Archive for the Category ◊ Ice Creams & Sorbets ◊

13 Jun 2010 Cookie Cups (for Ice Cream Sundaes, of course!)

Want a REALLY good ice cream sundae? Ice-cream, fresh fruit, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, maybe a few sliced almonds…in a Cookie Cup! The Cookie Cup transforms a familiar, really good dessert a to a special, really GREAT dessert. People swoon. People moan. People linger.

This recipe has been in my files since I was a newlywed in 1981. I have only a photocopy of a page from a cookbook, no notations. I am pretty sure the photocopy is from a Sunset cookbook from the 1980s, but I am not certain.

Use any nuts you want, but I have specified my favorite combination. Other than that, I have made no changes to the original recipe.

Cookie Cups

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (Light or dark brown sugar was not specified. I’ve used both, and prefer the dark)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
7 Tablespoons flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts (I use half pecans and half sliced almonds–both chopped finely)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add in brown sugar and corn syrup and bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. When liquid boils, remove from heat and stir in flour and nuts until well blended. Stir in vanilla.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a cookie pan with Pam for baking (or any other method you prefer). Make 2 cookies on one cookie sheet. For each cookie, pace 2 Tablespoons of batter in a puddle on the cookie sheet.

Batter  before baking, above.  After baking, below.  See how it spreads?  Only bake two cookies on one sheet!

Cookies will spread A LOT (you can bake 2 sheets at one time, if you move the sheets around after 5-6 minutes). Bake in 325 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are lacy and have a rich golden brown color. Remove from oven and let cookie cool on the tray for a minute or two (but not much longer).

Turn a glass or very small bowl, with a flat, 2-inch diameter bottom, upside down onto counter. When the cookie edges are firm, but the cookie is still somewhat stretchy, with a wide metal spatula, transfer cookie from sheet to OVER the upside down glass on the counter. With your fingers, quickly press the cookie into the shape of the glass. The cookie will harden almost immediately. Leave the cookie there to cool a minute or two (while you get the next batch in the oven).

One cookie cooling over an upside down glass, one cookie completely cooled and removed from glass and standing straight and firm.

Remove cookie cup from glass. Cookie cups can be stored in “rigid” (I use tin) container for up to a week, or frozen for longer storage…, but they are delicate, so be careful.

Just before serving, place ice-cream, fresh fruit, whipped cream, whatever your heart desires, into the cookie cups and serve. You’ll see joy in your guests eyes.

Thanks for visiting my kitchen today.  Stop by again for some homemade ice creams, sherbets and sorbets to put in the ice cream cups!

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10 Jun 2010 Mocha Ice Cream

The clear winner in the most recent ice cream taste test extravaganza? Mocha. It’s creamy. It’s chocolatey. It has a coffee underflavor (is that a word? hrmm, I don’t think so but it should be!), but the coffee flavor doesn’t trump the chocolate flavor. This ice cream was a favorite with the triathlon ladies, the teenagers, the over 50 crowd–and it was even a favorite of two non-coffee drinkers! The original recipe was found at The Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen site. I adapted that recipe for use in a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker (did you get yours from Costco yet? Go on, go get it…, you’ll use it all summer!).

Mocha Ice Cream

2 cups Half-and-half
4 ounces Espresso or very strong coffee (just make sure it’s not bitter), cooled
1 cup Whipping Cream
1 can (14 oz. Can) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup (1/2 a can)

Optional toppings:

Crushed Heath Bars
More chocolate syrup
Whipped cream

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Refrigerate this mixture for 2 -4 hours until mixture is very cold (or put in freezer for 20 minutes to chill). Pour into electric ice cream freezer/machine and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Remove slushy ice cream to a bowl and freeze until firm. Serve with chocolate syrup, heath bars pieces and whipped cream.

Variations:

Mint Mocha:  add a teaspoon of mint extract to the mix before refrigeration. To serve, sprinkle with chopped Andes Mint pieces.

Mocha Chip:  add mini chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate, to slushy ice cream just before putting into the freezer.

Java Chip:  add some crushed coffee beans to slushy ice cream just before putting into freezer.

