Another Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream

So, for reasons I won't get into right now, I made two cheesecakes, four caramel sauces, two fruit purees, and two flavored whipped creams last week. After eating six pieces of cheesecake with every possible combination of sauces I settled on what I liked. The problem was what to do with the remaining sauces and fruit purees. Of course I had to turn to ice cream.

This isn't a hard one to make, but it does take a lot of steps. Mix caramel, reduced balsamic vinegar, strawberry puree, and vanilla ice cream and bing bang boom you have a truly great result. Mrs. Fellow's one spoonful turned into a bowl's worth. It perfectly balances the flavors of every component. You can taste each flavor and yet they combine to create something entirely new.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Strawberry-Balsamic-Caramel

Make some Caramel Sauce
Make some vanilla ice cream (either 13 EGG or the CLASSIC)

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
Don't bother with white or expensive balsamic vinegars. This is a frozen dessert, the taste will be masked by your tongue. Any supermarket brand will do. I used the one sold at Costco. If you insist putting an expensive balsamic vinegar in the ice cream, go ahead, just skip this step. Real $100+ balsamic vinegars are superior products and do not need the be reduced very much, if at all.

1 cup balsamic vinegar


1. Put the balsamic in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the reduction is so thick that you can run a spoon over the bottom and leave a temporary trail. When it cools it should be like syrup. If it isn’t, heat it again and keep going. You should have less than half a cup.



2. BE SURE TO DO THIS IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA. Otherwise, your house may smell like vinegar for a while.

Strawberry Puree:

You may need to adjust the sweetness of the berries, but be careful to minimize the amount of sugar you use. Remember that you will be adding caramel to the puree so the sweetness can get overpowering if you aren't careful. If I were pureeing strawberries for other reasons, I would probably add a bit of lemon juice for acid. This is not necessary here because the reduced vinegar will take care of the acid component.

2 pints of strawberries, stems and leaves removed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar


1. Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until boiling. Simmer until berries are soft (about five minutes).


2. Put the ingredients of the sauce in a blender and puree. Be careful and hold the lid on tight when blending hot things.


3. Pour the contents of the blender through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds.

To make the Strawberry-Balsamic Caramel:

Two things will jump out at you about this sauce. First, is that it won't be as thick as caramel, even when refrigerated. Don't worry, it works in the final product. Second, the color is dark. Balsamic does that. Don't worry, it makes a dramatic contrast to the vanilla ice cream.

1. Mix one cup of the strawberry puree with 3/4 cup of the caramel and 2 tablespoons of the balsamic reduction. You may find this easier to do if the caramel is warm.


2. Cool (if necessary), then refrigerate until cold.

Putting it all together:

1. After you make the ice cream, place about 1/3 of the finished product in the container. Spread out a layer of the caramel.


2. Repeat for the next 2/3 of the ice cream alternating with layers of the caramel.


3. Put the full container in the freezer for an hour or so to firm everything.

13 Egg Vanilla

Unlucky thirteen. Actually, thirteen is very lucky for your mouth in this ice cream.

Before we get too far into this let me address one important issue - use of vanilla beans. This fellow is not abandoning his philosophy that vanilla extract is all that is necessary for great vanilla ice cream. If you recall from one of my earliest posts, I talked about the value of vanilla extract and how it is the real flavoring behind nearly every vanilla ice cream you will ever eat. I stand by that statement. There really isn't a need to ever use vanilla beans when making ice cream; however, I had some sitting around, so I put them to work.

This recipe is an adaptation from Ann Amernick's "The Art of Dessert." With the exception of the eggs and flavorings, Ms. Amernick's recipe uses the base that I favor the most - 2 cups of milk and cream and 3/4 cup of sugar. When it comes to eggs, she asks for 225 grams of egg yolks, which she says is 11 - 12 eggs. In order to get there, I needed 13 yolks. I suggest you use the same amount and forget about the scale. There is no reason to really measure to the gram. She is pastry chef and is used to working in metric volumes because baking is science and requires a degree of precision that is not necessary in ice cream. So please use your baker's dozen of egg yolks and enjoy the most unctuous of vanilla ice cream.

Her book is fantastic, Ms. Amernick is certainly an artisan to be admired. I made the complete recipe for the Apple Marmalade Sandwiches with Cranberry Coulis and Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream. The results were well received, although Mrs. Fellow thought it too orangey for her taste. I would make it again in a second. Unfortunately, something about her methodology for making ice cream prevented me from completely following her recipe.

Her recipe calls for the cream and milk to be brought to a boil, then removed from the heat. The eggs are tempered and whisked into the milk and cream. From what I have read and my own experiences, when the milk and cream comes to a boil, the fat separates from the liquid and cannot be reincorporated. The result is bad. So I opted to follow my usual method of heating.

I won't go into the details of this recipe too much. the ingredient list is as follows:

2 cups whole milk
2 cups cream
13 egg yolks
3/4 cup of sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

If you read my blog regularly, than you know how to make custard. If not, refer to my vanilla ice cream post. The main difference in the methodology is that the vanilla bean is split and scraped, then added to the milk and cream. Leave the bean in the ice cream until it is strained through the sieve.

Butternut Squash with Cranberry Swirl

Admittedly, this recipe might be slightly inspired by the Top Chef finale. Still the squash is different and the swirl is all me.

Cranberry and squash are two classic fall flavors and make this recipe taste like it belongs as part of Thanksgiving dinner.

I cheated a bit. Usually, I prefer to do as much from scratch as possible, but I used frozen squash puree. Shame on me, but the result is more than adequate. The butter and brown sugar bring out the sweetness of the squash nicely and adds a bit of a foil for the cranberry sauce which can be quite tart, even frozen.

If you want, sterilize some jars and preserve the cranberry sauce. This recipe makes a lot more than you need and it is delicious on its own.

One more note, I am guessing a bit at the ice cream proportions. I made my usual base using 2 cups milk, 2 cups cream, 3/4c of sugar and 5 eggs. Unfortunately, I did not buy enough squash for this so I only used about 2 1/2 cups of the base with the squash. Everything should work out fine, but be forewarned you may need to adjust this a bit to your taste.

Butternut Squash Ice Cream with Cranberry-Clementine Swirl

Cranberry-Clementine Swirl

16 oz cranberries
1 cup water
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of slat
zest of 1.5 clementines
1 tsp clementine juice

1. Put the water, sugar, cinnamon, salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.


2. Add the cranberries, zest, juice. Cook for ten minutes until the berries have popped and become very soft.


3. Cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Butternut Squash Ice Cream:

12oz frozen, pureed butternut squash
1 TBL brown sugar
1/4 ounce unsalted butter
1.25 cups whole milk
1.25 cups cream
3/4 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
Salt to taste

1. Microwave the squash until hot. Add the butter, brown sugar and salt. Set aside.


2. Mix the egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt.


3. Put the cream, milk, and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a saucepan. Heat until bubbles just begin to form around the edges of the liquid.


4. Add about 1/3 cup of the heated liquid to the eggs slowly while stirring the eggs the entire time.


5. Add the egg mixture into the liquid. Stir constantly until the temperature exceeds 175 degrees F.


6. Remove the liquid from the heat, strain into a bowl. Add the squash, stir to incorporate.


7. At this point, taste and correct the seasoning. When you are satisfied with the flavor, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight to let the flavors mature.


