My oldest daughter had wanted chocolate ice cream for several weeks, so I decided to make use of a bunch of bing cherries I had for this recipe. Again, I made up the recipe based on what I've learned from previous recipes.
2 cups cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 square Bolivia's Fruit cocoa Paste(I got this at a farmer's market and bought about 5 envelopes of the stuff. Makes the BEST hot chocolate!)
2 oz mini chocolate chips-can use any semisweet chocolate
5 egg yolks
about 1/4 cup-1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa powder(I didn't measure-just added to taste)
About 15 bing cherries, pitted and chopped
dash almond extract
2 Tbls Cream de Cacao liquor
Add 1 cup cream, 1 cup milk and sugar into saucepan. Put remaining 1 cup cream in an ice bath. Bring milk, cream and sugar almost to a boil over medium heat. Add cocoa paste and chocolate chips. Stir constantly until chocolate is melted. Once melted, add a bit of the mixture to the egg yolks, stirring them well. I use a small ladel and ladel in about 3-4 times. Then add the egg yolk mixture slowly, stirring constantly into the milk/chocolate mixture. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Once thickened, pour mixture through fine mesh strainer into the cream in the ice bath. Mix well. Add a splash of almond extract and the liquor(optional). Next stir in the cocoa powder. You can probably add the cocoa powder while cooking as well. I just added it at the end as the chocolate taste without it wasn't quite strong enough for me. Chill. Put in ice cream maker per instructions for machine. Toward end of churning, add chopped fresh bing cherries. Toasted almonds would also be a nice addition to the flavor of this ice cream.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Coconut Ice Cream
Coconut is one of my favorite flavors of all time. The creaminess of a good coconut ice cream is simply unparalleled. I read several recipes and decided to come up with my own. Here is my recipe for Coconut Ice Cream
2 Cups cream
1 cup Coconut Milk
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut-I had threads
1/4 cup raw almonds, coursley chopped-unpeeled
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
Toast the coconut and the chopped almonds. I had them in the oven until the coconut was toasted, but obviously, almonds take longer to fully toast. If you want to toast the almonds longer, feel free.
Add 1 cup cream, 1 cup coconut milk and sugar into a saucepan. Put the other 1 cup cream aside in the fridge. Bring the milk mixture almost to a boil over medium heat. Add the coconut and almonds and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Let sit and cool for about an hour. Once cooled, strain milk mixture through fine mesh strainer. Discard(or eat) the coconut almond pieces. Put the 1 cup cream from the fridge into an ice bath. Bring the milk mixture back to heat. Return it almost to a boil and add some of the mixture to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Once more of the hot milk is added to the yolk mixture, add the yolk mixture into the pan with the milks. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. Once thickened, pour through strainer into the cream in the ice bath. Stir until well blended. Put into fridge to chill. Once chilled, pour into your ice cream maker. You may stir in toasted almonds, toasted coconut or pieces of pineapple would also be divine. I opted for this first attempt to keep the ice cream in its plain, original, creamy state.
2 Cups cream
1 cup Coconut Milk
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut-I had threads
1/4 cup raw almonds, coursley chopped-unpeeled
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
Toast the coconut and the chopped almonds. I had them in the oven until the coconut was toasted, but obviously, almonds take longer to fully toast. If you want to toast the almonds longer, feel free.
Add 1 cup cream, 1 cup coconut milk and sugar into a saucepan. Put the other 1 cup cream aside in the fridge. Bring the milk mixture almost to a boil over medium heat. Add the coconut and almonds and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Let sit and cool for about an hour. Once cooled, strain milk mixture through fine mesh strainer. Discard(or eat) the coconut almond pieces. Put the 1 cup cream from the fridge into an ice bath. Bring the milk mixture back to heat. Return it almost to a boil and add some of the mixture to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Once more of the hot milk is added to the yolk mixture, add the yolk mixture into the pan with the milks. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. Once thickened, pour through strainer into the cream in the ice bath. Stir until well blended. Put into fridge to chill. Once chilled, pour into your ice cream maker. You may stir in toasted almonds, toasted coconut or pieces of pineapple would also be divine. I opted for this first attempt to keep the ice cream in its plain, original, creamy state.
