Not Your Usual Ice Cream

• The natural richness and slight tang of sour cream, when used as a basis for homemade ice cream, offers an unusual twist on a familiar dessert. Recipes might call for sour cream to be combined with heavy cream, half-and-half, milk or yogurt to make a plain ice cream base that you can enhance with flavorings of your choice. A little sugar, vanilla and lemon juice enhance the flavors of the blend. Blitz it all together with fresh fruit, grated chocolate, jarred chocolate sauce, crumbled or chopped candy bars, honey or maple syrup, peanut butter or any combination of extra ingredients you desire. An ice cream maker is useful but not essential. If you don’t have one, transfer the blended mixture to a shallow container, put it in the freezer and mash it with a fork or whisk every 30 minutes or so to break up ice crystals as they form.

Rich and Savory Dinners

• Many savory dishes that already have a creamy or cheesy texture benefit from a scoop or two of sour cream. Stir some into mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese or baked cauliflower cheese. Pasta sauces, whether cream- or tomato-based, take on an enriched texture and flavor when blended with sour cream. Stir a dollop into a curry sauce instead of yogurt or coconut milk. Pancakes become a hearty dinner dish when you substitute sour cream for some of the liquid in the batter. Mix the batter with savory ingredients, such as grated cheese, corn, crumbled bacon and diced jalapenos, before cooking the pancakes. If you have a lot of sour cream to use up, turn it into a stroganoff sauce with onions, garlic, tomato paste or ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, as well as sauteed strips of any meat or mushrooms.

Delectable Dressings and Dips

• Sour cream is the basis for many classic dips and dressings. Make a few different dips and set them out with a bowl of chips, crackers or raw vegetable crudités and watch the whole spread disappear. Make Russian dressing with sour cream, mayonnaise, ketchup, crushed garlic and a dash of hot sauce. Turn it into Thousand Island with a spoonful of pickle relish. Blend smoked fish, such as strips of smoked salmon or flaked smoked trout, with sour cream and a little horseradish, lemon juice, salt and pepper for a pate-like spread that’s delicious on toast. Grate cucumber into sour cream and stir in liberal amounts of dill for a light and refreshing dip. Make creamy guacamole by stirring a scoop of sour cream into the regular kind. Use sour cream as one of the components in a layered dip. Mix up homemade ranch dressing with sour cream, buttermilk, mayonnaise, garlic and fresh or dried herbs.

Creative Baking Recipes

• Baked goods, including breads, cakes, muffins and biscuits, might not be the first things that come to mind when you need to use up leftover sour cream. However, recipes for both sweet and savory baked goods that use sour cream as either a substitute for or enhancement to more typical fat and liquid ingredients are quite easy to find. As a baking ingredient, sour cream successfully lends its smooth, rich texture to the finished morsels. Unless you’re a baking pro with time on your hands to experiment, it’s best to stick to recipes already developed by reputable cooks who have figured out the perfect ratios of ingredients.