Category: Ice cream

Lavender-Honey Ice Cream

July 23, 2010

In a moment, I am going to show you a photo of some ice cream.  The ice cream is white and it kind of looks like vanilla.  Actually if it were homemade vanilla, at least the way I make it, there would be black flecks in it from the vanilla bean.  So, the ice cream I am going to show you looks even more vanilla than vanilla – if you catch my drift.

This is my garden.  I posted about it in May and, as you can see if you compare the photos, it has exploded.  Our study, where I do all my writing and emailing, faces this garden.  As I gaze out the window in January, it seems impossible that plants will every bloom again.  Everything is cut back and looks completely dead.  But then, right on schedule this happens.

And this.

And this.

Back to the ice cream.  You see those plants up there?  Lavender.  As you walk up to our front steps, you get a tremendous whiff of lavender.  I used to think I didn’t like the scent.  I still don’t if you are talking about a perfume, an essential oil, or a sachet.  But fresh is something else all together.  At the risk of sounding like one big cliché, I first smelled fresh lavender in Provence.  On our way home, after our year in London, we spent a week at a special little villa with some friends.  The English couple who owned the villa harvested the lavender and left it out to dry around the property.  It was there that I learned that the scent of those purple flowers is much more delicate and much sweeter than the potpourri in a bad B&B would leave you to believe.

Still, lavender in ice cream?  When I told my brother I had made Lavender-Honey Ice Cream, he immediately yelled, “Soap!”.  But no.  It tastes of cream and honey with just the slightest and most subtle floral undertone – and I mean that in the most flattering way possible.  This is actually the second time I have made this flavor and the first time Randy told me it was the best ice cream he had ever eaten.  Randy is not a big food person but he loves ice cream.  He loves it enough that if I said I couldn’t live without one of those $500 ice cream makers which take up a tremendous amount of room but don’t require the bowl to be frozen for 24 hours before using it, he’d probably run right out and buy me one.  But then I would be making ice cream constantly so it’s probably best that I stick with my $50 Krups model.

In my head this is also known as the ice cream that almost burned my house down.  The first time I made it, I was steeping the honey with the lavender.  This is accomplished by putting the honey and lavender flowers in a small pot, bringing the heat up so the honey is hot, and then turning off the heat and allowing the flavors to meld together.  Right as I turned the heat on under the burner, I got a phone call.  I ran into the study to check something on the computer while still on the phone and proceeded to forget about the honey.  I also forgot that I had left a rubber spatula (heat resistant to 650ºF!) in the pot and by the time I smelled my error, the entire pot was burned (my one quart!), the spatula was non-existent and there was smoke throughout the house.  Just as I ran upstairs to try and furiously fan the smoke away from the detectors so my boys wouldn’t wake up, alarms all over the house went off.  This is a long story.  All I’m really trying to say is – don’t walk away from the honey.

One Year Ago: What do you know?  Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Lavender-Honey Ice Cream
The Perfect Scoop
Makes about 1 quart

½ cup good-flavored honey
¼ cup dried or fresh lavender flowers
1½ cups whole milk
¼ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1½ cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Heat the honey and 2 tablespoons of the lavender in a small saucepan.  Once warm, remove from the heat and set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Pour the cream in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.  Pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavor as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream.  Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lavender flowers and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator.  The next day, before churning, strain the mixture, again pressing on the lavender flower to extract their flavor.  Discard the flowers, the freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.


Category: Dessert, Ice cream
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Gianduja Gelato

May 1, 2010

The first time I ever tasted Nutella, I was on a three month-long bike trip in France.  It sounds romantic, doesn’t it?  Rather than spending spring trimester of junior year in a classroom, I spent it on a bike riding through five different regions of France.  Even as I type that I think,”Man, that sounds amazing”.  Parts of it were amazing.  But not seeing the sun for 14 days straight and camping in soaking wet tents along the side of the road was not.  I was 16, cold, wet, hungry, and homesick.  Food was more important to me than it ever had been in my life up until that point.  Meals, homestays, and mail were the things that kept me going through what proved to be a difficult trip.

All of us carried food with us either in our paniers or, as in the case of baguettes, strapped to the back of our bikes.  There were certain things that some people were never without.  For me it was a large bar of chocolate.  Others were intensely loyal to Nutella.  I thought the idea of spreading a chocolate/hazelnut mixture on bread sounded like a strange and not-all-that-appetizing practice.  The color and consistency of Nutella turned me off  so I didn’t eat it.  Then one day, when I had run out of jam, I accepted a smear from a friend and then – oh yes – I understood.

