I pretty much turn into a wuss when the temperature hits anything over like...85. Our temps here have been running anywhere from 90 to 107. WAY over my tolerance level! Cyndy ( our resident ice cream maker) and I decided an ice cream post was in order. The mere thought of it makes me somehow cooler. Carol is in New England praying for cooler weather, I'm right there with you girl! We hope we've given you lots of good reasons to use that ice cream maker this hot, humid, sweltering summer.
Bunny made:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake
I've wanted to make an ice cream cake since last summer, somehow it just never came about so I was determined to do it this summer. The first thing I had to decided was what shape I wanted and what kind of cake would hold up to being cut into layers and filled with ice cream. I decided on a chocolate pound cake from Joy of Baking. That decision pretty much took care of the shape of the cake as well. Next, ice cream....peanut butter and chocolate, mmmmm. Saveur Magazine had a pb ice cream that looked terrific, decisions made, now to get started!
I made the custard for the ice cream the night before and chilled it over night. In the morning I put it into the ice cream maker, it only took about 20 minutes to make, then I froze it. The chocolate pound cake was baked and cooled. When it baked up it had a dome on it so I cut that little bugger off, then put the cake on it's side and cut it into three layers. I took the ice cream out of the freezer to soften up a bit , it had to be soft enough to spread on the layers but still be semi firm. I took the loaf pan that I baked the pound cake in and covered the inside with plastic wrap, I made sure the plastic wrap was long enough on the sides to use as handles to left the cake out of the pan after frozen. I put one layer of cake on the bottom of the pan, then layered with ice cream, another layer of cake and ice cream with the last layer of cake on the top. I wrapped it in plastic and froze it. This was the perfect dessert! Ice cream and cake all in one shot!! You can use a different flavor pound cake and ice cream and come up with your own ice cream cake! It was very well received by my family and that's all I wanted.
Chocolate Pound Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, an 8 x 4 x 3 inch (20 x 10 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl mix the cocoa powder into the boiling water until smooth. Let cool to room temperature and then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and half of the chocolate/egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about one minute to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the remaining egg mixture, in 2 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg and strengthen the cake's structure.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover loosely with a piece of lightly buttered aluminum foil after about 25 minutes to prevent overbrowning.
Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan, re-invert, and cool completely on a lightly buttered wire rack.
Will keep, well wrapped, several days at room temperature, about one week when refrigerated, or it can be frozen for two months.
Makes one loaf.
Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream
Saveur Magazine
Makes I quart
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
3⁄4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup smooth natural peanut butter
1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup salted, roasted, shelled peanuts, chopped
1. Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until just hot. Meanwhile, beat sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick and pale yellow.
2. Gradually whisk hot milk into egg mixture in bowl, then pour milk–egg mixture into saucepan. Return saucepan to medium-low heat and cook custard, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 5 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in 1⁄2 cup of the peanut butter. Strain custard into a large bowl, let cool briefly, stirring often, then stir in cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold, 6–8 hours.
3. Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions, adding 1⁄2 cup of the chopped nuts to the ice cream 30 seconds before it has finished churning. Transfer to a bowl, quickly swirl in remaining 1⁄2 cup peanut butter, cover, and freeze until hard. Serve ice cream sprinkled with the remaining 1⁄2 cup nuts.
Bunny made:
Homemade Fudgesicles
If these were any easier to make, they'd make themselves! The kids will love helping you make these. You could use any flavor four ounce instant pudding you want to. Maybe even mix and match! The molds are so easy to come by, I found mine in the dollar zone of my grocery store.
Homemade Fudgesicles
Foodista
1 four ounce pkg chocolate instant pudding
3 1/2 cups whole milk
Add pudding to milk, whisk 2 minutes pour into molds and freeze.
I filled 2 molds and still had some left over so I poured the remaining mixture into ice cube trays and froze them.
Cyndy made:
Lemon Ice cream
Have you ever started to make a recipe and find out what you thought you had, in fact you KNOW you had, wasn't there? I know that I HAD 2 lemons in my refrigerator. I had just seen them there, in fact, I PICKED them off the tree THIS morning! Okay, no big deal, just go out to the back yard and pick a few more off the tree and wash them. Yeah? NOOOOO! Not one lemon on either of my trees, I lied, there are a few mini lemons that are in no way ready to be picked yet. What happened? My wonderful husband informed me that he gave away the lemons because we had so many, and that my neighbor needed a few so the ones in the refrigerator were given to him. All of them?? WE have TWO trees and you gave away ALL the lemons?? Where is my French Rolling pin when I need it?? Okay, since the ice cream is for him~~snicker~~ I'll use what I have on hand. BOTTLED Lemon juice! To make sure it tasted lemony, I used 1 tsp of Lemon extract (Watkin's) Now, I'm a lemon head too and I know i'm in good company here. I made sure it was going to taste good. Geez, I still can't believe it, wait until the apples ripen and the mango's, i'll take them to work with me. hehehehe.......Ooh and the peaches too.......
