Week 21: Its the Great Pumpkin Gelato, Charlie Brown

I apologize for the huge delay in posting. I'm not having great luck lately. I wrote out a post yesterday and then lost it due to a blogger error on the iPad. Last week we were out of power as a snowstorm hit CT. I had to decide between plugging in the lights or running the ice cream maker. Sadly I chose the lights. Because of this I wasn't able to make my last week of pink ice cream for October. I feel disappointed for not being able to finish it but a donation will still be made to Susan G. Komen.

It was a week of adjustment. You don't realize how much you depend on power until you loose it for a week. I feel for those who are still without power. Because this was such a different week I was totally out of my routine. We stayed with my parents who had a generator and then got their power back mid week. I am so grateful for not having to sleep in a freezing house and see my homemade ice cream melt.

I had great plans for this weeks post but those didn't seem to work out well either. I downloaded an app called Dragon Dictation which types out what you speak into it. I thought this might be a fun and easy way to speak/write these blog posts. I was having some difficulties with the app. You dont have the ability to see what the program is typing as you are saying it, so you dont know what it has picked up until you stop the recording and look at the text. I had to speak very slowly to achieve accuracy and that gets kind of annoying after awhile. This app is great for short sentences or phrases, like a facebook status or tweet. I know they make a computer version which I think works better as it trains the program to learn your voice. I'll have to look into getting that. Anyway enough about that - Lets get to the ice cream!

It seemed perfectly fit to make Pumpkin Gelato as Thanksgiving is a few weeks away. Its also a very comforting and homey flavor that helps when you've had a stressful week. I had made pumpkin ice cream last year for Thanksgiving and didn't have great results. This was before I had this book of course. The texture was never quite right. I thought by adding butter cookies it would taste more like pie but it ended up making it gritty. On another attempt I think I added too much pumpkin and that was too strong a flavor and made it less creamy. But third times a charm I guess. This is creamy without too much spice to be overwhelming. Its not too sweet which I like. If you preferred it sweeter, to be more like pumpkin pie, I would drizzle some maple syrup on top or even better make maple whipped cream. Pecans on the top would add a great crunch. This would be nice to serve alongside pumpkin pie or any pie at Thanksgiving. Its easy simple ingredients will impress your holiday guests and make them very thankful for you and your ice cream.

Week 20: Oh So Tart - Cranberry Lime Sorbet

Continuing with my pink ice creams for breast cancer awareness month I've made Cranberry Lime Sorbet. It has a beautiful pink color and deliciously tart. This sorbet definitely packs a pucker. I like it for a change but I know that some who try it will say it needs to be sweeter. It uses fresh cranberries, which were surprisingly easy to use. I had never made cranberry sauce or anything with fresh cranberries before. Its fun to hear them pop when you cook them. This was such an easy sorbet to make and has great cranberry flavor. I'm really happy that this didn't just have cranberry juice in it. Sorbets with fresh fruit always taste better and have better texture I think, than when they just use bottled juice. Its the perfect time to make this as fresh cranberries are readily available in the grocery store this time of year. I really need to make more with them. The lime juice and lime zest gives a great refreshing citrus punch to this sorbet. I love citrus flavors. Cranberries are really good for you. This sorbet is pretty healthy. There isn't a huge amount of sugar in it and all of the natural goodness of the fruits are there, especially the whole cranberries themselves. 

This would be great for the holidays. I still like to eat ice cream even when its cold out. This would taste wonderful with a berry crisp or cobbler. It would also be a great side to a creamy desert like a cheesecake or custard pie. 

Only one more pink ice cream to finish out October. Again, any suggestions are welcome. 