What does this have to do with ice cream?  Friends, this is Gianduja Gelato.  In other words, Nutella ice cream.  Oh, and with a ribbon of dark chocolate running through it.  Homemade ice cream will impress just about any dinner guest (“You made the ice cream??”), but just to totally blow peoples’  minds, try serving this with Nutella Pound Cake.  Prepare yourself for praise.

(If you are looking for something more savory, I posted a terrific Eggplant Parmesan recipe over at Amazon Fresh.)

Gianduja Previously: Gianduja Mousse
One Year Ago: Classic Currant Scones

Gianduja-Stracciatella Gelato
The Perfect Scoop
Make about 1 quart

1½ cups hazelnuts, toasted
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
¾ cup sugar
¼ tsp. coarse salt
4 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
5 large egg yolks
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
Stracciatella (recipe follows)

Rub the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel to remove as much of the papery skins as possible, then finely chop them in a food processor or blender.

Warm the milk with 1 cup of the cream, sugar, and salt in a saucepan.  Once warm, remove from the heat and add the chopped hazelnuts.  Cover and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Put the milk chocolate pieces in a large bowl.  Heat the remaining 1 cup cream in a medium saucepan until it just begins to boil.  Pour it over the milk chocolate pieces and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Set a mesh strainer over the top.

Pour the hazelnut-infused mixture through a strainer into a medium saucepan, squeese the nuts firmly with your hands to extract as much of the flavorful liquid as possible.  Discard the hazelnuts.

Rewarm the hazelnut-infused mixture.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm hazelnut mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the milk chocolate mixture.  Add the vanilla and stir until cool over an ice bath.

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

Stracciatella
Make enough for 1 quart of ice cream

5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (do not use chocolate chips)

In a clean, absolutely dry bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate stirring it until it is absolutely smooth.

Mixing it in: Drizzle a thin stream of the warm chocolate into the ice cream during the last possible minute of churning.  If the chocolate clings too much to the dasher, remove the ice cream from the machine and drizzle the chocolate into the frozen ice cream by hand while you layer it into the storage container, breaking up any chunks as you stir.


Category: Chocolate, Dessert, Ice cream
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Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

July 22, 2009

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I grew up on an island.  It sounds exotic, but it was anything but.  My island was a floating bridge away from Seattle and it was suburbia to the hilt.  It was safe and scenic, but it was also boring.  If you wanted to grocery shop, pick up your dry cleaning, eat bad Thai food, or check on your bank account, then you would never have had to leave the Island.  If you wanted any other kind of services – restaurants, shopping of any kind, movie theatres, you know…culture – then you had to head over the bridge to Seattle.

We did, however, have a Baskin and Robbins.  My mother, who is incredibly careful about her weight, actually has a serious thing for ice cream.  Most Sundays, we would head down to the shop and get my mom her Jamocha Almond Fudge while my brothers and I would get a scoop of our choice.  I always pretended to not be able to decide between two flavors so that she would say,”OK, you can get two scoops.”  Chocolate chip or mint chocolate chip were always in my bowl.  (I never did then, and I still don’t now, like eating my ice cream on a cone.  I’m a bowl girl.)

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I’ve been on a bit of an ice cream making kick lately.  Since discovering the wonder that is homemade, I have been making up for lost time with my ice cream maker.  When I brought dinner to my friend with a newborn last week, the gnocchi and the broccoli, I decided to bring ice cream.  I know I have said before that you must bring a nursing mother brownies.  But that was before my ice cream making days and besides, it was too hot to turn on my oven that day.

In all my years of subscribing to food magazines and dutifully cutting out recipes and carefully taping those recipes into my notebooks, I know I have thrown away many a recipe for ice cream.  Before I got over my fear of using my maker, I just passed all those delicious recipes by.  I don’t fret though because I have The Perfect Scoop which is, in my and many others much more esteemed than myself’s opinion, the last word when it comes to ice cream.  I’m pretty simple with my ice cream tastes.  Something with chocolate in it, please.  However, as I go through this book, things that have never appealed to me suddenly sound good.  Rum raisin?  Sure, why not?  Fresh Apricot?  Let’s make it!