8. Freeze in your ice cream maker. Swirl in the cranberry-clementine mixture at the very end of the freezing process.

Cherry Almond Ice Cream Torte

My almond and cherry mood continues with this extremely time consuming recipe. Trust me this one is worth it. I brought it to a friend's dinner party for six people and five guests had seconds. I am guilty of this overindulgence. Please don't tell my doctor, she would renounce her Hippocratic oath and attempt to kill me because I am on a special diet to lower my cholesterol.

This recipe is derived from my own ice cream recipe, the ice cream torte from Dorrie Greenspan's "Baking," and Very Cherry Sauce from "A Passion for Ice Cream" by Emily Luchetti. So as you can imagine there are a few parts to this. None of them are complicated or difficult to perform, but it takes a lot of time to freeze. Each layer must set before the next one is added. This means at least 30 minutes for each chocolate ganache layer and another 20 (or so) minutes for each ice cream layer. My total freeze time took about 4 hours this does not include the time to make the ice cream mix or the cherries.

The cherries are amazing. You will use them all, but will have left over syrup which should keep for a few weeks. Use this syrup as a drink flavoring, or a dessert sauce.

The ganache has eggs in it. These eggs don't really cook. If you are worried about eating undercooked eggs, than please try to find pasteurized ones.

The recipe below is a good example of the necessary progression you need. I will do my best to show you simultaneous steps.


For the Candied Cherries:

2 pounds of fresh sweet cherries
2.5 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of water
1.5 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp kosher salt

1. Stem the cherries, but don't pit them.


2. Put cherries, sugar, and water into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil.


3. When the water turns clear, all the sugar has been absorbed. Set a timer for 5 minutes, reduce the heat and simmer the cherries.


4. Drain the cherries, reserving the liquid. Spread the cherries out on some foil in a single layer to cool


5. Put the liquid back into the saucepan with the lemon juice and salt and reduce to 2 cups. It will be very dark and syrupy. Cool the liquid to room temperature. Use an ice bath if you want, but note it will make clean up harder.


6. When the cherries have cooled, pit them by squeezing out the pits. Then place them in the completely cooled syrup and refrigerate.

For the Cherry Ice Cream:

3/4 of the Candied Cherries
1/4 cup of of the Cherry Syrup
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream

1. Place the cherries and the syrup in the blender and puree. When you do this, the cherries will retain a lot of the syrup. Don't count that extra syrup as part of the 1/4 cup of required syrup.


2. Put the milk and cream in a saucepan and heat over medium heat to about 150F, where the milk/cream is hot but not boiling.


3. While the milk and cream heats, put the yolks in a bowl with the sugar and beat until the sugar is fully incorporated.


4. When the milk is at temperature, take about 1/3 cup out and temper the eggs. Add the eggs to the saucepan and cook stirring constantly until the temperature is 175F.


5. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Incorporate the cherry puree, being sure to mix thoroughly. Strain the custard then cool to room temperature. if you are not going to use an ice bath and stir the mixture during cooling, be sure to cover the custard with plastic wrap directly on the surface to avoid forming a skin on the surface. Refrigerate overnight or at least a few hours until cold.


6. DO NOT FREEZE YET.

For the Ganache:

9 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate
1 3/4 sticks of butter
1/2 cup sugar
8 eggs

1. To facilitate easier melting cut the butter into chunks and the chocolate into small pieces. Put the pieces in a double boiler and completely melt, stirring occasionally to ensure the ingredients become incorporated. Set the mixture aside to cool for five minutes. PLEASE NOTE: Dorrie Greenspan warns that overheating will cause the chocolate and butter to separate and not be able to reincorporate. So please be careful.


2. Whisk the eggs into the chocolate mixture one at a time, ensuring each one is fully incorporated before adding the next one. This mixture will get thick.


3. Lightly grease an 8 or 8.5 inch springform pan. I used cooking spray. You could use butter, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you use too much, the butter will freeze and attach itself to the torte. No one really likes to eat frozen butter.


4. Pour one third of the ganache (about 1 1/3 cups) into the bottom of the spring form. Bang the pan on your work surface to remove any bubbles. You may need to use a toothpick to pop some them. Set the pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to allow the ganache to set. Place plastic wrap on the surface of the remaining ganache to avoid creating a skin.

Final Assembly:

2 cups slivered or sliced almonds

1. As the ganache is setting, freeze half of the ice cream according to your ice cream machine's directions.


2. Toast the nuts and cool them to room temperature. Chop them into small bits.


3. At this point, wait for the ice cream to finish freezing if the 30 minutes for the ganache has expired. If the ice cream finishes before the 30 minutes for the ganache, put it in the freezer. The ice cream should be the consistency of soft serve so it is easy to spread. If it is too frozen, leave it out to loosen up.


4. Remove the ganache from the freezer, put down a layer of the nuts. Add the ice cream, smoothing it so the top is as flat as possible. Place this back into the freezer for at least 20 minutes until the ice cream is set.


5. Remove the pan from the freezer, pour half of the remaining ganache (1 1/3 cups) over the ice cream. Bang on the table again to remove air bubbles. Again you may need a toothpick, but you have to work fast so the ice cream doesn't melt. Put this back in the freezer for at least 30 minutes until set. Put the plastic back over the remaining ganache.


6. Freeze the remaining custard. Again minding the texture.


7. While the ice cream is freezing, remove the remaining cherries from the syrup and chop them.


8. Remove the ganache from the freezer once it has set and the ice cream is at the right texture. Spoon the cherries over the ganache. Include some of the syrup Put the ice cream on top of the cherries. Smooth the surface of the ice cream. Put this into the freezer for at least 20 minutes until it sets.


9. Feel free to start cleaning up you have a few minutes to spare. If you want, toast some more nuts to put on the top as decoration.


10. Once the ice cream is set, remove the pan from the freezer, pour over the remaining ganache. Bang out the bubbles then place the pan back into the freezer for at least 30 minutes before serving.


11. At serving time, unmold the torte, slice and serve. I had no problems removing the pan sides because my friend's freezer was a bit too warm. If you have problems, Dorrie Greenspan suggests using either a warm towel or a brief application of a hair dryer to the sides of the mold.

Fig Almond Ice Cream

This was a last minute recipe I developed for a dessert for my friends who are babysitting tomorrow night. The honey and almonds are classic flavor affinities to figs.

This recipe is a little different than the base I usually use. There is no milk. Also, the ratio of eggs to cream is very high. When you take it out of the refrigerator before freezing this will be the consistency of a tight pudding. This means you will have the most outstanding texture when frozen.

I want to warn you that the recipe I made is slightly different than the one posted below. I included almond extract, which was a bit overpowering. You would be better off using 1/2 cup of chopped toasted almonds.

Pick the ripest figs you can find because once picked, figs do not continue to ripen.

Fig Almond Ice Cream

1.25 pounds fresh figs
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup honey
6 egg yolks
scant teaspoon orange zest
2 cups cream
pinch of salt
1/2 cup rough chopped toasted almonds

1. Clean the figs, slice them into quarters.


2. Place the figs and water in a sauce pan (the larger, the better so the figs are in one layer). Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook the figs for 10 minutes. By this time, the figs should be very soft.


3. Add the orange zest and honey to the figs. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors incorporate.


4. Transfer the figs and their liquid to a blender. Puree until smooth. Leave it in the blender.


5. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan until tiny bubbles form at the edges (about 150 degrees F). You may have to give it a stir or two to make sure that a skin doesn't develop on the surface. Whatever you do, DO NOT let the cream boil. If it does, you will have to throw it out and start over again. The fat will separate and not reincorporate no matter how hard you might try.


6. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the sugar.


7. When the cream comes to temperature, use a large cooking spoon to take a few spoonfuls to temper the eggs. Then, add the eggs to the cream. Stir until your thermometer reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.


