Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

I've been a bad, bad, Tuesdays with Dorie blogger. My month-long hiatus is finally up, but I left without any explanation. After going months without missing a single recipe, I suddenly went a full 4 weeks without updating! I just got so lost in a busy schedule that I didn't even think about it. But on the plus side, I've been very busy in a great way - took a roadtrip to San Francisco, got certified to SCUBA dive, had a lot of great nights with friends, a lot of weddings to go to.... Anyways, this very delayed Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu.

Dorie's actual recipe simply calls it Vanilla Ice Cream, but the flavor distinctly held onto the flavor of eggs to me, so I threw custard in there as well. It's a great ice cream, perfect for a vanilla lover like me! Throwing gobs of chocolate or strawberries, or any other sort of flavor into a simple dish like this is a good way to ruin it quickly.

I wasn't in my own kitchen to make this, so I didn't have my handy stand mixer ice cream attachment, so I had to just stick it in the freezer and stir it every couple hours until it began to get hard. This lent to larger ice crystal formation, so the mouth-feel of the ice cream isn't as soft as it could be, but the flavor is all packed in there nicely.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan pp. 428-429

Honey-Peach Ice Cream

Last week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Tommi of Brown Interior. I actually made this recipe with plenty of time to post, but just haven't gotten around to doing it - been too busy with other things. Anyways, this light ice cream is delicious, made with peach puree, as well as small chunks of peach to give it texture.

I kept it fairly simple when it came to serve - a drizzle of honey and a sprinkling of nutmeg gave it a little added flavor, as well as a nice presentation.

This post is going to be pretty short, and I'm going to be late posting up this current week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Again, just too busy, but that's a good thing, right? I'd rather have it this way than not having anything to do.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, p. 437

Chocolate Valentino Cake with Ice Cream

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was to make a flourless chocolate cake, paired with a homemade ice cream. I made a rich cake using Valrhona dark chocolate, paired it with two different ice creams - coffee, and chile spice, and topped it all with a semisweet chocolate and brandy sauce. Now that Daring Bakers is checked by a bot, we need to have an obligatory sentence in our post. I followed the suggested recipe for the cake, but the ice creams were not based on the shared recipes. Anyways, "The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge."

If you decide to make this cake, you can use whatever sort of chocolate you'd like (except white chocolate; the ratios in that chocolate will throw off the recipe), just make sure it's a chocolate you love. Because the cake is only eggs, butter, and the chocolate, the cake will end up tasting just like the chocolate you put into it. As with most recipes, the better quality ingredients you get, the better this cake will taste.


Chocolate Valentino Cake:
16 oz. premium-quality dark chocolate (like Valrhona), roughly chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 large eggs, separated

Butter an 8"x8" pan, and line with parchment paper (the butter helps the paper hold shape). Preheat the oven to 375ºF. In a double boiler, combine the chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring continuously until fully melted. Don't overheat it, or the butter and chocolate will separate. Once melted, remove from heat and allow to cool down. Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks, but don't over-whip them or the cake will feel dry. Add the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture, and stir to combine. Take one third of the egg whites and fold into the chocolate mixture, then gently pour this mixture back into the remaining egg whites and carefully fold. Don't over-fold, or the egg white foam will break, and your cake will deflate. Pour into the pan, and 20-25 minutes, or until the top begins to crack. An inserted knife will still come up damp, not dry. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Makes 8 servings.

Coffee ice cream:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans
Heavy pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon finely ground coffee

In a medium pot, combine the milk, sugar, coffee beans, salt, and 1/2 cup of the cream, then warm over medium heat until steaming. Cover and take off of the heat, then set aside to steep for 1 hour. After it has finished steeping, place a metal bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice, and pour in the remaining cup of cream. Reheat the coffee bean mixture until steaming again. Whisk the egg yolks together, and add a small amount of the steaming milk into it while whisking to temper, then combine the tempered yolks back into the steaming milk while continuing to whisk to prevent curdling. Stir over medium heat using a wooden spoon until nappe, about 10 minutes. Strain into the chilled cream. Mix in the vanilla and ground coffee. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, then process ice cream as per manufacturer's directions.

