Gourmet

Ice cream can take a break. These pumpkin cheesecake pops are the ideal finale to your Halloween celebration. If the combination of chocolate and pumpkin hits you as a bit unusual, trust us, it works really well. Consider the two an inspired duo, helped along by the sweet spices used in pumpkin pie. We love the finished pops either chilled or frozen. The funny thing about frozen pops? They could pass for ice cream! Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Halloween: Spooky Snacks. Menu also includes Scary Barbecue Snack Mix and Mozzarella and Roasted Red Pepper Boo-schetta.

I adore the kick that wasabi gives to anything in its path. Get it in powder form and add slowly to dressings or mayonnaise, or if anyone you know goes to Japan, get them to bring you back the toxic green stuff in a tube.

These udon noodles with chicken and scallions come together in under 30 minutes.

What could possibly be better than a strawberry milkshake? A strawberry cheesecake milkshake! The cream cheese, which has a tang of its own that's enhanced by the lemon zest, helps make this milkshake as thick as, well, concrete (the very apt Missouri term for a milkshake).
If the idea of frozen strawberries hits you as totally counter to your locavore sensibilities, know that they are another secret to a milkshake thick enough to eat with a spoon, and if you grow your own or buy them at the farmers' market, we urge you to freeze them for this shake. You'll find the directions in the Cooks' Notes at the end of the recipe. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Burger Bash. Menu also includes Bacon-Cheddar Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Homemade French Fries with Five Dipping Sauces.

Saffron threads and fresh garlic add a kick of color and flavor to this creamy mayo that's perfect for dipping or spreading.

Transform jarred roasted red peppers into a fresh and flavorful dip seasoned with cumin and a pinch of cayenne.

The secret to great French fries is to fry them twice: once at a lower temperature to cook the potato through, then again at a higher temperature to brown them. We're also giving you five reasons to leave the ketchup in the fridge, with homemade dipping-sauce recipes for Sour Cream and Onion Dip , Saffron Mayonnaise , Ginger-Sesame Sauce , Roasted Red Pepper–Walnut Dip , and Chipotle-Tomatillo Sauce . Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Burger Bash. Menu also includes Bacon-Cheddar Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake.

This spiced-up blend is perfect for dipping and also serves as the ultimate multipurpose sauce for chicken, beef, pork, and seafood.

In our never-ending quest for the best burger, we think we've hit on an outstanding version that requires nothing more than a trip to the supermarket and a short sojourn in the freezer for the bacon. Sure, there are those DIY purists who are going to buy several different beef cuts from a high-end butcher—if not butcher the beef themselves from their own grass-fed steer—then coarsely grind it with their own sterilized meat grinder, but most of us just want an easy recipe for a really great backyard burger.
Burger-meisters might be shocked, but this burger does best by being cooked a bit more slowly, over indirect heat. So sit back, pop open a cold one, and let these burgers baste themselves into a sublime place. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Burger Bash. Menu also includes Homemade French Fries with Five Dipping Sauces and Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake.

Ditch the store-bought seasoning packet in favor of this DIY version that combines slowly caramelized onions with tangy sour cream.

This spiced-up Asian-inspired sauce is perfect for dipping French fries or crudité, or for drizzling over seared chicken or fish.

These tiny gnocchi are tender, so place the cooked pasta in a bowl and spoon the porky sauce over top, instead of tossing the two together.

Of all the ways to prepare shrimp, the grill delivers the best flavor. Although unadorned "shrimp on the barbie" are great, an easily assembled gingery barbecue sauce makes them that much better. You can save time by buying already shelled and deveined shrimp, but our recipe developer, Alexis Touchet, who grew up in shrimp country in southwest Louisiana, thinks shell-on shrimp are better quality. Depending on where you live and what's in your market, you may not have much choice. Freshness trumps all, so don't hesitate to use your nose in deciding which shrimp to buy.

This sweet and tangy sauce is perfect for glazing grilled meats, seafood, and veggies. It was designed for our Grilled Shrimp and Grilled Corn recipes, as part of our Gourmet Modern Menu for A Fourth of July Cookout.

When it comes to ice cream cakes, there are no hard-and-fast rules as to what form they can take. Some consist solely of ice cream molded and then decorated to resemble a cake, while others intersperse layers of ice cream with thin layers of cake, crisp meringue, or even crumbled cookies. Our red, white, and blue July 4th extravaganza is a gorgeous amalgam of ice cream, cake, and blueberries and raspberries cooked separately into their own jammy fillings. Frosted simply in sweetened whipped cream and topped with more berries, this cake sparkles as much as the fireworks in the sky! Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for A Fourth of July Cookout. Menu also includes Grilled Corn with Honey-Ginger Barbecue Sauce and Grilled Shrimp with Honey-Ginger Barbecue Sauce.

Chocolate has the incredible ability to stand alone quite nicely while playing along with loads of other prominent ingredients—without being a bully. And that is why a brownie sundae can be so frustrating: How can you settle on one ice cream flavor or a single sauce?
We figured Father's Day is the right time to have a brownie sundae your way. Dads have soft spots for cuteness, so serving up a brownie raft supporting mini-scoops of three different ice creams adrift in three different sauces will tickle him to no end. Feel free to use whatever ice cream flavors are the family favorites. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for A Father's Day Feast. Menu also includes Pretzel Bites with Quick Cheddar Dip and Grilled Rib Pork Chops with Sweet and Tangy Peach Relish.

When frozen, bananas become so creamy they can almost pass for sorbet or even ice cream. Coat them with chocolate and sprinkle them with homemade peanut brittle—there will be plenty left over for snacking—and you've got a refreshingly cold treat that feels almost as virtuous as a serving of fruit. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Summer Fair Favorites. Menu also includes Fried Onion Dippers with Balsamic Ketchup and Turkey Meatball Garlic Bread Heroes.

This is the easiest hot fudge sauce ever. You'll be glad to know that it firms up to that chewy fudge consistency on contact with ice cream, just as you expect hot fudge sauce to do!

Homemade marshmallow sauce is so ridiculously easy to make that you'll chuckle at yourself for ever having assumed it was complicated. Making it also allows you to use pure vanilla extract, which tastes so much better than the fake vanillin flavoring in many commercial versions.