Cherry Ice Cream

I learned not too long ago that my brother-in-law frequently checks this blog, which is both unexpected and awesome. One day while hanging out at their house with my sister, he walked in complaining about this lady on the internet with homemade ice cream, but he never gets in.  We talked a bit, and he asked for cherry ice cream. Specifically, vanilla ice cream with maraschino cherries mixed in.  I told him the next time he came to my house for dinner I'd make him some, and I did. That was a week ago. Due to a variety of things (no one eating the ice cream for awhile, blogging about the Daring Bakers Challenge, and my depressing week) I haven't posted it yet. So here we go. 

Unfortunately, the ice cream didn't freeze properly. We had some issues with our ice cream machine, so I suspect it didn't get churned properly. Whatever the reason, it was a bit dry, like when you're a kid and you freeze milk thinking it will become ice cream but you just get crumbly, crystallized milk.  So I'll need to make my brother in law another  batch. 

I followed the same Nigella Lawson recipe I always use, so I'm not going to repost it all right now. Just know that instead of a vanilla bean, I mixed vanilla extract into warm milk. Before putting the mixture into the machine, I folded in marschino cherries cut in half. That's all. 

Chocolate Ice Cream

We had my mother- and sister-in-law over for dinner last night, and I decided to make two desserts; first I made the pavlova again, then I also made chocolate ice cream, thinking my sister-in-law might not like the pavlova.  I grabbed a bunch of chocolate ice cream recipes off TasteSpotting, and amusingly, all of the recipes were from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I guess it was in the stars that I try this recipe, huh?

This is a rich recipe and not for the faint-hearted. It's definitely a dark chocolate, so remember that. Serve it with some sweetness.. or raspberries. It was SO GOOD with raspberries.  I also mixed in some white chocolate chips to add some light sweetness to complement the heavy chocolate tones. 

Chocolate Ice Cream

(The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, 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 the 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.)

Honey Ice Cream

Since making my first batch of homemade ice cream, I've kept an eye out for ice cream flavor ideas. I stumbled across a recipe for honey rosemary ice cream. The recipe itself didn't thrill me, but I fell in love with the idea of honey ice cream. I love honey! It's a perfect complement to so many things.


I decided to just alter the Nigella Lawson recipe I used the first time, because I love Nigella and I dorkishly love stirring the custard for 10 minutes, watching it thicken into something beautiful.

I like this ice cream, but I don't know if it can truthfully be called honey ice cream. Most likely if I were to give this to someone to eat, then ask them what flavor it was, they'd say vanilla or sweet cream or something else. The taste of the honey is too subtle. What's amusing is that I first thought, after sampling the warm custard, that the honey would be too intense and that I had ruined the ice cream. Silly me! The cream folded in right before freezing really mellowed out the honey. I think the ice cream tastes like marshmallows; hubby thinks it tastes like sugar cones. Dad's not sure, except he picks up a bit of a honey aftertaste. But Dad and I like the ice cream. Hubby doesn't, but then again, he doesn't like a lot of what I make.


If I were attempting to get a more truly honey flavored ice cream, I'd increase the amount of honey and decrease the amount of sugar. That's a big if. Honey can get so cloyingly overpowering so quickly that I'm still not sure how well a honey ice cream would work. As it is, this sweet stuff needs a counterbalance; I shaved bittersweet chocolate over it, which worked nicely. I think it's a fair dessert.

Honey Ice Cream
(adapted from Nigella Lawson, Forever Summer, egg-custard ice cream, pg 224)

• 2 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 6 egg yolks
• 7 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream

In a large saucepan, heat milk and honey, making sure to stir well to incorporate the honey into the milk. Heat until scalded (just before it boils). Remove from heat, cover, and let sit 20 minutes. There really isn't any steeping going on, but I kept this step for a couple reasons: 1, I felt if the honey were heated up, it would mix into the milk better (it did); and 2, I wanted the milk to cool down to the same temperature as before and I wasn't sure what that was.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar. Slowly whisk in the warm milk and honey mixture. Rinse the saucepan, then return the mixture to the pan. Fill the bottom few inches of the sink with cold water, in case the custard begins to separate while it cooks. If it beginss to look like it's separating, plunge the pan into the water and whisk like the devil.

Over medium heat and STIRRING CONSTANTLY, cook the mixture until it thickens into a velvety, delicious custard. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Place the bowl in the water and let cool, stirring occasionally.
 
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until chilled completely. Right before you're ready to freeze the ice cream in the ice cream machine, whip the cream until it is thick (but not stiff) and fold it into the custard. Then, follow your ice cream machine's instructions.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

When I was a kid, we visited my mom's parents quite frequently, especially during the summer. They lived in central Texas which gets mighty toasty come summertime, but we still spent most evenings outside, walking around their ranch, sitting by the pond, or swinging on porch swings. Sometimes, we'd pull out the ice cream maker and whip up a batch and eating it immediately after the machine stopped, even though it was a bit slushy. Homemade vanilla ice cream eaten outside on a hot summer night; it's cliched, but it's my childhood. Years later, once we stopped visiting so much, we bought my dad an ice cream maker, but we never used it as much...

Until now. Since moving in with Dad, I've remembered the machine on and off. You know how you always remember something when you can't do anything about it, only to soon forget? That was me. Finally, I spotted the thing in the garage and asked my dad to bring it inside. Can't forget when it's right in front of you, right? Right. That very evening, I made up a batch of Nigella Lawson's egg-custard ice cream.


It was glorious. Rich, creamy texture, sweet and light vanilla taste. Definitely a keeper of a recipe. Plus, this ice cream will always hold a special place in my heart as it was the first time I used a vanilla bean. Score! Look at those lovely vanilla bean flecks!


Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
(Nigella Lawson, Forever Summer, egg-custard ice cream, pg 224)

• 2 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 6 egg yolks
• 7 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream

Pour the milk into a sauce. Cut the vanilla bean all down it's length and, using the tip of the knife, scrape out the seeds into the milk in the pan. Add the rest of the bean and bring the milk almost to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and leave it to steep for 20 minutes.

Whisk the yolks and sugar together. Remove the bean from the milk and pour the milk into the egg mixture, whisking as you. Wash out the milk pan and pour the custard mixture back into the pan.

Fill your sink half full with cold water. This is in case the custard looks like it might split. If so, plunge the your pan into the water and whisk like the devil until it's gone back to normal.

Over medium heat and stirring constantly, cook the custard for approximately 10 minutes, until it thickens. It should be smooth and velvety, thus the constant stirring. If at any time it appears to split (it might start to look grainy), do what I mentioned above. You'll be fine. (It happened to me.) Once the custard has thickened, transfer it to a bowl and let it sit in the cold water in the sink to cool. Stir every so often. Chill in the refrigerator.

Right before you're ready to freeze the ice cream in the ice cream machine, whip the cream until it is thick (but not stiff) and fold it into the custard. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Now, Nigella states that the recipe serves 6-8. BAH to that I say. I'd estimate we got 12 scoops of ice cream from this, so next time I will definitely double the recipe.

I've got a few ice cream ideas formulating, so keep an eye out for those.