Avocado Ice Cream

Avocado Ice Cream

meat from 2 medium avocados
1 t lime juice
1 1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c sugar
1 c heavy cream

Peel and pit the avocados. Add the avocados, lime juice, milk, and sugar to a blender and puree. Transfer the mixture to a medium mixing bowl, add the heavy cream and whisk to combine. Place the mixture into the refrigerator and chill until it reaches 40 degrees F or below, approximately 4 to 6 hours.

Freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

Dennis and I both think this tastes like melons, squash, and sweetened guacamole in turns. I could add more sugar, or try a recipe with coconut milk, but there is nothing wrong with this purely avocado flavored batch.

Brown Butter Ice Cream

I mostly followed this recipe, but I did the whisking in the blender.

This has the flavor of brown butter, and a very dense mouth feel. Dennis and I both agree that it needs to go with something, like a dark chocolate brownie. It would also be good with an addition of vanilla or lemon flavor.

Cranberry ice cream

Ingredients
1 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 cup water
2 cups milk
2 cups sugar
1 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions
In a large saucepan, cook cranberries and water over medium heat until berries pop, about 15 minutes. Strain; discard seeds and skins. Cool completely. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat milk to 175 degrees F; stir in sugar until dissolved. Cool. Stir in the cream, juices and cranberry mixture.
Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. Allow to ripen in ice cream freezer or firm up in the refrigerator freezer for 2-4 hours before serving.

The first two times I tried to make this per the recipe, I got curdled milk. It didn't taste bad, but it wasn't going to be served at Thanksgiving. It's just too much acid to go into the milk. Maybe it was my technique (twice!)

I thought I was going to give up, then I remembered some cranberry - pomegranate juice I had in the fridge. I cooked that and some Makers Mark down to a syrup, then used 2% milk and half and half. Went right together and made a nice final product. It wound up tasting / feeling a lot like the raspberry part of rainbow sherbet. We'll see how everyone likes it tomorrow.

Peach swirl ice cream

I had left over peach filling from my fried peach pies.

I made a six-egg-yolk vanilla ice cream and swirled some of the filling in.



My "swirling" technique needs work, but the taste didn't suffer. This is very rich and great!

Pina Colada & Mango sorbets

The pina colada recipe is directly from The Perfect Scoop. The mix was delicious without freezing. The sorbet is really spectacular. I'll never use pina colada mix again. Fresh pineapple is the only way to go.

I had to play with the mango recipe. My mangoes were smaller and not fully ripe. I added vanilla extract and the rest of the coconut milk from the pina colada recipe. It is still nicely tart, but it pairs very well with the sweet pina colada.

Chocolate chip ice milk

I find this more refreshing than the heavy cream and custard types, because it melts away so quickly and leaves a moist aftertaste instead of a creamy one.

1 cup half and half
2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup sugar
vanilla to taste

Stir to combine, churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions, adding 1/2 of a Hershey's bar, chopped, during the last five minutes of processing.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

Again from The Perfect Scoop.

I used this olive oil from Dierberg's.

The flavor is gentle and mild, like the oil I chose. Your results will be largely based on what the oil you use tastes like. The mouth feel is very rich, but without the eggs found in so many other ice cream recipes.

This is a keeper. Would be excellent with some dark chocolate drizzle.

Lemon Ice Cream

Some things just don't turn out as well as you'd like. I made this lemon ice cream the day before we left for Kentucky.



It was inedible. I do not know exactly what went wrong, but I suspect my microplane grater grated off too much pith.

Oddly, now that it has aged in the freezer for two weeks, it is slightly more edible. I wouldn't go so far as to call it
good, but you could choke it down if you had to now...

Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee, sweetened condensed milk, half & half.



This one is more grainy since there is so much water in it, but it still scoops just fine.

Watermelon Sorbet

I really can't stop.

Neither Dennis nor I are crazy for watermelon. We both like the flavor of fresh watermelon not fake, but neither of us think the taste is worth enduring the texture.

I put this watermelon through my Magic Bullet juicer*, since my blender carafe split open last week, so there is no pulpy, icky stuff in this sorbet.

It doesn't have any mouth feel to speak of, it just melts into a cool burst of watermelon flavor on your tongue. Cool!

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
3 c watermelon juice
1/2 c sugar
pinch Kosher salt
juice of 1 small lime
splash of vodka

Bring 1/2 c watermelon juice sugar and salt to a boil. Combine with the remainder of the ingredients and chill thoroughly.

Churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions.

I did not measure the vodka, but it appears to help keep this sorbet scoopable. I did not have problems with this freezing into a solid mass. This would be a really good place to use some type of mint flavored spirit. I also brought my syrup mixture to a full boil to thicken rather than just dissolve the sugar. I think this may have contributed to the fine texture as well.

*The Magic Bullet Juicer appears to work just fine. Who knew? I'm glad we didn't regift it!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Cinnamon ice cream and peach pie*.



Pie is 4 cups of sliced peaches, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of tapioca, 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice baked in a 9" pie plate for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

The cinnamon ice cream is made by infusing the milk with cinnamon sticks per my newest cookbook.

The Perfect Scoop David Lebovitz.


I couldn't wait for shipping, so I found that you can search your local stores on Borders.com, find a copy of a book you're looking for, reserve it, and go pick it up within 24 hours.

*We are not eating all of this good stuff at home. The two peach pies and cinnamon ice cream is for the girls at work. I can share :)

Chocolate Ice Cream

Eight ounces of chocolate in about a quart of ice cream!



I'm causing myself to swoon.

Cuisinart Chocolate Ice Cream
1 c whole milk
1/2 c sugar
8 oz chocolate*
2 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract

Process chocolate and sugar in a blender until finely chopped.

Heat whole milk until just bubbling around the edges of the pan, then slowly add to the chocolate and sugar mixture. Blend until smooth. Allow to cool completely.

Stir in heavy cream and vanilla. Chill thoroughly.

Churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions.

*I used 6 ounces Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate, 1 ounce Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate, 3/4 of a Hershey's bar, and a few shakes of Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. This ice cream tastes just like brownie batter.

Strawberry Ice Cream

I made some ice milk as soon as I could after I got my new ice cream maker, but this batch of strawberry is my first attempt at "ice cream".



I'm not complaining. I think I will let the berries macerate a bit longer next time, because they're frozen in there like little ice cubes. I wish they have a bit more give when bitten. Other than that, I'm so sold on this machine. *love*

Cuisinart Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
1 pt fresh strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 T lemon juice
1 c sugar, divided
1 c whole milk
2 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract

Combine strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 c of sugar. Allow the strawberries to macerate in the juices for 2 hours.

In a medium bowl, whisk milk and sugar until dissolved. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and any juices from the strawberry mixture. Chill thoroughly.

Churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions, adding berries during the last five minutes of the freeze cycle.

I added a few drops of red food coloring to the milk and sugar mixture.

Ice Cream Maker!

Dennis got me a birthday present. He wasn't supposed to, because I thought my Florida trip was more than enough, but he did anyway.