Been A Long Time

In the haze of preparing for our wedding, I've let my blogging slip.Slip isnt the word, more like drop from my life entirely. If it had a bigger following I might feel bad about it. But since I do this mostly for myself I have to just go with the flow. I set a goal that i wanted to make 52 ice creams and I'm going to do it. It just might take me a little longer or I may have to do double time to catch up. But it will get done. I did make ice cream during the hiatus. Lets see...

I made white chocolate ice cream which I was going to have for a baby shower at work but them decided on making three different ice cream cakes instead (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry). I made the cookie crust and used store bought ice cream like in this post. They were heart shaped and adorable and I wish I had gotten a picture.

I made some more Guinness ice cream that didn't come out so well, so Rob took a stab at and for his first time making ice cream he did amazing. Its not the easiest to make on your first try but it tasted amazing, It was nice of him to make an ice cream for me and I think he has a greater appreciation for this endeavor than he had before. He admitted it was hard work and didn't really want to make it again. I think the Guinness was what attracted him. Some beer for the ice cream more beer for him (haha!). I'll be making another attempt at Guinness ice cream for St. Patrick's Day. That is one ice cream where you have to stick to the recipe and not fiddle with it which is where I got in trouble.

A few weeks ago I made Cocoa Sorbet which I will blog about next.

 And today I made Basil Gelato will be the next post after that.

If I missed any mentions of ice creams made in the past few months I'll throw them in intermittently.

Pheww, I feel better for writing this out. I have to keep the momentum going and keep going. I've done alot of wedding planning and that is tapering down now so I should be able to get back to it regularly.


P.S. I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to ice cream related things. Check it out!
Feel free to send me things you think I should pin there.

I cant wait to make this pinned lovely from How to: Simplify...I'll need a decadent occasion for this one.

Week 27: Sweet Tart.....Lemon Vanilla Ice Cream w/ Raspberry Sauce

This ice cream is delicious. Its light and creamy, the perfect balance of sweet and tart. The lemon zest really pumped up the lemon flavor. It reminds me of a lemon chiffon. I like the softness of it with the vanilla more than I would if it was a sorbet. I think it would be too tart and too strong to pair well with the raspberry sauce. Berry sauces are so easy to make I don't know why I don't make them more often. They are great to make when you are having company. You can just purchase store made pound or angel food cake and pour over a raspberry or blueberry sauce and dollop with fresh whipped cream. So easy and beautiful. I use frozen berries when I make sauces because they break down just as much as fresh would and tend to be less expensive. Unless you get them at peak season. But frozen berries are picked when they are the freshest too, so you are guaranteed a consistent product that you don't always get when you buy fresh. They each have their place. Sorry for rambling about fruit. This ice cream would be great with in all sorts of combinations.

Here are some I like:
lemon vanilla with blueberry, pomegranate, or strawberry sauce
orange vanilla with chocolate sauce
ginger vanilla with mango, apple or peach sauce
lime vanilla with raspberry or pineapple sauce

The combos are endless!

When I am finished with the recipes from the book, I can explore this more...

The whole fun of cooking is trying new things. Experiment with store bought ice cream if you don't want to go out and buy an ice cream maker. Ice cream is meant to be fun, so play with mixing flavors and have fun with it! Let me know if you make something great!

Week 26: Espresso Gelato with Biscotti

We're halfway there! Week 26, WOW! I have to let you in on a little secret. I am not great at committing to projects. I get excited in the beginning but then I either don't finish something or get burnt out it the end. Its one of the flaws I hate about myself and I'm working on it. I was afraid I would do that with this blog. I have slowed down periodically but haven't lost enthusiasm yet about making ice cream. I am more excited about coming up with my own recipes once this 52 week adventure is over. But about this weeks flavor. Its espresso and there's no denying it. If you need a good wake-me-up at 9:00 or pick-me-up at 2:00 have a scoop of this. I am strange but not that strange, I like the smell of coffee and the taste of coffee flavored items but not the taste of real coffee. This gelato is appealing to me but not something I could have all the time. But for you extreme coffee fans this is amazing. Its one of those ice creams you can't hide making. The smell of the espresso is so strong and wonderfully rich. It perfumes the kitchen. The biscotti are a great addition to this because they add some body to the mixture and an extra sweetness. I used chocolate biscotti with almonds. When I tried it they were crunchy but the longer they sit in the gelato the softer they will get. I am excited to try it today again and see what the texture is like. Its only flaw - possibly not being sweet enough. I doubled the recipe and cut back a bit on the sugar because I thought the biscotti would make it sweet but it isn't as sweet as I thought it might be. It may be good to add a little chocolate sauce on top if you are serving it as a desert. If you don't like your coffee or espresso too sweetened than this would be perfect for you.