Bacon and Chocolate Chip
I've been slacking with posting recipes I have tried, but I assure you I haven't slacked on making many different recipes and creating my own.
Bacon ice cream. I had tried bacon ice cream last summer at Sweet Republic in Scottsdale, AZ. If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend stopping in and trying every single flavor, no matter how odd the combo sounds. My fav wound up being buttered sweet corn. I'll probably try my hand at this before summer is through.
So bacon. If you like a sweet/salty combo, you will probably be surprised to see you like this ice cream. I simply used David Lebovitz's recipe since his salted buttered caramel recipe hadn't failed me. I got family to try it, even someone who swore they wouldn't try it, and he wound up eating several spoonfuls. It isn't a "lets have a huge bowl and watch tv" type ice cream. It is a cleanse the pallate and have a delicious treat ice cream.
My youngest daughter had chosen her first option as chocolate chip ice cream, so I tried my hand at making up a vanilla base on my own. I figured I'd read enough recipes to know what should be in the ice cream, so I just guessed. Here is the recipe I came up with. The extra step of the vanilla sugar I think made the ice cream. I would say add extract to get the same flavor, but I'm not convinced it would be the same outcome.
Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
1 Cup Vanilla Sugar
1 Cup Cream
4 Egg Yolks
2 Cups Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Bean
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Vanilla Sugar-needs to be made at least 1 week in advance. I keep a constant stream of this stuff in my kitchen. I have about 10 vanilla beans in a cleaned pasta sauce jar. Any glass jar will work. Simply put vanilla beans in the jar and cover them with white granulated sugar. Over time, the vanilla flavor seeps into the sugar. For just 1 cup, 1 or 2 beans is probably sufficient.
Put 1 cup whole milk in searate bowl in an ice bath. To this milk, add cut open vanilla bean, scraping seeds into the cream. Allow to sit while preparing custard.
Put 1 cup cream and other 1 cup milk into saucepan. heat over medium heat. Add vanilla sugar and dissolve sugar. Bring to almost a boil. Slowly add some of the hot mixture to egg yolks,stirring the yolks constantly. Once yolks have been mixed with a bit of the warm liquid(I use a small ladle and usually do 3-4 ladels-worth of the warm milk mixture), slowly add the egg yolk mixture into the milk mixture. Be sure to stir constanly with a whisk or heat-proof spatula. Cook until mixture thickens. How long this takes depends on how hot you stove it. Try to resist turning up the heat or you'll wind up with scrambled eggs at the bottom of the pan--ask me how I know this.
Once the mixture is thickened, pour through fine mesh strainer into the vanilla bean/milk. Blend all together well and put in the fridge until chilled. Remove the vanilla bean and pour into your ice cream maker. When it is almost done, add mini chocolate chips.
Bacon ice cream. I had tried bacon ice cream last summer at Sweet Republic in Scottsdale, AZ. If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend stopping in and trying every single flavor, no matter how odd the combo sounds. My fav wound up being buttered sweet corn. I'll probably try my hand at this before summer is through.
So bacon. If you like a sweet/salty combo, you will probably be surprised to see you like this ice cream. I simply used David Lebovitz's recipe since his salted buttered caramel recipe hadn't failed me. I got family to try it, even someone who swore they wouldn't try it, and he wound up eating several spoonfuls. It isn't a "lets have a huge bowl and watch tv" type ice cream. It is a cleanse the pallate and have a delicious treat ice cream.
My youngest daughter had chosen her first option as chocolate chip ice cream, so I tried my hand at making up a vanilla base on my own. I figured I'd read enough recipes to know what should be in the ice cream, so I just guessed. Here is the recipe I came up with. The extra step of the vanilla sugar I think made the ice cream. I would say add extract to get the same flavor, but I'm not convinced it would be the same outcome.
Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
1 Cup Vanilla Sugar
1 Cup Cream
4 Egg Yolks
2 Cups Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Bean
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Vanilla Sugar-needs to be made at least 1 week in advance. I keep a constant stream of this stuff in my kitchen. I have about 10 vanilla beans in a cleaned pasta sauce jar. Any glass jar will work. Simply put vanilla beans in the jar and cover them with white granulated sugar. Over time, the vanilla flavor seeps into the sugar. For just 1 cup, 1 or 2 beans is probably sufficient.
Put 1 cup whole milk in searate bowl in an ice bath. To this milk, add cut open vanilla bean, scraping seeds into the cream. Allow to sit while preparing custard.
Put 1 cup cream and other 1 cup milk into saucepan. heat over medium heat. Add vanilla sugar and dissolve sugar. Bring to almost a boil. Slowly add some of the hot mixture to egg yolks,stirring the yolks constantly. Once yolks have been mixed with a bit of the warm liquid(I use a small ladle and usually do 3-4 ladels-worth of the warm milk mixture), slowly add the egg yolk mixture into the milk mixture. Be sure to stir constanly with a whisk or heat-proof spatula. Cook until mixture thickens. How long this takes depends on how hot you stove it. Try to resist turning up the heat or you'll wind up with scrambled eggs at the bottom of the pan--ask me how I know this.
Once the mixture is thickened, pour through fine mesh strainer into the vanilla bean/milk. Blend all together well and put in the fridge until chilled. Remove the vanilla bean and pour into your ice cream maker. When it is almost done, add mini chocolate chips.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Celebrating the 4th with caramel
I asked my husband what flavor he would like considering he is NOT a dessert fan. Very few pique his interest and even fewer actually become something he will eat more than a few bites of. So, off to find a caramel recipe. I knew I needed a good one, so I headed to David once again. I promise next week I'll try a new person's recipe!
So here is what I found. I figured if he liked it so much, it must be a good one. www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/04/salted-butter-c
Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream.
First step is to make some praline that goes in at the end. Recipe calls for you to pour the caramel out just before it burns. Well, I did that, not knowing that the side of the saucepan was apparently hotter than the rest of the pan. So instead of it being poured right before it burned, the pouring actually BURNED it. So, 1/2 cup of sugar and some sea salt was wasted. Did a second batch, this time keeping in mind that it would scortch on the way out of the pan. This time was perfect. I poured it into a cookie sheet lined with reuseable parchment paper. This is the greatest invention EVER for people who cook things that do not readily come off of cookie sheets. I highly recommend getting one.
So I made that batch successful, now off to make the bigger batch for the ice cream itself. I don't know if my stove is slow, the pan wasn't big enough(I used a 4 qt, he used a 6) or what, but it seemingly took FOREVER for the caramel to form. Once it does, you add butter and salt. Fine-butter bubbled up and such, started to get hard, so I put it over heat again as suggested. several HUGE balls of candy formed that would NOT melt. Added the cream and milk. Kicked up the temp, still wouldn't melt. I figured they would just be casualties when I strained.
Added the egg yolks and, again, stirred FOREVER. I have no idea how long it was. I just knew my arm hurt.
Finally got the stuff to thicken to strain it out. Mixed it up in the last batch of milk and oh my-caramel deliciousness. I knew it would be a hit. Stuck it in the fridge and ate one of the chunks of caramel that wouldn't melt. Bonus for my time, I guess.
About 4 hours later it dawned on me I had forgotten to add the vanilla, so I whisked it in then.
6 hours later it was chilled, so I put it in the machine. Came out rich and creamy, just what ice cream should be. I was disappointed in the strawberry ice cream because it lacked this creamy texture, so I guess I know now that the custard route is the way to go for my personal taste.
Stirred in the praline, but it didn't turn to goop like David had suggested it would. Oh well!
