You Just Need 2 Ingredients for This Easy, Ina Garten-Approved Dessert

The world of food is vast (and all-encompassing as a food editor). Blink and you might miss the latest trend, tip, or recipe. But if you’re lucky, those handy gastronomic tricks will resurface in your mind at just the right time.

Such is the case with a dessert hack I remember hearing about a while ago (who knows where!). It involves my trusty friend in the kitchen, Ina Garten, and a container of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

How to Turn Ice Cream Into Crème Anglaise

I bought a grocery store pound cake on a whim and needed something to jazz it up with as it was a little on the dry side. In a “Beautiful Mind” moment, I recalled an Ina tip about using melted ice cream as a crème anglaise sauce to serve with cake. The ingredients added up and the dessert came together clearly in my mind with what I already had in my freezer. A two-ingredient, store-bought masterpiece.

I left the container of ice cream out on my counter before dinner, by dessert time, it was ready to go at room temperature. If you need a quicker turnaround, you could gently warm the ice cream in a saucepan or the microwave (emphasis on gently).

What Is Crème Anglaise?

Basic crème anglaise is a sweet, milk- or cream- (aka crème) and egg-based sauce or custard with a vanilla flavor. It is typically made by heating cream on the stove, whisking egg yolks and sugar in a bowl, and then tempering the egg with the hot cream before cooking the mixture all together (low and slow) until it beautifully coats the back of a spoon. This custard can be flavored in any which way, served as-is, or used as a base to make ice cream. Hence why reversing the process and melting ice cream to use in place of crème anglaise works—because they share the same DNA.

Now, I haven't actually made the stuff from scratch since culinary school, but I remember it can be finicky and prone to breaking if you overcook the egg—which can happen in a flash. So any shortcut for this French classic is welcome in my kitchen nowadays.

How to Serve Crème Anglaise With Any Dessert

Garten's trick is as easy as leaving out a tub of "good" vanilla ice cream (like the aforementioned Häagen-Dazs) to melt into creamy, sweet, saucy goodness to complement anything from homemade chocolate cake or soufflé to store-bought pound cake or pie.

Drizzle it on bread pudding, waffles, crêpes, and much more. (It would also be delightful on Ina's own Blueberry Ricotta Breakfast Cake come to think of it.)

Or, warm crème anglaise slightly and serve it as a dipping sauce for fried churros and doughnuts. The combination of the crispy pastry and the creamy sauce is irresistible.

In addition to saucing up baked goods, crème anglaise is wonderful with fresh fruit to make any bowl of sliced strawberries, peaches, bananas, or cherries, feel luxurious as well.

The Takeaway

You might be asking, why not just use scoops of ice cream? Well, it's all about creating the texture and temperature you want in a dessert. Melting ice cream to use as a crème anglaise elevates any dish from ordinary to decadent and delicious with an unexpected use of everyone’s favorite (typically) frozen treat.

It’s such a simple and easy concept—and another useful trick to pull out when stuck in a dessert rut, thanks to Ina Garten, the queen of entertaining.