Up your dessert game with this new cookbook

There’s not a cake, cobbler or pie that doesn’t taste better with ice cream. If you believe that, then Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough have your number.

For their latest effort, the QVC regulars and prolific cookbook authors have baked and churned up a collection of original recipes pairing fanciful baked goods with imaginative ice creams, gelati, frozen custards and yogurts, sherbets, sorbets and semifreddos.

The chapter on ice-cream basics is full of good tips, and the very first recipe combo, for Bourbon Peach Pie with Vanilla Bean Gelato, is enough to steal this Southern boy’s heart.

But wait: I also like the sound of Rhubarb Pie with Strawberry Jam Ice Cream and Salty Key Lime Tart with Triple Coconut Frozen Custard.

Though some of the concoctions seem a little forced or overly complicated — Squash and Honey Pie with Indian Pudding Ice Cream anyone? How about Fennel-Raisin Pie with Pine Nut Frozen Custard? — I’m intrigued with the duo’s Cracker Jack riff: Peanut Brittle Tart and Popcorn Frozen Custard.

There are plenty of good ideas here for using summer fruit, and if you aren’t up for an all-nighter, you can pick one dish and save more ambitious projects for later. I like that there are easy sheet cakes (as well as more involved layer cakes, jelly rolls and steamed puddings). And I’m already starting to mix and match a la mode treats in my head: Fudgy Brownies with Marshmallow Semifreddo sounds amazing. But why not top the chocolate with pistachio ice cream? See what I mean! This book will inspire you to do naughty things in the kitchen.

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