Allowed it to harden about 1.5 hours while I made and ate dinner. My girls loved the ice cream, but spit out the praline saying it was "sour". It was SALTY, not sour, but I think it added a nice crunch and depth. I was about half way done with my bowl when I realized that I had banana bread. One of my favorite cakes is a banana caramel cake, so I figured the banana bread would be like the cake and the ice cream, well-you get the idea. Match made in heaven.
As for the hubby, he had 1 bite. Yes, all that work and 1 bite from him. But he did perk up and say "That's really good". So score one for the recipe. He didn't say "That's ok" or "ehhhh."
I read on a review that it was too sweet. Last I heard, caramel is basically SUGAR with a bit of cream, soif it WASN'T sweet, I'd be wondering what was wrong. The flavor is TRUE caramel and delightful. I like this recipe because you can eat a small portion and your sweet tooth is satisfied. Next time, I'll make it without the praline and top it with peanuts and fresh cut apples for a taste of Halloween.
So here is what I found. I figured if he liked it so much, it must be a good one. www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/04/salted-butter-c
Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream.
First step is to make some praline that goes in at the end. Recipe calls for you to pour the caramel out just before it burns. Well, I did that, not knowing that the side of the saucepan was apparently hotter than the rest of the pan. So instead of it being poured right before it burned, the pouring actually BURNED it. So, 1/2 cup of sugar and some sea salt was wasted. Did a second batch, this time keeping in mind that it would scortch on the way out of the pan. This time was perfect. I poured it into a cookie sheet lined with reuseable parchment paper. This is the greatest invention EVER for people who cook things that do not readily come off of cookie sheets. I highly recommend getting one.
So I made that batch successful, now off to make the bigger batch for the ice cream itself. I don't know if my stove is slow, the pan wasn't big enough(I used a 4 qt, he used a 6) or what, but it seemingly took FOREVER for the caramel to form. Once it does, you add butter and salt. Fine-butter bubbled up and such, started to get hard, so I put it over heat again as suggested. several HUGE balls of candy formed that would NOT melt. Added the cream and milk. Kicked up the temp, still wouldn't melt. I figured they would just be casualties when I strained.
Added the egg yolks and, again, stirred FOREVER. I have no idea how long it was. I just knew my arm hurt.
Finally got the stuff to thicken to strain it out. Mixed it up in the last batch of milk and oh my-caramel deliciousness. I knew it would be a hit. Stuck it in the fridge and ate one of the chunks of caramel that wouldn't melt. Bonus for my time, I guess.
About 4 hours later it dawned on me I had forgotten to add the vanilla, so I whisked it in then.
6 hours later it was chilled, so I put it in the machine. Came out rich and creamy, just what ice cream should be. I was disappointed in the strawberry ice cream because it lacked this creamy texture, so I guess I know now that the custard route is the way to go for my personal taste.
Stirred in the praline, but it didn't turn to goop like David had suggested it would. Oh well!
Allowed it to harden about 1.5 hours while I made and ate dinner. My girls loved the ice cream, but spit out the praline saying it was "sour". It was SALTY, not sour, but I think it added a nice crunch and depth. I was about half way done with my bowl when I realized that I had banana bread. One of my favorite cakes is a banana caramel cake, so I figured the banana bread would be like the cake and the ice cream, well-you get the idea. Match made in heaven.
As for the hubby, he had 1 bite. Yes, all that work and 1 bite from him. But he did perk up and say "That's really good". So score one for the recipe. He didn't say "That's ok" or "ehhhh."
I read on a review that it was too sweet. Last I heard, caramel is basically SUGAR with a bit of cream, soif it WASN'T sweet, I'd be wondering what was wrong. The flavor is TRUE caramel and delightful. I like this recipe because you can eat a small portion and your sweet tooth is satisfied. Next time, I'll make it without the praline and top it with peanuts and fresh cut apples for a taste of Halloween.
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