Dishing the Divine » ice cream

mint chocolate chip ice cream

Paula — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:36:08 +0000

Look at me, being amazing! See that beautiful new recipe format below? Yeah, that’s inspiration from my dear friend Nicole at Heat Oven to 350. Nicole regularly suggests what I should be doing to improve my blog. God bless her because clearly I’m clueless. This Ziplist thing is pretty cool! You can set up a ZipList account and then save any recipes that strike your fancy to your list. Certainly beats my I-clearly-grew-up-in-the-90s method of printing every single recipe that appeals to me and then sorting them into binders. One day I’ll grow up and get all techy. Until then, pen and paper for me!

Back to the recipe….. My husband’s favorite ice cream is mint chip. But he’s particular about his mint chip. It has to be mint chip with chocolate shavings. No chips or chunks or cookies or anything else for him. Shavings. Only shavings. You want to know who makes mint chocolate chip with shavings? Thrifty. Rite Aid. Drug stores. You want to know what else is true about their brand of ice cream? It’s weird. I mean that. It has a weird color and the ice cream itself has a very distinctly cheap-drug-store taste. (Kind of like how I feel about their make up…) I don’t know if I have words to describe how their ice cream is weird. I just know that I don’t like it. I could see that if Brant and I were going to agree about ice cream and ensure our wedded bliss, we were going to need to find a happy medium. And here’s that medium: I make the ice cream at home and sometimes put shavings in it. Other times I put chunks in it. After all, if I have to choose between shaving a bar of chocolate into mounds of chocolate bits and just melting a bar of chocolate and drizzling it into the batter, you can bet which one I am going to choose 9 times out of 10. Drizzle it is!

Note the type of mint you’re using. Unless you already own a prolific mint plant, go with the peppermint oil to ensure that your ice cream turns out as you had expected! If you do so, you may want to add some green food coloring if you believe that mint ice cream should be green!

mint chocolate chip ice cream

Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Total Time: 18 hours

Yield: 1 quart

the whole darn batch :)

from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop The best part of this mint chip ice cream is that you can add in whatever chocolate bits you want! Chocolate chips? Sure! Melted chocolate ribbons? Sure! Oreos? You bet! Girl scout cookies? Be my guest!

Ingredients

1 cup (250 ml) whole milk

3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream, divided

pinch of salt

1 cup packed (80 gr) fresh mint leaves**

5 large egg yolks

5 ounces (140 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

**note: I originally tried spearmint and did not care for the taste; I recommend using peppermint leaves. Alternatively, use 3/4 to 1 tsp of peppermint oil, to taste, and omit the step where you steep the mint leaves.

Instructions

Place an 8x8-inch metal baking pan in the freezer.
In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream, salt, and mint.
Once the mixture is hot and steaming, remove from heat, cover, and let stand for an hour to infuse the mint flavor.
Remove the mint with a strainer, then press down with a spatula firmly to extract as much mint flavor and color as possible. (You can also use well-washed hands to do this, making sure the mixture isn’t too hot to safely handle.) Once the flavor is squeezed out, discard the mint.
Pour the remaining heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer over the top.
Rewarm the infused milk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, then slowly pour some of the warm mint mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.
Cook the custard, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. If using an instant read thermometer, it should read around 170ºF (77ºC).
Immediately strain the mixture into the cream, then stir the mixture over an ice bath until cool.
Refrigerate the mixture thoroughly, preferably overnight, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
While the mixture is freezing, melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a pot of simmering water, or in a microwave oven on low power, stirring until smooth.
When the ice cream in the machine is ready, scribble some of the chocolate into the frozen metal container, then add a layer of the just-churned ice cream to the container. Scribble melted chocolate over the top of the ice cream, then quickly stir it in, breaking up the chocolate into irregular pieces. Continue layering the ice cream, lacing more chocolate and stirring as you go.
Let freeze for 1 hour or until the edges begin to harden. Transfer to a lidded container and freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm. Best if eaten within one week.

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cherry garcia ice cream

Paula — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:35:18 +0000

As prone as I am to over-buying at the farmer’s market this should come as no surprise: I found myself with cherries coming out of my ears a few weeks ago. I came across this recipe from Annie’s Eats and the rest is history! This is from the original Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Book, so if you like B&J Cherry Garcia Ice Cream, you’ll love this! My friend Bridget says, “This is the real deal!” and she loves Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!

cherry garcia ice cream
from www.annies-eats.net, who got the recipe from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and Dessert Book

1/4 to 1/2 cup shaved bittersweet chocolate
1/2-1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and quartered (if you don’t quarter them, they freeze into huge chunks!)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the shaved chocolate and the cherries in separate bowls. Cover and refrigerate to chill.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy. Continue whisking and add the sugar, a little at a time. Keep whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Add in the cream, milk, and vanilla and whisk to blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. After the ice cream stiffens, transfer the mixture to an airtight storage container and fold in shaved chocolate and cherries until well incorporated. Store in the freezer until ready to eat.

best ever homemade vanilla ice cream

Paula — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:53:46 +0000

This is the story of a marriage. Ever since I bought a KitchenAid ice cream attachment last year, I always have homemade vanilla ice cream in the freezer. At first I used David Lebovitz’s vanilla ice cream recipe, which is pretty darn good. When I saw that Cook’s Illustrated had taken the recipe one step closer to perfection, I knew I had to try their methods to see if the recipe produced significantly different results.