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06 Jun 2010 Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

Winner number one in the Ice Cream challenge! Toasted Coconut. MMMM…, tropical paradise. I am going out today to get some mangoes to serve with it. Tonight I will be dining on toasted coconut ice-cream with fresh mango cubes, in a homemade waffle cone, heaven-on-earth, yes? There are MORE ice cream recipes to follow soon. ALL of them made by me, tested by my followers and all pronounced GREAT. So run out, right now, and buy that Cuisinart Ice Cream maker from Costco. It comes with TWO freezer bowls! It’s an incredible deal and offer. If you have one ice-cream maker and one freezer bowl, you have to wait 12 to 24 hours between batches for the bowl to refreeze before making the next batch. With the two freezer bowls you can make one batch right after the other. Every house needs two flavors of ice-cream to choose from, right? Being crazy, I have two ice-cream makers and four freezer bowls… Oh, wait…, not crazy…, I have all this stuff so I can test recipes and get the best ones to you quickly!!! That’s right, not crazy!

This recipe came from the link I posted last week to The Tasty Kitchen. This is a “Philadelphia Style” (I learn something new every day!) ice cream, not “French Style”. “Philadelphia Style” ice cream refers to ice cream made without an egg custard base, “French Style” refers to making a egg custard. I prefer this method. Not only is egg free ice cream easier to make, I think it tastes better. Who wants an eggy tasting ice cream? Look at how easy this is…

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

1 can (13.5 Ounces) Coconut Milk
1 can (12 Ounces) Evaporated Milk
1 can (14 Ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Toasted Coconut (divided use)

Mix coconut milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk together and refrigerate until cool (maybe about 2-4 hours). Meanwhile, toast coconut in a dry frying pan over med-high heat, tossing constantly. Remove coconut to a cooling plate when coconut is toasty brown. Watch carefully! Coconut can go from perfect to burnt in about half a second! Pour cold milk mixture plus 1/2 cup of the toasted coconut into an ice cream freezer. Following factory instructions, churn until creamy and slushy. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until desired consistency (about 4 hours). Can be kept frozen for a week or so. When ready to serve, scoop ice cream into serving dishes, sprinkle with extra toasted coconut (and maybe some fresh mango slices) and serve immediately. Makes approx. 4 cups of really yummy toasted coconut ice cream.

This recipe was adapted from one posted by ThreeManyCooks on the above website.

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01 May 2010 Brown Sugar Ice Cream
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In the last few weeks, I have deemed only one new recipe worthy of posting, this one:  Brown Sugar Ice Cream. My daughter Abby brought home a quart of Haagan-Daz’s Brown Sugar ice-cream a few months ago. So when I ran across this recipe at Dishing Up Delights it wasn’t a completely foreign concept. Just for the record, this homemade version is wayyyy better than the Haagan-Daz version. The Haagan-Daz version has an odd texture and a more of a molasses flavor than a brown sugar flavor. This homemade version is simple, rich, smooth, creamy…

I served this last night with a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp. The flavor combo was not quite right. I kept thinking this ice cream will be perfect with something but what IS it? I was driving myself CRAZY and finally, almost 24 hours later, it has come to me. I was on the right track with the oatmeal crisp topping, but brown sugar ice cream needs…, apples! MMmmm…, can you imagine a warm apple crisp with oatmeal topping and a bit of Brown Sugar ice-cream on the side? Or, how about Apple pie with Brown Sugar Ice Cream? I know all you nut lovers are going to want to sprinkle a few toasted, glazed, or spiced walnuts or pecans over that!

The recipe below calls for whipping cream and whole milk. I’ve started going one step down on the dairy with all my ice cream recipes. For this recipe I used half-and-half and whole milk. Use anything you want: whipping cream, half-and-half, whole milk, 2% milk. The less fat in the milk or cream, the less creamy and rich the ice-cream. Next time I will use all whole milk or whole milk and 2%…or maybe all 2%…and I’ll make an apple-oatmeal crisp…or maybe a peach-oatmeal crisp..

Now for those leftover egg whites…Pavlova! I’ll post the recipe soon. I’ve promised a friend of mine I would for about 6 weeks now…

Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (see note above)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks

Combine heavy whipping cream, whole milk, (or your choice of milk/cream products) and 1/2 cup brown sugar in heavy large saucepan. Bring cream mixture to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Meanwhile, whisk yolks and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in large bowl of an electric mixer until very thick, about 2 minutes.

Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir over medium heat until custard thickens and thermometer inserted into custard registers 180°F, about 6 minutes (do not boil). Strain custard (if needed) into large bowl set over another bowl of ice and water. Cool custard completely, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Cover and chill overnight (I was only able to chill for about 3 hours).

Process custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer ice cream to container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.

I think he’s closing his eyes!  Do you think he knows how good it’s going to be?

Thanks for visiting!

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