Cinnamon ice cream

The ice cream experiences are going extremely well and friends are making requests (mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream are the two most popular). I made my first custard-based ice cream last week, a cinnamon ice cream, this again is from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.

1 cup of whole milk
3.4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Ten three-inch cinnamon sticks broken up
2 cups of heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon and one cup of the cream in a saucepan. Once warm remove from heat and let steep for about an hour.

Rewarm the mixture and remove the cinnamon sticks. Add remaining cup of cream to a separate bowl in an ice bath.

In separate bowl whisk egg yolks. Add portion of warm milk mixture to eggs yolks whisking constantly. Add warm egg yolks to milk mixture and stir constantly until it coats the back of a spatula.

Pour through strainer into cup of cream in ice bath and stir until cool. Once cool store in fridge and make according to ice cream makers instructions.

This was an excellent ice cream, good flavor and a texture like I've never tasted before. I may be ruined for store bought ice cream.

Chocolate raspberry ice cream

The ice cream maker might be a very dangerous toy. Made my first batch last night and all I can say is wow. I made one of the easier recipes and it had a richness and depth that I haven't had with store bought ice cream in a long time if ever. I'm almost afraid of what the more complex, richer recipes will bring.

This recipe if from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.

1.5 cups of heavy cream
5 TBLSP of unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder,
2/3 cups of sugar
2 cups of fresh or frozen raspberries (I used frozen because the fresh ones at the store looked like crap).

Whisk together, the cream, cocoa powder and sugar in medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a full boil and then remove from heat and add raspberries, let sit for 10 minutes.

Add mixture to a food processor or blender (I used a blender) and puree. Optional: then press the mixture through a strainer to get rid of some of the seeds.

I then places the mixture into an ice bath to hep cool it down. For this type of ice cream this is another optional step. At this point you could just place in a container in the fridge and let cool down completely.

I let it sit in the fridge for about three hours before churning. It took a little more than 10 minutes before it was ready and at that point it was the consistency of soft serve and you could eat it then. I placed it in an air tight container and put it in the freezer for about 45 minutes to firm up a bit more. This made a small batch, enough for two or three people.

Ice Cream

As I mentioned, we received the ice cream maker attachment to the KitchenAid mixer so last Friday I stared looking online for recipes, which I found a bit frustrating.

The base for many ice creams is called a creme anglaise, which is basically different types of dairy, sugar and eggs heated and mixed, of what some may call a custard. There are many, many different version as I found out. I was getting annoyed so I decided to spend some of the $50 in Borders gift cards I had and bought The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. I read his blog quite a bit and find his recipes pretty easy to follow and the book is no different.

So, on tap this week is a chocolate, rasberry ice cream along with a orange popsicle ice cream. These are both "Philadelphia-style" ice creams, no egg yolks and no creme anglaise, trying to start slowly and see then step it up. I'll let you know how they turn out.