Brown Butter Ice Cream w/ Chocolate Chips

I've become a convert of browned butter. It really gives a flavor boost to a dish. You can utilize browned butter in giving steaks more flavor, adding a nice boost to chocolate chip cookies, and now gives a complex and nutty flavor to ice cream. This ice cream is probably fairly similar to butter pecan ice cream, but I'm not too positive. However, it is a very delicious ice cream and relatively easy to to make. I came across this recipe on Portuguese Girl Cooks' Blog. To take it up a notch I decided to throw in jumbo semi-sweet chocolate chips. If you like the nuttiness of browned butter then I think you will like this ice cream. It's creamy, smooth, and delicious. As a matter of fact; it was a big hit at a New Year's party I attended. People even went back for seconds! Enjoy!

6 tablespoons (3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 oz jumbo semi-sweet chocolate chips

Take out a small frying pan; and melt the butter over medium to medium-high heat. Swirl the pan some to help with the browning. It'll take around 5 to 10 minutes for the butter to brown. You don't want the butter to burn, so pay careful attention to it as it cooks. The butter should have a nice nutty smell and look amber in color. Pour the butter thru a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl and set aside.
Take out a large saucepan, and bring the milk and heavy cream to a simmer. Meanwhile, add the egg yolks, vanilla, sugars, and salt to a standing mixer. Stir until the mixture is nice and thick. Slowly, add in the browned butter. Slowly, whisk in the hot milk mixture into the standing mixer. Then, immediately add it to your saucepan and cook (while stirring) until the temperature of a candy thermometer reads 170 degrees. Plus, the back of the spoon should have a nice coating on it. This will take about 5 minutes.
Strain the custard into a bowl and place in the fridge for a couple hours until cold. Once the custard is cold; process in your ice cream mixture according to the manufacturer's directions. Right at the end of the ice cream making add in the semi sweet chocolate chips. Then, pour into a container and seal air-tight. Place in your freezer and freeze until firm.

Iron Chef Chips: Ice Cream Chipped Pie

In my opinion; Iron Chef events should be all about trying new recipes.  I don't think it's much fun to make a recipe that you've made over and over and over. For this Iron Chef; we had 2 months to find and try some recipes. Well, I found many recipes, but tried about 7 of them. I really couldn't find something that wowed me until the very last recipe. I came across this Ice Cream Chip Pie recipe, and had a feeling that it could be a winner. Well, I wasn't very confident it would be a winner, but I thought it would at least be pretty darn good. I was right on both counts; it wasn't a winner but it was pretty darn good.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup crushed lightly salted potato chips
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup Breyers Snickers ice cream, very soft
8 large, unbroken, lightly salted potato chips
1 pint Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream, very soft
1/4 cup chocolate chips

First take crush the potato chips using a rolling pin and then combine the chips and the melted butter in a medium bowl; and then press the chips in a pie plate. Freeze for 10 minutes to set the crust. Take the softened snickers ice cream and spread over the potato chip crust. This isn't necessary, but place the potato chips around the crust to form a petal like look.  Then, freeze the ice cream for 10 minutes. Remove the pie from the freezer and then spread the dulche de leche ice cream over the snickers. Freeze for 45 minutes. Melt the chocolate ice cream and then sprinkle over the pie. Freeze overnight. Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Ice Cream with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

So, today is National Ice Cream Day. I don't know who needs an actual excuse to eat ice cream, but if you do there you go. I just gave you an excuse. Now, if you want an excuse to eat ice cream every day then here you go; July is National Ice Cream Month!!! I made David Lebowitz's Chocolate Ice Cream and added chopped Reese's peanut butter cups. The result turned out deelicious. The chocolate ice cream came out super smooth and very chocolaty. I'm seriously loving David Lebowitz The Perfect Scoop cookbook. It has such great recipes, and so far all the ones that I've tried have turned out wonderfully. So, here's to National Ice Cream Day and National Ice Cream Month. Now, go eat some ice cream! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 c. heavy cream
3 tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used 3/4c. semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 c. whole milk
3/4 c. sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chopped Reese's peanut butter cups (optional)

First, take a medium sauce-pan and warm the cream along with the cocoa powder, whisking thoroughly to blend the cocoa. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at low for about 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate. Stir until smooth. Then, stir in the remaining cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, and place a mesh strainer on top of the bowl. Set aside.

Clean out your saucepan, and then warm the milk, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then, scrape the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat, scraping the bottom as you stir. The mixture should thicken and eventually coat your spatula or wooden spoon. It literally took me 30 minutes of standing there stirring. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth. Then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge. Once chilled, freeze it in your ice cream maker. My mixture came out pretty thick, so I had to whisk it vigorously to thin it out before adding it to my ice cream maker. Once the ice cream has formed; add in the chopped Reese's peanut butter cups. Pour into your air-tight container and freeze. Enjoy!

Iron Chef Basil: Lemon Basil Ice Cream

I have found that the simpler the recipe the higher the likelihood of success at our Iron Chef competitions.   It's like they say on Iron Chef - execution is everything.   This is a really interesting recipe that is a perfect for cleansing your palate after a good meal.

