Yep, We Seriously Want You to Add Bacon to Your Vanilla Ice Cream

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Plus 17 more inventive toppings you have to try.

Making ice cream from scratch is hard, so I often opt instead to garnish vanilla Häagen-Dazs with something fun, like candied bacon — easy to make by brushing on maple syrup and brown sugar as it bakes. Delicious! Or, I let the ice cream soften a bit, mix in something like broken-up Butterfingers or cookies — or anything yum — and refreeze. Vanilla doesn't have to be vanilla.

Caramelized Bacon

  • 2/3 cup grade A or B maple syrup (not the fake stuff) 
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 pounds beef or turkey bacon

Preheat the oven to 325oF. In a small heavy saucepan mix together the syrup, mustard, and sugar and heat slowly on low heat, stirring often. Cook until syrup thickens, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Fry bacon in a large pan on medium-high heat using a “bacon weight” to keep the bacon really flat as it cooks. When the bacon is cooked to your liking, drain the bacon on a paper towel. Lay the flattened bacon on a jelly roll pan and brush the glaze on both sides. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. 

Not into bacon? Try more of my favorite vanilla ice cream toppings:

  1. Candied bacon (shown)
  2. St-Germain liqueur, plus berries and chopped basil
  3. Dehydrated or fresh fruit
  4. Caramel popcorn
  5. Olive oil and lemon zest
  6. Cotton candy and edible gold flakes (buy on Amazon)
  7. Candied ginger or orange, grapefruit, or lemon peel
  8. Toasted coconut flakes
  9. Brown rice cereal, dipped in melted chocolate and cooled
  10. Whipped cream mixed with malted milk
  11. Hot fudge with crumbled candy canes (any time of year!)
  12. Crushed malt balls and toffee—dangerously good
  13. Chocolate-covered espresso beans
  14. Any flavor of Compartés chocolate bars, broken up
  15. Salty pretzel pieces
  16. Lillet rosé dessert wine
  17. Crumbled shortbread
  18. Crushed Oreos. I love them.

This story originally appeared in the September 2017 issue of House Beautiful.

Perk Up Your Iced Coffee With These 5-Layer Mocha Cubes

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Chocolate milk cold brew? Yes, please!

I love an iced coffee in the afternoon, especially in summer — and I make it even more of a treat with my five-layer ice cubes. With ribbons of coffee, milk and chocolate milk, they're such a pretty pick-me-up!

Iced-Coffee Cubes

Makes about 12

  • 3 cups black coffee, cold
  • 3 cups whole milk or half-and-half
  • ½ cup chocolate milk

1. Fill large, square ice-cube molds, such as Tovolo's King Cube tray ($9, amazon.com), with a thin layer of coffee and freeze. Once this first layer has frozen (about two hours), add a layer of milk or half-and-half and freeze. Then, add a thin layer of chocolate milk and freeze. Repeat the process with milk and a final layer of coffee, filling to the top.

2. To make the drink shown, pour chilled coffee and milk over the ice cubes — you can also add some Kahlúa or Baileys — and the cubes will melt into the most delicious iced coffee ever! Take it to the next level by keeping some sweetened condensed milk in a squeeze bottle and adding as much as you like (it's divine in my morning hot coffee, too!).

This story originally appeared in the June 2017 issue of House Beautiful.