Get your licks: 27 easy recipes, the newest machines, and the West's best ice cream parlors

Of course, there's more than ice cream, and flavors go far beyond vanilla. Frozen yogurts and intense fruit sorbets also tempt languid palates.

To make these frosty desserts, you need a good ice cream maker. An old favorite may do the job very well, thank you. But today's frozen-canister and self-refrigerated models make ice cream easier to churn than ever. We review and compare nine makers on page 80.

With the mechanics under control. dip into the 27 recipes that follow. Start with our Ultimate Vanilla Ice Cream as the base for flavor variations. from playful habanero to a sublime caramel and luxurious hazelnut truffle. Or go low-fat with tangy frozen yogurts and fruit-rich sorbets. As toppers, choose sinfully smooth chocolate or caramel sauce. And for more elaborate presentations, try the six desserts on page 86.

Ultimate Vanilla Ice Cream

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 30 minutes, plus 20 to 40 minutes to freeze

NOTES: To use a vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract, slit pod (about 7 in.) open lengthwise with a small, sharp knife. Scrape seed from pod, add seed and pod to the cream mixture, and heat (step 1). Remove pod from cold custard, rinse, let dry, and save for other uses.

MAKES: About 1 quart

3/4 cup sugar 3 cups half-and-half (light cream) 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla

1. In a 2- to 3-quart pan, combine sugar and half-and-half. Stir over high heat until bubbles form at pan edge (scalding, about 180 [degrees]), 5 to 8 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, whisk eggs to blend. Then whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into eggs. Return egg mixture to pan and stir over medium-low heat with a flexible spatula-scraper, scraping pan bottom and sides thoroughly for even cooking, until custard thickly coats a metal spoon (about 190 [degrees]), 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Add vanilla to custard.

4. At once, nest pan in ice water and stir custard often until mixture is cold, 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Pour cold custard through a fine strainer into a bowl, then pour mixture into an ice cream maker (1-qt. or larger capacity), or strain directly into the maker; discard residue. Freeze as directed on page 82 until mixture is firm enough to scoop, dasher is hard to turn, or machine stops.

6. Serve softly frozen, or freeze airtight (see page 82).

Per 1/2 cup: 211 cal., 51% (108 cal.) from fat; 4.2 g protein; 12 g fat (6.8 g sat.); 23 g carbo (0 g fiber); 53 mg sodium; 86 mg chol.

No-Cook Ultimate Vanilla Ice Cream

PREP TIME: About 5 minutes, plus 20 to 40 minutes to freeze

NOTES: To use a vanilla bean (about 7 in.), slit pod lengthwise with a sharp knife. Scrape seed into sugar, mix, then add cream; do not heat.

MAKES: About 1 quart

[TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

Follow directions for Ultimate Vanilla Ice Cream, preceding, but omit eggs and do not heat. Instead, mix sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla in a bowl, pour into an ice cream maker (or mix in the maker), and freeze as directed (step 5).

Per 1/2 cup: 193 cal., 47% (90 cal.) from fat; 2.7 g protein; 10 g fat (6.4 g sat.); 23 g carbo (0 g fiber); 37 mg sodium; 33 mg chol.

Malted Caramel Ice Cream

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 30 minutes, plus 20 to 40 minutes to freeze.

NOTES: Because this mixture is high in sugar, it takes longer to freeze.

MAKES: About 1 quart

Follow directions for Ultimate Vanilla Ice Cream (see page 79), omitting sugar. Instead, add 1 recipe's worth of Caramel Powder (at right) and 6 tablespoons malted milk powder to half-and-half (step 1); caramel powder lumps, then melts when heated.

Per 1/2 cup: 312 cal., 38% (117 cal.) from fat; 5.6 g protein; 13 g fat (7.3 g sat.); 45 g carbo (0 g fiber); 135 mg sodium; 89 mg chol.

Hazelnut Truffle Ice Cream

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 11/2 hours, plus at least 3 1/2 hours to freeze.

NOTES: Put a 2- to 3-quart metal bowl in the freezer before starting to cook. With the liqueur, the mixture has to get colder than usual to freeze.

MAKES: About 1 1/4 quarts

1. In a 350 [degrees] oven, bake I cup hazelnuts in an 8- or 9-inch square pan until nuts are golden beneath skins, about 12 minutes. Pour nuts onto a towel and rub to remove loose skins. Discard skins and let nuts cool. Coarsely chop 1/2 cup nuts.

2. Prepare Deep, Dark Chocolate Sauce (see page 80) using semisweet, not bittersweet, chocolate. Pour sauce into a blender and add whole hazelnuts, 6 tablespoons Frangelico or other hazelnut-flavor liqueur, and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Whirl until chocolate [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] truffle sauce is very smoothly pureed.

3. Return chocolate truffle sauce to pan and nest pan in ice water. Stir often until sauce is cold, about 20 minutes. Scrape into chilled bowl (see notes) and freeze while making ice cream.

4. Follow directions for Ultimate Vanilla Ice Cream (see page 79), adding reserved chopped nuts to cold custard in ice cream maker (step 5).

5. When ice cream is frozen (step 5), remove bowl with truffle sauce from freezer. Stir sauce briefly to soften, then quickly scoop ice cream into bowl. With a flexible spatula-scraper, swirl chocolate through ice cream, using 4 or 5 strokes.