All Things Ice Cream Blog

Yes, you read that correct. Champagne sorbet. Elise over at www.elise.com has a great recipe for it.

Champagne Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sparkling wine or champagne
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon of lemon and or grapefruit zest
• 1 1/2 cups fresh grapefruit juice
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (Meyer if you have access to them)

Method

1 Put champagne, sugar, corn syrup, and zest into a saucepan. Bring to a vigorous boil so that the sugar completely dissolves, remove from heat.

2 Strain into a stainless steel bowl (will help cool down faster), add the grapefruit juice and lemon juice. Chill completely. To do this, either place bowl in a larger bowl half-filled with ice water, and stir until champagne solution is completely cold, refreshing the ice in the outer bowl if necessary. Or you can cover with plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator over night. I put the bowl in the ice compartment of our freezer for a couple hours, because it fits, chills quickly, and is far enough away from the other food in the freezer.

3 Process the mixture in your ice cream maker (like the mega ice cream ball) according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

Makes about 1 quart.

Happy New Year!

Have you received any fruit cakes this year? If so, here’s a great use for them (besides regifting!).

Fruit Cake Ice Cream Ingredients

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
1 1/2 Tbs brandy
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped fruit cake
2 1/2 Tbs finely chopped almonds

Fruit Cake Ice Cream Method

In a large bowl beat eggs and sugar together. In a saucepan bring milk and cream to simmering point. Pour onto the eggs in a slow steady stream beating constantly and continuing to beat until the mixture is very thick and light. Stir in the chopped almonds then fold in the fruit cake and brandy. Spoon the mixture into a container. Cover and freeze until firm. About 20 minutes before serving transfer the Fruit Cake Ice Cream to the refrigerator. Serve decorated with cream and cherries.

I recently sent my friend in Indiana an early Christmas present — an ice cream maker!  She wants to make strawberry ice cream in it tonight and was asking me for some pointers.  Here’s a great recipe from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Book:

Fresh Strawberry Ice-Cream

sweet cream base
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream (or whipping cream)
1 cup milk

strawberries
1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
juice from 1/2 lemon
zest from 1 lemon (optional)

Combine strawberries, lemon juice/zest, and 1/3 cup sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Once strawberries have refrigerated, prepare the sweet cream base. Whisk eggs in a bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the sugar and continue whisking for a minute longer. Add the cream and milk, stir until fully combined.

Combine the strawberry mixture into the sweet cream base. Pour into an ice-cream mixer and mix according to mixer instructions.

–

Now personally I do not like making my ice cream base with eggs, so here’s an alternative recipe:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups mashed fresh strawberries

In a large bowl, combine the milk, cream, sugar, salt, vanilla and strawberries. Pour the mixture into the freezer bowl of an ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

—
My only other suggestion for my friend’s ice cream making tonight: Make sure you taste the mix before you start freezing it!

Peppermint has a long standing tradition of being helpful for relieving stomach ailments.  I, myself, have recently invested in a few boxes of peppermint tea to finally get some control over my years of tummy troubles.  I’m not a big tea drinker, so I’m always on the lookout for alternative ways to use things.

Here’s a great recipe for Chocolate Mint ice cream from The Happy Gelateria using peppermint tea & cashew nuts instead of dairy.

Ingredients:

* 1 cup of cashew nuts, soaked for 4 hours and then drained and rinsed .
* 1/2 - 1 cup of strong peppermint tea (brewed by steeping 2 teabags in 1 cup of fresh boiled water, and leaving until cold).
* 3 baby figs, or 2 standard figs pre-soaked for a few hours.
* 10 mint leaves.
* 2 teaspoons of cacao powder

How To:

* Blend the cashews with enough of the mint tea to form a smooth cream.
* Add the figs, and blend again until smooth.
* Add the mint leaves and cacao powder, and blend one last time until smooth and evenly mixed.
* Either transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions, or follow our steps for making gelato without an ice cream maker.
* Enjoy a blast of choco-minty freshness!