8. Remove the custard from the heat, and add it to the blender with the figs. Add the lemon juice and blend until everything is incorporated. Be careful here - you are blending hot ingredients. If you try to blend too quickly, the blender will lose its top and the contents will spill out all over the room. I suggest holding the top firmly and pulsing on low for about 10 pulses before trying to gradually increase the blender speed.


9. Put pour the contents into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard. Cool to room temperature, chill overnight, then freeze according to your ice cream machine's instructions.

Maple and Bacon Ice Cream

I took this one down before the Slow Food Atlanta Ice Cream Social in case any of my competition pays attention to my blog. In case you haven't heard, this recipe won second place. The winning entry was strawberry ice cream with white balsamic and pepper. It was good. I asked the winner to share her recipe with us and she said balked. Not surprising. She is in the process of launching a company selling ice cream and ice cream cakes.

Including my recipe, there were four bacon ice creams at the contest. The other three suffered from varying degrees of two problems. First, the bacon pieces were too big. As one of the other contestants mentioned to me, cold fat is horrible to eat. Bacon pieces need to be really small or else you end up with this chewy piece of frozen bacon flavored gum. Blech. The second problem was the saltiness. Sure, the sweet salty combination is a classic in desserts. Who doesn't love salted caramel or a chocolate covered pretzel? But still, ice cream is really a sweet treat first. It is possible for ice cream to take on a more savory approach, such as my Cilantro Lime Ice Cream, but this is really the exception rather than the rule. The other bacon ice creams at the contest were desserts but much too salty. You should end with a pleasant, sweet flavor on your tongue, not one of overpowering saltiness. And this is why my ice cream was so successful.

In my recipe, the bacon's smokiness comes through with just a hint of the saltiness. I do this in two ways. First, candy the bacon to make it sweeter. Baking in the oven with the brown sugar lacquers the bacon with a dark, sweet coating that makes it more complimentary to the ice cream by masking the saltiness without affecting the smoky flavor. Second, cutting the bacon into tiny, bacon bit sized pieces. As I mentioned earlier, frozen fat is not crowd pleaser. The small pieces make it much more palatable.

I really feel that this maple bacon ice cream is the best flavor I have made. If you are a bacon lover, than you are already on board with this. If you are not, than you don't know what you are missing, but this flavor is still worth eating. Everyone who ate this one raved about it. It really tastes like frozen breakfast.

Mrs. Fellow thought the reason I came in second and not first was the meat. Some people are squeamish about bacon in ice cream. If that is the case, or if you are a vegetarian, omit the bacon and you will still have the best maple ice cream you have ever tasted.

The key to success is the maple syrup which must be pure. You don't want anything with added corn syrup or artificial flavors because it has to be reduced until it is practically sugar. I reduced the maple syrup to remove almost all of the liquid. What you are left with is a difficult to handle slag of maple sugar. This very important step concentrates the maple flavor so don't cheat by not cooking it down all the way. The less water, the more concentrated the flavor. In fact, the cooking process can even caramelize the maple syrup a bit and give it almost a coffee-like flavor accent. Maple syrup is tricky to work with, it wants to boil up and bubble over. I used a 5 quart stock pot to reduce this recipe. If it cools too much before you add it to the milk and cream, you two options push through it with a strong spoon because it will reincorporate into the milk when it gets warm again, or microwave it VERY BRIEFLY to make it mostly a liquid again.

Making the bacon is easy, I used Dave Lebovitz's recipe. I won't post it, so follow the link if you need it (don't worry, it has new window poppy goodness so you won't lose your page here). The important thing is that you use regular cut bacon and not thick cut. This helps keep it crispy. I used the center cut stuff with more meat and lower fat. Also, make sure the bacon is cut and completely cool before adding it to the ice cream.

So, without further ado, here is one of the best ice creams you will ever make and eat. This stuff rocks. You owe it to yourself to work through weirdness and try it. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Maple Ice Cream with Bacon

1.5 cups of the best maple syrup you can afford
6 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon salt
2.5 cups of cream
1.75 cups of milk
At least six strips of caramelized bacon, cut into bacon bit sized pieces.

1. Cook the maple syrup down to 1/2 its volume about 3/4 of a cup. This stuff tends to boil over so take it slow and low. Check it frequently and do your best to keep it away from a full boil.


2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cream, and syrup reduction. Stir to dissolve the maple syrup reduction. Bring to a bare simmer. Depending on the temperature when it is added, you may find that the syrup reduction solidifies. Do not fear. When you get above 160 degrees F, it will easily mix into the liquid.


3. While the milk and cream are heating, mix the yolks with the salt. Beat well.


4. Temper the eggs with the dairy mixture by slowly adding about 1/3 of the liquid(in two or three additions). Remember to whisk constantly during the tempering process. Add the eggs mixture to the remaining milk mixture. Stir constantly until the the temperature reaches 175F.


5. Cool to room temperature overnight. Freeze in your ice cream machine and add the caramelized bacon at the last minute or so of freezing.

Mascarpone Ice Cream

If you recall my recipe for goat cheese ice cream, the result was very good and very strong. I liked that sharp flavor but it didn't pair well with anything. That problem is solved with this recipe. Mascarpone is milder, but has pronounced flavor that merges well into many desserts.

When I made the Salad du Printemps from the French Laundry Cookbook it called for mascarpone sorbet. I reinvented it as ice cream with fantastic results. This is a bit richer than the mascarpone sorbet, because of the eggs. What can I say? I really like custard bases.

If you recall from the goat cheese ice cream, you should whisk in the cheese when the custard is still warm. It helps to better infuse the cheese into the base. Mascarpone, on the other hand is much softer so you can do it when the base is room temperature. Nevertheless, this fellow suggests doing it while the ice cream base is warm because it definitely makes it easier.

If you don't have time to make the French Laundry recipe (which I will not provide), you will do just great by pairing it with chocolate almond cookies.

Mascarpone Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
3/4 cup of sugar
2 cups milk
1.5 cups cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mascarpone
pinch of salt

If you follow my recipes you should really know the drill by now, but for you newbies:

1. Heat the cream and milk with half of the sugar.


2. While the liquid is heating, beat the yolks with the remaining sugar and salt.


3. When the milk.cream mixture is at a very bare simmer, remove about 1/3 cup of it and take the pan off the heat. Slowly add the 1/3 cup liquid to the eggs to temper them. I like to do this in 3 small additions of the liquid. The slower the eggs heat, the better the final product (I don't know the science behind this, but try scrambling an egg over high heat and over low and compare the results. The low heat egg is much more appealing).


4. Pour the tempered eggs into the saucepan with the milk.cream, put the pan back on the heat. Cook stirring constantly until a thermometer reaches 175 F.


5. Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve. Cool to room temperature then chill over night.


6. Freeze in your ice cream maker.

Goat Cheese Ice Cream

Once again, the recipes are getting fewer and farther between. This blog is the victim of my busy schedule. Graduate school is kicking my behind and I am barely able to manage my regular day to day life.

A few weeks ago, I made some goat cheese ice cream. Mrs. Fellow loves the goat cheese. She loves the ice cream. So why not put them together? I did, and what I got was delicious. 20 people tasted it, and all 20 loved it.

The ice cream was tangier than expected. I thought the cold would dull the flavor more. Although it works for dessert, it isn't very sweet. This causes a problem when trying to match it with other flavors.

