The summer heat has shown its nasty head. With evening temperatures reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit, what are we to possibly do when we feel the heat getting to us? We are to reach into our magically cooled freezer and scope out a treat to cool ourselves down. Yet, that is not all. This treat in question needs to not only cool our body temperature but also be pleasing to our palate.
However, this is a difficult task to ask of one treat, for our tastes may vary from day to day. The one drumstick ice cream cone that fulfilled your desires yesterday may not suit your tastes today. For this reason, I present vanilla ice cream.
While vanilla ice cream is often regarded as the “boring” flavor, ignored in favor of its close sibling chocolate, I am here to convince you that it is far from boring. Vanilla ice cream serves as an excellent base; its neutral flavor allows you to add on as many toppings as your heart desires.
If you are craving the taste of caffeine, but alas cannot brew some coffee due to the harsh temperatures, I recommend you pour an espresso into a scoop of vanilla ice cream
But what if you are craving something less sweet and more peanuty? Then, you can simply mix a spoonful of peanut butter into your vanilla ice cream. Or if you are feeling adventurous, you can melt some peanut butter to top your vanilla ice cream like this Taste of Home chef did.
Don’t walk, run to your kitchen to try potato chips in vanilla ice cream. While this may, sensibly so, seem like an unpleasant combination for your taste buds, do not let your initial thoughts impact your experience. This combination provides the best of both worlds: sweet yet salty and soft yet crunchy.
Feeling fruity? Whip out that jar of fruit jam in your fridge, be it strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, or quite frankly any jam would work, and mix it in with your vanilla ice cream. This beautiful combo adds a fruity element to your formerly neutral vanilla ice cream.
If these combinations fail to suit your taste, then take a gander at your own kitchen, and ask yourself “What can I add to my beautiful scoop of vanilla ice cream?” The world is your oyster, but I plead with you to not pair oysters with your scoop of vanilla ice cream.
