Scooped: Black Sesame and Orange Ice Cream

In Asia, black sesame ice cream is as classic a flavor as vanilla in the States. The rich, roasted flavors of the seeds are a perfect match for a light custard.

Scooped: White Chocolate Mint Ice Cream with Pomegranate Molasses

White chocolate, of course, isn't chocolate. It's comparisons to the dark stuff that so frequently disappoint tasters. So let's step past the unfortunate comparisons and consider white chocolate on its own terms. Once you get by the whole chocolate malapropism, white chocolate's flavor is pretty awesome: a buttery vanilla with strong hints of mint and other leafy herbs.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

While living in Japan, I fell in love with black sesame sofuto (soft-serve), which has an all-natural charcoal color and an unbelievably rich and nutty flavor that any fan of peanut butter will love. The secret is Japanese black sesame paste, made from roasted, un-hulled sesame seeds for maximum flavor.

From-Scratch Real Pistachio Ice Cream

This recipe depends on using the freshest, most flavorful raw pistachios you can find; if they don't taste absolutely irresistible out of hand, save this recipe for another time.

Saffron, Honey, and Orange Ice Cream

This ice cream is all about balance: heady saffron, floral honey, and bittersweet orange zest.

White Chocolate Ginger Shortbread Ice Cream

Trader Joe's makes the best white chocolate for this ice cream. It's extremely creamy with strong notes of vanilla, chocolate, and herbs.

Coconut-Palm Sugar Ice Cream

Palm sugar lends a soft caramel flavor with a tinge of butterscotch that makes this ice cream special. Add coconut milk, eggs, and pandan to the team and we've got a combination of flavors that South East Asians have enjoyed for ages.

Roasted Plum, Ginger, and Honey Ice Cream

You won't need eggs for this ice cream, which is thick and dense thanks to the plums and honey. A couple spoonfuls of plum brandy helps as well, both for texture and to amplify the plums' honeyed flavor.

Scooped: Pistachio Gelato with Strawberry Sauce

When I started to run out of things to eat strawberries with—by which I mean I got tired of them sliced with frothed cream—I started poking through my pantry for inspiration. I came across some pistachio butter and knew I need look no further. Pistachio butter (there's a recipe here) is ridiculously nutty and almost unbearably complex, with a lusciousness that puts Nutella to shame.

Scooped: Really Buttery Pecan Ice Cream

For most of my life, I never got the point of butter pecan ice cream. It always seemed like less than the sum of its parts: wan pecans poking out of bland vanilla ice cream? No thanks. When I started making ice cream, recipes for butter pecan didn't give me much hope. Three tablespoons of butter per quart? One? I had my doubts that the results would be all that satisfying.