Cheers to a good pick me up to start the week off right! Happy Monday!

Week 25: All in the Family - Coconut Apricot Sorbet

I entered this year of blogging with the best of intentions. I wanted to start it off with a BANG, but it sort of fizzled. But I'll update you on the past weeks events and tell you whats ahead.

Well for starters I got engaged on NYE! I will figure out how to have ice cream at my wedding, don't you worry. The following week my cousin was supposed to make ice cream with me but the scheduling didn't work out. But she was here with me this weekend to make Oreo for her and we made Coconut Apricot Sorbet from the book. Both are really easy ice creams to get started with so I was happy that it worked out that way. 

For her reference and yours I'd like to go over the process.

Step 1: Make a sugar syrup. In a small saucepan, on medium heat, stir 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup water until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat to cool and refrigerate in a covered container. It lasts for at least a month in the fridge. 

Step 2: Mix 2 cups whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream, 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup sugar syrup in a bowl to combine.

Step 3: Pour into ice cream maker and run for 30 minutes or whatever your machine calls for.

Step 4: Put cookies (as many as you'd like) in a plastic zipper bag and crush them. This keeps the mess to a minimum.

Step 5: In the last 5 minutes of mixing add the cookies to the ice cream mixture. If you use a lot of cookies you may want to mix them in by hand after you have taken the ice cream out of the maker.

Step 6: Enjoy homemade Oreo ice cream!

See how easy it is! And if you have a KitchenAid mixer you can get the ice cream bowl attachment. So you don't have to have another appliance taking up space. It looks great. Direct from the manufacturer it is expensive but I have seen it retail as low as $35 on sale. So its a great investment if your just starting out with making ice cream. I must get one.

Aside from making Oreo we made Coconut Apricot Sorbet. It came out lovely. The coconut milk makes it slightly creamy and the apricot flavor is what you really taste. I couldn't find apricot juice so we pureed canned apricots. I didn't strain it because I like the chunkiness of having bits of apricot in it. It has shredded coconut in it as well which adds to the texture. There is a refreshing icy quality that I love about sorbet. On a day like today it might be a bit too cold to enjoy it but I'll certainly try.

A special thank you to my cousin. I am so happy that she was able to come and make ice cream. I think she really enjoyed it and was surprised by how easy it can be. She is welcome in my kitchen anytime. Maybe someday I will get her started with her own machine!

Week 24: Oh Snap! - Molasses Ginger Snap Ice Cream

This week's ice cream is perfect for Christmastime. I love gingerbread and this has all of those wonderful flavors in frozen goodness. The molasses ice cream on it's own is tasty but the addition of cookies makes anything better in my opinion. The cookies did get soft but I added some fresh ones crumbled on the top for crunch. You could create some great desserts with this ice cream. If you leave out the cookies in the ice cream you could layer it between two gingerbread men and make gingerbread ice cream sandwiches. I may make those for Christmas next year! You could also serve alongside or layer it between gingerbread cake. A frozen ice cream pie would be delicious with a ginger snap cookie crust. The cookie and ice cream combinations are endless.

On the box of ginger snaps I bought there was a cute note. According to Swedish tradition, you place a cookie in your hand, make a wish, then tap the cookie with your finger. If it breaks into 3 pieces then you're wish will come true. So far, every time I've tried this it's broken into 3. I'd like to hope that my wishes will come true. We'll have to wait and see.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I'll be taking a break for New Year's but I'll be back with a special sous chef. My cousin will hopefully be joining me the week after.

See you in the new year!

