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.

Where have you been?

Life can be so inconvenient sometimes. Between finals, working, and buying a house I have not had the time I would like to spend with you. Very shortly I will hopefully have a new ice cream flavor to post -- acai berry with chocolate covered granola. In the meantime, the best thing I have to share to with you is my mini-review of Chef Richard Blaise's new restaurant FLIP.

FLIP is a burger boutique. The burgers are inventive. It had only been open four days when we went for lunch. The usual opening week glitches were present but none were insurmountable and don't warrant mentioning in detail.

The real star for ice cream lovers are the shakes. At $7 each they aren't cheap. When my sister-in-law's boyfriend saw the prices he was shocked. I was instantly reminded of the dinner scene in Pulp Fiction between Uma Thurman and John Travolta where they discuss the $5 shake. And oh yes, these bad boys are worth the price!

We had two shakes -- nutella with burnt marshmallows and Krispy Kreme. Although the Nutella one could have used a bit more Nutella flavor it was quite possibly the best chocolate shake this fellow has ever had. The marshmallows were a great addition. By far, the Krispy Kreme one was table's favorite . It tasted exactly like Krispy Kreme donuts. Words can't even begin to describe how good it was. If you like shakes and you like donuts, you will love this one.

We had a minute to talk to Chef Blais and he gave us the best news. His foie gras milkshake does make occasional appearances on the menu. This is the best shake ever. If you have the chance to try it, get one because you will never look at shakes the same way again.

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.

Roselani Ice Cream

My new friend Cathy Nobriga Kim at Roselani Ice Cream on the island of Maui has a great story. Her company has been in the business of making ice cream for 76 years. They are available in only in Hawaii and have developed loyal customers that demand their product throughout the USA. Unfortunately, shipping ice cream from Hawaii is very expensive, but it doesn’t stop people from as far away as Wisconsin and New York from calling and pleading to get her ice cream. As Cathy described it for me, “people look for my ice cream because it brings back wonderful memories from their time on the Islands.”

Cathy is also a breast cancer survivor. She created a flavor, Aloha Cherry Truffle, specifically to raise money for breast cancer. Seeing as how this is breast cancer month, I thought it is a perfect time to share her story.

What makes this so great is that her flavor development and usage was a community event. In making it a reality, she worked with the Maui Medical Center Foundation and the Maui Community College Culinary Program. In fact, the latter now produces the truffle for her ice cream.

17 food service establishments used her ice cream as the main ingredient for a creative dessert event called the “A.C.T. Sweet Now to Beat Breast Cancer” campaign. The restaurants created imaginative dessert preparations and donated portions of or all the proceeds to a fund specifically created through the foundation to raise community awareness about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. The program was so successful that Cathy is now offering the flavor in cartons for retail. Here is a picture of the carton, as designed by award winning designer Sadene Ota:



One of the hot trends found in big business today is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It is about understanding that corporations are also forces with the power to positively affect change for the better in their local communities. All companies engage in charity because it makes good business sense and it feels good, but this is just step one of the process. In the future companies will probably have to align themselves with communities in which they do business. Some of this is happening now. One example is what Nestle did when it opened a plant in India. Another example is Starbucks, who pioneered fair trade for coffee growers. Donating funds to a museum and the local soup kitchen are worthy causes, but citizens of the world are demanding more active roles for corporations on larger scales.

It is great to know that this is trickling down to smaller companies. Roselani is ahead of the curve. Not only is Cathy helping to fund breast cancer research; she is providing an excellent educational experience too!

An entire community joined together to use ice cream to do good for the world. Is there anything ice cream can’t do?

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.