I Love Ice Cream More Than Words Can Say

My absolute favorite thing to make is ice cream. This past winter I bought an ice cream maker with gift money from the holidays, and it was the best investment I have probably ever made! Since then, I have made a batch almost every week, if not twice a week. I have also dabbled in sorbets and gelato, but mostly I stick with ice cream. I recently made a list of flavors I have made over the half year while bored at work once, and here is what I could remember (in no particular order):

Peppermint Bark, Chocolate-Hazelnut gelatto, Chai, Berry sorbet, Pineapple-Orange sorbet, Pineapple-Orange-Strawberry Sorbet, Mint-Oreo, Birthday Cake (made by my old housemate, Sunny. She is amazing), Mango Sorbet, Strawberry, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, White-Chocolate Raspberry, Blackberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Irish Coffee (also a Sunny creation), Caramel, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie, Chai Pumpkin Pie, Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Vegan Peanut Butter Brownie, Cookies and Cream, Maple Walnut, Thin Mint, Samoa, and my most recent flavors were Mexican Chocolate and Coffee Oreo.

I have spent a lot of time experimenting with different ice cream recipes, changing the proportions of cream, milk, and sugar and the use of egg. What I have found is that there is one recipe that tends to work amazingly well and it is this recipe that I use for 95% all ice cream I make now. Not surprisingly, this recipe comes out of the Joy of Cooking (or as I refer to it, the Bible), the single best cookbook for anyone to purchase in my opinion.

French Vanilla Ice Cream
2 C heavy whiping cream
1 C whole milk
2 egg yolks
3/4 C sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp vanilla

Start by heating 1 C whole milk an 3/4 C sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Then, slowly temper the egg yolks into the cream mixture (by slowly adding about 1/2 C of the hot mixture into the eggs before pouring the whole thing back into the pot. This will help the eggs heat up without curdling). Stir this mixture constantly until it reaches about 175 degrees fahrenheit. I use a candy thermometer, but if you don't have one, you can use a wooden spoon and when the custard gets thick enough to cover the back of the spoon, you should be good. Take this off the heat and let it cool down for about 1/2 an hour before adding the 2 C cream and vanilla. Let this chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours, but overnight is better. I put a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming.

Once the cream has chilled all the way, place it in the ice cream maker for 15-20 minutes. If adding solids to the ice cream (chocolate chips, broken cookies, nuts, etc) do this two minutes before the churning is done. The measurement for these is almost always 1 C. Once it had doubled in volume, transfer to a container and place in the freezer for at least 4-6 hours before eating.

For the Mexican Chocolate ice cream, I added 1/4 C coco powder to the egg yolks before tempering them into the hot milk/sugar mixture. Once it cooled down and the cream was added, I put in only 1 tsp. vanilla, and some cinnamon and ceyenne pepper. Unfortunately, I didn't measure the spices and just did it to taste, but it turned out amazingly well. You taste the cinnamon and chocolate, but then the spiceyness of the ceyenne comes at the end almost as an aftertaste. Awesome.

For the Coffee Oreo ice cream (technically Coffee JoeJoe, since I used the Trader Joe's version of oreos, which in my opinion are much better and they don't have high fructose corn syrup!) I added 1/4 C coffee into the milk/sugar mixture once the sugar disolved. I took the pot off the heat and covered it, letting it steep for 1/2 an hour before straining the coffee grounds out. I then put the mixture back on the heat and followed the rest of the recipe with the eggs & cream. Two minutes before it was done churning, I added 1 C of crushed cookies.

If you have any ideas for future ice cream flavors, let me know and I will try them out!