America's Most Iconic Ice Creams: A Salt & Straw Cookbook: Classic Flavors and Creative Riffs

by Tyler Malek, J.J. Goode

The creative flavor geniuses at Salt & Straw, the wildly successful small-batch ice cream brand, bring you the absolute best versions of classic American flavors…and zillions of ways to riff, twist, and spin them into outrageous new scoops.

For fans of Salt & Straw, America’s fastest-growing artisan ice cream company, America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams features the most surprising flavor they can plain old French Vanilla. Known for his wildly inventive flavors, Tyler Malek, the company’s co-founder, dives deep into what makes ten iconic flavors, like Strawberry and Chocolate, truly classic.

Using their signature, super simple base recipes, he presents the perfected, ultimate recipes for America's favorite flavors. But since creativity is still his core, Malek shares 75 more recipes inspired by, or riffing off of, those classics, like Roasted Strawberry-Whiskey and Bananas Foster Caramel, and everything you need to know to invent your own flavors.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published April 29, 2025

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a banger of an ice cream cookbook. Some fancy stuff. Some plain stuff. It’s a waste for me as I’m not really into ice cream (gasp!), but I’d even make the strawberry gelato. If you or your family love ice cream, you’ll probably love this book - unless you’re just a plain vanilla person. Heck, there’s even a vegan base so vegans aren’t left out.

[Leigh-Ann Baragona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Much better than the first book.

[Rakhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams: A Salt & Straw Cookbook by Tyler Malek inspired me to pull my Italian ice cream machine out of hibernation and start creating! Not only are the recipes creative and fun, but they also work. More important, this book is instructive and answered many questions: the 4 base recipes are worth the price of the book all by themselves. The super-dense gelato base is brilliant! Finally, I found a good use for the xanthan gum I had in the pantry. The cookbook is organized well, the Cookie Dough section was my favorite, my second favorite was Pistachio. But don’t miss any of the others. Certain recipes were a bit too adventurous for me, anything smoked and the sourdough EVOO combo didn’t speak to me; however, I can’t say enough about the Cocoa Nib Almond Frangipane Swirl – to die for, or the Vanilla with Sticky Croissants and Caramel Swirls. Swirls are important. Wild Foraged Berry Slab Pie, perfect! The puff pastry crust chunks are absolutely inspired, and they hold up surprisingly well in the rich ice cream base. Although a bit labor intensive, Triple Coconut Cream Pie with Shortbread Crumble is the ice cream of my dreams. Thank you very much for this amazing recipe, Chef Malek. Thank you also Clarkson Potter; Clarkson Potter provided me with a free copy of this book; the opinions are my own. This book made me very, very happy, it will make you happy too.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

The flavors sound delicious, and I think I would certainly enjoying visiting one of their shops. But for a home cook, this is a daunting cookbook. Each flavor has 5-6 components, each requiring their own set of ingredients (with many that aren't readily available), instructions, time to make and process, and so on. Each recipe just seems like a massive undertaking, that I, at least, am not sure would be worth the effort - even though I'm sure that the results taste incredible.

[Lynnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The number one homemade ice cream book I would recommend to beginners. The base recipes are reliable and incredibly delicious. You will never want to go back to store bought again! If you've been doing ice cream for a while, check out their first book. This one has tons of standard recipes but the first book has super unique ones. Unless you're looking for gelato, then get this one. The first book doesn't have a gelato base.

[Kristen Barenthaler · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who recently entered the world of homemade ice cream, these recipes all look extremely delicious and somewhat easy!

[Tiffany T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decadent and delicious, a generous offering of ice-cream flavors. Enjoyed it. Have got to try making that seafoam recipe sometime.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a kid my dad purchased a Ben & Jerry's cookbook and while the hobby lasted, it was epic! I hope other kids have similar experiences from this book.