All Things Ice Cream Blog

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!

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.

Here’s another great Halloween ice cream recipe that the kids will enjoy.

Halloween Ice Cream Vampire Bats
Ingredients:

• 4 (3 1/2 inch) soft oatmeal cookies
• 4 large Scoops of chocolate ice cream (try our chocolate coconut ice cream recipe)
• Assorted candies for decoration, such as candy - candy corn, licorice whips, jellybeans, fruit rolls

Preparation:
For the wings, place cookies on a cutting board. Cut cookies into halves. Using a teaspoon, cut a slightly scalloped edge on the straight side of each cookie; set wings aside.

For the body of the bat, place a scoop of ice cream on each of four serving plates. Using a knife make a cut about 1/2-inch deep on each side of the scoops of ice cream.

To assemble the ice cream bats, insert the end of cookie wing into cuts on sides of ice cream scoops. Place so they look like wings. Decorate ice cream with candies to create the bat’s face. Use licorice pieces for the ears, jelly beans for the eyes, candy corn for the fangs, or use your own imagination. Serve immediately or freeze for up to two hours before serving.
Serves 4.

If you do end up making these, send us a picture!

Ok, so I recently found a little shop in downtown Portland, ME called Bubble Maineia.  They make the best “bubble teas” I have had since I first found out about them a few years ago.  I bought a chocolate coconut milkshake with bubbles the last 2 times I stopped by.  It was such a delicious flavor combination that I tried making it at home with chocolate milk and coconut milk.  It didn’t quite come out the same.

After searching online, I found a great chocolate coconut ice cream recipe by The Nourishing Gourmet.

Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

3 cups of coconut milk (about two cans)
2/3 cup of cocoa powder
6 tablespoons agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk cocoa powder in a small amount of coconut milk, until smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until well combined. Or dump all ingredients together and blend with a stick blender. Make according to your machines instructions.

Of course you’ll have to adjust the quantities to make it in your Play & Freeze.  And you can substitute sugar or another sweetener for the agave syrup.

This is same blogger also made a raspberry coconut ice cream!

Raspberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream

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Feel free to play around with the recipe, by changing what sweetener you use, taking out the lemon zest, or adding in lemon juice instead (lemon juice won’t be quite as strong as the zest).

2 cans of coconut milk (full fat), whisked until smooth
zest from one lemon (make sure you don’t get any of the bitter pithy white part)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups of raspberries, fresh or frozen (defrosted slightly)
6 tablespoons of agave syrup

Directions: Blend the raspberries in a food processor or blender with a little bit of the coconut milk until completely pureed. Add to the rest of the ingredients and make according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Freeze to “ripen” the flavor for at least a few hours and serve.

Now all I need to do is pick up some tapioca pearls and I can have my own bubble tea milkshakes at home.

Man, now I’m hungry!  Where’s my Play & Freeze?

Cathe Olson at vegfamily.com has a great recipe for vegan fudgesicles.   This recipe makes 1-1/4 quarts, so you’ll have to trim it down when you use your Play & Freeze.

Fudgesicle Ice Cream
This vegan ice cream is fudgier and icier than real ice cream - very similar in taste and texture to a Fudgesicle. It gets very hard in the freezer so if you have leftovers, plan to leave them out up to 30 minutes (depending on how much you have) to soften before eating.

• 4 cups soy or rice milk
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (vegan)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine 1/4 cup soy or rice milk with arrowroot and set aside. Pour the remaining 3 3/4 cups milk into a medium pan. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar. Warm over medium heat until milk begins to simmer. Whisk in the arrowroot mixture. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Let cool to room temperature. Cover and chill in refrigerator at least three hours. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Makes 1 1/4 quarts

You’re already making your own ice cream, so why not make your own topping, too?

Here at All Things Ice Cream, we want to share with you the tools for making ice cream at home.  We offer a fun, environmentally friendly ice cream maker (the Play & Freeze ice cream ball), wonderful paperboard storage containers (manufactured by Sweet Bliss Containers), and we are always looking for great recipes to share with you.

Today’s recipe is for Chocolate Syrup (courtesy of Bruce Weinstein’s book The Ultimate Ice Cream Book — send us your ice cream recipe and you could win this book!).  This syrup is virtually fat free — who doesn’t like that?

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1-1/2 cups water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a large, heavy saucepan and place over medium heat.  Stir until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear.  Boil for 5 minutes without stirring.  Reduce the heat to low and slowly whisk in the cocoa.  Bring back to a simmer and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.  Stir in vanilla.

Variations:
Chocolate Mint Syrup — Substitute 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract for the vanilla
Chocolate Orange Syrup — Add 1/4 teaspoon orange oil along with the vanilla

Please feel free to pass on this recipe.  Also, don’t forget — the Play & Freeze makes a great gift for the summer time!  Share the fun of making your own ice cream by giving someone a Play & Freeze!

If you’re like me, you’ve grown increasingly wary of the sugar substitutes in all these “diet” products. Why not try something natural?

