Gluten-Free Ice Cream – An Easy Recipe to Beat the Heat

I had a conversation recently about the merits of ice cream versus cheese. While I stood by cheese for its diversity and its ability to serve as main course, garnish or dessert, he felt that ice cream was superior for its ability to make a person happy.

As the summer progresses, his argument is starting to resonate.

Many mainstream ice cream offerings are gluten-free. After avoiding the obvious gluten-y flavors like cookie dough and cheesecake, the options abound. Simple ingredients such as cream, sugar, vanilla or chocolate are naturally gluten-free.

Since completing my gluten-free soft-serve round up last summer, Pinkberry has added coffee to their flavor offerings and Grom gelato, that I first tasted in Florence, has added a West Village outpost – all gluten-free flavors are marked right on their menu.

If you are ambitious enough to make your own ice cream, the options are even more plentiful. Something simple like David’s Easy Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe looks sublime. But if you are going to the effort to make your own, perhaps try a more unusual flavor like Deb’s Fennel Ice Cream Recipe, David’s Candied Bacon Ice Cream (yes, that says Bacon) or this Honey Lavender Ricotta Ice Cream Recipe from Cooking Light. I first discovered ricotta gelato during a summer in Sicily and still dream of those cones full of sweet and creamy gelato topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Even with those dreams dancing in my head, my all time favorite ice cream has to be the Toasted Almond flavor from Fosselman’s in Alhambra, CA. Thank goodness I have a ticket to visit my family this summer in California; I won’t have to wait too long before indulging.

What are your favorite ice cream flavors?