'Store-Bought Is Fine' For Ina Garten When It Comes To This Sweet Treat

While some chefs and bakers will often recommend making your dishes and their core ingredients from scratch, others aren't afraid to admit it when store-bought food gets the job done. Ina Garten, for example, has always praised pre-made foods that are just as good as their homemade counterparts. And, when it comes to ice cream, Garten believes the stuff from the store gets the job done absolutely wonderfully and should not be passed up on.

Garten's love for ice cream is well documented, as the sweet treat is among her freezer must-haves alongside bread and vodka. However, she further specified her favorite store-bought ice creams in an interview with The Kitchn that took place before the release of her cookbook entitled Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That? Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips. "I love anything that has vanilla in it," she admitted, "Häagen-Dazs is amazing. Ben and Jerry's. Also, Ciao Bella makes a great vanilla ice cream." While we have our own list of favorite vanilla ice cream brands, Garten's appreciation for the packaged treat falls in line with her often-repeated slogan that "store-bought is fine!"

While Ina Garten's preference for vanilla ice cream might seem basic, Garten is a fan of upgrading her store-bought ice cream to make it more tailored to her tastes. Famously, Garten adds lemon liqueur — also known as limoncello — and biscotti cookies to her favorite pints of the store-bought treat to make an even better dessert.

Despite her appreciation for buying it at the store, Ina Garten is no stranger to making ice cream at home. Garten utilizes a Cuisinart ice cream maker when making the treat from scratch, combining just heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla seeds. Alternatively, whether it's store-bought or homemade, Garten is a fan of using vanilla ice cream for a very unique use: turning it into crème anglaise. The celebrity chef melts her ice cream to make a simplified version of the creamy sauce, as they share similar ingredients. However, if you want an even more accurate crème anglaise copycat, French ice cream — which, like crème anglaise, includes egg yolk — is as close as it gets to making proper crème anglaise from scratch.