When I made this a couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Fellow had purchased a box of clementines that were sitting idle. I think she likes the idea of clementines more than the application. Anyway, I decided to make a clementine gelee, which was delicious. But it didn't work with the goat cheese flavor. Likewise for my strawberry gelee. I liked the combination with chocolate, but Mrs. Fellow did not.

Anyway, here is the recipe. Let me know if you find a good food pairing for it.

Goat Cheese Ice Cream:

1.5 cups of goat milk
2/3 cup sugar
8 ounces goat cheese (the soft one sold in logs)
6 egg yolks
1 whole egg

1. Break up the goat cheese in a bowl big enough to accommodate it and the goat's milk. This is messy business, but will make the incorporation of the cheese easier.


2. Mix the egg yolks, whole egg with 1/3 cup of sugar. Beat thoroughly.


3. Heat the milk and the 1/3 cup of the sugar to a bare simmer.


4. Temper the egg yolks with the warm goats milk. Do this by slowly adding about 1/3 of a cup of the milk while stirring the eggs.


5. Add the egg mixture into the goat milk pot. Cook, stirring constantly until the thermometer reaches a temperature of 175 degrees F.


6. Strain the mixture into the bowl with the goat cheese. Mix thoroughly until all the goat cheese is incorporated.


7. Cool to room temperature (you can use an ice bath to speed up the process).

Cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the ice cream mix. Chill at least four hours, but preferably overnight. Freeze in your ice cream machine.

Coffee Ice Cream

I know it has taken a very long time for me to get my next recipe out. I have had more than a few complaints. My idea for a recipe failed miserably. That means its back to the drawing board. The flavor was based on coffee ice cream. It didn't work but I made enough ice cream to experiment with a couple of ideas. Luckily this one came out better than I could have imagined.

The coffee ice cream recipe is directly lifted from Dave Lebovitz's book called "The Perfect Scoop," so I will not post it. Buy his book, he has some great recipes. My addition is this "cookie." Use Nabisco Famous Wafers for this. There is no subsititution. One box should make just enough crumbs. You won't find them in the cookie aisle because they are almost always with the chocolate syrup and hot fudge in the ice cream aisle.

Chocolate Almond Cookie:

1.5 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1 cup of blanched almonds, toasted
1/3 cup of sugar
6 tablespoons of butter, melted

1. Crush the cookies, sugar, and almonds in a food processor until they are a finely chopped. Put the contents in a mixing bowl.


2. Add the melted butter mix together with the crumbs until it is fully incorporated.


3. Spread the mixture into a single 1/4 inch layer on a a baking sheet.


4. Using a ramikin or small prep bowl, press on the cookie to pack it tight. This will allow it to bake and form into a hard solid mass.


5. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.


6. Remove and let completely cool.


7. Break the cookie into bite sized pieces and incorporate into the ice cream during the last minuted of freezing time.

Acai Blueberry Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Granola

I have to admit, acai berry is not my favorite flavor. Unlike most other berries it is far from sweet. In fact to me it tastes a lot like liquid cardboard. So when my Brazilian friend gave me a bunch of frozen acai berry juice I was less than thrilled. If you don't know much about acai, here is the link to the wiki.

After talking to her and doing some research I found that there is an incredible lack of acai berry ice cream. You can find sorbet and sherbet easily, but no ice cream. So I set out to mimic the famous Rio Bowl -- vanilla yogurt, acai berry and granola. Adding the blueberry and chocolate was to help my poor palate.

The end result had a slight textural problem. It was a bit gritty, but not especially so. Maybe it would do better as frozen yogurt. My only guess is that this comes from the fruit itself. Perhaps if I had reduced the juice more the problem would go away. Of course, it could be the nature of the fruit. Like pineapple, it is possible that it contains something that doesn't react well with dairy when cooked. I am going to have to do more experimentation. This may be why we don't see it on the market in ice cream form very often.

Another problem was the color. Acai berry is a very deep purple. When added to dairy it turns the mixture an extremely unappetizing shade of grey. I had to break down and add red food coloring to make it purple again. The Fellow likes to be as natural as possible and hates using artificial ingredients. I implore you to find a natural food coloring as opposed to the artificial one available in most supermarkets.

As for the taste, this fellow found it to be as good as acai berry can be. I liked it just fine. It is easy to taste all the components in this ice cream and the acai berry isn't too strong. Although, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend also liked it, none of the tasters thought this was one my best efforts. Mrs. Fellow downright hated it. She said it tasted like "frozen nursing home." Ouch!

So I warn you now, acai berry can be a polarizing taste. Not everyone will love it. If you are into it already or want to try one of the most interesting new foods with potentially huge healing powers than give this one a go.

Acai and Blueberry Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Granola

200 GRAMS of acai juice (sorry about the grams it seems strange to measure liquid in grams but that was what was on the package because it was frozen. Shame on me for not converting to to volume.)
1 cup blueberries
1.5 cups milk
1.5 cups cream
5 egg yolks
1 whole egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Red food coloring
4.5 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 ounces granola

1. Put the blueberries and acai berry juice into a small sauce pan and cook until the berries are really soft. Puree. You will need a half of a cup of puree.


2. You should know this next part pretty well by now. Mix the yolks and whole egg with about 1/2 of the sugar, set aside. Heat the milk and cream until it is slightly steaming. Temper the eggs with the dairy, than add the eggs back into the dairy pot. Stir constantly until the mixture reaches 175 degrees F. Strain through a fine sieve.


3. Add the vanilla and half of a cup of the acai/blueberry puree. Stir in thoroughly. Taste and adjust to your liking. The color will be grey. Add the red food coloring until you find a color you like. Cool, and then chill in your refrigerator for at least four hours or overnight.


4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted, remove the chocolate from the heat and ass the granola. Mix thoroughly, then spread onto a piece of parchment or silpat to cool. Break up and large chunks into smaller pieces.


5. Freeze in your ice cream machine. Add the granola during the last minute.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Happy fall! Here is a recipe for pumpkin-ginger ice cream with spiced pumpkin seeds. I developed this recipe with some help from my new friend Michelle at whatscookingblog.com. She runs a company dedicated to teaching kids how to cook. The above picture was taken by Michelle. She used trader Joe's brand canned pumpkin. My version was the traditional orange color. Michelle made some modifications to my recipe. Check it out at her blog.

As an ice cream ingredient, pumpkin can be tricky. It contains a high amount of water. The secret is to extract some of it before adding it to the ice cream. I used a method from Cooks Illustrated recipe for pumpkin pie. Line a rimmed baking sheet with three layers of paper towels. Then spread the pumpkin across the towels in a thin layer. Place another three layers of paper towels on top of the pumpkin then press down with your hand. You will see the paper towels turn orange as the water is absorbed. When you are finished, remove the top layers of towels. Scrape the pumpkin off of the bottom layers.

Due to my hectic schedule I cheated this recipe a bit by using Libby's brand canned pumpkin and raw pepitos from Trader Joe's, but you really should do this from scratch. Be sure to buy pie pumpkins as opposed to the really large jack-o-lantern pumpkins found in most supermarkets. Cut the pumpkin, clean out the seeds and bake it or microwave it (with some water so it steams) until it is cooked. Scrape it out, then press out the excess water and you are good to go. Treat the raw pumpkin seeds the same as the peptios.


Pumpkin-Ginger Ice Cream with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds:

For the seeds:

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds or pepitos
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 2 minutes, turn the sheet 180 degrees and bake for 2 more minutes. The seeds should begin to pop. Remove the seeds and cool them to room temperature.