Chile spice ice cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
2 jalapeños, or chiles of your choice, roughly chopped
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine 1/2 cup heavy cream with the milk, sugar, and chiles. Place into a medium pot over low heat. Once the mixture begins to steam, cover with a lid and set aside to steep for 1 hour. Bring this mixture back to a steam, then whisk the egg yolks together. Place the remaining cup of cream into a metal bowl, set into a larger bowl filled with ice. Carefully temper the egg yolks with a little bit of this steaming milk, then pour back into the milk mixture, making sure to whisk to prevent curdling. Place back over medium heat and continue to stir until nappe. Strain this mixture into the chilled cream, then add the remaining spices and stir. Refrigerate this mix for at least 2 hours, then process according to manufacturer's directions.

The coffee ice cream is heavenly on its own, but the chile ice cream definitely needs to be paired with some chocolate. The spice is pretty mild with all the dairy it's in, but it still has a bite that just doesn't feel right without some accompanying chocolate. The cake itself was heavenly, and like expected, it tasted just like a big Valrhona dark chocolate bar, but with the lighter mouthfeel of a cake. The ease of this cake means it's a great last-minute dessert, as far as fancy cakes can go.

Buttermilk Sherbet

Buttermilk? As a dessert? Really? And isn't it spelt sherbert? Yes buttermilk, with a lot of lemons makes a great dessert. Really. And no, funny story, it's actually spelt sherbet. I was a bit confused at first, but "sherbert" is a very common misspelling. Anyways, back to this dessert. Don't be afraid of the presence of buttermilk in a sweet dessert - it's actually an underlying taste, even if it's the central character.

I had a bunch of buttermilk in the fridge about to expire, and being tired of buttermilk biscuits and buttermilk cornbread, I strove to find something altogether different. I eyed my ice cream mixer, and went on a search for a recipe. The mixer recipe book actually had a buttermilk sherbet recipe, but I switched things around to better suit my needs, and to make sure I already had everything on hand.

Recipe:
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons

Combine all of the ingredients together and stir for 5 minutes. This is just to make sure that the sugar more or less dissolves in the buttermilk - you don't want granules in the finished product. Add to ice cream maker and operate as per directions. The sherbet never fully solidifies like an ice cream, but once it begins to get chunky, move it to a storage container and place in the freezer. Freeze at least 12 hours before enjoying. Serves 4.

When you first bite down on this sherbet, all you taste is lemons. It's after you've swallowed that a slight reminscing flavor of buttermilk hits your taste buds. It's actually a great pairing of flavors, and I was surprised with how well the two paired. If you want, you could also add a bit of mint - I probably will next time.

Chocolate Almond Ice Cream

I can't take credit for this recipe, it was one that my mom showed up with a couple weekends ago. She came to the door of my brother's house with an ice cream mixer and this batter pre-made. It was actually a warm weekend in San Diego, so it was a perfect time for some delicious ice cream. We set up the ice cream maker, and let it go to town. The ice cream is rich, and has great texture with the addition of toasted almonds.

2/3 cup slivered almonds
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups light cream (half-and-half)
4 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract


Spread the almonds onto a baking sheet and place into a preheated 350ºF oven. Bake until lightly toasted, about 8 minutes. If you smell toasted almonds before you pull them out, you've over-cooked them. In a medium sized pan, combine the sugar, flour, and cocoa powder - mix until combined. Add the eggs and half-and half; whisk together. Place over medium heat, and constantly stirring, heat until lightly boiling, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool until close to room temperature, then stir in the whipping cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours. Pour into an ice cream mixer, and mix to directions. Once stirring begins to slow, add the toasted almonds, and mix until the ice cream is finished. Place into an airtight container, and freeze for 2 hours.

Chocolate and Raspberry Banded Ice Cream Torte

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte, selected by Food, Family, and Fun. I stuck with the original idea of the torte, using raspberries to flavor vanilla ice cream, sandwiched between layers of chocolate. I usually don't post recipes I've adapted from this book, but this dessert was so wonderful that I felt compelled.