I don’t know how many of you have visited your local Starbucks lately, but they have this “new” flavor of hot cocoa called Salted Caramel.  I found a nice copy cat recipe for the salted caramel hot cocoa drink yesterday and it reminded me of the great recipe I found for salted caramel ice cream.

vs.

The short non-fat no-whip salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks packs a whopping 270 calories!  Which would you rather have?  A bowl of ice cream or a small glass of hot chocolate?

In honor of Cyber Monday, we’re offering free shipping on ALL orders December 1st & 2nd!

And any order over $75 gets a free jar of Haven’s Heavenly Hot Fudge

For those of you who were disappointed in my failed coconut pumpkin pie ice cream, check out the ice cream pumpkin pie pictures from Lisa @ the High Heels and Sweatshirts blog.

Her pie looks so delicious!

American federal labeling standards require ice cream to contain a minimum of 10% milk fat (about 7 grams (g) of fat per 1/2 cup [120 mL] serving) and 20% total milk solids by weight (Thank you Wikipedia). So by definition, any “ice cream” made without milk isn’t really ice cream.  But don’t worry, we’ll still let you call it that!

So can you replace the milk in your ice cream recipe with something else and have it still taste good?  YES!

J. Scott Wilson wrote this great piece comparing non milk ice creams on the Life While blog.

However, those who are lactose intolerant, vegan or who simply are trying to cut some excess fat from their diets don’t have to live in ice cream-less obscurity. You may need to hit your local health food or gourmet store to find them, but there is a good variety of non-dairy ice cream substitutes made with tofu, soy milk and even coconut milk.

Here are some milk subsitutes you can use the next time you make ice cream: coconut milk, soy milk, nut milk, rice milk, oat milk, potato milk, goat milk and yes, even human milk.

PS - I cheated on my cholesterol free diet with Blue Bunny Premium Homemade Chocolate, one of the most popular national brands: 150 calories, 7 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium, 16 grams carbs.  I must find a non-cholesterol version of this delicious flavor!

Due to my love of the chocolate coconut ice cream recipe I got from The Nourishing Gourmet, I just couldn’t resist sharing this recipe I found with you guys.

Curried Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

2 cans of coconut milk
2/3 cup cocoa powder
6 tbsp sugar (more if desired — taste it before putting it in the ice cream maker!)
2 tbsp hot yellow curry powder
toasted coconut (optional)

Mix all ingredients well and put in the ice cream maker.  Mmmmm.

So simple.  So yummy.  Let me know what you think.

Your mother always told you to eat your vegetables.  But she never said you couldn’t eat them as dessert!

Last week I posted the video of Regis & Kelly sampling the Thanksgiving dinner ice cream flavors from Country Cow Creamery.  So here’s a great sweet corn recipe I found so you can make your own.

Fresh corn is rich is thiamin (vitamin B1), panthothenic acid (vitamin B5), folate, dietary fiber, vitamin C, phosphorus and manganese. It supports the health of your heart and your lungs, improves memory and helps maintain energy.

So why not eat it in the form of ice cream?!

Sweet Corn Ice Cream
recipe by Dan Barber, from Gourmet

3 ears of corn, kernels removed and cobs chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 quart whole milk
1 cup  heavy cream
½ cup sugar
5 large egg yolks

Note: Taste your corn first. If it’s not as sweet as you’d like your ice cream, you may want to adjust the sugar.

Cook corn kernels and cobs with milk, cream and sugar over low heat in a medium-sized saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer, uncovered, one hour.

Remove from heat. Discard cobs. Puree corn mixture in blender until smooth.

Lightly beat egg yolks in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in a small amount of the hot corn mixture to temper the eggs. Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat until it reaches 170 degrees, being careful not to boil. The mixture will be slightly thick and coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Strain through a fine-meshed sieve into a metal bowl, pressing to get out as much liquid as you can. Discard the solids and refrigerate the custard for at least 6 hours. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s directions.