Stevia: Stevia is a very sweet herb from South America that’s available in powder and liquid form at health-food stores. It’s said to be 250x sweeter than sugar so you only need a little bit.

Single Blossom Honey (red clover or orange blossom) or Agave Nectar: both are low-glycemic but high caloric & carbohydrate.

Whey Low® for Ice Cream : This healthful, patented blend of fruit sugar, table sugar, and milk sugar offers an amazing 70 to 80% lower glycemic index, 75% lower caloric value, and 75% lower effective carbohydrate (or net impact carbohydrate) count than sugar when incorporated into sweet dairy products like ice cream.

Natural sugar substitutes should be used in moderation, just like you would regular sugar.

Here’s a great recipe for chocolate ice cream using agave nectar:

From David Lebovitz’s Living the Sweet Life in Paris

CHOCOLATE AGAVE ICE CREAM

10 tablespoons (155 ml) agave nectar
2 ounces (55 g) unsweetened chocolate, very finely chopped
1/3 cup (35 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups (750 ml) half-and-half, divided
5 large egg yolks
pinch of salt

1. In a small saucepan, warm the agave syrup with the unsweetened chocolate over the lowest heat possible, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and transfer mixtures to a large bowl. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, add 1½ cups (375 ml) of the half-and-half and whisk in the cocoa powder. Cook over moderate heat until the mixture begins to bubble, then simmer for 30 seconds, whisking frequently, making sure to break up any clumps of cocoa powder.

3. Remove from heat and scrape the mixture into the bowl with the chocolate-agave mixture. Stir them together, then set a mesh strainer over the top.

4. Add the remaining half-and-half to the saucepan with a pinch of salt, turn on the heat, and when warm, slowly pour the warm half-and-half into the yolks whisking constantly, then pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.

5. Cook, stirring constantly over moderate heat, until the mixture becomes steamy and thickens. If using an instant-read thermometer, it should read about 170-175F degrees. (76-79C).

6. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the chocolate mixture.

7. Stir, then let cool a few minutes until tepid. Once it’s not super hot, whiz the mixture in a blender for ten seconds until it’s smooth and velvety. (Never blend very hot liquids in a blender, since it creates a hot vortex and can cause the liquid to blast out of the top.)

8. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Makes 1 quart so it’s PERFECT for your PLAY & FREEZE!

A while ago I blogged about Lobster Ice Cream in Bar Harbor, Maine. While lobster and ice cream are enjoyed by many, combining the two doesn’t seem to go over well for most people.

I’ve Got A Better Idea for Getting Lobster into Your Ice Cream!

A Chocolate Lobster is the Best Add In for Your Homemade Ice Cream! A Chocolate Lobster has the Tastiest Claws Around!

This Chocolate Lobster is made of Milk Chocolate that is Handcrafted by the people at Haven’s Candies. Haven’s is a Maine-owned and operated Premium Handcrafted Candy Shop that’s been making Delicious Gourmet Candy since 1915!

Be Sure To Check Out My Lobster Ice Cream Kit! You’ll Be the Center of Attention When You Tell People You’re Making LOBSTER ICE CREAM!

Don’t see a combo you like? Don’t fret! Let us know and we’ll help make a custom kit for you!

Another great one from Epicurious

There are no eggs in this recipe — it’s the cornstarch that gives the gelato a smooth, silky texture. Fine-quality chocolate provides its rich flavor.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 5 hr (includes chilling and freezing)

Servings: Makes about 1 qt.

Ingredients

3 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped

Special equipment: an ice cream maker

Bring 2 1/4 cups milk just to a boil in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat. While milk is heating, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and 1/4 cup (cold) milk in a bowl until smooth, then whisk into boiling milk and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking. Boil, whisking frequently, 3 minutes (mixture will be very thick). Remove from heat.

Bring remaining 1/2 cup (cold) milk just to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Pour hot milk over chocolate in a bowl and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Stir into cornstarch-milk mixture and force through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool slightly, stirring frequently to prevent a skin from forming, then cover surface with wax paper and chill until cold, at least 1 1/2 hours.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and freeze until hardened, about 3 hours. Let soften 5 minutes before serving.

Cooks’ note:
• Gelato keeps 1 week.

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

4 ounces Egg Beaters or other egg substitute

2 tablespoons sugar

Dash salt

3 (1.5-ounce) chocolate-covered peppermint patties

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 hard peppermint candies, crushed (optional)

Combine half-and-half, cream, Egg Beaters, sugar and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend to combine.

Cut peppermint patties into 1/2-inch chunks, add to blender with vanilla and process on high until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to freeze. Blend for a few seconds before pouring into the ice cream maker.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for freezing.

(Tip: Before unwrapping hard peppermint candies, hit each piece with a rolling pin or mallet to crush into small pieces. Do this at the last minute, because candies will absorb moisture from the air and stick together. Add the candy pieces to the mixture before you put it into the freezer, or wait until the ice cream is partially frozen and then add the candy.)

(Source: www.razzledazzlerecipes.com)