Guinness Ice Cream

Guinness Ice Cream

So for the Super Bowl this year I decided to make my Guinness ice cream.  Now, I have made this flavor in the past - it was originally a request for a "Clog-Your-Arteries Party" I attended some time ago.  The original ice cream was pretty good, a smooth vanilla flavor with more of a light Guinness after taste.  However, this time I wanted more of that Guinness flavor, so I made it with two cans of Guinness (as opposed to just one).  I also added about 1/3 cup brown sugar to get more of the brown coloring (last time it came out just slightly off white).  The result was definitely a BEER flavored ice cream.  The beer lovers really liked it, those who weren't as fond of beer, obviously weren't fans.  The malty-ness definitely comes through.  Because I used two cans I got more of an ice-y consistency than I normally like, but that happens any time you add more liquid to the heavy cream base.  Overall, I'm calling this one a success!!

Ingredients:

4 cups Heavy Cream

2 cups Sugar

1/3 cup Brown Sugar (just for color)

6 Egg Yolks

1 tsp Vanilla

2 cans Guinness Beer

Make vanilla base as normal - combine heavy cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.  Stir on low heat for about 15 minutes, until base is warm (specifically 165 degrees) just enough to warm the egg yolks, but you don't want scrambled eggs.  Afterwards I poured my base in the ice cream container then stirred in two cans of Guinness.  Cool completely in fridge, then churn according to your ice cream makers directions!  If you're a beer lover - I think you'll really enjoy this one!

Kiwi Ice Cream

 Kiwi Ice Cream

So at work, for Christmas, one of our tow truck drivers brought us a box of kiwis.  I guess he does this ever year, and needless to say, for the most part they go to waste.  So after two days racking my brain trying to figure out what on earth I could make using kiwi's, the light bulb (duh!) finally went on.  I could make the thing I always make - ice cream!

4 cups Heavy Cream
3 cups Sugar (2 cups for the base - one for the kiwi mixture)
6 Egg Yolks
Approximately 20(ish) Kiwi's

I blended the kiwi pieces in a blender, get it nice and smooth.  Don't worry about the seeds - they are totally edible.  Add the extra cup of sugar to this.  You may need more than that.  My ice cream was quite tart. So I either needed to add more sugar to the kiwi mixture or another suggestion was to add strawberries.  Next year with the box of kiwis maybe I'll make Kiwi Strawberry ice cream. 

Note: With fruit based ice creams, I make and cook the base on it's own (heavy cream, sugar, egg yolks).  I combine the base and fruit mixture in the container for cooling - that way the fruit doesn't get cooked.

Another Note:  When making fruit ice cream, due to the juice, you loose some of the creamy texture. 

Gingersnap Ice Cream

Gingersnap Ice Cream

So for Christmas, I wanted to do something festive.  I through around some different ideas but settled on gingersnap.  Honestly, not my favorite cookie - but the ice cream was delicious!

Ingredients:

4 cups Heavy Cream

1 1/4 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

6 Egg Yolks

4 tbs Molasses

1 tbs ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Crushed Gingersnap cookies

To be honest, I was very hesitant with this recipe.  I've never used molasses before, I wasn't super convinced it would get that gingersnap flavor.  That is so not an issue - tasted pretty fantastic! What can I say, I impressed myself on this one!



S'mores Ice Cream

S'mores Ice Cream

I wanted to do something fun for summer, I previously did Watermelon Ice Cream which was a HUGE success but, alas, I forgot to take pictures.  The S'mores also was a great success.  Basically just a vanilla ice cream base with the s'mores fixin's. 

Ingredients:

4 cups Heavy Cream

2 cups Sugar

6 Egg Yolks

Vanilla Extract to taste (I used about 2 tsp)

6 full Graham Crackers

2 large bars Hershey's Chocolate

1 bag of Mini Marshmallows - broiled in the oven for that nice toasted flavor

On a side note - this is the second time I've added graham cracker (or graham cracker crust) to my homemade ice cream.  I find that ice cream and graham crackers are bff's I really love this combination!!

Almond Biscotti and Mascarpone Ice Cream

Almond Biscotti and Mascarpone Ice Cream

We had Italian night at work (spaghetti, lasagna, garlic bread etc) so I was tasked with coming up with an Italian flavored ice cream.  I wanted to do something different.  My first thought was something with ricotta cheese, but not being a big fan of ricotta, I decided to go with mascarpone cheese instead.  Originally I was going to make it with amaretti cookies, but alas I could find none, so I went to a back up of biscotti, and decided to add almonds for good measure.  The marscapone has a very mild flavor so you can't really taste it in the ice cream so much, but you can definitely tell it's there in the texture. 

And just too keep things interesting I thought I'd do a step by step guide this time. 