The original recipe uses raw eggs in the chocolate, and normally I wouldn't have a problem eating this myself or serving it to others - the cases of salmonella are just too rare for it to be a serious threat as long as the eggs are kept refrigerated and used while fresh. However, I was bringing it over to my brother's house as a dessert, and my sister-in-law is pregnant, so I tried to find some whole pasteurized eggs. Three markets later, I still couldn't find any, so I ended up buying a carton of pasteurized egg whites. I was a little worried it might affect the way the chocolate was held together or tasted, but seeing how well the dessert came out, I wouldn't change it back. I also avoided the Chambord (after I bought the bottle), just in case. I know, a bit extreme, but I'm playing it safe.

Recipe - Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Torte:
14 tablespoons butter, each tablespoon cut into four pieces
9 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate (like Valrhona), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups pasteurized egg whites
1 (12-ounce) package frozen black raspberries, thawed
1 tablespoon Chambord or other raspberry liqueur (optional)
1 quart high-quality vanilla ice cream (like Häagen-Dazs)

Syrup:
8 ounces fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar

Grease a 8-inch springform pan. In a double boiler over medium heat, add the butter and chocolate. Mix together with a whisk until melted thoroughly - don't overheat or the chocolate will separate from the butter. Once it is combined, remove the bowl from heat and add the sugar. Cool the mixture for at least 5 minutes, and then slowly pour in the pasteurized eggs while whisking. Once it is homogenous, hit the bowl hard on the counter a few times so the bubbles come to the surface and pop.

Pour a third of this chocolate mixture into the springform pan and swirl until it is evenly distributed. Place into the freezer for 30 minutes, or until solid. Once it is solid, place the ice cream into a large food processor and add the black raspberries. Process until all the raspberries are broken up and distributed through the ice cream evenly. Spread half of the ice cream evenly on top of the chocolate, then place into the freezer for 15 minutes or until hard. Store the remaining ice cream in the freezer. Once the torte layer is solid, pour on another third of the chocolate mixture and swirl until evenly distributed. Freeze 30 minutes, then add the remaining chocolate and freeze an additional 15. Finally, add the remaining chocolate on top and freeze for at least 6 hours.

Before serving, pour hot water into a towel and surround the springform pan for 30 seconds. Pop open the springform and remove the torte. Place back into the oven so the melted sides can set up again before it's served. While waiting for it to cool down again, take 6 ounces of the fresh raspberries (leaving the rest for decoration) and place into a small saucepan with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place over medium heat and stir with a spoon until the raspberries have broken up releasing the syrup. Pour into a fine-mesh sieve to remove the seeds and skin. Cool in the refrigerator before serving. Remove the torte from the freezer 15 minutes before cutting to let it warm up a bit. Using a knife warmed by running under hot water, cut the slices of torte and serve with a spoonful of syrup and a few raspberries on the side.

This is absolutely one of my favorite recipes so far. My mom complimented me on it, saying you could easily find it in a nice restaurant for $9 a slice. This was my first time actually splurging by getting the best quality chocolate and ice cream I could, and it absolutely made all the difference in the final taste.

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

I was pretty iffy about putting a good amount of sour cream into ice cream. I've heard of sour cream being served on apple pie, or going into other desserts, but I'd never tried it. Sour cream just doesn't scream "dessert!" to me. However, this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a sour cream and blueberry ice cream.

First of all...wow, look at that color. The blueberries really turned...whatever that color is. The flavor is definitely unique. It almost has a taste similar to cream cheese with blueberries, but that's probably just all the different creams getting mixed together. This isn't one of my favorite Dorie recipes, but it's not terrible.

Having made blueberry ice cream not too long ago, I can compare the two and definitely say that I prefer the other recipe. It's simpler - I think the sour cream just overdoes it. Also the color doesn't remind me of freaky alien gunk. I really have no clue what could have been wrong with my blueberries for this batch.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, p. 434

Blueberry Ice Cream

Hmmm...leftover frozen blueberries from that blueberry pie...what to do. Hey, look at that! I have a bunch of cream left over in the fridge. Wait a second...blueberries, cream - sounds like blueberry ice cream time!