So far, I’ve kept it pretty simple.  This chocolate chip ice cream is tears-in-your-eyes sublime.  It’s just super incredible vanilla ice cream with shards of bittersweet chocolate running through it.  It’s a million times better than Baskin and Robbins.

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Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
Makes about 1 quart

This recipe is fairly simple, but read it carefully as you go.  The first time I made it, I followed it to the letter.  The second time, I had too many things going on in my kitchen and I forgot to add the milk to the custard.  Somehow, it still ended up being delicious.  Believe it or not, Costco is a great place to buy vanilla beans – they are incredibly affordable and very high quality.

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (not chocolate chips), chopped

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well.  Cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens an coast the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream.  Put the vanilla bean into the custard, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.  When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a measuring cup in the microwave in 30-second intervals.  Remove from the microwave while there are still small chunks, the residual heat will melt those.  Right before you are ready to turn off the ice cream maker, carefully pour the warm chocolate in through the spout, avoiding the beater blade as best you can.  Turn off the machine and scrape any chocolate that has collected on the blade back into the bowl.  Either serve or scrape into a container and place in the freezer.


Category: Cookbooks, Dessert, Ice cream
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A Shortcake and Ice Cream

June 15, 2009

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So, here is a peek into the world of Dana Treat.

I will often start writing a post hours (or even a full day) before I actually post it.  I start thinking about the story behind a recipe and will start on that track before I get a decent photo and before I type in the recipe.

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For today’s post, I had a long story about how I have made this Strawberry Shortcake before, many years ago.  I wrote about how I tried bringing it over to a friend’s house assembled and how it totally slid into disaster (literally slid) before we even arrived.  I wrote about how I had the brilliant idea these many years later to bring the bring the components of the cake (biscuit, strawberries, chocolate sauce, whipped cream) over to a different friend’s house and to assemble the cake on site.  I wrote a few witty things (namely that I don’t usually like strawberry shortcake because if I am going to eat cake, I’m not interested in a biscuit masquerading as cake) and I was looking forward to taking photos and posting the recipe on our return home.

Well, instead of bringing the lovely slightly sweet and vanilla spiked whipped cream, I accidentally brought the feta and Greek yogurt mixture I had prepared in advance for Tuesday’s meal.  In my defense, they were both white and whipped looking and both were in glass bowls.  This mistake necessitated my husband making an emergency trip to a local market where they didn’t have whipping cream but they did have this.

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So this is what I used.  As I was putting it all together, a full third of the cake broke away from the rest and the spray can whipped cream started melting on contact.  I do have to say that the flavors were lovely.  Fresh local strawberries can cover up for a lot of mistakes.  So can homemade chocolate sauce.  But I feel confident that I will never make this dessert again.  If you want to attempt it, you can find the recipe here.

Normally, making a mistake like this and having a cake that I spent a lot of time not turn out would have totally bummed me out.  But the truth is that it did taste good and I made ice cream.  Somehow I made it through my whole life up until very recently without purchasing David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.  Really, I made it through my whole life up until very recently without using my ice cream maker.  Any dessert you make, no matter how simple – or how disastrous, is dramatically improved by pairing it with homemade ice cream.  People go nuts over it.  For the amount of joy it brings, ice cream should be extremely difficult and time consuming to make.  But it is just the opposite.  This one in particular is not custard based so it really just a matter of slicing strawberries, letting them macerate in a little sugar and vodka, and then whizzing them and a few other ingredients together in a blender.  A rest in the refrigerator and a swim in the ice cream machine and you are done.

Is it the perfect strawberry ice cream?  I would have to say no.  I’ll try another recipe another time.  But this one certainly worked well enough to distract people from the the mistakes of the cake.

One Year Ago:  A Love Letter to Lopez

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
The Perfect Scoop
Makes 1 1/2 quarts

1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. vodka or kirsch
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Slice the strawberries and toss them in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve.  Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring every so often.

Pulse the strawberries and their liquid with the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until almost smooth but still slightly chunky.

Refrigerate 1 hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.


Category: Dessert, Ice cream
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The Spring Tart You Must Make

April 28, 2009

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My husband Randy likes to rate things on a scale from 1 to 10.  The rating system applies to meals he has had, presentations he has done, movies he has seen.  It is a way for his linear mind to organize input.  My non-linear mind has no need for such organization so I find it somewhat irksome that he often asks me to rate certain things.  I can’t assign a number to a meal or an experience.  When he presses me, I will come up with a number, but it feels so wrong to me and I immediately question whatever number I have chosen.

