Week 8: Loco for Coco-nut! Orange Pineapple Coconut Sorbet and Mango Coconut Ice Cream

I made two ice creams this week. One as a slightly belated birthday present for my mom (Mango Coconut Ice Cream) and the other for the usual gig (Orange Pineapple Coconut Sorbet).

First the sorbet. This was by far the easiest recipe yet! 3 ingredients, and it took practically no time to prepare. If it wasn't for letting the mixture cool overnight in the fridge, this could easily have been done in 15 minutes. I was pretty pleased with the outcome of this flavor combo but I would have preferred a stronger coconut flavor. The orange and pineapple juices overpowered the coconut milk. But the milk did add a creaminess that would have been lacking if it was just juice alone. I think if I try this one again I'll use cream of coconut instead of coconut milk, to make the coconut stand out more and make the mixture more creamy. Regardless this is refreshing.

Mom requested Mango Coconut ice cream for her birthday which was a few weeks ago. It just took me a while to get to it but it was definitely worth the wait. She found the recipe in the Hartford Currant living section. Very simple to make with little ingredients. A few mangoes pureed, coconut milk, whipping cream, and sugar ( I used sugar syrup to simplify the process - no heating the mixture to dissolve the sugar). Topped with fresh mango slices and toasted coconut; it really makes it amazing!!! The coconut adds crunch and the mangoes make the mango in the ice cream really stand out.

They are the perfect type of ice creams to make to start off a beach weekend. Fresh, bright, tropical flavors - perfect to cool off from the heat. Should Monday be another scorcher, the sorbet will certainly be appreciated.

Week 3: Sundae School

I am posting today from possibly my favorite place in the world, Cape Cod. I am here for a birthday getaway, even if it is just for the weekend, and I can't think of a better spot for ice cream than Sundae School in Orleans. Today after kayaking out to the beach, then a long walk down the shoreline and return trip, we were beat (well I was!). The best reward for all our hard exercise was the smooth creamy goodness of black raspberry ice cream in a crunchy chocolate dipped cone. Having tried some of their other flavors, black raspberry is the one I go back to every time. No other ice cream shops' has come close. I only hope I can someday. The creamy texture is perfection and it has amazing rich flavor, which doesn't taste fake like most others I've had. I've been told that black raspberries actually grow here, so it could be made with real fruit flavor. I'll have to ask next time. Had we not been saving our appetites for dinner, Rob would have gotten 3 scoops and I 2. We downsized for 2 and 1, but it was just enough.

There is no other place that reminds me of summer than here. It's too bad I don't live here and that they are only open seasonally or I would be here every day!

I am sad to report that our late departure this evening means no new ice cream for Monday. Sorry, Caroline! But there is still peach raspberry sorbet in the freezer. Don't make me boycott making new ice cream if the previous weeks isn't finished! But I'll be a girl with a plan for next weeks creation. I need to get more prepared to blog by giving myself more time to write and take pictures of the process and finished product. That will be my goal this week.

Birthday (Ice Cream) Cake!

So since I've started this blog, most of what consumes me lately (or should I say what I consume) is ice cream. So because its my birthday I thought what better to have than ice cream cake. The king of store bought ice cream cake is Carvel, so I thought I would see how close I could come to that. I will admit for lack of time and energy I cheated, yes I CHEATED and bought Breyers ice cream because it was on sale. And I also searched various forums to find out how to accomplish the famous crunchy cookie layers. Most recipes called for oreos but I thought that would be way to sweet so I stuck with Famous Chocolate Wafer cookies made by Nabisco. By the way these cookies make awesome ice cream sandwiches when store bought or homemade ice cream lays between them. They aren't picky! I digress, so I made the cake yesterday and am bringing it into work today.

My birthday wish is that everyone laughes at some point in the day, because when you're laughing you forget about what was going on just for a second. Thats how I feel when I'm eating ice cream.

Since I'm going away this weekend I will be posting from the Cape on sunday. I'll be sharing my favorite ice cream shop in the northeast with you, Sundae School! See you then!