Cookies and Cream ice cream

Several years ago, my in laws took us to a restaurant that featured a dessert called "Ice cream soup."  I suspect the creator was having an ice cream night like mine when she came up with the concept.  See, I haven't used my ice cream maker in some time... probably in at least a year... and kinda forgot how exactly to work it.  For whatever reason, the recipe came out like soup, through no fault of the recipe itself.  It's tasty soup, of that I assure you, and it's sitting in the freezer in hopes of freezing up and being more ice cream than soup.

I made this for the recipe swap, the theme of which was again "Secret Recipe Swap."  For such a swap, we are assigned a blog rather than a recipe, and can blog anything we find there.  I chose to make my favorite kind of ice cream, Cookies and Cream, which Jey received in another Swap from Melissa!

Ironically, cookies and cream is my favorite ice cream while I dislike the famous cookie that tends to be part of the cookie side of cookies and cream ice cream.

So, a picture is coming as soon as the soup is less soup-y.  Thanks to Sarah for hosting another swap and Jey for a great recipe and a great blog!

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Source: I Was Born to Cook   via The Jey of Cooking

• 2 Cups Whole Milk
• 2 Cups Heavy Cream
• 1 Cup Sugar, divided
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 12 Oreos

Whisk together the milk, cream, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Bring the mixture just to a boil.
While the mixture is heating, add the egg yolk and remaining 1/2 cup sugar to a medium bowl.  Whisk together until the mixture is pale and thick.
Whisking constantly, add about 1/3 of the hot mixture to the yolk/sugar mixture.  Repeat with another 1/3, then returned the combined base to the saucepan.
Stir constantly with a wooden spoon over low heat until it coats the back of the spoon.  Be careful not to boil or the yolks will overcook.  It should only take a few minutes.  Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.
When you are ready to make the ice cream, pulse the Oreos in a food processor until you achieve your desired crumb size.  Process and freeze the ice cream base according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Add the cookie crumbs 5 minutes before finishing.
Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer until your desired consistency is reached.

Ben and Jerry's Banana Ice Cream

Bananas don't last long around here.  They never have, but now that we have two little boys who would eat a banana daily if they could, it's gotten a bit ridiculous.  Most recently, we purchased 3 bunches of bananas, which amounted to about 8lbs, with the intention of letting some of them turn brown for ice cream.

I had to put them in the fridge for that to happen.  Yes, I hide food from my child.

I made this tonight, and M's first response was "This is good; it tastes like liquid banana."  It was quite yummy, but I've found I like the ice cream even better after it sits in the freezer overnight.  After freezing, the taste was even better; M didn't like that there were some chunks of frozen banana inside, but I prefer surprise chunks in my ice cream.  It was very tasty, and I will certainly be making this one again.

This made a LOT more than the previous ice creams I've made, covering the dasher completely.  It filled about 1.5 of my 6c containers.

I used B&J's Sweet Cream Base #1 this time around.  Recipe from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield

Sweet Cream Base 1
2 large eggs
3.4c sugar
2c heavy cream
1c milk

Whisk the eggs in mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue to whisk until completely blended.  Pour in the milk and cream and whisk to blend.


Banana Ice Cream

Sweet Cream Base
Juice of 1 lemon
2 overripe bananas

1.  Prepare the base.  Transfer to ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.
2.  Meanwhile, mash the banana and lemon juice together in a medium bowl, then whisk until smooth.
3.  After the ice cream stiffens, add the banana mixture, then continue mixing and freeze until ready.

Ben and Jerry's Light Chocolate with Marshmallow Swirl

 

I have been on a quest for cute ice cream bowls, with all the ice cream I've been making around here.  You'd think that, with Valentine's Day right around the corner, this would be an easy task.  It hasn't been!  I found cute heart bowls at Michael's, but they seemed huge... as if I don't already overdo it on ice cream.

So I have these little containers around.  They're the Target brand of baby food, but since they have a lid, I saved them for Cheerios and stuff.  It also happens to be the perfect size for a small serving of ice cream.  I'm so klassy with a k.

I have three ice cream recipe books out from the library right now, and so I combined a few recipes to come up with Chocolate Marshmallow Swirl.  The base is by Ben and Jerry's, and I swirled in the marshmallow fluff right before freezing.  The instructions on the other recipe said to not overswirl the fluff or it would melt, so I did a good job of underswirling.

This was pretty tasty, but I have to say I'm not in love with it.  I'll keep looking for an awesome chocolate ice cream recipe, which makes me sad--it's Ben and Jerry's, how can I possibly not be in love with it?

Light Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallow Swirl
very slightly adapted from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield

1 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4c unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2c milk
2 large eggs
3/4c sugar
1c heavy or whipping cream
1t vanilla extract
1/2c marshmallow fluff

1.  Melt the unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler on hot, not boiling, water.  Gradually whisk in the cocoa and heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.  (The chocolate may clump together.  Don't worry, the milk will dissolve it.)  Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, and heat until completely blended.  Remove from the heat and let cool.
2.  Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completey blended, about 1 minute more.  Pour in the cream and vanilla and whisk to blend.
3.  Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend.  Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1-3 hours.
4.  Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.
5.  Add the marshmallow fluff and mix gently until incorporated.