Having said all that, I have no problem telling you and anyone else who will listen that this dessert is a 10.  It was that good.  This is huge because for me, desserts fall into one of two categories.  #1 – Chocolate, #2 – Everything Else.  I call that second category “sort of desserts”.  Don’t get me wrong, I love lemon and I love apple but they are not chocolate and therefore not truly dessert…in my opinion.  The possible exception here is caramel which I love with enough passion to put it in the chocolate category.

If you scroll through the dessert section of this site, you will notice plenty of non-chocolate things.  That is because I am almost always baking for people other than myself and I recognize that there are many misguided souls out there who don’t fully appreciate a chocolate dessert – my husband being one of them.  In the interest of broadening my horizons, I decided to make this rhubarb tart (rhubarb? not even on my radar) for a dinner party on Saturday night.  It is in season right now and I know there are people who feel about rhubarb the way I feel about chocolate, my husband being one of them.

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Where to start?  The recipe is perfect.  The crust was easy to work with and had just the perfect hint of sweetness.  The rhubarb is cooked down with plenty of brown sugar and cinnamon, so a sweetness emerges, but it still retains it’s delightful tang.  The crisp part is amazing as the crisp part of crisp desserts always is – the difference being that here there is a ton of it but not so much so that it is all you taste.  Again, the flavors and textures are perfect – a very well-written recipe.

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And then there is the ice cream.  Brown Sugar – Sour Cream Ice Cream.  Do I really need to attempt to find words to describe it?  Suffice it to say that is the perfect match for the tart.  This is only the second time I have made ice cream and, as with the first time, I wondered why I don’t do this everyday.  If you have made ice cream you know, the texture and flavor cannot compare with store-bought – even the very best store-bought.  And it really takes no effort.  If you are looking for a perfect spring time tart, look no further.img_2019

Rhubarb Streusel Tart with Brown Sugar – Sour Cream Ice Cream
The Farm to Table Cookbook
Makes one – 9 inch tart

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 egg yolks

For the Streusel:
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 1/2 tbsp. almond paste or marzipan
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the Filling:
1 1/2 pounds (about 6 cups) rhubarb, thinly sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1.  To make the crust, blend the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor or an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until the butter lumps are no larger than peas.  Whisk the egg yolks in a small measuring cup and add enough water to make 1/4 cup liquid; add to flour mixture.  Mix until the dough just starts to come together.  (DT: I had to add another couple tablespoons water to get the dough to come together.  I also used ice cold water.)  Gather the dough, shape into a disc, and wrap in plastic.  Chill for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.

2.  To make the streusel, combine the butter, almond paste, sugar, flour, and cinnamon in food processor and process until the mixture is in fine crumbles.  (Alternatively, use a pastry blender.)  Refrigerate until needed.

3.  Allow the dough to stand at room temperature for 5 minutes.  Roll on a lightly floured surface into a 1/2-inch-thick disc, frequently rotating the dough to prevent sticking.  Transfer to a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.  Ease the dough into the pan, fitting it to the pan’s contour with fingertips, leaving some dough hanging over the edges.  Trim the pastry edges by rolling the pin over the rim and discard trimmings.  Freeze the shell until firm, about 30 minutes.

4.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

5.  Make the rhubarb filling by combining the rhubarb, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a large sauté pan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the rhubarb is fall-apart tender, about 10 minutes.

6.  Fill the tart shell with the rhubarb mixture to within 1/2 inch from the top of the crust.  Sprinkle on the streusel and transfer to a baking sheet.  Bake until the streusel is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, about 45 minutes.  Transfer the tart shell to a wire rack and cool completely.  Using a small sharp knife, gently loosen the crust from sides of pan.  Push up pan bottom to release tart.  Serve with ice cream.

Brown Sugar – Sour Cream Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

2 cups half-and-half
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
8 egg yolks
2 cups sour cream

1.  In a small saucepan, scald the half-and-half over medium-low heat until hot.

2.  Whisk the brown sugar and egg  yolks together in a medium bowl.  Slowly whisk in the half-and-half.

3.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture thickens enough to coat it, about 5 minutes.

4.  Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl.  Refrigerate until cold, then whisk the sour cream into the half-and-half mixture and freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.


Category: Dessert, Ice cream, Seasonal, Tart
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