2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup packed basil leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar

Most important and often overlooked, make sure to freeze your ice cream maker drum 24 hours in advance.

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, heavy cream along with zest, basil and salt. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil then remove from heat and let the flavors infuse.  Let it sit while stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until its not longer hot, just warm.  Then using a food processor, blend the basil and milk mixture until smooth.

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar until it's light and fluffy, the color should be pale yellow.  Add the blended basil and milk mixture slowly to the yolks.  Add about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly.  Return the mixture to the medium saucepan on low heat until it thickens.  Stir regularly.  You will know it's thick enough when you can leave a distinguishable track mark with your finger on the back of the spoon.   Let it cool for 15 minutes.  I was in a hurry so I opted for a quick 5 minute cool in an ice bath.  Put the mixture in your ice cream maker and run for about 20 - 30 minutes. 

Chocolate Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch

There are two items in my house that are at war. One is my ice cream maker. The other is my scale. They just do not get along. My scale has been winning out for awhile but this week the ice cream maker got back in the fight in a big way. A big chocolatey, peanut buttery way.

I used a chocolate ice cream recipe from Jeni, of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams via David Lebovitz. But I wanted to do something different and that’s why I added the Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch at the very end. It was actually quite good at the beginning. But by the time the ice cream had hardened, I realized that the Cap’n just doesn’t hold up well to ice cream. Sadly, it got a little mushy. However, the chocolate ice cream was fantastic! Really rich and extremely chocolatey. I would recommend just making the chocolate ice cream and use the Cap’n Crunch as a topping if you so desire.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
4 teaspoons corn starch
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup evaporated milk (unsweetened condensed milk)
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a very small bowl or prep dish, make a slurry with the corn starch and 3-4 tablespoons of the milk. Mix until it’s smooth. In a large saucepan, heat up the rest of the milk, cream, evaporated milk, sugar and corn syrup. I actually didn’t have evaporated milk, only sweetened condensed milk and the powers of the Internet told me that was not a suitable substitute. However, you can just use regular cream and that’s what I did.

When the milk mixture comes to a moderate boil, whisk in the cocoa powder very well and let it boil for about 4 minutes. You’ll know if the boil is too much if the milk starts to foam up and threaten to boil over. Just turn the heat down some if that happens. Try to break up any clumps of cocoa you see.

Next pour in your slurry. You may need to mix it again to loosen it up. Cook for about one minute while stirring constantly until it thickens slightly. This happened almost immediately for me. Take it off the heat and add your chocolate and salt and stir until everything is melted and smooth. Then add the vanilla.

For this next step it’s helpful to have an extra set of hands so get someone to help you if you can. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a Ziploc bag. Be careful because it’s very hot. Zip the bag closed and put it in a bowl filled with ice to cool down for about a half hour. You will want to check it and move the ice around as it melts to make sure the mixture is getting cool.

Once it’s cool, put the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions for freezing it. Once the mixture had the consistency of soft serve, I added the Cap’n Crunch. You can either leave the mixture in your canister and put it in the freezer to set up, or pour it into another container. I pour it into another container because I find that the ice cream maker canister freezes it so solid that it’s hard to ever get out. I found these great little pints on Amazon that work great. They make it easy to give away my ice cream, which makes my scale feel better about the whole thing. 


(click for printable recipe)

Hazelnut Gelato (or is it Ice Cream?)

Okay, maybe I've become a bit of a nut (no pun intended) with the Nutella thing. But, there really is a ton you can do with this stuff. Plus, it is sooooo very good. Well, I came across this recipe for Hazelnut Gelato and I bookmarked it a while ago. I had the perfect opportunity to make it for Christmas this year, and I am so glad I did. I mean it was divine, spectacular, fabulous. Sigh. I'm so glad I bought this ice cream maker from Sur La Table this past Spring. The look on my mother's face when she tried this gelato (or is it ice cream?) was priceless. She really liked it. But, then the look on my face was probably even more priceless when I saw my sister make a look of disgust when she tried it. Of course, she was kidding, but she got me for a minute there. The reason why I call this Hazelnut Gelato (or is it Ice Cream?) is because my mom and sister were wondering which one it was. To be honest, I have no idea. It's probably ice cream, but, no matter, it was delicious either way. I highly recommend this recipe. It was wonderful!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, crushed

First thing you do; take the hazelnuts place on a baking sheet and insert this into a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven, and carefully place the hazelnuts into a dishtowel. Fold the towel together and rub the hazelnuts together. This helps remove the shell from the nuts. Remove the nuts from the towel, and shake out the towel into your garbage can (to remove the shells). Place the towel over the hazelnuts and using a meat tenderizer smash the nuts. Place the smashed nuts in a bowl, and set aside. Next, take the milk, heavy cream, and sugar and pour this into a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and cook just enough so the sugar dissolves. I just let it sit on the burner for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now, take the egg yolks and place into a standing mixture and whisk the yolks. Pour in half the milk mixture into the egg yolks and stir to combine. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan. Cook this over low heat until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon about 10 minutes.