2. Mix the white sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a bowl and set aside.


3. In a small saucepan, combine the water, brown sugar, and butter. Heat over medium heat until all ingredients are incorporated. Add the cooled seeds. Stir so that the seeds are completely covered, there should be almost no liquid left in the saucepan after the seeds are mixed in.


4. Mix the wet seeds in the bowl with the sugar mixture. Toss so everything is well coated.


5. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet to cool until room temperature. Wrap the seeds in an airtight container once cool.

For the ice cream:

1.5 cups milk
1.5 cups heavy cream
7 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
15 oz canned or fresh pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with three layers of paper towels. Spread the pumpkin across the towels in a thin layer. Place another three layers of paper towels on top of the pumpkin and press down with your hands. You will see the paper towels turn orange as the water is absorbed. When you are finished, remove the top layers of towels. Scrape the pumpkin off of the bottom layers. You won't get all of the water, but the towels should be completely orange and wet.


2. Put the milk and cream and 1/2 cup of the sugar into a pot and bring to a slight simmer stirring occasionally.


3. As the milk and cream are heating, place the egg yolks and whole egg into a bowl with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, powdered ginger, and salt and beat until the ingredients are incorporated.


4. Once the milk/cream mixture is slightly simmering, remove it from the heat and temper the egg mixture by adding a small amount of the hot milk/cream and stirring thoroughly. Repeat this process a couple of more times to ensure that the eggs have warmed up. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.


5. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.


6. Remove the cooked custard pot from the heat. Strain through a sieve into a large bowl.


7. Stir in the pumpkin and the vanilla. A whisk works well for this.


8. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill overnight or at least 4 hours.


9. Freeze in your ice cream machine. Add the seeds during the last minute of freezing.

I did the TV Show!

It went well. The whole thing took a couple of hours. I really like the host, Gary Unger. His idea is great. I can't wait to see the final result. I'll let you know when it is going to air.

The show is about creativity and I had to show some at the last second. Gary had asked for me to bring some samples of my ice cream. I chose the Peanut Butter with Jam Sandwiches and the Chocolate with Blueberry Port Wine Swirl. Unfortunately, I took my eye off the blueberry reduction and it got too hot. The result was the sugar went to the hard crack phase and I was left with a pan full of blueberry port wine lollipop. So I improvised at the last minute. Below is the recipe for tequila chipotle raisins which I used as an add-in to the chocolate ice cream. Spicy ice cream is confusing to the brain so it is important not to overdue the heat. Between bites you feel the chipotle at the back of your throat, but it isn't overpowering.


2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons of tequila
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup of raisins (I measured 80 grams, which is about 1/4 cup)

1. Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for two minutes until a syrup is formed.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.
Add to chocolate ice cream after mixing.


One more thing to note. I had leftover bases for both the chocolate and the peanut butter. I was going to layer them in a terrine and show you a really pretty picture. Instead, I remembered I had a lot of dry ice left over from my transport to the TV shoot so I decided to try Chef Blaise's dry ice freezing method in my Kitchen Aid mixer. I mixed the two bases together in the mixing bowl and threw in about a pound of the dry ice which I had crushed to small pieces. The ice cream froze in less than a minute. Its texture was perfect. Give it a try some time, just be careful not to eat the dry ice. It is very cold.

Apple Cider Caramel Ice Cream

I have made some great recipes from the book The Sweet Life, by Kate Zuckerman, the pastry chef at Chanterelle in NYC. Her recipes are usually a bit complicated, but they don’t seem especially difficult for me. The flavors are always amazing. The next recipe is an adaptation of her Apple Cider and Caramel Ice Cream. I added bourbon because I thought it would be a great complimentary flavor, and I was right. Sorry, but the digital camera is still not replaced. Pictures will return soon.

I have to note a few things about this recipe.

• You might notice a bit of similarity to Chef Blais’s recipe – Reduced liquid, lots of eggs. I am beginning to think that I have to revisit my basic ratio of eggs to dairy. The texture is much better than my way.

• I didn’t like it out of the machine. It was sour and lacked sweetness which is odd considering that ¾ cup of sugar was used to make the caramel. After it sat for a couple of days, I retasted it and it was much better.

• The texture is out of this world great. The finished product is so soft and creamy because she uses 8 egg yolks and one whole egg.

• You can’t really taste the bourbon in the final product, but it helps mellow the sourness of the cider.


Apple Cider and Caramel Ice Cream:

5 cups of fresh apple cider, reduced to about 1.5 cups
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/3 cup water
1.5 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
8 egg yolks
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 tbl of bourbon


1. Use my caramel technique from this post. This time, use the 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of water, and the pinch of cream of tartar. DO NOT ADD THE CREAM YET!!!!

2. When the caramel is finished, return the pan to medium high heat add the cider until smooth. Then add the cream and milk. Heat the whole mixture up until it is at a bare simmer.

3. Whisk together the egg, egg yolks, and salt.

4. Temper the eggs by mixing in a small amount of the cider mixture, stir thoroughly, and repeat three times. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of cider mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cider pot.

5. Heat to 175 degrees F.

6. Remove from the heat, strain, add the bourbon, cool, and chill. Then freeze.

Guest Blogger -- Richard Blais on Sweet Tea Ice Cream

This week's recipe for Sweet Tea Ice Cream comes courtesy of fellow Atlantan and guest blogger, Richard Blais. I have been a huge fan of Chef Blais's food from the first bite of the first meal I ever had from him. It was an amuse bouche on Valentine's Day, 2004 of caramel, asparagus and Parmesan cheese. It may sound strange, but trust me it was delicious and began my mouth's love affair with his food. Chef Blais now has his own company called Trail-Blais which does everything from creative development to public speaking.

A couple of comments about his recipe:
1. If you saw Chef Blais on Top Chef, then you know that he known for his integration of molecular gastronomy and traditional techniques. Locust bean gum is one of those industrial ingredients that can be hard to locate. You can find it at Tierra Spice Company.

2. Because the ice cream is frozen with dry ice, you should not use a ice cream machine. Instead, use a electric stand mixer (like the ones available from Kitchen Aid) with a whisk attachment. The point is to stir the ice cream as it freezes to help control ice crystal formation and let the dry ice do the freezing. I have not made this recipe, but I will try it and report back.

But enough from the Fellow, without further ado, here is Chef Blais's recipe and discussion:


SWEET TEA ICE CREAM from Richard Blais

I’d have to say that sweet tea ice cream has been one of those things we take with us from project to project. Especially being based in the South, we just really love what this recipe brings to the table. It’s mildly creative, I mean, I haven’t seen it anywhere else. It respects tradition, and finally, well, it just makes so much sense.

The birth of sweet tea ice cream, and maybe that sounds a little too serious, is a bit grey in clarity. It was definitely brought to the table by Jeff Sigler who was my pastry chef at Element, as an accompaniment to a lemon based dessert. I’d say it was the thought of lemon, what works well with it, the fact that featuring tea and regional items was something we did frequently ( at BLAIS, we often served a sweet tea amuse in 2 temperatures, and with capsules filled with dehydrated honey ), and Jeff’s spark that brought it to the original menu.

I love that it respects traditional refreshment, but shows it in a new way. And flavorwise I love that it isn’t too sweet at all, an issue I have with sweet tea in general. I also love, that as you look at the simple ingredients, you realize that certainly milk and tea are commonly combined.

The added show piece of freezing the ice cream with dry ice makes the dish even that more snarky, and well, Blaisian. I mean, dry-iced-tea?

