A couple of months ago, a co-worker asked me if I had a recipe for caramel ice-cream, and I thought, why haven’t I tried making it before? Red and I love caramel ice-cream, and we used to gobble down a pint of caramel crunch cone ice-cream by a very well-known ice-cream manufacturer that had been long discontinued. I have made homemade caramel sauce before, but never even thought about making it into ice-cream. I came home and asked Red if he’d be up for trying a caramel ice-cream, and he said sure! Fortunately, we have all of the ingredients readily at home, therefore, we were able to try it right away. I was really surprised at how delicious this ice-cream was, although I have to admit that it got a little scary when the cream was added into the sugar mix, the bubbles were pretty explosive. So be careful; and be ready to move quickly. I was actually worried about leaving caramelized sugar on our stove top (just before we need to sell our house, duh!). The ice-cream was so rich, creamy and complex with caramel flavor… definitely a sinful treat for caramel lovers! I had exercised a little restraint and decided not to make this caramel sauce to go with it. Especially after the tiny explosion in the kitchen, I wanted to savor every bite of this ice cream 
Adapted from Bon Appetit , December 2009
Directions
1-1/2 cups heaving whipping cream
1-1/2 cups whole milk
Large pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
6 large egg yolks
Directions
Place cream, milk and large pinch of salt in medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean, add bean. Bring to simmer, cover and set aside.
Stir sugar and 1/4 cup of water in another heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat, boil without stirring until syrup turns dark amber color, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 8 minutes. Immediately add hot cream mixture (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir over low heat until any caramel bits dissolve.
Whisk yolks in large bowl. Gradually whisk in hot caramel mixture. Return to saucepan. Stir over medium low-heat until thick enough to coat back of spoon, about 3 minutes (do not boil). Strain into medium bowl; refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours.
Process custard in ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to container and freeze.
Do Ahead: Can be made 3 days ahead, keep frozen.
Yield: 4 cups
I hope you still have room in your tummy for another ice-cream recipe; because this one is another new favorite that I wish that I had discovered sooner. I actually made one batch earlier this summer and we finished the whole batch (“we” = me, the hubs, my 13-mo daughter, and her nanny) in probably four days. I didn’t even get to take pictures for the blog (duh!). But no worries, I had NO problem making another batch. This ice-cream was incredibly creamy and RICH, thanks to generous amount of whole milk, heavy cream, and egg yolks in its ingredients. Using vanilla bean also gave this ice-cream a beautiful pure vanilla aroma and flavor. Find the best ingredients for this ice-cream since you can really taste the purity coming through each scoop. I had a little stash of gorgeous 80% cocoa chocolate and used them all up for this ice-cream. Totally worth it.
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop
Ingredients
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 oz of your fave chocolate, chopped fine, to be melted (I used Callebaut with 80% cocoa)
Directions
Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.
To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.
In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.
Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.
Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
While the ice-cream is churning, melt the chocolate in a small bowl to a consistency that can be poured (either over double boiler, or microwave).
Pour about 1/3 of the churned custard into your ice-cream container, then drizzle about 1/3 of your chocolate. Stir the chocolate into the mixture slightly to break up the pieces. Repeat until all of the custard and chocolate are gone.
Note: Used vanilla beans can be rinsed and dried, then stored in a bin of sugar. That sugar can be used for baking and, of course, for future ice cream making.
Yield: 1 quart
My local farmer market doesn’t have big offering of fruits in the summer. But there is one stall that sells these gorgeous little berries. While I love all kinds of berries, blueberries is probably my favorite. Two summers ago, the same farmer family had sour cherries, and I made this Fresh Sour Cherry Cobbler. Unfortunately this year, they didn’t have any sour cherry because the frost killed their plants earlier this spring. BUT, they had tons of blueberries! They were all so perfect, small and medium-sized, and sweet. I had been eyeing this blueberry ice-cream recipe since I got Dorie’s cookbook last year, and I was excited to be able to finally try it since I have never had blueberry ice-cream. . The one thing that I noticed right away was that it only makes one pint. I don’t know about your household, but one pint of ice-cream really doesn’t go far at our household. I decided to double the batch and make one quart instead. While this recipe doesn’t use any egg yolks, it still produces a creamy ice-cream, thanks to the generous amount of sour cream. I was really glad that I decided to double the amount right away. If you are a blueberry lover, this recipe is going to give you a true blissful blueberry experience in a bowl!
Adapted from Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
1 cup blueberries – fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain)
1/3 cup sugar (or more to taste)
pinch of salt
grated zest and juice of 1/4 lemon (or lime as you prefer) or more juice to taste
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sour cream
Directions
Put the blueberries, sugar, salt and lemon zest and juice into a medium nonreactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture boils and the berries pop and soften, about 3 minutes.
Turn the berries into a blender and whir until you have a fairly homogeneous puree, about one minute. (It will never be completely smooth, and that’s just fine.) Add the heavy cream and sour cream and pulse just to blend. Taste and, if you’d like, add a squirt more lemon juice or a tiny bit more sugar.
Pour the custard into a bowl and refrigerate until it is chilled before churning it into ice cream.
Scrape the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.
Yield: 1 pint
Let me start this post by saying that the first homemade ice-cream I made was a peach ice cream. I was basically a changed woman after I had this Fresh Georgia Peach Ice-Cream. But since it incorporates the egg yolks without cooking it first, I had to skip it last year when I was pregnant with my daughter. This recipe however, calls for no egg yolks, and uses sour cream instead, therefore it is safe for anyone who’s unable to eat raw egg yolks. The sour cream adds creaminess in this ice-cream, but to me, this ice-cream is like a mix between sorbet and ice-cream. It is light, refreshing, and it makes me think of peach and cream flavor… what an awesome summer dessert.
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop
Ingredients
4 large very ripe peaches, peeled, cut into chunks (about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup peach juice (or 3 tbsp juice and 1 tbsp peach schnapps)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 cup whipping cream (35% fat)
1/2 cup sour cream (full fat)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp lemon juice
Directions
Place the peaches, water, juice and schnapps in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook until the peaches are soft, stirring a few times.
Transfer peaches, along with the liquid, into a non-reactive bowl. Stir in the sugar and let the peach mixture cool, uncovered, to room temperature.
When the peaches have cooled, add the cream, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice. Puree with an immersion blender until blended but bits of peaches remain.
Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge. (You can put in the freezer towards the end to make it extra cold.)
Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
This post is way overdue! Summer has gone by way too quickly for my liking. Between our big trip in June, weddings, and activities with friends (most of them includes food of course!), I have realized how much behind I have been in my blogging activity.
We went strawberry picking during the 4th of July weekend and I came home with a tummy full of fresh strawberries and about 11 lbs of these homegrown goodness. Since Red gave me an early birthday present of ice-cream attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer, I knew right away that we were going to make some sort of strawberry frozen treats. I can eat ice-cream every day, and this was the one thing that I had to give up so I could fit into my wedding dress last year (yea, that’s right, I grew 1/2 inch four weeks after I bought my dress!).
Either way, we absolutely loved this recipe, and would probably use this base recipe for our future ice-cream adventures!
Sweet Cream Base
Adapted from Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream & Dessert Book
2 large eggs
¾ cups sugar
1 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, and then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more.
Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.
Makes 1 quart.
Strawberry
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cups sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
Sweet Cream base
Combine the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.
Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Prepare the Sweet Cream Base. Mash the strawberries to a puree and stir into the cream base.
Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Make generous 1 quart.