Not only is the ice cream an awesome color, but it also tastes delicious. It's very smooth, creamy, and has a good amount of blueberry flavor. Great when served by itself, but it'd probably go well with some pound cake or lemon cookies.

Recipe (adapted from Gourmet, August 1997):
12 oz. blueberries, frozen
3/4 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1 c. fat free milk (stolen from a roommate, but it didn't seem to affect texture)
1 1/2 c. cream

Thaw blueberries, then place into a small pot, adding all liquid that may have been frozen with them. Add sugar and salt, then bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool slightly before adding into a food processor. While pulsing, add in the milk, followed by cream. Continue to pulse until the batter is fully blended. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before moving to the ice cream maker. Follow ice cream maker directions, and when the batter has turned to ice cream, store in freezer for at least 2 hours before serving. Yields a little over 1 quart.

That's it - pretty simple stuff to make, and oh so good. I'm so glad I ended up buying that ice cream maker attachment. You could strain off the blueberry pieces left after the processing, but I like the rustic look it gives the ice cream and decided to leave them in. I'm sure more ice cream will be made sometime soon.

Banana Pecan Ice Cream

I finally did it. I went out and got an attachment for my stand mixer. It was a tough choice between the pasta maker or the ice cream maker. Weighing the pros and cons, I decided I'm happy enough making pasta by hand, but making ice cream by hand could be...well, a bit more difficult. Having made my first batch, I'm very pleased with the results!

After establishing that I was going to make ice cream, I threw the attachment bowl into the freezer for a few days while trying to find an excuse to go to the grocery store other than to buy a ton of cream. In the meantime, I tried to figure out what sort of ice cream I could make - classic vanilla like my mom used to make, something chocolaty, something daring? Then my roommate struck - he bought bananas in bulk and decided to store them in the freezer. I've shown him int he past what it'll do to a banana, when I make banana bread, but he just forgot I suppose. Anyways, now there's a bunch of bananas in our freezer, and I decided to make some banana bread (maybe tomorrow) and finally got the idea for a banana ice cream batter.

Recipe:
5 large (preferably over-ripe) bananas, frozen overnight and then thawed
1/2 lemon's juice
3/4 c. light corn syrup
1/2 T. vanilla extract
1 2/3 c. heavy cream
1 c. chopped pecans

Snip the end off the bananas and slop them into a bowl - they should come shooting out easily if you squeeze the banana from one end to the other like toothpaste. Add the lemon juice, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and cream. Find some sort of tool and smash it all up. It's fine if there's still chunks of banana, it gives the ice cream some nice variation.

Sure, it doesn't look like much at this point, but it'll get there. Hopefully if you're following this as a recipe, you'll have stored your ice cream attachment bowl in the freezer for at least a day...right? Good. While reading reviews on the attachment, I noted a lot of people just keep their bowls permanently in the freezer, because you never know when the urge comes to make a batch of good ice cream. I'm sure this recipe would work for any other ice cream maker as well, so just follow the maker's instructions.

Pour the batter into the ice cream attachment and stir until it is pretty thick. At this point, you can add the pecans. You don't want to add the pecans until the last few minutes (or any solids for that matter) because the force of gravity will just defeat the suspension you're hoping for.

After the ice cream has finished mixing, it'll be good to eat, BUT if you put it in some sort of storage and freeze it for a few hours, it'll have a better consistency. Unfortunately there was just a bit too much ice cream for the bowl I was trying to get it into, so I just had to eat a few spoonfuls. No, you don't get it, I had to. Otherwise it wouldn't fit. Don't judge me.

It ended up making a bit over one quart of ice cream. The chunks of pecan show up periodically, as do some leftover frozen bananas. I'm sort of wishing I had some sort of cake or something to serve this on top of, but this ice cream is definitely good enough by itself. Now if only I had an ice cream scoop so I could eat this in some civilized fashion...but oh well, time to dig in!