Week 23: Egg Nog Ice Cream

I have to be honest in saying I really don't enjoy Egg Nog. I wasn't particularly thrilled about making this one. But I'm also sad to report that it didn't blow me away. I thought it might make me like egg nog. To be honest it tastes like an eggier (I'm making that a word if it isn't) version of the cardamom ice cream. I didn't think about it till now but the first thing Rob said after tasting it was that it tasted like a chai latte to him. To be honest it's the same flavors in cardamom as in this, nutmeg, citrus zest of lemon and orange, orange flavor of grand marnier, and almond flavor of desarono. Not being a egg nog drinker I didn't know what to expect. I'm rather supprised that she would duplicate the flavors of a recipe for another recipe. Maybe it was unintentional. The one thing I omitted for severe lack of taste in is the anisette liquor. I hate the flavor Of licorice and maybe the duplicating of flavors is my fault for not adding it. It may have made it taste different. To me not better but others might disagree. To anyone out there who has made egg nog or egg nog flavored anything. What are the associated flavors? My bosses father used to mix egg nog with creme de menthe, so for her I made a bowl where I added peppermint extract. I think I put in a bit too much. It is a little overwhelming. This ice cream is very rich but for mr not in a good way. I like richness of flavor when it comes to a chocolate or coffee base, but a nutmeg, citrus, egg thing - I'll pass. I hate to diss her recipies but I think this would have been better with just putting bottled egg nog in the ice cream maker and flipping the switch. I hate when I make something I dislike, but I didn't have high hopes for this one. Sorry. I'f you love egg nog, I highly suggest experimenting with making your own ice cream with store-bought or homemade egg nog. If you do I'd like to know the results.

Happy holidays!

What Would You Do-oo-oo?

So I'm stepping it up a notch this week with homemade Klondike bars. But not just any Klondike bars, Triple Coconut Klondike bars. They have great coconut flavor and crunch from toasted coconut, sweetened flakes coconut, coconut milk, and I added cream of coconut to make it even more rich. So if you want to be technically correct its Quadruple coconut. Once I thought about the process it was really easy to make. You make the ice cream as usual, when it's still soft you spread it into a baking dish lined with wax paper (so the ice cream doesn't freeze to the pan). I used a 9x13 pan but if you had more ice cream you could use a deep cookie tray or sheet cake pan. I would just suggest that the mixture fill the container at least an inch high. Let it freeze until it's set enough but not too hard. Remove from pan with wax paper an cut into squares. My mom suggested that the new brownie pans that have inserts to make them precut would work great. I dont make brownies that often to need a pan like that, but they do seem neat. Once they are cut you can return the pan to the freezer if they thawed out too much, if not it's time to dip them in chocolate. I used magic shell! I love this stuff. I've used it before to make carvel-like ice cream cake. This stuff is amazing. I read online that you can make your own (see recipe below) by melting chocolate with coconut oil. Coconut oil is rather expensive, but maybe I'll try it sometime. You coat the bars in magic shell and then refreeze. It takes more magic shell than I thought, but it didn't solidify as quickly as I imagined. You have a little time to top it with nuts or cookie crumbles if you wish to add more texture or flavor. I meant to top some with almonds but forgot in the process of making them. You have to work somewhat quickly because if the bars get too soft the chocolate doesn't stick as well to them. The melted ice cream sort of seizes up the choclate a bit making it harder to get an even coating. But they're handmade, they don't have to be perfect. Mine certainly aren't but they sure taste like it. This is a great thing to try with any store bought ice cream too. You can come up with lots of different flavor combinations. The one benefit to making your own magic shell would be that you can make it with any type of chocolate. White chocolate would be beautiful with mint ice cream for Christmas. This is too easy and too good a treat not to try. It's one of those simple but fancy things that wow people. There's not much I wouldn't do for a Klondike bar, how about you?

Magic Shell Recipe:

1 1/4 Cups Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil (measured when solid)

Melt the coconut oil over very low heat. Slowly stir in the chocolate until completely melted and blended. Add a dash of salt. Store your topping in a jar or squeeze bottle. You don't need to refrigerate it, but if it does solidify, just nuke it for a few secs to make it all melty again.