Cinnamon Ice Cream

I love using cinnamon in baking, especially with apples but it never occurred to me to use it in ice cream until I was going through David Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop. It suddenly hit me that cinnamon ice cream would be the absolute perfect accompaniment to apple pie.  It was a match made in heaven. This ice cream has a silky, creamy texture and a cinnamon flavor that is so deep and complex that we all went, "wow", after the first bite. It is almost like the luxurious taste and feel of homemade rice pudding without the rice. I made this for Thanksgiving to pair with the mini apple pies and it was definitely a successful flavor combination. I had some leftover and would take just a spoonful a night until it was gone. I wanted to savor it for as long as possible.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Directions
Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. Once warm, cover, remove the the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thicken and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. 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.

White Chocolate Ice Cream

I was on the hunt for a new ice cream flavor and when I get in the mood to make ice cream my first stop is always to David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop. I was flipping the pages of the book and came across a recipe for white chocolate ice cream. It was a French style ice cream (includes egg yolks) which I tend to like better than American which doesn't include eggs. The French style definitely produces a smoother finished product. The American styles that I have tried seem to get a little too icy for my taste after being frozen for a couple of days. I like white chocolate so I decided to give it a try. I had some Godiva chocolate liqueur at home so I decided to throw a little of that in to enhance both the flavor and the texture.

Ever since I created my Bailey's ice cream awhile back I am a big proponent of adding at least a little bit of alcohol to all of my ice creams. Since alcohol doesn't ever completely freeze, it helps the keep the ice cream silky and smooth even after it has been in the freezer for awhile.

This ice cream was fabulous. Perhaps the best batch of ice cream I have ever made. The flavor is wonderful and not too overpowering and the texture is by far the best that has ever come out of my ice cream maker. I love white chocolate and raspberries together so I am already trying to figure out a way to add raspberries to this recipe. I will keep you updated on my progress. In the meantime, make this ice cream!

White Chocolate Ice Cream
Very slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:
8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp chocolate liqueur

Directions:
Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer over the white chocolate. Stir until the white chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, then stir in the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.  Just before adding the mixture to the ice cream maker, stir in the chocolate liqueur.  Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

We eat a lot of bananas in our house.  Joe likes to have at least one everyday and I eat them pretty frequently too.  I also love to cook with bananas.  Banana pancakes, bread, waffles, muffins.  I love them all.  I also really like banana ice cream but it is not a flavor that is very easy to find.  When my parents bought me my ice cream maker attachment for my birthday last year they also included The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz in their gift.  It seems that my mom picked very well because I have heard so many people saying that this book is the bible of ice cream making.  I have made quite a few of his recipes so far and they have all come out wonderful.

I spied the roasted banana ice cream on my first flip through the book but I didn't get around to making it until this past weekend.  I don't know why I waited so long.  If you like caramelized bananas this ice cream is wonderful.  Full of rich banana flavor and not too sweet.  It is also a very easy to make.  My only complaint is that I wish the recipe made more of it.  It was gone in almost one sitting between 3 people.  I may double the recipe next time since it looks like my ice cream maker could fit a double batch.  If you like bananas and you like ice cream, I highly suggest this recipe!

Roasted Banana Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:
3 medium size ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp. coarse salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice the bananas into 1/2 inch thick pieces and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a 2 quart baking dish.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring just once during baking, until bananas are browned and cooked through.  Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup in the baking dish into a blender or food processor.  Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt, and puree until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  If the chilled mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisking will thin it out.  Serve directly from the ice cream maker or freeze for 1-2 hours.

Strawberry Ice Cream

TGIF!  To kick off the weekend a little early I decided to whip up some strawberry ice cream last night.  This is my first time making a non custard based ice cream and I think it turned out really well.  It was much less time consuming than the custard based one and just as creamy.  I couldn't find one single recipe that correlated to the ingredient I had at home and the type of strawberry ice cream that I wanted so I took at shot in the dark and came up with my own.  The only thing I will do differently next time is blend the mixture a little less once the strawberries are added.  I was hoping for some small strawberry chunks but this wound up being pureed very smooth.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.  I have a big family reunion bbq to go to on Saturday so lots of baking and cooking going on for that.  Stay tuned next week for all the recipes!  By the way, aren't these little ice cream bowls so cute?  Thanks John and Elaine!

Strawberry Ice Cream
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients:
10-12 whole strawberries, frozen or fresh is fine, hulled and sliced in half
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup half and half
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Place strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar in a bowl.  Let sit for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Place half and half, 2/3 cup sugar and any juice from the strawberries in blender.  Blend until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the strawberries and pulse a few times until strawberries are broken up into small pieces.  Pour mixture into a large bowl.  Add heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Stir to combine.

Transfer mix to your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.  Serve immediately or place in a freezer safe container until ready to serve.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Ice Cream

I love ice cream.  Always have and probably always will.  For my birthday in December my parents bought me the ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer.  I never knew how much I actually loved ice cream until I made it at home.  There is just something about ice cream you make yourself.  You control the ingredients, you know exactly what goes into it, there are no preservatives involved.  It is wonderful!  I have only used it a few times but now that summer is in full swing I am sure I will be using it more.  Along with the ice cream maker I also received a fabulous ice cream cookbook by David Lebovitz called The Perfect Scoop.  All of the ice cream flavors that I have made so far have come out of this book and all of them were wonderful.

In order to make David's concept on Sunday, we needed some ice cream to go with the blondie.  I decided to do a nice and rich chocolate ice cream and throw some peanut butter chips in.  It made the perfect blondie sundae.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream, divided
3 tbsp. dutch-process cocoa powder
5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder.  Warm over medium-high heat, whisking to dissolve the cocoa.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.  Remove the pan from the heat, mix in the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.  Stir in the remaining 1 cup of cream.  Transfer the mixture to a medium-large mixing bowl.  Set a fine mesh sieve over the top.

In the same saucepan, combine the milk, sugar and salt and warm the mixture over medium-high heat.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  When the milk mixture is warm, gradually whisk into the egg yolks, beating constantly.  Return the egg-milk mixture tot he bottom of the pan with a spatula, until the mixture is slightly thickened.  Remove from the heat, pour through the mesh sieve into the chocolate-cream mixture and stir to blend.  Stir in the vanilla extract.

Place the ice cream mixture over an ice bath and stir to cool.  Refrigerate until well chilled.  Stir to mix.  Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Fold in the peanut butter chips at the end of the ice cream maker's cycle.  Store in an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.