Tag Archives: homemade ice cream

My favorite cool treat on a hot day — homemade ice cream

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Mother Nature couldn’t have planned a better time to blast us with heat and humidity. After all, July is National Ice Cream Month. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan said so. He also claimed the third Sunday of July will always be National Ice Cream Day. Thank you very much, but I don’t need to wait for a specially designated month or day to enjoy ice cream. It’s one of my favorite indulgences — any day. Or, everyday! It doesn’t have to be a hot day to scoop up a big bowl of ice cream, but it is the perfect frozen treat to bring the body temperature down.

I accidentally brought home a one-pint carton of Organic Valley French Vanilla-flavored half-and-half last week. I meant to grab a carton of the plain old stuff — my husband can’t drink coffee without it. He doesn’t like added flavor — just added fat.

So, when life hands me French vanilla half-and-half, I make ice cream. Ice cream with fresh-picked, sun-kissed, sweet strawberries. Lots of creaminess from a generous dose of fat. Don’t count the calories. Just indulge, enjoy and stay cool! There’s still a lot of ice cream month left on the calendar :)

Oh, what a great mistake I made!

Old-Fashioned Strawberry-French Vanilla Ice Cream

  • 3 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned, stems removed
  • 2 large, fresh eggs, preferably local
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 cups Organic Valley French Vanilla half-and-half
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whipping cream, preferably organic

Wash strawberries. Remove and discard caps. Puree berries in blender or food processor. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until thick and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes. (This is where an electric stand mixer comes in handy.) Beat in sugar, half-and-half, vanilla and whipping cream. Stir in pureed strawberries. Pour into ice cream canister. Freeze, according to manufacturer’s directions. Makes about 2 quarts.

P.S. A drizzle of your favorite chocolate sauce is exceptional on this Old-Fashioned Strawberry-French Vanilla Ice Cream.

Another P.S. If you are concerned about using uncooked eggs in the ice cream you may want to buy pasteurized eggs from the store. I feel comfortable using local eggs from a farmer I know and trust.

 

Cookie Dough and Ice Cream create Snickderdoodle Scream

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My column is written for the week and I’m all set to tape a food segment for Lakeland News at 10. With a short breather before the camera guy arrives, I wanted to quick share with you about the yummy dessert I put together over the weekend using cookie dough and ice cream.

We were home for the long holiday weekend. We enjoyed the beautiful northern Minnesota sunshine as we floated around on our boat, well equipped with snacks and cool beverages, of course. Friends were in and out of our house during the weekend, so it seemed there was always plenty of activity in the kitchen.

One evening we grilled chickens and had a wonderful meal with neighbors. For dessert we made some homemade ice cream using one of our favorite recipes for Butter Cream Base in the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Dessert Book. Strawberries and blueberries were available for creating a patriotic red, white and blue treat.

I remembered I had some snickerdoodle dough in the refrigerator. And then, I had a bright idea.

I’d been anxious to use some shallow baking dishes a friend gave me not long ago. She knows I love old restaurant ware. She found some darling individual-serving-sized dark green dishes for me.

Can’t you just see some cheesy potatoes served up in these dishes along side a fried pork chop at a small-town restaurant? Or, maybe some hash-brown potatoes that were slipped under the broiler to get golden and crisp, then served for breakfast to a hungry guy in a tiny cafe?

I love these little darlings…

So, for their very first use in my kitchen, they were patted with Chippy Snickerdoodle dough and baked for about 10 minutes. Then, while still warm, they were topped with generous scoops of homemade ice cream and plenty of fresh berries. I’ll bet they’d never experienced that!

I’m sure you could use your favorite homemade cookie dough to pat into small, shallow oven-proof dishes to create your own ice cream bowls. Or, use Chippy Snickerdoodle Dough, which I posted the recipe for last week. Just click here to get right over to the recipe.

Go to this Amazon link and scroll down to page 28 of the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Dessert Book. You will find the recipe for Sweet Cream Base #1. It’s the recipe I often use — creamy and absolutely dreamy. When I get my load of Colorado peaches, I chop some and stir them into this Base. I’ve also added chopped peanut butter cups for my peanut butter-lover. One year, on Christmas Eve, I chopped a 3.5-ounce bar of Divine Dark Mint Chocolate and added the bits to this cold, creamy wonder. Naturally, it was divine!