SWEET TEA ICE CREAM
Ingredients
3 quarts reduced to 1 pint -- sweet tea right from the fridge
Heavy cream -- 1 quart
Egg yolks -- 7 each
Locust bean gum -- 1 % of the weight of the cream base
Dry ice -- a pound or 2

Method:
1. Reduce the tea to thick syrup and cool
2. Warm the cream and tea syrup, then temper in the whipped egg yolks
3. Hydrate the gum in a touch of water, then mix in the cream egg mixture
4. Test for sweetness, and if necessary melt some more sugar into the base
5. Pour cooled ice cream base in the mixer with a whisk attachment
6. Gently drop in crushed small pellets of dry ice into the mixer as it spins on half speed
7. When the base is frozen to your likeness, serve freeze for later.

NOTE: Dry ice is not meant to be eaten on its own. And it’s important that the ice is crushed small enough to dissolve as it’s cooling the fridge. Having the ice cream sit over night will dissolve the dry ice. However, eating it straight from the mixture may leave it carbonated!!!

Frozen Cherry Cokes

This is a dessert consisting of layers of cherry ice cream and coca-cola sorbet. And yes, it tastes just like a cherry coke, only better because it is ice cream. I apologize for the lack of a picture. My digital camera is behaving badly. I have half a mind to take a hammer to it.

Originally, I tried to adapt a recipe for root beer sorbet that I found on the Internet. It was a strange recipe using gelatin and corn syrup. The end result was a granita. It was too hard and therefore wouldn't work when combined with the ice cream. After some experimentation, I determined that the trick to making the sorbet is to cook the coke down to nothing. The end result has the right texture. When tasted alone, you may not think the sorbet has enough coke flavor, but do not fear it works perfectly in the final product.

The cherry ice cream is a variant of the previous recipe I posted a while back. In the original recipe, it annoyed me to no end that I had to supplement the cherry flavor with concentrated cherry juice. So I changed the recipe a bit. By reducing the amounts of milk and cream and using more in-season cherries the flavor worked out. My measurement by weight for the cherries is taken post-pitting. So be sure to have plenty on hand.

Lastly, I am not including the recipe for the brownies I made, but I had made some cinnamon-chipotle brownies earlier in the week that were very spicy. Surprisingly, the ice cream and the brownies worked pretty well together. This fellow suggests you make a batch of your favorite brownies and serve them alongside or make ice cream sandwiches.

Here is the sheet:



Coca-Cola Sorbet:

2 cans of coca-cola
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1. Pour the coke saucepan. Turn the heat on high, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

2. Simmer the coke until it reduces to 1/3 of its volume.

3. Stir in the corn syrup

4. Chill in the refrigerator until cold. Then freeze in your ice cream machine.


Cherry Ice Cream:

1 lb. pitted cherries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 ¼ cups cream
1 ¼ cups whole milk
½ cup sugar + 35g to sweeten the fruit
3 egg yolks

1. Place cherries in a sauce pan, turn heat to medium low and slowly cook them for about 15 minutes. The cherries will get hot and break down a little. Puree them. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Use some extra sugar to make the fruit a bit sweeter if necessary. Set aside.

2. Combine, milk, cream, ¼ cup of the sugar in another saucepan and bring to a bare simmer.

3. While the cream/milk is heating, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until it is incorporated.

4. Once the cream mixture is at ready, remove it from the heat. Temper the eggs by mixing in a small amount of the cream, stir thoroughly, and repeat three times. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.

5. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. Add the cherry puree.

7. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl and let cool to room temperature.

9. Cover the bowl and chill overnight.

10. Freeze in your ice cream.

11. Layer the ice cream with the sorbet, starting and ending with the ice cream, making a total of 5 layers. Freeze the container overnight to ripen it. When you scoop it the next day, you will have cherry ice cream with a coke ripple.
An alternative presentation is to make a terrine by lining a bread pan with plastic wrap. Layer the ice cream and sorbet then cover and freeze. The next day, use the plastic wrap to unmold the terrine and cut it into slices.

Chocolate Ice Cream with Caramel and Spiced Peanuts

By now all of the voters must be anxious to see the recipe and hear all about my adventures with making it. And by adventures, I do mean it was a crazy ride. Four batches of caramel, three batches of nuts, and two different chocolate bases later I finally achieved a fantastic result.

This is the best chocolate base I have ever made. It is so chocolaty and creamy you won't believe you could make something this decadent at home. I used Callebaut bittersweet as the chocolate. I wanted a strong flavor to offset the nuts. Here is the worksheet:



Caramel... well... is caramel. As I mentioned I have had a bit of a problem with it. The final version I made was a too dark, but the flavor was good so I decided to use it. You may not be able to see it in the ice cream very well, but it is there and it is a great addition. Although, I did not do it this time, I like to swirl in some butter as the caramel is half-way cooled to room temperature. It really adds a great dimension to the flavor. If you want to use this option, make the caramel as I prescribe below, then add four tablespoons of butter one at a time once the caramel has cooled about half-way to room-temperature. Make sure that each tablespoon is fully incorporated before adding the next. This works best when the butter has warmed to room temperature. Do not add melted butter or add the butter when the caramel is too hot. You want to emulsify the butter as opposed to melting it into the caramel.

The nuts were the worst part for me. Whatever I might have told you in the past about skinning peanuts being easy, well I take it back. It isn't hard, but it is time consuming and I actually had to blanch the peanuts a second time because not all the skins were coming off easily. Please, I implore you to find raw, skinned nuts. You will thank me for it later.
If you have never had Chinese five spice powder before, you are in for a treat. This ubiquitous Chinese seasoning consists of star anise, anise seed, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. Five spice powder is usually a savory ingredient, but it does show up occasionally in dessert.

Tips for success:

1. Make the caramel and the nuts first. They must be no warmer than room temperature before adding them to the final product. Obviously you do not want to melt your freshly made ice cream.
2. Careful with the caramel. It can be tricky. Remember to pull it off when you get to a medium amber color. Keep a close eye on the pan because if it gets too dark, you'll have to start over. Also, the cream tends to sputter and can flare up when it is added. Do yourself a favor and wear protective clothing. Long sleeves or good mid-arm length oven mitts will work well.
3. I suggest you line the baking sheet with foil when making the nuts. Because the pan contents are added with the water some of the spice mixture will inevitably stick to the pan. Using foil makes cleanup a breeze.

For the Caramel:

The method for this is from Alton Brown. You can always trust that he has done a great job researching how to make things successfully. Unfortunately, only you can judge the color. Be careful to pull it off the heat and swiftly add the cream. You want to cool the sugar quickly or else it will keep cooking.

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1 ½ cups cream, warmed to at least room temperature, but never boiled.

1. Put the sugar and the water in a sauce pan. Combine over medium heat until the sugar has incorporated into the water. You may stir a little during this phase to make sure the sugar and water are evenly combined. But don't go overboard with the stirring.
2. Turn the heat to high. Bring to a boil.
3. Cover for 2 minutes.
4. Remove the cover and watch closely for the next three minutes. When the sugar becomes medium amber in color remove from the heat.
5. Add the cream carefully so as not to burn yourself. See the tips for success above for recommendations.

For the Nuts:

When you taste the finished nuts before they go into the ice cream, you may think I am crazy. You won't necessarily like them. Younger Sister-in-law Fellow said "at first they taste bad, but then the flavor becomes delicious." This is hardly a good quality. I think food should taste good from the start. In fact, I was so disappointed with them, that I considered scrapping the recipe and apologizing to you for a failure. Only once they are in the final product with the chocolate and the caramel do they really shine. This recipe makes too many nuts. In fact, I have so many left over and so much caramel, I am contemplating making some homemade candy bars. The finished nuts have only the slightest hint of heat. If you like them spicier, increase the amount of cayenne pepper.

