Ice Cream Lovin'

I'm in love with my new ice cream attachment (thanks Aunt Terri!). It makes it so easy to whip up a batch of ice cream. The only hard part is waiting for it to set.

My first batch was a chocolate-mint, made from a mix we received at Christmas. I currently have a from scratch cake batter vanilla chilling in the freezer.

I was amused that these magazines came on the same day, "Homemade Ice Cream!" and "Sugar, why we can't resist it". 

Big Kid Ice Cream

We all know that I have a soft spot of gin (and ice cream!) so when I saw this recipe I knew it must be done immediately. I made it while watching the documentary "Forks Over Knives" (highly recommended!). We're all going to die and I need to go vegan asap. At least I wasn't adding any extra refined sugar to my....ice cream... We do okay when it comes to food but we can do better! Tomorrow I think I shall venture to Reading Terminal Market for a veggie adventure. I've also been reading some scary things about food dye and preservatives (see the Feingold Diet). Yikes! Right, back to the ice cream. This sauce was nice because it wasn't overly sweet like many ice cream toppings. Loved it.

Blueberry-Gin Sundaes

(adapted from Real Simple Magazine)

Ingredients:

1 cup blueberries

1/3 cup gin

Vanilla Ice Cream
Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, combine blueberries and gin. Simmer, stirring frequently, until the berries burst and the mixture begins to thicken, 5 to 8 minutes; let cool.
2. Divide vanilla ice cream among bowls and top with the blueberry sauce.

Orange you glad...

I made more ice cream? Ha. Well, the scale might not be. And technically this batch was custard (sooo even worse!). So far I have made four ice creams this spring, three of them in my new ice cream machine. I had Mr. Lawyer rank them so you can have an unbiased opinion. From favorite to least favorite they are: Orange-Vanilla Frozen Custard, Chocolate Soft Serve, Cappuccino, and Cake Batter. Personally I would rank cake batter a little higher. Oh! And let's not forget about my little beautiful Lemon Basil Ice even though it's not an ice cream it is a cool refreshing treat. The orange-vanilla was very good. My only complaint with the recipe is the timing. It took much longer than 7 to 8 minutes to reach the desired consistency. It also did not agree with my ice cream maker and needed some extra time in the freezer to firm up. Look at that zest!

Orange-Vanilla Frozen Custard

(Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (I used orange juice and halved the amount)
4 teaspoons grated orange zest
Directions:
1. Whisk the cornstarch and 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl until smooth. Whisk the eggs, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan; whisk in the cornstarch mixture and the remaining 1 cup milk until smooth.
2. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, until thick enough to coat a spoon, 7 to 8 minutes (do not boil). Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then set the bowl in a larger bowl of ice water. Add the cream and stir until cool. Remove from the ice bath; stir in the vanilla, orange juice concentrate and orange zest. Cover and chill until cold.
3. Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions (I'm skipping this part and just leaving it in the bowl and it's fine).

More ice cream!

This is time it's ice cream of the coffee variety. I made a double batch which is about half a pint, it was the perfect amount for a light dessert for two.

Cappuccino Ice Cream

(from the book)

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon instant coffee

1/4 teaspoon unsweetened baking cocoa

2 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup half and half

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients.

2. Throw it in the ice cream maker.

I scream! You scream!

We all scream for ice cream!
So dinner was a disaster. But it still tasted good soooo only a half disaster?
1. I forgot to trim the bottom of the asparagus which results in stringy chewy bits.
2. For the life of us we cannot master my grill pan for anything other than burgers or sausages. Steaks and pork chops always start to burn before they are cooked in the middle. High heat or low heat it doesn't seem to matter. I can cook better on a real grill. Or in a frying pan.
3. Mr. Lawyer's grand master plan for hollandaise sauce didn't come out too well. While it tasted good it separated and looked wretched. So bad in fact that he wouldn't let me post a picture (and I always listen to lawyers!).

I made ice cream to make us feel better. It was the first time using our new 4,200 arcade ticket ice maker and it was well worth all of those tickets. It came out pretty well for an under 10 minute ice cream. There was a nice chocolate bite to it.

Chocolate Soft Serve Ice Cream

(it came with the machine)

Ingredients:
4 teaspoons unsweetened baking cocoa
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Combine cocoa and sugar and stir to mix.
2. Add a small amount of half-and-half and mix.
3. Add remaining half-and-half and vanilla. Stir until well mixed.
4. Put into your ice cream machine and hit the on button!

Our little blue ice cream machine hard at work.

Bye Bye Woody...

It's hot.

I made ice cream tonight. Smart. The first time I made this was last summer in Syracuse and it's still addicting. The original recipe calls for an ice cream maker which I don't have but you can still easily make it without one. It really does taste like cake batter too. Behold!

Cake Batter Ice Cream

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used my vanilla bean paste)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup vanilla cake mix, sifted (or golden vanilla mix if you can find it!)

Directions:
1. Whisk together milk, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, cream, and cake mix in a saucepan until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F (70 degrees C), stirring frequently. 

2. Remove from heat and place in the refrigerator or freezer until liquid is cold.
3. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency. Transfer ice cream to a one- or two-quart lidded plastic container; cover surface with plastic wrap and seal. For best results, ice cream should ripen in the freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Or for the non-ice cream maker method:

3. Let your mixture cool in the freezer for 20 minutes and then pour into a large casserole dish or a cake pan. Freeze for 20-30 minute increments and take out in between and beat the ice cream with a hand mixer (I only mix it once or twice).

Girl's Night In!

With Mr. Lawyer out of town Amanda and I decided to have a totally out of control girl's night complete with fancy martinis, ice cream sundaes/milkshakes, a wonderful tv show and....college basketball (which Amanda watched just for me so thanks! Also, boooooo SU! So sad.). We are also working our way through all of Trader Joe's frozen appetizers which we seem to have at all of our gatherings. This time we had Chicken Shu Mai (dumplings) and a four cheese flatbread (we have also had the mushroom and truffle flatbread, crab cakes, and the spanakopita). We had an insane amount of toppings for the ice cream but best of all were the espresso martinis! Even though I didn't have any coffee beans to use as garnish which totally ruined the night! Ha. So they weren't that pretty but SU was stressing me out.

Espresso Martinis

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
7 oz vodka (Stoli coffee-flavoured vodka is a good choice)
1/2 oz Kahlua
1/2 oz espresso
4 coffee beans, for garnish
Directions:
1. In a cocktail shaker, shake vodka with crushed ice for about 30 seconds.
2. Add Kahlua and espresso and give another couple of shakes to combine. Let stand for a minute, to fully chill through.
3. Strain into 2 chilled martini glasses, and add 2 coffee beans to each glass.

The following pictures were taken by Amanda!

Garnishing the martini glasses

Our Trader Joe's Dumplings

Holy Toppings! (I took this one)

And my evil milkshake with glowing red demon eyes. It was delicious.