Archive for the ‘Ice Cream’ Category

Ice Cream Adventures

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Ice Cream

While visiting friends on Vancouver Island I thought it would be a great idea to bring along my ice cream making supplies and put together a homemade ice cream with their two daughters, Amy and Lydia.

Each girl was going to be able to pick their flavour and then we would make two batches of ice cream, or atleast that was the plan.  Lydia took about 5 seconds to decide which flavour she wanted, Moosetracks Extreme, where as Amy needed more time.  Now I just had to figure out what was in moosetracks extreme and what my plan was for chocolate ice cream.

Up until this point I had only made vanilla based ice creams so although I knew it wasn’t going to be hard I still had to figure it out.  Thanks to Amanda’s Cookin I was able to find a quick and easy custard base chocolate ice cream.  All it needed at that point was some things mixed in and we had moosetracks extreme.

Saturday afternoon Lydia and I hit the kitchen to put together our custard base ice cream.  While the milk was heating up I had her start on the separating of the 5 eggs, something she had never done before, but quickly became a pro.

As a huge fan of chocolate, Lydia would much rather have eaten the chocolate shavings than put them in the ice cream but we managed to cut up enough for the recipe, with a few tastes along the way.  Once all the chocolate was added and the custard had thickened up the ice cream was ready for the fridge to later be frozen.

The ice cream bowl had been freezing since the night before so when we pulled it out that night to start freezing it was ready to go.  When I told Amy and Lydia it was time to freeze the ice cream I said “Come up and watch the ice cream freeze in an instant” which turned out to be quite the wrong statement.  After staring at the mixer for over 5 minutes I let them go back to their movie and said I would call them when it started to thicken.

After close to 30 minutes I knew there was a problem because the ice cream was still runny and not getting thick at all.  I have made numerous batches with the same equipment and this has never happened to me before.  Unfortunately the girls were not going to get their ice cream before bed and because of the delay we weren’t going to be able to make a second batch for Amy.

They headed off to bed while I mixed the ingredients for both girls ice cream and then put it in the freezer, hoping it would be frozen by morning…

Bright and early the next morning the three of us got the ice cream out of the fridge that was loaded with peanut butter cups, marshmallows and almonds and each had a bowl.  Lydia proclaimed that this was the best ice cream she had ever had, something that made me happy considering the efforts to get it to freeze the night before.

Slowly as everyone woke up that morning they were given a bowl of the ice cream all agreeing that this was a great batch.  Even though we only had a chance to make one batch it was very yummy and I think the girls had a good time trying out our homemade ice cream.

Marshmallow Madness

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

5 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup granulated sugar

pinch of salt

5 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mini marshmallows

Slivered almonds

Peanut butter cups, chopped

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium sauce pan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.  Remove from the heat and add teh chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth.  Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream.  Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)  Add marshmallows, almonds and peanut butter cups and let set in the freezer

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Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

As promised, here is probably one of the best ice creams I have ever had, who would have thought fresh mint ice cream could be so good.

For Sean’s birthday I thought I would attempt to make mint chocolate ice cream, but instead of just plain ice cream I would put it into an oreo crust and make a pie.

In browsing around recipes it seems like most people steep the mint leaves in the warm half and half before finishing up the custard so I thought that sounded like a plan.

I had some pretty lofty goals though because I was making his birthday dinner on a week night.  I knew that I needed to do as much as I could before I went to work since I wasn’t even going to get home until 5;30 or so.  Also the ice cream has to chill for 6-8 hours before going in the ice cream maker.

Flash forward to me standing over the stove at 6:00am cursing the half and half for not heating up.  I failed to realized that the mint should steep for a few hours to really get enough of the minty taste.  As I am running out of time I resign to the fact that I am going to have to take an early lunch break to come home and finish the custard so that it can cool until I get home from work.

You can image my boss that morning when I email her to see if I can take my lunch break at 10 so I can finish making ice cream.  She couldn’t stop laughing.  Most people aren’t trying to make ice cream at 6:00 in the morning.

It was well worth all the trouble to make this ice cream, it is by far one of my favorite home made ice creams.  It taste creamy but not too heavy and so fresh.  I now have requests from my mother in law for this ice cream on her next birthday, she hasn’t even tasted it and she knows it is amazing.

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

About 2 cups fresh mint leaves

4 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 egg yolks

4 ounces dark chocolate

Tear mint leaves off the stems and put into a large bowl.  Using a pestle, pound the leaves until they are a little bruised.

Heat half in half, sugar and pinch of salt on the stove over medium heat until steaming and bubbling, making sure not to boil.

Once the half and half is heated remove from the heat and add the mint leaves and cover.  Now let them steep for 2-3 hours, the longer the better to really get the minty taste.

After 3 hours strain the mint leaves and put the half and half back on the stove.  As the half and half is heating up take your egg yolks and whisk them in a bowl.  Add a cup or so of the heated half and half and whisk until combined.  This will keep the egg from cooking in the half and half.  Add the egg mixture to the half and half and combine.

Heat the mixture until steaming and bubbling around the edges making sure to stir constantly, custard is done when it coats the back of the spoon.

Remove from the heat, add vanilla and let cool in the fridge until ready to use in your ice cream maker.  Add the chocolate chunks half way through the time in the ice cream maker.

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Wasabi Ice Cream

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Wasabi Ice Cream

Wasabi Ice Cream was the inspiration I needed to start this food blog.

During our most recent trip to Japan we stumbled across a dessert mall, I know sounds amazing.  There were different sections depending on what type of dessert you wanted.  I was in heaven.  After walking around trying to decide what we were going to have for dessert I finally decide on ice cream.  You really can’t go wrong with ice cream no matter what country you are in.  They had the standard flavours to try but then I saw wasabi and was instantly intrigued yet slightly scared. We were both pleasantly surprised when the sweet and creaminess of the ice cream kept the wasabi from being too spicy.  I knew at that point I had to make my own wasabi ice cream.

Here we are today 4 months later and I have finally made the wasabi ice cream.  A combination of things delayed me from actually making the ice cream anything from laziness to forgetting to freeze the ice cream bowl to a lack of Wasabi Ice Cream Recipes.  There are plenty of recipes for ice cream but since I wasn’t sure how much spice to put in I didn’t want to over do it.  After looking through many food blogs I finally decided to take my most basic vanilla ice cream recipe from the KitchenAid recipes book that came with the ice cream maker and just start adding wasabi.

I am happy to say I made my wasabi ice cream, but what I learned from it was that you should stop adding wasabi even when you think it isn’t quite enough because boy did it turn out hot.  After only one scoop I had an upset stomach from the heat, thankfully I only made a small batch.  The heat didn’t stop my husband.

I look forward to making this recipe again but trying it with a little less wasabi to find a good balance of sweet and spicy.

Wasabi Ice Cream

Adapted from KitchenAid Recipes

1 1/4 cups half and half

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Wasabi

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the half and half until very hot but not boiling, make sure to stir often.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Place egg yolks and sugar in bowl and mix for 30 seconds or until blended and slightly thickened.  Gradually add half and half mixture and mix until blended.  Return half and half mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat until very small bubbles form around the edge and mixture is steamy, make sure to stir constantly.  DO NOT BOIL.

Transfer half and half mixture into large bowl, stir in whipping cream, vanilla, and salt.  When adding wasabi start with a 1/2 tsp and then just increase by 1/2 a tsp until it is the right amount of spice.  Cover and chill thoroughly, atleast 8 hours.

Place chilled mixture in ice cream maker and follow directions for your machine.

Makes 8 servings (1/2 cup per serving)

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