Salty Caramel Ice Cream

Last week I shared this Lemon Ice Cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream cookbook. For the record, I blogged about this last week but made it a few weeks ago. I didn't want you to think we're eating homemade ice cream every week at our house.

I love the way the book is divided into seasons, with the recipes featuring seasonal ingredients. Although we're in the middle of winter, I couldn't resist trying the Salty Caramel Ice Cream.

Jeni uses the dry burn technique for the caramel. I was a little nervous making it this way. I pictured the smoke detectors going off. Fortunately, I was able to get it off the heat just in time and it turned out perfectly.

I've always made the ice cream base, poured it into a pitcher and chilled it overnight in the fridge. Jeni's technique for chilling is to pour the mix into a gallon bag and chill in a bowl of ice water for about 30 minutes. It works great but it's hard to get all of the mix out of the bag. Especially with this one, you don't want to waste a drop.

Just like the Lemon Ice Cream, the texture is perfect, soft and creamy. I also love how it's still easy to scoop after being in the freezer after several days. The flavor is amazing, just a hint of salt and the perfect deep caramel flavor.



Salty Caramel Ice Cream
Makes about 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together cream cheese and salt until smooth; set aside.
3. Mix the heavy cream with the corn syrup in a measuring cup with a spout; set aside.
4. Fill a large bowl with ice and water to create an ice bath; set aside.
5. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, spread an even layer of sugar over the bottom of the pan. Heat, without stirring, until there is a full layer of melted sugar on the bottom, but still some white unmelted sugar on the top. When the edges start to turn a golden color, gently pull it towards the unmelted sugar with a heatproof spatula to help melt the center. Continue pushing the sugar until it is all melted and evenly amber in color (like an old copper penny).
6. Remove from heat and gradually add the cream mixture to the pan. It will bubble up, so be careful! It’s extremely hot. Stir until well combined, then return pan to heat and add the milk. Bring mixture to a rolling boil and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually stir in cornstarch mixture.
7. Bring back to a boil and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 2 minute. Remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into cream cheese, whisking until smooth. Add vanilla extract and whisk until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the prepared ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as needed, until well chilled, about 30 minutes.
8. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

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

Lemon Cream Ice Cream

Last week I shared with you the first recipes I tried one of my newest cookbooks, Mozza. In addition to the amazing Mozza cookbook, I received Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

I love homemade ice cream and am always in search of the best recipes. Jeni's book is featured in almost all of the lists for 2011's best cookbooks. I've been making homemade ice cream for years. Jeni's recipes are different than any I've made before. She uses cornstarch for thickening, cream cheese and no eggs.

I had one Meyer Lemon remaining from our trip to California, so I chose Lemon Ice Cream as the first recipe to try. I've read some great reviews of Jeni's ice cream. This ice cream did not disappoint, it was creamy, tart and so smooth! I also felt it kept better in the freezer than any recipe I'd made before. You know how some ice creams freeze way too hard? Not this one, it stays a nice frozen consistency even after a week or so. I can't wait to try another one of Jeni's recipes.



Jeni's Splendid Lemon Cream Ice Cream

Makes about 1 quart

Lemon Syrup:

2 to 3 lemons

2 tablespoons sugar

Ice Cream Base:

2 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 1/2 ounce (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

2/3 cups sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Zest of 2 lemons (reserved from above)

1. Prep for the lemon syrup: Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from 2 of the lemons in large strips; reserve. Halve the lemons and squeeze enough juice to make 1/2 cup. Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and refrigerate until chilled. This won't be a very thick syrup.

2. Prep for the ice cream base: Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

3. Cook: Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and lemon zest in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes -- watch it closely and stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't boil over. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

4. Chill: Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

5. Freeze: Remove the lemon zest. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and turn on the machine. Pour the lemon syrup through the opening in the top of the machine, and continue to spin the ice cream until thick and creamy.

6. Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, about 4 hours.

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

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.

Cake Batter Ice Cream

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! We'd planned to take a camping trip to a state park about an hour west of Omaha. The hot weather, heat indexes of over 110, caused us to change our mind and stay home. The unexpected weekend at home left me with the time and motivation to cook and bake all sorts of summer treats!

If you live in the Midwest, you may be familiar with Sheridan's Frozen Custard. Sheridan's is a Kansas City based custard company with locations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois and few other states across the US. I was thrilled when our first Omaha location opened a few years ago! My favorite treat at Sheridan's is a Be My Cupcake Concrete. My husband loves it when we go to the drive through and he get's to order the "Be My Cupcake" for me! It's a frozen treat made with vanilla custard, white cake and sprinkles.

I was looking for a similar treat to make at home, when I found this recipe for Cake Batter Ice Cream. Instead of cake and custard mixed together, cake mix is used for the cake batter flavor. In reading the comments on this recipe, I found a couple of people who used skim milk and half and half instead of heavy cream and whole milk. Awesome, anything I can to do to make ice cream a little less bad for you works for me. Several people also commented the recipe was a little lacking in flavor, so they added more cake mix. I used 1 cup of cake mix and 1 tablespoon of vanilla paste.