My husband I have a long standing joke in our house. When I’m making dinner and the kitchen is a disaster and there are timers going off everywhere and I can’t even take a break to give him a welcoming kiss, he always asks, “Is tonight’s dinner a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated?” He knows their recipes are famously complicated and involve using waaaaaay too many dishes for our own good (which he, as resident dish washer, does not appreciate). We both agree that sometimes the extra steps are necessary for perfection (as in our favorite broccoli beef stir fry) and other times they feel a little more like hocus pocus (like in our favorite Scottish Oats recipe). This ice cream recipe fell somewhere in the middle, so I pared down the steps that I didn’t feel were necessary. Here is a very reasonable – and delicious! – alternative. I’d like to call it a marriage between the two vanilla ice creams. Try it and I guarantee you’ll love it!

By the way, you may be like me and fear the corn syrup in this recipe. Cook’s Illustrated noted in their recipe that they tried several alternatives, but only corn syrup provided the creaminess that they were aiming for.

homemade vanilla ice cream
www.cooksillustrated.com

1 vanilla bean
1 3/4 cups heavy cream (preferably organic)
1 1/4 cups whole milk (preferably organic)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar (divided)
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place an 8- or 9-inch-square metal baking pan in freezer. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Using the tip of a paring knife, scrape out the vanilla seeds. Combine the vanilla bean, seeds, cream, milk, 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, corn syrup, and salt in medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is steaming steadily and registers 175 degrees, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat.

While cream mixture heats, whisk yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in bowl until smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk the heated cream mixture into egg yolk mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 180 degrees, 7 to 14 minutes. Prepare a large bowl with a fine-mesh strainer placed on top. Pour the custard into the strainer. Discard remaining bits in the strainer. Add vanilla extract to the custard in the bowl. Let the custard in the bowl cool until no longer steaming, 10 to 20 minutes. Transfer the vanilla bean to the bowl and cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

Remove the custard from refrigerator and transfer to an ice-cream machine. Churn until the mixture resembles thick soft-serve ice cream and registers about 21 degrees, 15 to 25 minutes. Transfer the ice cream to the frozen baking pan and press plastic wrap on the surface. Return the ice cream to the freezer until firm around the edges, about 1 hour.

Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, pressing firmly to remove any air pockets, and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.

root beer float ice cream

Paula — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 03:52:54 +0000

Today’s my 5 year wedding anniversary! I’ll be spending the next week in Southern California with my husband and Mickey Mouse but I’ve preloaded some fabulous foods to keep you entertained while I’m away!

Do I really need to convince you that this dessert tastes great? I mean, you probably figured it out just by reading the title, right? If you love root beer, you’ll love this ice cream. It’s basically vanilla ice cream flavored with root beer extract instead of the vanilla bean. And boy oh boy is it delicious! And it certainly does not last long in our house!

My husband’s favorite drink is Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer. It’s sold in a glass bottle somewhere tucked away in your grocery store. Go search for it. Try it chilled. Love every sip of it. It’s the best root beer ever. Every year, Brant asks for cases of Weinhard’s Root Beer for his birthday. Friends usually give him enough to hold him out until the next birthday. Sometimes he even shares his root beer with me. It’s fabulous.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you should seriously consider buying one. Ice cream isn’t all that difficult to make and when you have your own ice cream maker, you can make whatever flavors you want whenever you want them! There are books full of suggestions! I had no idea just how many crazy ice cream flavors there were until I picked up The Perfect Scoop last year and used it as the base for my birthday party plans: an ice cream tasting party. We made 14 kinds of ice cream, from plain ol’ vanilla to lemon-basil. Some were hits. Others were too strange. Either way, the taste testing generated a lot of *great* conversation. Not only that, it was wildly fun to have an excuse to eat more ice cream in one day than any one person should ever consume in a month!

root beer float ice cream

adapted from The Perfect Scoop recipe for vanilla ice cream

2 cups whipping cream, divided
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
6 egg yolks
2 tsp root beer extract (you can get this on-line or if you’re local you can buy it at Harvest House)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place one cup of cream in a large bowl with a strainer over the top.

In a medium sauce pan, combine the remaining one cup of cream, milk, sugar, and salt and heat until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil.

Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly add the warm milk mixture to the eggs while whisking continuously. Once all the milk mixture has been added to the eggs, pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until the egg mixture thickens and coats a spatula. Do not boil.

Pour the egg mixture through the strainer (this catches any scrambled eggs that may have mistakenly formed!) and whisk into the cream. Add the extracts and mix well. Cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours (although 8 hours is preferred).

Pour into your ice cream maker and churn for 20 minutes. While you can eat the ice cream at this point, it will be very soft. It’s best after another few hours in the freezer.