Frosty Latte

A few weeks ago, I went to a Pampered Chef party at Lauren's, and Brooke was the consultant.  Lauren made this tasty drink using eggnog ice cream, and I figured it would be a tasty treat using the Oreo Cheesecake ice cream I was in love with.

As the only coffee drinker in the house (horror!), I decided to make only one mug of this.  I was fairly shocked that there's almost no coffee by doing so.  Hmm, it barely tastes like coffee... maybe M would like it after all.

Just don't tell him, cause I want to save this yumminess for myself.

I gulped this thing down so fast, despite the fact that today is a snowy day with temps in the 20s.  Delicious.

I used my handy Pooh Bear mug, which was the perfect size (I wish I could find more mugs like this at the Disney Store; it's not so huge like the others they sell!)
 

and topped it with some more Oreo crumbs.  Yummy!

Oreo Cheesecake Ice Cream

Since making cinnamon ice cream last week, my husband has been very impressed with my ice cream making skillz.  He got The Boy very excited to help make ice cream again today.  Luckily, The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein came in for me, so we picked up the book then hit the grocery store.  Flipping through the book on the way to the store, there were so many great recipes that we wanted to try...  cherry, peanut butter, etc etc, but when hubby heard a cheesecake ice cream recipe, all the rest faded.

We got the ingredients to make a cherry cheesecake ice cream and an Oreo cheesecake ice cream, but The Boy chose the Oreo one.  So, that's the way we went.

This ice cream starts with a custard base, but unlike the recipe I made previously, this has cream cheese in the custard.  I'm glad that the experience of the cinnamon ice cream has taught me that the flavor of the ice cream changes dramatically when it goes from soft serve esque to hard serve; it is less sweet and much less rich.

Before going in the freezer, hubby remarked that this was really m-fing good.  Yup.  MF.  I tried it again after freezing for almost 2 hours; still fairly soft and really sweet and rich.

I couldn't figure out where in the recipe the cream was added.  Yeah, I read it twice and couldn't find to add the cream, so I figured the recipe meant with milk, so that's when I added it.


Recipe found online at Recipe Chic (Wow, check out her Rocky road recipe; a definite must try!)  Definitely look at Bruce Weinstein's ice cream books.  His recipes are so interesting, though I know I can never get my husband to try red pepper ice cream!

You WANT to make this ice cream.  It's dreeeeamy.

CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

Makes 2 quarts 1 cup sugar  4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature  1 large eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract   3/4c milk 1-1/2c heavy cream   2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon or orange zest  3 graham crackers, crushed Beat the sugar and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring milk to a simmer. Slowly beat the hot milk into the cream cheese mixture. Place back over medium heat and stir until it thickens slightly. Refrigerate until cold. Add in the  cream and the zest if desired. Freeze as directed. Variations: Oreo Cheesecake Ice Cream: Omit lemon zest. Stir in crumbled Oreo’s after ice cream is frozen. Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake: Mix ½ cup raspberry jam with 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. After ice cream is frozen, layer the ice cream and the sauce. Recipe from Weinstein, Bruce. The Ultimate Ice Cream Book. William Morrow, New York. 1999.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

After seeing so many posts about homemade ice cream on Lauren's blog, I decided to take the plunge and bought an attachment for my stand mixer.

My son was enticed by the lure of cinnamon waffles yesterday morning, so I figured cinnamon ice cream was a good first choice.  I found a lot of recipes for cinnamon ice cream, but was a little put off by a ton of steps plus separating eggs (I have no problem separating them, but whatever isn't used in the recipe usually goes to waste, no matter how committed I am to the idea of saving them and using them later).  I found this one on allrecipes, and it seemed easy enough, used ground cinnamon, and also called for whole eggs.

I made it:

and, though the manual suggested blending for 20-30 minutes, I let it go for about an hour.  It still wasn't a thick consistency like I'd have expected from hard ice cream... it was more like soft serve, and BAJ kept saying it seemed like whipped cream.  It was tasty, though way too sweet and way too cinnamon-y for my liking.  I think next I need to try one of the recipes that came with the maker, and hopefully the results will be better.

Update:  After putting it in the freezer for awhile, this ice cream really mellowed.  It wasn't too cinnamon-y, and the sweetness cooled its jets too.  We both enjoyed our ice cream sundaes with this a LOT.  I've been dreaming of putting this into coffee (though, alas, only have flavored coffee, and one that won't go well with cinnamon!).

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the sugar and half-and-half. When the mixture begins to simmer, remove from heat, and whisk half of the mixture into the eggs. Whisk quickly so that the eggs do not scramble. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan, and stir in the heavy cream. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla and cinnamon. Set aside to cool.
2. Pour cooled mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.