During the summer of 2020, I turned into an ice-cream-making machine (not literally; I’m not that cool).

I found all the parts to the ice cream attachment for my KitchenAid mixer, including the freezable bowl. I opened the deep freeze and shimmied bags of frozen butterbeans a little to the left and packages of discount steak a little to the right to make room for the bowl.

After we finished lunch nearly every day, I’d start cooking the creamy base that would become that night’s ice cream. (I have since learned that I should have let the base cool for a longer period… but like they say, never look a gift ice cream in the mouth.)

One night, I made a frozen yogurt out of home-fermented Greek yogurt and a generous swirl of homemade lemon curd. It was fine, but compared to the real ice cream, it seemed like health food. And I’m against health food.

I made a banana pudding ice cream that tasted so much like actual banana pudding that it seemed a shame I’d gone to all the extra effort of turning it into an ice cream. I even made a coffee ice cream out of actual coffee. It was delicious but called for heating the coffee beans in cream, or some such nonsense.

I made a fresh strawberry ice cream when I remembered the taste of one I made once with a recipe that had belonged to the grandmother of my dear friend Greer. That one might actually have been worth the trouble, as it was just as delicious as I recalled and didn’t require a cooked base.

What I’m saying, friends, is that homemade ice cream is delicious. But I don’t often take the time to make it now that I am able to do other things, like go to the Dollar General wearing ill-fitting knit pants but no face mask.

One pandemic recipe that has actually stood up to real life was a hot fudge recipe that a friend of mine shared with me via Facebook.

The photo she posted came from – of all places – a food column printed in some long-ago newspaper.

I thought at first that the clipping was one she had at home and had taken a picture of, but I have since seen the same photo published elsewhere online.

At any rate, this recipe is absolutely worth the extra few minutes it takes to throw together. Unfortunately, it does call for flour, rendering it unfit for gluten sensitive folks. I suspect you can substitute half as much corn starch, but I haven’t tried it yet with this recipe. I feel sure it would work well with a flour substitute.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

(According to lore, originally from the Occidental Hotel)

Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
3/3 cup cocoa
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla (Always measure vanilla with your heart. You don’t need no stinkin’ spoons.)

Directions
■ Dump all the dry ingredients (sugar, cocoa, flour, salt) into a saucepan. Mix well, breaking up any lumps.
■ Place saucepan over medium heat and immediately add milk, butter, and vanilla. Stir constantly until butter is melted and mixture thickens to desired consistency, about 10-15 minutes.
■ Serve warm over ice cream, or serve it the way you’d serve it to the Queen – which is, of course, under whipped cream and over ice cream that itself is topping a warm brownie. Sauce will thicken as it cools. I store this in a clean quart sized mason jar and reheat at 30-second intervals in the microwave.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.