it thickens up -be sure to be scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid burning. Pour through a strainer into your reserved chocolate-cream mixture and stir it all up, then add the vanilla. Put in the fridge until cool, then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s directions.

Try not to eat it all at once – it’s bad for your teeth