My parents were coming for a visit and my mom requested that I make ice cream. Oh darn-a reason to try to make new flavors. I was planning on making coconut as she requested, but my last minute trip to the store I brainfarted and forgot coconut milk. Kind of important for coconut ice cream. I knew her fav ice cream was Haggen Daz Rum Raisin, so I found some raisins in the pantry, some rum in the liquor cabinet and made up a recipe. Here it is:
Soak 1 cup raisins in about 1 cup of rum. Let them sit overnight. If all the rum is gone, add a splash more.
Make a custard-heat 1 cup cream and 1 cup whole milk in a saucepan. Add 1 scant cup brown sugar. When almost boiling, add slowly some of the milk/cream into a container with 5 egg yolks. Add the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan and cook until thick.
Have another 1 cup whole milk in a bowl large enough to handle all of the ingredients in an ice bath. Pour the egg/milk mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the cold milk. Stir to combine. Add a dash of cinnamon. What the heck-add a dash of rum too. Chill. Put chilled custard into machine. During last few minutes, add rum raisins. YUM!
So since this ice cream was full of alcohol, I opted to make another ice cream for my girls. I had 2 canteloupes, so went to my garage fridge to get one. It was HEAVY. Why was it so heavy? It was FROZEN! So I scooped out what I could-I figured it would be ice cream anyway, so it being frozen wasn't a big deal. I pureed the melon in my Blendtec blender until smooth. Other recipes said to take the juice out and separate the pulp, but I thought "WHY?" So I didn't.
Here's what I did:
2 eggs-whip them until nice and fluffy.
1 cup cream. Most recipes I saw called for 2 cups, but I only bought 1 pint which is 2 cups and I used the other cup in the first recipe. So I WHIPPED the cream until soft peaks formed. Whip that into the eggs. Add 1 cup whole milk and I put in all of the canteloupe puree. Squeeze in 1/2 a lemon as well. Since I pureed the whole melon, the volume of this was enough to make 2 batches. Turned out really light and fluffy-my husband likened it to shave ice we had in Kauai, HI. Taste was sensational.
