Frozen Desserts

Strawberry Mint Ice Cream

May 5, 2011

I have to admit that I used to hate Strawberry Ice Cream. I think it always tasted so fake to me so I avoid it. I would eat it in a Napoleon ice cream bar or something but it was only because it was only 1/3 of it.

Since I had a massive load of strawberries I decided I should try making strawberry ice cream and see if I like it better when I control the quality of the ingredients. Since I also had a huge bunch of mint I decided I would add that to the ice cream as well. Why not? I can do whatever I want. (I also made mint chocolate chip ice cream which was a total failure, but that’s another story)

The ice cream is sweet, creamy, and flavorful with the strawberries and the mint. I really enjoyed this ice cream since i love the fresh flavors in sorbet so the addition of cream didn’t seem that different to me. The mint adds a nice touch to the strawberries. If you don’t like mint that much than you could cut back and use less. Or pull some out before blending. I just love the flavor of mint and strawberry and I loved the specks of green in it so I kept it in there prior to blending.

Strawberry Mint Ice Cream

1 lb of strawberries

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup mint leaves

1 vanilla pod, split for the beans

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

Wash, destem, and slice strawberries.

In a medium pot, combine the strawberries, sugar, whole milk, mint, and vanilla beans. Simmer for 5 minutes. Blend mixture in blender until completely smooth. Strain blended mixture.

Chill blended mixture until completely cold, at least 2 hours, but preferably over night.

Measure 2 1/2 cups of the blended mixture*, add the heavy cream and remaining whole milk to mixture.

Prepare ice cream according to manufacture’s instructions. For a soft serve consistency, serve immediately or freeze for a harder consistency.

*Instead of discarding the extra strawberry mixtures, you could add a bit of it to milk for flavored milk.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

October 17, 2010

New England has the highest ice cream consumption per capita in the US. I’m still so shocked to hear that since I’d imagine some hot place like FL or TX would rain supreme. Why would someone want cold ice cream in the middle of winter is beyond me but we do it anyway. So making ice cream in the fall is nothing strange. A pumpkin pie ice cream make perfect sense and is sooo good.

This recipe is really simple but produces great results. The ice cream is creamy and tastes exactly like pumpkin pie. Exactly like pumpkin pie- from the puree and spices. I’m the first person to pick pumpkin pie over apple of pecan but I really enjoyed this. This is just like pumpkin pie a la mode- just combined.

I prefer soft serve ice cream which is why the photo at the top is horrible. Fresh from the ice cream maker is not that pretty. At least it tasted amazing.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

adapted from Christie’s Corner

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

pinch of salt

Combine the pumpkin and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

Gently heat the cream, milk, sugar, spices, and salt over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Pour the milk mixture into the pumpkin, combine. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until cold.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions

Watermelon Sorbet

July 14, 2010

Price is staying in CT again to work for the next 2 weeks. We miss each other but there are some ‘advantages’ to being alone. Like getting to make the food I like Price does not like- hello fish dinner! While Price is enjoying having an entire bed to himself since I’m a hot sleeper who ‘needs’ lots of blankets, making the bed sauna like.

Also I get to make the food I really like without having to worry about Pricer eating it. Nothing’s worse than coming home expecting to find leftovers, drinks, 7days croissants, or sorbet but they are all gone. Well there are a lot of things worse but it is disappointing. If I remember, I try to get extra of things just in case or getting him his own so he won’t get mine.

So that leads me to this watermelon sorbet. I previously wrote that I love sorbet when I posted a recipe for Raspberry Sorbet. It’s completely true. I really love sorbet. So when I saw a watermelon at Trader Joes I knew what would be in store for (just) me this week…. Watermelon Sorbet. Just like the raspberry sorbet, this is really easy because it is just a few ingredients and steps. Basically just: 1) cut fruit 2) blend fruit 3) put in ice cream maker. The lime juice adds a slight subtle kick, which helps offset the sweetness from the watermelon and simple syrup.

Now don’t feel bad for Price since I just explained that I don’t like to share. He knew what he was getting into. Besides, I am looking forward to making ice cream recipes and ice cream is meh to me so that can be all for him.

Watermelon Sorbet

1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar

approximately a 1/3 of a medium-sized watermelon- yielding approx 3 cups of puree

juice of 2 limes

1) Over medium heat, combine the water and sugar in a small pot. Cook until the sugar has melted. Cool completely!

2) Cut up chunks of watermelon and put into a blender to make a puree. Strain the puree for see bits and larger fibers.

3) When the simple syrup is cool, put into a 4+ cup measuring cup. Add watermelon puree until you reach 4 cups total.*

4) Add the lime juice and mix well.

5) Pour into your ice cream maker and chill according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

*This recipe is for a 1 1/2 quart ice cream maker. This amount works. Please don’t think that some extra watermelon is okay because it will overflow out of your machine!!*

Raspberry Sorbet

July 6, 2010

When every I hear or see Raspberry Sorbet I think of the Prince song ‘Raspberry Beret’. I guess I’ll be thinking about the song even more now since I have an ice cream maker. Yay!! I had actually been planning this purchase for a while so when we stopping into Trader Joe’s this week I knew I just had to grab some fruit for some sorbet. The raspberries looked the best, plus we has an amazing red raspberry gelato from Dolcezza when we were in DC. Perfect way to escape a summer thunderstorm while in Georgetown.

Back to the sorbet… I love sorbet because it is so simple. Just fruit and simply syrup. The fresher the fruit the better the sorbet tastes so sorbet is a summer time treat for me. While you can use frozen fruit I think the color and flavor is not exactly the same, compared to fresh fruit. While the fruit is ready for picking, pick it and use it.