Cooking At Home: Ice Cream for Dinner

We've talked about adding ice cream to Kowalski's Signature line since I started here 13 years ago, but personally, I've been practicing my whole life for this challenge.

There's a rule in my household that anytime the temperature reaches 100°, we have ice cream for dinner. It's only happened a handful of times since I moved to Minnesota in 1995, but the occasions on which it did happen really stand out in my memory.

I have lots of great memories involving ice cream; it plays big in my family's traditions. There's the annual opening day visit to White Bear Lake's famous Cup and Cone; Fourth of July visits to Marion's Dairy Bar in Tawas, Michigan; and the Lumberjack Challenge at Nelson's Ice Cream in Stillwater (attempted once, and only once!). I've written several times about the homemade candy cane ice cream my family makes each Christmas Day, including in my first column back in November 2011, which featured our family's special recipe.

I've written and published quite a few more ice cream recipes since then. My newest was inspired by one written by my predecessor, Linda Day Anderson. I've always loved her recipe for Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake, which features a trio of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice creams. (Three flavors of ice cream in one dessert? Count me in!) Fortunately for me, the much-anticipated release of Kowalski's Signature Ice Creams brings me the opportunity to update it a bit with a brand-new flavor combination. In this recipe for Triple Ice Cream Cake, I'm suggesting my personal favorites from our new line: rich Chocolate Peanut Butter, decadent Caramel Sea Salt and the surprisingly complex Vanilla Bean.

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