Smushin' Our Sorrows Away

You've all heard of the Naked Chef.  You're all aware that he is not, in fact, a naked man cooking food, but rather the most scrumptious of brits stripping dishes of pesky gourmet frills and bringing cooking down to the realm of mere mortals.  But have you seen what the man does with ice cream?

A recipe (though some would argue it's more of a fluff piece for the cookbook) born of a childhood love affair with those bowls of frozen paradise, Smush-Ins are a do-it-yourself version of flavoured ice cream.

Click here for the original recipe, or pay close attention to the steps listed below.

The Smushing

1. Start with a bowl of plain ice cream.  Vanilla is a very very good idea, but if you're jonesin' for an extra kick of cocoa goodness, you can use chocolate ice cream, too.  Or strawberry...
   
2. "Smush" the bejesus out of the ice cream by any means possible.  Some people melt their ice cream in the microwave a little, but that's pretty gross.  Just go at it with a spoon for about a minute and you'll get a nice consistency.
3. Choose your base flavour.  Berries are nice if you want to keep it light, peanut butter is great for a full-bodied flavour (just beware of friends [particularly boyfriends!] with anaphylaxis.  That would be bad).  Mix it in well.
4. Add your first 'chunk' flavour- chocolate chips, bananas, caramel chips- but don't stop there.  These little bowls of heaven are certainly not limited to the dessert sphere.  Why not dabble with other food groups?  Sourdough-bread-and-jam ice cream sounds legit...
5. Keep adding and adding until you can add no more, and get creative!  (The creativity factor, however, depends on what you've got in your kitchen...)
6. When you think you're done, through a sauce in there.  Popular choices include fudge or butterscotch, but some of the best are some of the least expected.  Red pepper jelly, anyone?  (This could be a little out there, but jams do go nicely with ice cream.  Nutella, too, obviously).
7. Presto!  You've got yourself your very own ice cream flavour, known by no-one else on this globe, and tasted only by the lucky few you select to share with.  Congratulations.

The Most Important Step:  Drink. Water. You will otherwise perish.