1 pound raw peanuts, blanched and skinned.
2 teaspoons 5 spice powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon of salt (I actually used three turns of my salt grinder)

1. Preheat the oven to 275 F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Place the water in a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients. Add the salt and spices; bring to a boil for 15 - 20 seconds.
3. Turn off the heat, add the peanuts, and mix well.
4. Dump in the pan contents (water included) onto the baking sheet. Spread the nuts into a single layer.
5. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Periodically check on the peanuts. Move them around so they brown evenly. Depending on your oven, you may want to rotate the baking sheet too.
6. Remove the nuts from the oven when they are roasted to your satisfaction. Remember they will not necessarily be hard when you remove them, but they will be when they are cooled. The golden rule for nuts is that when you can smell them, they are done. Be careful here because you will smell the spices before the peanuts are finished.

For the Chocolate Ice Cream:

1 cup cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz bittersweet chocolate cut into chunks (for the base)

1. Combine the cream, milk, and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a saucepan and heat to a bare simmer stirring occasionally.
2. Combine the egg yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Beat until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture turns pale yellow.
3. Coarsely chop the chocolate.
4. Once the cream mixture is at ready, remove it from the heat.
5. Temper the eggs by mixing in a small amount of the cream, stir thoroughly, and repeat three times. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.
6. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Remove the pot from the heat. And add the chocolate. Stir until the contents are completely melted. If you are having problems getting the chocolate to melt, you may return the pot to the heat very briefly.
8. Stir in the vanilla extract
9. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl and let cool to room temperature.
10. Cover the bowl and chill overnight.
11. The next day, freeze the custard in your ice cream machine. During the last minute of the freezing process add the peanuts.
12. Put about one third of the ice cream in a container. Spread a layer of caramel on top of it. Put down another third of the ice cream, then another layer of caramel. Finally finish with the ice cream. When you scoop the finished product you will see the swirls or caramel.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Saturday, August 2 is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, this week’s recipe is cinnamon ice cream sandwiches with oatmeal chocolate raisin cookies. Sorry I am not much of a photographer. I do okay with most things, but ice cream melts so quickly it can be hard to get the shot right before too much damage is done.

You already know the cinnamon ice cream recipe, so I won’t bother to repeat it. You can find it here. The original recipe was posted prior to the worksheet implementation so I feel obligated to provide it for you now.



As for the cookies, they are an adaptation of the Oatmeal Cookies with Golden Raisins and Milk Chocolate Chips from The Sweet Life, by Kate Zuckerman. I added a hint of cinnamon to the cookie to accent the ice cream and changed the process for sizing them to make making ice cream sandwiches easier. Her hint, which holds true for my version is to not use quick cooking oats. I wouldn’t go so far as to use the steel cut McCann’s brand either. It won’t cook fast enough and there isn’t enough liquid to soften that style of oats either. Your best bet is the Quaker Oats can.

Some notes on assembly of the sandwiches -- You are best making the cookie far enough ahead and cooling it completely before freezing the ice cream. You don't want a warm cookie melting your ice cream during assembly. Also, you are best to apply the ice cream right out of your ice cream machine when it is still soft. Be careful not go too far to the edge because once the second cookie is put on top, it will push the soft ice cream down and out the sides some.

Oatmeal Cookies with Golden Raisins and Milk Chocolate Chips:

1 ½ cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 ounces butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 whole eggs, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
3 cups uncooked oatmeal
8 ounces milk chocolate, chips, or chopped bar
1 cup golden raisins (about 5 ½ ounces)

1. Heat an oven to 350F
2. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk to incorporate. Set aside.
3. Cut the butter into rough chunks. Cream in a stand mixer (use the paddle attachment) on medium speed for a minute or so.
4. Add the sugar; beat on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl at least once.
5. Add the dark brown sugar. Beat for 4 more minutes. Scrape down the bowl as necessary.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, at low speed. Beat until batter looks glossy and smooth.
7. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and oats then roughly incorporate by hand. It will take about 10 + turns. Return the bowl to the mixer and mix on low for 60 – 90 seconds until everything is well combined and nothing looks dry.
8. Add the chocolate and raisins. Beat for a minute or two on low speed to fully incorporate.
9. Line two baking pans with greased (I use butter) aluminum foil, parchment paper, or silicon mats. Spread half of the batter onto each sheet. Make sure that batter stays about 2 inches away from every edge of the baking pan. The cookies will spread you want to make sure they have somewhere to go. Don’t worry this batter is very stiff and holds its shape well when you spreading it into the pan.
10. Bake for 12-15 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges are crisp and brown and a cake tester comes out clean from the middle.
Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from their pans.
11. To make the ice cream sandwiches:
12. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the first cookie on the foil, top side down.
13. Spread the ice cream on the cookie in an even layer about 1 inch thick. Place the next cookie on top of the ice cream, top side up. Place the assembly in the freezer to harden for a few hours.
14. If you want, trim the edges to get everything even and remove the hardest parts of the cookies. Cut into shapes or bars.

Gazpacho with Cilantro Lime Ice Cream

As I mentioned the other day, at least one wholesaler of avocados (Grande Produce) has voluntarily recalled their products due to salmonella. When I called Grande today to inquire about the scope of the recall, I was told that there were (or will be) other recalls of avocados that were farmed in the same area. Apparently, there are 15 or so importers/growers in that region with potentially unsafe products. So I had to scramble to find a new recipe for you. I strongly urge you to take great care when selecting avocados from the market.

I had been looking forward to the combination of gazpacho and ice cream. Bruce Weinstein has a recipe for gazpacho with avocado ice cream in his book The Ultimate Ice Cream Book. I really liked the idea of a more savory ice cream as component of a main meal. Who made the rule that ice cream is only a sweet treat?

For those of you who don’t know, Mrs. Fellow is a trained chef with two culinary degrees. Although she is now a Wall Street tycoon, I still get the benefit of having a well trained chef cook my dinner every night. This is great for my mouth and horrible for my belt line. So naturally, upon receiving a great recipe from Mrs. Fellow-in-law, my wife instantly rewrote it to suit her needs. I was given very little direction about how to approach this ice cream other than the instruction that I must be able to compliment cilantro and that it should be savory. Well, as savory as ice cream can get.

Lime and cilantro are great combination. Don’t let the amount of sugar in this recipe fool you. 1/3 of a cup is plenty to keep things in balance and provide a light sweetness. When it is warm, the custard is very sweet and taste of the lime is overwhelming. Once frozen the cilantro flavor is fully exposed and although you can taste the sweetness, it is not even close to the center of attention.

Here is the worksheet for this ice cream:



The soup is rather spicy. It is excellent on its own, but the ice cream tempers the heat nicely and gives a soothing creaminess to the dish. This gazpacho is left fairly chunky. It certainly isn’t as glamorous to look at, but the texture is more satisfying. Serve this with a salad and a nice piece of fish for a great and easy weeknight meal. What do you do with the leftover ice cream? Eat it. Although it works its magic with the soup, it is good on its own. The flavor is surprisingly light and refreshing.


