Sweet Corn and Bourbon Ice Cream.

When I was growing up, I had a serious sweet tooth. My parents were convinced that I would give myself diabetes. If it was sweet, I loved it. Cookies, cakes, candies, and of course, ice cream. It took until I got to college to get rid of that sweet tooth. While my college was awesome in many ways, the food was uninspiring and the ice cream -- soft serve, mostly -- sub-par. The desserts were likewise somewhat bland. So I fell out of my love affair with all things sweet and never quite got back into it. The nail on my sweet-tooth coffin was the discovery of weird, bizarre, unique ice creams. Sweet corn, creme fraiche, olive oil -- delicious! I rarely eat "regular" ice cream anymore (honey-lavender was the last non-homemade flavor I had), but I will occasionally whip up a batch of something strange and exciting at home. If you too are a fan of unusual ice cream flavors, I strongly recommend that you invest in Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

In addition to making those beautiful oreo cupcakes, my friend and I decided to finish off the day of baking by making some cookies. Now, I am usually not a fan of chocolate chip cookies. As my husband knows, I rarely make them, not even at Christmas. However, I could not resist these cookies and neither should you: chocolate chip cookies made with ice cream (yes, as part of the batter!) courtesy of Picky Palate.

Avocado Ice Cream

There were a few moments during Hubble-Telescope's and my relationship when I briefly doubted the foundation of our love. One of those moments was when he revealed that he didn't like avocados -- outrageous! Fortunately, I have obviously since recovered, and his declaration has never really influenced my avocado consumption. Phew, crisis avoided.

This past winter, the Hubs bought me an ice cream maker. Months later, I finally broke it in by making two ice creams back to back. The first, which is the focus of the post today, was Avocado Ice Cream.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

I first sampled olive oil ice cream at Zaytinya's in DC. Months prior to this occasion, one of the boy's bosses had encouraged me to try it at Otto's Pizzeria, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it. Finally, at Zaytinya's, I had worked up the courage to sample this concoction--and it was beautiful. The olive oil flavor was fairly subtle, but the ice cream was oh so very rich. I knew it was only a matter of time before I tried to duplicate it at home.