Watermelon Sherbet

Well I knew it would happen eventually, I would make an ice cream so bad that even I wouldn't eat it. Such was the sad case of the Watermelon Sherbet. So let me preface my thoughts by stating that this was not in the book. If it was I would have been more upset as Sue hasn't let me down yet. The main problem with this recipie was the gelatin. I did as it said to proof the gelatin in cold water before heating it and adding it to the watermelon puree. Somehow when it cooled in the freezer layers of gelatin formed in the mixture. I didn't see clumps of gelatin when i took the sherbet out of the ice cream maker this morning. The surrounding non gelatinous parts tasted good. It had nice watermelon flavor and the cream made it smooth. But when you hit a chunk of gelatin ( and there were some pretty big chunks in there! ) it left an awful taste in my mouth. Like you chewed on a piece of fat in your ice cream! I was so disgusted with the look and taste of the chunks, I threw it away. I don't think I will make an ice cream with gelatin in it again.

All you can do is try and that's what counts. On a better note moms pie was delicious! The French Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce was the perfect addition to it. It more than made up for the awfulness of the sherbet.

Let's hope next weeks pink concoction is better. If anyone has a suggestion, I'm all for trying new things. You just never know.

Week 18: Eat Pink! - Strawberry Gelato

So this weeks ice cream seemed destined to be. A co-worker or mine Tracy, is a regular follower of my blog, so I often let her choose the flavors. FYI - You can all have a say too, just write something - Hello even;) Anyway she is on vacation this week and so we decided upon Strawberry Gelato, because she absolutely hates strawberries. Real ones, fake ones, doesn't matter. But it occurred to me that this is the perfect ice cream for Breast Cancer month because its PINK! So I am going to make an attempt to make only pink colored ice creams this month. I dont know why this didn't occur to me a week earlier when I made chocolate. I may have to stray away from the book because I don't think there is much left of that color. So if you have a pink (or pinkish) colored ice cream you would like, please suggest it.  


I feel the need to write this blog not just for the people I work with, even though they are the ones taste testing. It was my original intent and I've kind of lost sight of that. So for those of you who have not had a chance to taste this lovely creation I will do my best to describe its loveliness. Its a beautiful shade of blush pink. Its a real pink make from real strawberries not fake pink food coloring you can see and of course taste the difference. This came out with a nice texture, since its a gelato there are more eggs and milk than cream. The strawberry juice adds to the creaminess making it seem richer even though there isn't a lot of cream. I used frozen strawberries (dont hate me for cheating) but it was easier and cheaper than buying fresh strawberries now. In hindsight this worked better to make a thicker mixture. The syrupy consistency of the frozen strawberry juice is thicker and probably more flavorful. I chose a frozen package with just strawberries and sugar - thats it. I didn't want additives that would make it taste fake. The one downfall in the texture is that the fruit gets a bit frozen throughout the gelato. Its not because I used frozen (mine were thoroughly thawed), I can see fresh doing that too. Maybe it would have been better if I had made a strawberry puree instead of keeping the sliced pieces of strawberries in it. But since the strawberries were sweetened I didn't add any additional sugar and it isn't too sweet (which I prefer). The minute ice cream tastes too sweet I think you loose the true flavor of the ingredients. Homemade ice cream should taste fresh and look beautiful. This does both!

I find useless knowledge fun. But you never know when something you thought was useless serves a purpose one day. So here we go.

facts about strawberries

from strawberries.com

·       Learn how to keep strawberries fresh.

·       There are over 20 named species of strawberry plants.

·       The Garden strawberry is the most common type of strawberry grown commercially.

·       The US strawberry industry is over $1.2 billion dollars annually, and strawberry festivals are very popular.

·       The United States is the top strawberry producing country in the world, followed by Spain.

·       Strawberries are “accessory” fruits.

·       The typical modern strawberry is a hybrid from both North and South America.

·       Learn more about strawberry genetics here.

·       The strawberry was considered poisonous in Argentina until the mid-1800′s.

·       Many Lepidopterans (butterflies, moths, and skinners) are known to feed on strawberry plants.

·       The word strawberry is derived from the Old English word “streawberige”.

·       One cup of strawberries (144 grams) contains approximately 45 calories.

·       Click here for strawberry nutrition facts.

I want to add more into my blog posts. They get boring when I just rattle on about the taste of the ice cream. If you have suggestions of what you would like to know about ice cream or ice cream making. Feel free to ask:)

I will be donating the cost of supplies to make this months pink ice creams to Susan G. Komen. 

Lets support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and eat pink ice cream!