Ingredients:

2 cups Sugar

4 cups Heavy Cream

6 Egg Yolks

1 8 oz tub Mascarpone

1 box Biscotti

1 6 oz back Slivered Almonds (you can used any almonds, I just prefer the slivered ones)

First thing I did was melt the mascarpone cheese

Add Sugar

Add heavy cream

Mix together on low heat to gently warm

Once warmed, temper your eggs

Continue to warm, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes or until coats the back of a spoon. 

While the base is chilling completely in the fridge, you can get started on chopping the almonds

Also chop the biscotti cookies into pieces and set aside until ice cream base is completely cool.  Churn ice cream as instructed on your ice cream maker.

When it's almost done churning you can add in the biscotti

And add the almonds.  Finish churning and put in the freezer to harden.  Once hard, serve and enjoy!





Mango Chili Lime Ice Cream

Mango Chili Lime Ice Cream

Well this flavor opened to mixed reviews - people either liked it or they really didn't.  I personally enjoyed it, even with the spice (and I am not a spicy eater).  The lime is really just and under note. 

Ingredients:

2 cups Sugar (perhaps more for your mango's depending on the tartness)

4 cups Heavy Cream

6 Egg Yolks

4 Mango's (this is how many I used but I would recommend probably 6 as mine didn't have as strong of mango flavor as I would have liked)

2 Limes

1 Jalapeño

Recipe:

First thing I did was peel and dice the Mango's.  Then I diced the jalapeño (removing some of the white and seeds so it wasn't too spicy, but I left a good amount).  Then I zest both limes and juiced them.  All of this went in the blender with about  a half cup of sugar since my mango's were pretty tart.  Let this puree as much as you'd like.  Set aside.  I did strain this a little to get out the larger pieces of jalapeño. 

To make the ice cream base (which I make the same for all my ice creams) is really easy.  Add 4 cups heavy cream and 2 cups sugar in pot and let it cook on low (this is really important, you don't want to over cook it, really you're just trying to warm it up).  While this is slowly warming, I separate my egg yolks out. 

Once the cream has gotten mildly warm you need to temper your egg yolks.  This means adding the warmed cream mixture into your bowl of egg yolks and mix it together.  Then add the cream and egg mixture back into the pot.  This is VERY important - you don't want your eggs to scramble. 

Keep on low and stir occasionally.  Again, we don't want to over cook this.  About 15 minutes until the mixture has thickened a little and will coat the back of a spoon.  At this point it goes into a bowl (or your ice cream canister) and gets mixed with the mango puree.  Then put into the refrigerator until it cools completely.  This takes a few hours. 

Once completely cool, it's time to churn!  Follow your ice cream makers instructions.  When done my ice cream is about milk shake consistency, which is perfect.  This gets put into a freezer safe tub and put in the freezer to harden.  This takes several hours, so I'd recommend making this a day ahead. 

Once frozen, serve, and enjoy!!



Ghosts of Ice Creams Past

While I've just recently decided to start a blog, I've been making my ice cream for almost a year now.  I'm always trying to come up with new an interesting flavors and have had some successes... and some failures.  I figure I'd start with brief history and rating of my past flavors.

Strawberry Mint - Mild Success - This was my first batch and the consistency was definitely lacking.  Also the mint gave it a subtle toothpaste flavor, which wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

Raspberry Lemonade - Semi Success - Still working out consistency issues and came out pretty tart, but hey, it's lemonade!

Peachy Keen - Semi Success - Perfect consistency just not enough peach flavor.  If I attempt this one again I'll try canned peaches instead of fresh peaches.

Honey Nut - Semi Success - One of my favorite flavor combinations, truly delicious, but this never got past milk shake consistency, I'm thinking that honey doesn't freeze?

Caramel Apple - Semi Success - While I've finally mastered my consistency, due to the addition of apple cider the consistency still wasn't what it should have been.

Pumpkin Pie - Success - Perfect, creamy, tasted EXACTLY like pumpkin pie, even tried the store bought kind later and thought mine was much better!

Cranberry Lime Sorbet - Success - My first attempt at a Sorbet, came out great if not a little tart, definitely needed more sugar!

Guinness - Super Success - This was a request for a "Clog-Your-Arteries" party.  I don't really drink beer, especially not Guinness and yet this was really good and a HUGE hit!

Cheesecake - Super Success - One of my favorites, captured that cheesecake flavor spectacularly, and pieces of graham cracker crust? YUM

Bacon - Disaster - Sadly this did not turn out as I hoped.  While trying to increase that "bacon" flavor I decided not to drain the fat.  BIG MISTAKE.  What I got was fat flavored ice cream - no bueno.  Trust this flavor will be revisited, I already have ideas on how to improve this recipe!

I may have forgotten some but those (to me) at least are the most memorable.  After trial and error, I finally settled on a great base recipe, one that all my ice creams consist of - one that gives a delicious rich and creamy texture.  After that it's just about adding whatever flavor you're looking for! 

Stay tuned - more to come!!