Frozen chocolate bananas

Frozen bananas offer the perfect contrast between crunchy chocolate and soft, melting banana.

* Serves 4

• 4 firm but ripe small bananas
• 6 oz. milk chocolate, broken into chunks
• 6 tbsp. heavy cream
• 4 tbsp. orange juice

Iced rhubarb delight

This strange and seasonal fruit has a unique sweet taste and soft pink color that makes a stunning ice cream.

* Makes about 2 1/4 pints

• 3 cups chopped, trimmed rhubarb
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1 to 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 cup heavy cream, stiffly whipped
• 1 cup plain yogurt

Tropical fruit sherbet

A mixture of tropical fruits gives a wonderfully exotic taste, but you may use whatever is available at the time you shop. In fact, when you find some of these fruits in the store, this sherbet is a very good way to first try them.

* Makes about 1 1/2 pints

• 2 cups peeled and chopped ripe tropical fruits (guava, pineapple, mango, papaya)
• 1 cup sugar syrup
• 2 limes
• 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk

Banana custard ice cream

Turn this favorite taste combination very quickly into your family’s favorite ice cream.

* Serves 6

• 4 ripe bananas, plus more for serving
• juice of 1 lemon
• 6 tbsp. clear honey
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup homemade or store-bought vanilla custard
• 1 cup heavy cream, softly whipped, plus more for serving
• caramel shards

Apple & plum parfait

In France, a parfait is lighter and softer than a gelato or rich ice cream and especially good with tangy fruits. It is best just softly frozen. In the United States, a parfait is a frozen layered dessert. This parfait is both types.

* Serves 4

• 3 large, ripe sweet plums
• 2 tbsp. demerara sugar
• 4 tbsp. water
• 2 sweet eating apples
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• juice and finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. heavy cream