Butter Pecan Ice Cream

My wonderful husband Tim celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago. When I saw this recipe on One Perfect Bite, I immediately bookmarked it to make for his birthday. Butter Pecan is Tim's favorite ice cream! Never having made Butter Pecan Ice Cream before, I was looking forward to making this recipe. The fact that I don't really care for Butter Pecan didn't hurt either. I knew I wouldn't be spooning out taste scoops straight from the freezer like I did with the Cake Batter Ice Cream a few weeks ago.

I substituted skim milk for the whipping cream and the recipe turned out great. I've found you make ice cream base with any combination of milk, half and half or cream. Even though butter pecan isn't my favorite flavor, I did try try a bite or two. This is a rich, delicious ice cream. If you like Butter Pecan, give this recipe a try!


As a side note, the beautiful blue dish and spoon were part of a set I won over at A Musing Potpourri. Thanks La for the fun prize!

Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Recipe Courtesy of One Perfect Bite

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon butter
1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Melt butter in a small skillet set over medium heat. Add pecans and toast until lightly brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Cool.
2) Heat half-and-half in a large heavy saucepan set over medium heat until it reaches a temperature of 175 degrees F. Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved.
3) Whisk a small amount of hot cream mixture into eggs. Add egg mixture to pan, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches at least 160 degrees F and coats a metal spoon. Remove from heat. Cool quickly by placing pan in a bowl of ice water; stir for 2 minutes. Stir in whipping cream and vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of custard. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Stir in toasted pecans.
4) Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full. Freeze according to the manufacturer's directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. Allow to ripen in ice cream freezer or firm up in the refrigerator freezer for 2-4 hours before serving. Yield: 1 quart.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday, Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday.

From The Good Life - Snow Ice Cream

Last winter in Omaha, we had at least an inch of snow on the ground for almost 90 days. We had some amazing snow storms (snow "events" as the forecasters call them) and a total snowfall of 45 inches. The amazing thing, I never made Snow Ice Cream.

Saturday night when the snow started to fall, I said to Tim we should make Snow Ice Cream. Tim said he'd never had it before. Seriously, he's from snowy Minnesota and he's never had Snow Ice Cream? Snow Ice Cream is such a fun childhood memory for me. I am not sure the recipe we used but I am pretty sure it involved raw eggs. Like most people today, I am a little leery of using raw eggs. I searched and found a couple of recipes for snow ice cream. Most recipes used either regular milk or a can of sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and sugar. Here's my recipe. Next time, I'd like to try making it with honey.

What's your favorite recipe for snow ice cream?

Julie's Snow Ice Cream

8 cups of fresh snow
1/2 cup of milk or cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste
1/3 cup sugar

When it starts snowing, place a large bowl out in the snow. When the bowl is full, you can make ice cream, using whatever quantities you need. Before bringing in the snow, mix together the milk, sugar and vanilla. Stir in the snow a cup or two at a time. Add more milk to create the texture of ice cream you prefer. You can also mix in some cocoa with the sugar for chocolate ice cream.

Pink Saturday - Berry Sorbet & Flowers

Pink is my favorite color! Interesting how our taste in colors changes, as a kid yellow was my favorite color. Pink is fun, happy color and makes me smile.

I am linking this post to the group Pink Saturday's. Check it out, there's some fun posts there!!!

Recently, I found some great bargains on berries. How can you pass up a bargain on berries in winter. There's so many delicious things you can make with berries not to mention how wonderful they are delicious by themselves. I decided to make Berry Sorbet. What a fantastic late Winter treat.

Berry Sorbet
1 quart

4 cups strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries, or a combination
(I used strawberries, raspberries and blackberries)
3/4 cup cranberry/raspberry juice
3/4 cup agave syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pinch of salt
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons vodka

Blend the berries with the juice in a blender or food processor. Strain the mixture through a fine-meshed strainer into a bowl, to remove the seeds. Stir in the agave syrup, lemon juice, salt, lemon zest, and vodka. Chill several hours or overnight. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Let the sorbet sit in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

My husband surprised me with these beautiful flowers. Just because!

Lemon Buttermilk Sorbet

Participating in Sweet Melissa Sunday's, Chocolate With Francois and Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club have encouraged me to try recipes I wouldn't have tried otherwise. It's also increased the amount we spend on food. I buy ingredients I don't normally stock in my kitchen. I always try to "Use It Up". It's fun searching for a recipe to use the rest of those ingredients.

I found this recipe for Buttermilk Sorbet. Four ingredients, three really since lemon zest and lemon are the same ingredient. How simple is that? Speaking of simple, Santa brought me one of these. This makes squeezing a lemon quick and easy!

This sorbet is amazingly delicious. It has a nice hint of lemon but isn't too lemony. It's so creamy, you would think you are eating ice cream. I can't wait to make this sorbet with summer berries. I am just loving anything these days that reminds me of summer!

Lemon Buttermilk Sorbet
Recipe from Bon Appetit

Makes approximately 7 cups
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest
4 cups buttermilk

Stir sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Add buttermilk, stir until sugar is dissolved. Chill until cold, at least 4 hours. Process mixture in ice cream freezer, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer to contained with lid; freeze. (Can be made 3 days ahead.)

My notes on this recipe: I added about 1/4 cup of vodka to this recipe. I drizzled it in while it was in the ice cream freezer. You know how homemade ice cream can get too frozen to scoop? I think the little bit of alcohol helps prevent it from freezing so hard. The recipe says this can be made three days ahead. I made this a week ago and it's still good.