Make Your Own Ice Creams and Desserts Using the East Bay’s Bountiful Summer Harvest! 

Review by Kristina Sepetys

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts
by Jeni Britton Bauer
(Artisan, 2014)

I’ve just returned from Nashville, and one of the many wonderful things I enjoyed was ice cream from Jeni’s Splendid. Author and proprietress Jeni Britton Bauer spins flavors like Askinosie Dark Milk Chocolate, Goat Cheese with Red Cherries, Wildberry Lavender, and Yazoo Sue with Rosemary Bar Nuts from whole, seasonal fruits, herbs, and nuts. Bauer began making ice cream in 1996 and now has shops throughout the Midwest and a thriving mail-order business. You can find her cold treats locally at the Pasta Shop, Andronico’s, Berkeley Bowl, and Safeway. Or grab one of her books and concoct her sweet treats yourself. Her latest, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts, follows her James Beard Award-winning Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home and includes flavors like Chamomile Chardonnay and Sweet Basil with Honeyed Pine Nuts, as well as cakes, tarts, biscuits, and other toothsome treats to pair with her ice creams. Try sundae combinations with sauces like Whiskey Caramel or Honey Spiked with Chilies. Her signature crunchy “gravels” (crumbly sundae toppings), like Salty Graham Gravel, are a wonderful finishing touch. And in case ice-cream making seems too ambitious, store-bought ice cream can be used for all the desserts in the book.