Now, take your nutella and vanilla and place this into a medium bowl. Place a strainer over the medium sized bowl and pour in your milk/egg mixture. Stir this until the nutella is nice and dissolved. Chill mixture for at least 5 hours (overnight is fine) until it's nice and cold. Follow your ice cream directions to finish it off. For mine; I poured in the nutella mixture into my ice cream maker and when it started to form into ice cream (about 15 minutes) I added in my hazelnuts. Enjoy!

(click here for printable recipe)

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

When I asked my husband for an ice cream maker for Christmas last year, I expected to be making homemade ice cream all the time. I dreamed of opening up my own ice cream store and selling my mouth watering concoctions, of people swooning in the streets over my flavors, and Ben & Jerry knocking on my door and offering me ten million just to walk away. Well, seven months later I've made exactly three ice cream recipes. But that's all gonna change. I mean, it's summer. It's blazingly hot. I've got a plethora of recipes bookmarked. The only way to eventually become Ben & Jerry's arch nemesis is to get started. And what better place to start than with a classic: Cookies & Cream. 


I found this recipe on Pennies on a Platter and even though the thought of doing the whole egg yolk, milk mixing but not curdling thing was a little intimidating, I gave it a try. And you guys, it was not that hard! There was no curdling. It never even thought about curdling. I think the trick is to have a loving (hungry) husband who will help pour the hot milk while you keep beating the eggs. And the result is a creamy ice cream with perfect bites of soft Oreo cookies. It's not too sweet, with just the right ratio of cookies to ice cream.

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
12-15 Oreo cookies


This recipe makes about a quart of ice cream which to me is the perfect amount. And don't worry, if the thought of whole milk and heavy cream scares you, remember you can always use 2%. It just won't be as rich and creamy.


Start by heating the milk and cream in a large saucepan over medium heat. You want to bring it to just under a boil, which is kind of a hard mark to hit. When you see tiny bubbles coming up along the edges or in the middle, remove from the heat. In the meantime, separate your eggs (save those whites for another recipe) and beat them with the sugar.


Now, the recipe says to beat "until yellow ribbons form." Let's chat a minute about these yellow ribbons, mmkay? I find this instruction on a lot of ice cream recipes and I just want to say one thing to those recipe writers: "Stop it." Stop using that description. Yellow ribbons? That's so subjective. I have no idea what it means, or what it's supposed to look like. I need something a little more definitive, please. So... I beat them for about 3 minutes. They looked nice and pale yellow and a little fluffed up. I don't know if there were ribbons or not, but I think it turned out all right. 


Here's where a helping hand comes in handy. You need to slowly add the milk and cream to the eggs while beating it. Do it in small amounts, especially at first. The danger here is that the hot milk could cook the eggs. So take your time. Once all the milk is incorporated, pour it back into the saucepan and cook about 3-4 minutes over medium-low heat until it thickens up a little. 


Then pour it through a sieve into a bowl. Add the vanilla and cool it in the fridge. When it's completely cool pour it into your ice cream machine and follow instructions. Before putting the whole thing in the freezer, while it's still kind of like soft serve, roughly chop up your Oreos and stir them in. You may be tempted to use more Oreos but try to resist. This is really the best ratio. Freeze it up, and there you have it! You're on your way to ice cream fame. Or at least a nice, creamy bowl of sweetness.


(Click here for printable recipe)

Easy Frozen Mocha Pie

I don’t often make desserts. Mostly because my husband isn’t a “dessert person” (I am) and won’t eat more than a little (I will) and well… you can see where this is going (mostly to the butt/hip/thigh region). So when someone has a party and I have the opportunity to bring something, I try to break out one of the hundred thousand dessert recipes that I have saved. Such was the case when I stopped by a house-warming. However, since I didn’t have a whole lot of time, I chose a ridiculously easy recipe that i found on a blog called Espresso and Cream. Seriously, you can make this with one hand tied behind your back (although that may get a bit messy). And it tastes pretty good. At least the empty pie tin at the end of the night seemed to think so.

Ingredients

1 pre-packaged graham cracker crust

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

1 pint coffee-flavored ice cream, softened

1/2 cup chocolate chips

So I ended up getting the chocolate graham cracker crust, which didn’t come in the biggest size (leaving me with some extra filling), but I think that the chocolate worked really well so I’d recommend that. When you get home from the grocery store, put the ice cream in the fridge (not freezer) and the cream cheese on the counter. When the cream cheese is soft enough, the ice cream will be as well. First you want to beat the cream cheese alone until it’s smooth (no chunks in the pie). Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and beat, then mix in the ice cream until everything is well combined. Then pour it into the crust and freeze for a few hours. If you want, you can melt chocolate chips and drizzle on top, or I just chopped up some chips and sprinkled them on top. For an extra coffee burst you could also chop up some chocolate covered espresso beans. See—so easy and tasty too. It makes a perfect summer dessert to take to a party, or when you have people over. Just don’t leave yourself alone with it too long (I warned you). 

(Click here for printable recipe)