I made the custard and it tasted really good (i'm imagining at this point how it would taste with REAL lemons). Used Whipping cream instead of half and half. I figured if it had to have bottled juice, then I might as well make it creamier. I have never used an ice cream recipe that called for whole eggs to be used in the mix, this one didn't specify yolks only. I noticed the custard had white flecks, tiny white flecks. I looked closer, it had to be the egg white (next time, i'll use yolks only and add another one to make up the volume). I used my whisk and beat the tar out of it and they were still there! Okay, the taste was good, so i let it ride I put it in the refrigerator to cool completely covered with plastic wrap. Once cooled, into the ice cream maker it went. It firmed up and it sure did look nice, and guess what?? No white flecks!! I served Randall a bowl with an admonishment "DO NOT EVER, GIVE AWAY ALL THE LEMONS AGAIN!" He smiled and said "Yes Dear!" good thing he ran off with the ice cream, I started to reach for the rolling pin!!
The taste was so soft and the tartness of the lemon was tempered with the creaminess. Sweet soft perfection on a spoon!!
Lemon Ice Cream
Adapted from: Gourmet June 1993
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (omitted, but not by choice)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (used REAL lemon juice~bottled)
1 cup sugar (used super fine)
3 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half (used whipping cream)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (used ¼ tsp)
1 tsp Lemon extract (my addition)
In a saucepan whisk together the zest, the lemon juice, the sugar, and the eggs, whisk in 1 cup of the half-and-half and the vanilla, and cook the mixture over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, until it just comes to a simmer. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the zest, and chill it, covered with plastic wrap, until it is cold. Whisk in the remaining 1 cup half-and-half and freeze the mixture in an ice-cream freezer according to the manufacturer's instructions. Makes about 1 quart.
Cyndy made:
Blueberry Gelato
I’ve been craving Blueberry Gelato ever since I found the recipe on Italialicious. Daziano makes it so easy with his instructions. Follow them and you will have the most creamy and delicious treat to ever pass your lips!! If you love blueberries as much as I do, you will really love this recipe. Follow his instructions and read through them BEFORE you start and you will have blueberry bliss on your palate, Soft, smooth and creamy. The blueberry flavor makes you want to sing.
Yes, it’s that good. What can I say? I’m following Daziano’s advice and indulging myself and lovin’ every spoonful!
Blueberry Gelato
Adapted from Italialicious
Ingredients:
3 ½ cups blueberries
5 egg yolks
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup water
In a saucepan dissolve 1 cup of sugar with ¾ cup of water over medium heat. Add the blueberries and bring it to a simmer for a couple of minutes, until the water turns into a blueberry sauce. When the sauce is cool, blend it at high speed in an electric blender. Then make the custard, following these instructions but using the ingredients listed above. Make the blueberry gelato using your ice cream machine.
How to make the custard ~ Daziano's instructions
Making gelato custard
Preparing homemade gelato is quite easy – once you get familiar with the technique. Gelato is a kind of ice cream, so all you need is an ice cream maker. They are so inexpensive, and nobody wants to do it in the old way (breaking the ice crystals each half an hour I don’t know how many times). So buy one, it’s totally worth it. Then, you have to know how to prepare custard for gelato. It could be a bit tricky, but practice makes the master.
Ingredients:
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar. Then add ½ cup of the heavy cream and beat until a creamy white mixture forms. In a saucepan heat the milk and the remaining heavy cream over medium heat. When bubbles begin to form at the edges, turn the heat off and take ½ cup of the heated milk. Then slowly pour this ½ cup of hot milk over the yolk mixture, while stirring the mixture constantly. This process is called tempering the eggs. You know what happens when eggs are heated: you get scrambled eggs. But have you ever heard about scrambled egg gelato? No, because we don’t want scrambled eggs here. That’s why we are tempering the eggs: we are preparing them for the otherwise terrible shock of heat. Once the eggs are tempered, turn on the heat again, pour the custard into the saucepan with the milk and continue cooking.
You thought that was the trickiest part? Well, no. Now you have to decide when to stop cooking. At this time you have to stir constantly using a wooden spoon. NEVER boil your custard. Check if the custard is getting thick enough. Here is the test: the custard must coat the back of the wooden spoon and when that happens wipe it with your finger. When you notice a clear trail, you’re ready. Ready to quickly pour the custard in a bowl, over another bowl with ice. We want a cold shock in order to stop the cooking process. At this point and if you didn’t curdle your custard, you can start breathing again. Wait until the custard cools down, and then put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, covered with plastic wrap. Sounds scary, I know: the imminent risk of curdling the custard and obtaining scrambled eggs is always present. But – just as with the purchase of your ice maker machine – this process worth it. Once you have your own homemade gelato, you’ll forget all the fuss. And then you’ll become an expert.
OK. When the custard is cold, it’s ready for the ice maker machine. Then follow the manufacturer’s instructions and in about 30 minutes you’ll have gelato!
Why all the fuss? The custard has to be thickened in order to have the correct texture. What if you overcook it? Then you’ll have scrambled eggs, sorry. What if you under cook it? Then you’ll have a harder texture. And what if you tried – you really tried, but you curdled it? Then quickly put the custard over the ice, as if nothing happened and whisk as vigorously as you can, while praying to our Lord. In most cases you’ll be able to save your custard.
Gelato uses more milk and less cream than American ice cream. Even if at first it might seem that because of this it will be less creamy, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Because it’s lighter the final result is creamier. Nice, right?
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