Okay, time to go. See you for Weekend Baking on Friday.

 

 

 

 

Gelato or custard. Frozen and fabulous.

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Outside, frigid temperatures send mercury on outdoor thermometers way below the zero mark. In northern Minnesota, only the bravest humans venture out. The rest stay cozy indoors with goose down comforters and wool socks, comforted by the heat of flames rising in the fireplace and a cup of hot cocoa or a hot toddy in hand.

Not me. In my house last night, the electric ice cream maker was churning up a batch of rich, dark, creamy chocolate custard. Yes, the fireplace was ablaze. I did have my wool socks on. But hot cocoa? No, no. I prefer my dark chocolate and whipping cream frozen, thank you.

You see, I am an ice cream maniac. I love it anytime. And, although I haven’t had much of the decadent, creamy stuff (my palate prefers only premium ice cream) since last March when I started working on lowering my cholesterol, my trip to Key West put a little snag in my coat of willpower.

One night, as friends and I were strolling down Duval Street, I spied an ice cream shop with the word homemade on the sign. I made mental note of the location.

Days went by, and finally, with just two days left in Key West, I got back to Flamingo Crossing at the corner of Duval and Virginia Streets.

The guy working behind the counter told me he had come to Key West 12 years ago for Fantasy Fest and never went back to the Quad Cities area where he had come from.  It was similar to the story I heard from many people I visited with in Key West. They felt that Key West magic and just couldn’t leave.

As I perused the many flavors of frozen, creamy custards, the friendly ice cream man continued to hand over tiny spoons with large tastes of  wonderful tropical flavors. He went on to tell me a couple from the Chicago area opened Flamingo Crossing in 1987. They apparently felt that Key West magic, too.

I finally decided on a scoop of coconut ice cream and a scoop of one of the tropical fruit flavors, Mamey.

Mamey is a tropical fruit that grows on tall, open trees with thick trunks in Florida, Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. I found the taste to be a combination of almond and apricot, absolutely wonderful with coconut. Don’t tell anyone, but I did make it back to Flamingo Crossing one more time, just a few hours before my plane departed. After all, how can one leave Key West without having some Key Lime ice cream?

My ice cream story does not end in Key West, though. When I got home, my son with a brand new Cuisinart ice cream maker told me he’d been making ice cream with soy milk replacing whole milk. Didn’t sound great to me. But, I did have almond milk in the refrigerator. And, a jar of organic cocoa powder given to me by a friend. When she came for dinner one evening, she brought a container of her homemade chocolate gelato, a jar of of the cocoa powder she had used in the gelato and a copy of the recipe.

You know where this is going. Last night, the coldest night of the year, I dug out my friend’s recipe and made chocolate gelato. I used almond milk rather than whole milk, and plenty of whipping cream. The recipe requires some planning ahead, since the liquid mixture that includes eggs, is cooked before going into the ice cream maker. That means the custard needs time to chill in the refrigerator before freezing.

I made the custard in the afternoon, allowed it to cool at room temperature, then put it into the refrigerator. Last night, my husband and I sat in front of the fire with our wool socks on (no mittens) and moaned with each creamy, dreamy, smooth and silky bite of the frozen custard/gelato made with almond milk.

Since gelato purists would sneer and snicker at the idea of using almond milk in the frozen Italian treat, I won’t call it gelato. But, it’s a little bit gelato. And, it is frozen custard. I’m calling this recipe Chocolate Cuslato. I think that sounds so sexy. Cuslato.

When you get to Key West, you must go to Flamingo Crossing for ice cream, gelato or frozen custard. You’ll find it at 1107 Duval Street.

When you are at home, you must make Chocolate Cuslato. Even if it is the coldest day of the year.

P.S. I just read over at Heavy Table that a great Twin Cities frozen treat shop is closing. Liberty Frozen Custard is calling it quits at the end of this month. I just discovered their creamy frozen custard last summer on a trip to Minneapolis. This makes me so sad. Another reason to make my own Chocolate Cuslato.

