This Sweet Sandwich Condiment Instantly Transforms Basic Vanilla Ice Cream

Fruit preserves, jam, and jelly are all excellent on sandwiches, bagels, and even as a topper for fancy-ish cheese and crackers — but there's no need to stop there. Fruit-flavored spreads are a delicious and unexpected way to upgrade plain vanilla ice cream, and you likely already have a few of your favorites in your fridge. While you may not have thought to toss your favorite preserves on top of ice cream, the combination makes sense. Fruit-flavored ice creams often have a jam-like swirl that's delicious alongside the creamy texture of the ice cream itself, and when you're loading up your plain ice cream on your own, you get to decide how heavy-handed you want to make the fruit flavor. 

There are a few different ways you can incorporate fruit preserves into your ice cream. You can certainly grab a spoon, scoop out some of your favorite jam or jelly, plop it on top of your ice cream, and go to town. You can also heat up your jam in the microwave for a few seconds, give it a stir, and drizzle it on top of your ice cream — it'll thicken slightly as it chills. Or, you can use a butter knife to swirl the jam throughout the ice cream, creating your own flavor swirl so you get a more even distribution with each bite. Once you taste jam-loaded ice cream, you'll see that it's perfectly decadent as-is, but of course, there are a few ways to take it to the next level.

Vanilla ice cream is nothing if not versatile, so you have plenty of options when pairing it with fruit preserves. If you're using a berry-based preserve, try finishing your bowl off with a drizzle of balsamic glaze. While it's certainly one of the more unique vanilla ice cream toppings, the acidity of the glaze works brilliantly with the sweetness of the ice cream and berry preserves.

Next up: the PB&J sundae. If you've never tried peanut butter and jelly ice cream, you're in for quite a treat. Take your favorite fruit spread that you'd normally use when whipping up a PB&J in your kitchen (Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves snagged the top spot in our store-bought strawberry jam ranking, if you're looking for a seriously flavorful option), warm it up, and drizzle it over your ice cream. Add a scoop of your favorite peanut butter (stick it in the microwave for 10 seconds or so if you want it to be pourable) and go to town.

Combining fruit preserves can also be a fun way to experiment. Try strawberry and blueberry preserves together for a berry cobbler effect (top with some crushed shortbread cookies for a crumble-like topping). For citrusy goodness, try combining orange marmalade with pineapple preserves, and garnish it with some candied orange peel or dried pineapple if you're feeling fancy. No matter how you decide to incorporate fruit preserves into your vanilla ice cream, it'll be anything but plain.