Cilantro – Lime Ice Cream

1 cup packed cilantro (leaves and stems are ok)
¾ cup whole milk
Grated zest from two limes
1/3 cup of sugar
2 egg yolks
¾ cup cream
Up to 2 grams of salt

1. Put 4 cups of water on the stove and bring to a boil. In the meantime, wash the cilantro well (it is a very dirty vegetable). Once the water is at a full boil, toss in the cilantro. After 10 seconds remove the cilantro and soak it in cold water. This will help to preserve the color. Squeeze out as much of the excess water as possible.
2. Put the cilantro, lime zest, and milk in a blender. Blend on high for about 45 seconds to really break down the cilantro. The milk should turn bright green.
3. In a small saucepan, put the cream, cilantro infused milk, and about half of the sugar and heat to a bare simmer.
4. As the saucepan heats, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and salt.
5. Once the saucepan contents come to temperature, remove the pan from the heat and slowly temper the eggs by adding in small quantities of the hot milk/cream to the eggs. Put all the contents back into the saucepan and return the pan to the heat.
6. Cook, stirring constantly until a candy thermometer reads 175 degrees F.
7. Remove the pan from the stove, strain through a fine mesh sieve (optional). Cool, chill, than freeze.

Gazpacho
About 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
½ small sweet onion, rough chopped
2 red bell peppers, rough chopped
1 pound cucumbers
3 ½ ounces of lime juice
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 cup corn kernels
3 tablespoons, chopped cilantro

1. Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, 1 pepper, ½ pound of cucumber in a food processor and puree until smooth
2. Stir in the lime juice and cayenne pepper
3. Add the remaining vegetables, season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a scoop of Cilantro-Lime Ice Cream.

Lemongrass Ice Cream

I guess I have been on a bit of an Asian theme lately. This will be my second recipe in a row using Far East ingredients. I still have a few more in store for you eventually. Reader Lauren asked for an Olympic themed ice cream. So I have been bouncing around ideas. I am also strangely attracted to another David Lebovitz recipe for orange and Szechwan pepper corn ice cream. Lastly, I found this great blog dedicated to Japanese ice cream flavors. There aren’t very many recipes, but if you look through the posts, there are some opportunities for interesting flavor profiles. The wasabi ice cream has caught my attention.

Lemongrass is a great ingredient. It tastes like lemons, but more subtle and without the tartness. The outer layers are very tough. I suggest peeling off just a few layers to get past the really dirty stuff. You have to trim it to lengths of less than 8 inches for use. Be sure to remove enough of the bottom that you see all the layers and not just one or two. Be sure your knife is sharp. This stuff can be tough to cut and dull knives can easily lead to injuries.

This recipe is based on the one in Frozen Desserts by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir, but I borrowed some of the technique from Pichet Ong’s book, The Sweet Spot. He has a recipe for Lemongrass Frozen Yogurt that looks really good. I found it as I was looking for a dessert for our Asian dinner on Friday night.

Why use the technique from Chef Ong? The finer the mince on the lemongrass, the more it will impart its flavor into the milk. This happens for two reasons. First, during processing, the oils are released into the milk during the mincing process. Second, the remaining flavor is picked up during steeping. The smaller the pieces, the more surface area of the lemon grass is exposed to the milk.

I like the blueberries in the ice cream. Lemongrass flavor by itself gets a bit dull after a few bites. The blueberries work well and keep my tongue from getting bored. Of course, that is just me. You may be different. Also, I like the dried wild blueberries from Trader Joe's. They are always sweet and have more flavor than any other dried blueberry I have ever tasted. They are very small, but their flavor can easily overwhelm. I suggest using them judiciously.

Here is the worksheet:



Lemongrass Ice Cream:

1 cup whole milk
1 cup cream
½ cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 cup of chopped fresh lemongrass (100 grams by weight)
Dried blueberries (optional)

1. Peel the outer two or three leaves of the lemongrass. Chop off and discard the ends so the remaining stalks are around 8 inches in length. Bruise the stalks by crushing them with the flat side of a meat tenderizer. You can also use the flat side of a chef’s knife and your hand to do this (just as if you were crushing a garlic clove).
2. Place the milk and the lemongrass in a blender and blend to finely chop the lemongrass.
3. Place the milk, lemongrass, and cream into a saucepan. Bring to a bare simmer. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to steep for 30 minutes so the lemongrass can infuse its flavor with the dairy products.
4. Return the saucepan to the heat after 30 minutes steeping time and as it reheats, quickly mix the eggs and sugar.
5. You know the drill from here. Once the dairy is warm again, slowly add some of it to the eggs. Once the eggs are tempered, add them to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly until the thermometer reads 175 degrees F.
6. Remove the custard from the heat, strain it into a bowl. Be sure to press the excess dairy out of the lemongrass in the strainer. Cool the mix to room temperature then chill it overnight. The next day, freeze it in your ice cream machine. If you are adding the blueberries, do so in the last minute of the freezing process.

Green Tea Ice Cream with Chocolate Rice Crisps

This recipe is from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. I have had very limited success with making green tea ice cream prior to using this recipe. The big reason is brewing the tea. In the past I would stick tea bags into the hot milk and cream and let them steep for a good while. I could never get enough tea flavor into the ice cream which probably was due t the nature of the fat in the liquid clogging the tea bag. Mr. Lebovitz's recipe uses matcha, Japanese green tea powder that eliminates this problem.

The advantage of matcha is that it is powdered. This means you are not steeping anything. Just dump it in and stir it up. The other big deal with matcha is that you are actually eating the tea. This means you get more health benefits from the good stuff within the tea.

The disadvantage of matcha is it is very expensive. How expensive? It can run you anywhere from $18 to $40 USD per ounce. Luckily a little goes a long way. There are cheaper alternatives. Some Korean green teas are powdered and less costly, but I have yet to try them.

Mr. Lebovitz's recipe is great, but I really wanted to make it my own. To that end I added the chocolate rice crisps. If you have ever had genmai-cha, green tea with roasted brown rice, than you know that adding crispy rice cereal to the ice cream will enhance the flavor. I couldn't help but add the chocolate too. Think of this as green tea ice cream with dark chocolate Krackle Bars. I incorporated pieces of the crisps into the ice cream. It works well, but I think that the chocolate becomes the star as opposed to the green tea (Mrs. Fellow likes it this way). Next time I make this, I will serve big pieces of the chocolate rice crisps on the side as garnish. When it comes to the final product, either way will work well, it just depends on your taste.


This is the work sheet for the ice cream:



Green Tea ice Cream:

1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
4 tsp matcha
6 egg yolks

1. Put the milk, sugar, and salt into a small saucepan and heat until a bare simmer.
2. Meanwhile, beat the eggs
3. Put the cream in a large bowl and stir in the matcha. Be careful with this step. Matcha tends to clump and if you beat the cream to much it becomes whipped cream. Your best option is to use a small fine sieve to dust some of the tea into the cream, then mix it in and repeat until all the tea is incoporated. NOTE - it will not be very green at this stage.
4. Add some of the heated milk to the eggs and mix gently. Do this a couple more times to ensure that the eggs are properly warmed.
5. Put the eggs into the saucepan with the milk and heat until 175 degrees F. Stir continuously.
6. Strain the custard into the cream.
7. Beat the custard with a wire wisk until frothy, you should notice that it gets a lot greener.
8. Let custard go to room temperature, chill overnight, then freeze in you ice cream machine. Add in the chocolate rice crisp pieces towards the last minunte of freezing in your ice cream machine.

Chocolate Rice Crisps:

8 ounces semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate (I used a combination of both)
½ cup crispy rice cereal (like Rice Crsipies)

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler
2. Add the cereal, stir to fully incoporate
3. Spread in a thin layer on a tray and place in the freezer to harden into a solid block of candy.
4. Once frozen, break the block into small pieces.
5. You can also leave them as big pieces and garnish the ice cream as I did in the photograph.