My cuisinart ice cream maker is several years old and just didn't seem to be freezing properly anymore, so I'd been thinking about getting a new one. A few weeks ago, while browsing the shelves at Goodwill, I found a Cooks Essentials for $7.99. It looked brand new, I am not sure it had ever been used. My new ice cream maker made the perfect consistency of ice cream! Gotta love a bargain!!

While it was freezing, I spooned out a taste. OMG this is so good! I had to make myself back away, I could have continued to spoon out way too many tastes. I can't wait to try a chocolate version of this recipe!

I love ice cream socials. As a kid, we always had an ice cream social at church to celebrate the end of Vacation Bible School. They were always so fun. Today I am participating in two ice cream socials in the blogsphere. Suzy at Kitchen Bouquet is having her third Ice Cream Social Weekend. I particpated last year with these Key Lime Ice Cream Sandwiches! In celebration of National Ice Cream Day, La at A Musing Potpourri is also having an ice cream social.

Enjoy!



Cake Batter Ice Cream
Recipe adapted from All Recipes

• 1 cup milk (I used skim milk)
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used a tablespoon of vanilla paste)
  
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (I used half and half)
  
• 3/4 cup yellow cake mix, sifted (I used 1 cup)
  

Directions

1. Whisk together milk, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, cream, and cake mix in a saucepan until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F (70 degrees C), stirring frequently. Remove from heat and place in the refrigerator or freezer until liquid is cold.
2. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency. Transfer ice cream to a one- or two-quart lidded plastic container; cover surface with plastic wrap and seal. For best results, ice cream should ripen in the freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Brownies & Key Lime Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

You know how a lot of people seem to be in search of the best chocolate chip cookie recipe? For me, it's the best brownie recipe. The Omaha paper had a best brownie contest a few weeks ago. I submitted my favorite recipe. My recipe wasn't chosen but it was fun to enter. When I saw Tiffany of A Spoonful and a Heap had chosen Chocolate (Walnut) Brownies for this week's SMS, I wondered if this one would end up being my new favorite.

The recipe calls for 45 to 50 minutes of baking time. Since my oven tends to run a little hot, I set it for 40 minutes. I didn't check it before the 40 minutes were up. I should have. 40 minutes was too long. Not that these are overdone, they're just not that "ooey gooey" brownie that I love. The flavor was pretty good but I like my "ooey gooey" brownies to be really chocolatey. These didn't have enough chocolate for me. They also tasted a little salty. I think that means when I didn't think I'd put the salt in, I already had :).

In honor of National Ice Cream Day, Suzy at Kitchen Bouquet is having an Ice Cream Social. All week, I've been contemplating what to make. Since these brownies came out a little dry, how about using the not so "ooey gooey" brownies for Ice Cream Sandwiches?

Recently, I've seen a couple of recipes on the blogsphere for Key Lime Pie Ice Cream.
After some searching, I found this Food Network Recipe. As luck would have it, I had all of the ingredients on hand. No trip to the store required, that's a good thing. I omitted the lime zest. My experience with zest in ice cream, is it all seems to gum up in one spot. Also, no graham crackers needed since, I was using this for ice cream sandwiches.

I wish I had planned in advance to make these brownies for ice cream sandwiches. I'd have used a different pan, one where they would have been thinner. I decided to take a chance and cut them in half. I had some casualties, so I have multiple sizes of Ice Cream Sandwiches.

If you like the flavor of key limes, this ice cream is for you. It's very tart but the chocolate sandwiches help balance it out. I can't wait to try Ice Cream Sandwiches again and this time I will plan in advance.




Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Courtesy of Food Network

1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
4 to 6 graham crackers, for garnish
Directions
Mix ingredients together and refrigerate until cold. Pour into ice cream maker and mix for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to another container and place plastic wrap on ice cream and cover container tightly with a lid. Place in freezer for several hours.

When ready to serve, garnish with graham crackers.

Foods We Can't Live Without #4

I find that blogging is taking me back in time to a food, a special person or a time gone by. I LOVE ice cream. As I think back to my childhood, I remember having ice cream as a treat before I went to bed at night. I thank my father for creating the craving for sweets that I still have today.

My first memories of going out for ice cream were to Zarda Dairy. I remember banana splits, hot fudge sundaes and Bubble Gum Ice Cream. At home I remember my dad making malts with malted milk powder.

Homemade ice cream...remember the hand crank ice cream makers? Was that a lot of work or what? Today, I have an electric ice cream maker. While making ice cream with this machine is so much easier it does remind me that this is just another tradition of the past that has been replaced by technology.

One of my favorite recipes for ice cream is Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream. When I went to make it today, I realized I didn't have the peach preserves. I did have Apricot Preserves, so I used them and couldn't tell the difference. In the last few minutes of the mixing process, I added crumbled Thin Mints.