Chocolate Cuslato

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 cup original almond milk
  • 1 1/2 cups whipping cream

In a saucepan, use a whisk to combine cocoa powder and sugar. Gradually add almond milk, whisking after each addition to blend well. Whisk in eggs. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 170 to 175 degrees on an instant-read digital food thermometer. Remove from heat. Stir in whipping cream. Allow to cool at room temperature. Cover and chill thoroughly. Freeze according to instructions for ice cream maker. Makes about 1 quart.

Lemon Verbena Frozen Custard. Get out the ice cream machine.

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We’ve got a few ice cream machines in our house. Two of them we’ve had for years. They’re identical with their big plastic tub that holds a can with a paddle inside of it, with plenty of room between the can and the sides of the tub to pack in lots of ice and salt.

And then there is the Cuisinart machine with its ice cream can insert that needs to be frozen before you can make ice cream. I have two inserts. I store both in the freezer so they are ready to go whenever I have a sudden urge for something sweet and frozen.

I use my old machines for making ice cream, preferring the creamy consistency that results. I use the Cuisinart machine for making sorbet.

Earlier this week I plucked leaves from my lemon verbena plant out in my garden. It was the first time I was using the bright, fresh lemon-scented leaves. For the last couple of years I had searched local nurseries for lemon verbena plants and always came out empty-handed until this spring. There are so many ways I want to use lemon verbena and I am so excited to finally have a plant of my own. I’m told it is a perennial, and if it comes back each year, it becomes a nice shrub. We’ll see if it can survive a cold Minnesota winter. I hope so.

I decided my first experiment with lemon verbena would be in frozen custard. And, just in the nick of time to celebrate national dairy month. Today is the last day.

I steeped some chopped lemon verbena leaves in hot milk and cream one evening. While the liquid was being infused with the intoxicating fragrance, I prepared my favorite lemon curd recipe, using a little less butter than normal. After straining verbena leaves from the liquid, I mixed it with the lemon curd and refrigerated the mixture overnight.

Yesterday evening, I got the old ice cream maker set up out on the deck. As the custard churned, I rinsed, pitted and halved some fresh cherries to serve over the ice cream.

It was cool last night, but we invited the neighbors over and sat around the campfire eating Lemon Verbena Frozen Custard topped with sweet cherries. The best.

I’ll keep you posted as I do more experimenting with lemon verbena.

If you don’t have an ice cream machine and you live in the Twin Cities you have at least a couple of places to go for a  frozen custard treat that someone else has prepared. I’ve been to Adele’s Frozen Custard, a small shop in Excelsior that makes small batches of premium frozen custard. It’s great.

On my last visit to the Twin Cities, I discovered Liberty Frozen Custard. It’s another small shop in an old renovated gas station in Minneapolis. I couldn’ t just drive by. I stopped for some very creamy, rich frozen custard. Yum.

 Lemon Verbena Custard has just a whisper of tart lemon flavor, not one bit overpowering. It is simply lovely with all the fresh berries of summer, complementing their sweet flavor rather than diminishing. Fresh cherries are another delicious match for this frozen custard.

Lemon Verbena, I love you. You were so worth waiting for.

If you don’t have an ice cream machine, go get one. Hurry.

Lemon Verbena Frozen Custard

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup lemon verbena leaves, rinsed, dried and chopped
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 6 tablespoons superfine sugar
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small chunks

Bring the milk, cream, chopped verbena leaves and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.

While mixture is steeping, whisk eggs with superfine sugar in a 2 1/2-quart saucepan until light. Add grated zest and lemon juice. Whisk briskly by hand over medium-low heat, adding small chunks of butter, one at a time, making sure the butter is melted before each addition. When mixture just begins to bubble, it will be thickened, similar to the consistency of pudding. Remove from heat.

Pour the steeped mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl, pressing on the lemon verbena to extract all the flavorful oils. Discard the lemon verbena.

Gradually pour the milk-cream mixture into the lemon mixture, whisking to blend and incorporate completely before adding more. When all liquid has been blended with lemon mixture, allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, covered, until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze the mixture according to the instructions for your ice cream maker. Makes about 1 quart.