Mascarpone Ice Cream with Strawberry Balsamic Compote

How is it already July?

I somehow ended up with a pound of mascarpone in my refrigerator, and was trying to think of ways to eat it. Pasta? No. Some kind of topping for bruschetta? No. Ice cream? Well, we are in the peak of summer, so, ice cream it is!

Chocolate Ice Cream

Yay, today we have my first ice cream for Summer 2014!

Kulfi

Happy Diwali! What better way to celebrate than with some kulfi!

Ricotta Ice Cream

One day, Mai & Paul visisted Di Palo's and found out that you can buy three pounds of ricotta for $12. Not the gross, tasteless kind of ricotta at Gristede's, but REAL ricotta.

Naturally, we decided to host a Ricotta Fest dinner party. By the time we got our schedules organized, it was already June. June means ICE CREAM! Okay, that's a lie. Every month means ICE CREAM, but now that it is just starting to be summer in NYC, we needed reason to celebrate.

In addition to the ice cream, we made several other dishes. Mai and Paul made meatballs with ricotta, ravioli,  crostini, and chicken marsala. Gretchen made pasta with carbonara and a delicious ricotta cheesecake with a strawberry rhubarb topping.

At Di Palo's, we picked up three of these canisters.

Back at home, we opened up our canisters. As you can see below, the ricotta was in a metal-ish canister. We tried to think of eco-friendly uses for them. I suggested that they would be great for milkshakes. Until I realized that there were holes at the bottom and along the sides. 

I also picked up some prosciuotto for us to nibble on while we were prepping.

Mai & Paul had picked up some artisinal honey at a farmer's market. We decided to whip out some cheese & crackers and top with honey. The cheese (pictured below) looks like blue cheese, but it isn't. We don't know the name of this mystery cheese, but you can find it at Fairways. This was quite possibly the best snack idea ever! I've never had honey in this form before, usually mine comes from a squeeze bottle. The honeycomb is on the bottom and you have to scrape the honey off the top. 

We devoured two boxes of crackers and the entire wedge of cheese. What? We got hungry cooking in the hot kitchen...

Mai made some homemade pasta to accompany her ricotta meatballs...

As if we did not purchase enough ricotta cheese, we purchased a pound of parmesan cheese as well. Most of it is in the photo below.

{The finished meatball product}

{Mai prepping the ricotta ravioli} 

{Delicious crostini}

{Chicken Marsala}

{Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with ricotta}

{One of our guests, Nam, made a wonderful green papaya salad}

{Ricotta cheesecake!}

Both of the ricotta ice creams were easy to whip up (strawberry basil to follow this in another post). 

I've never made ice cream with a ricotta base, and this was the perfect time to experiment. I searched far and wide for a recipe and finally picked the one below.

Don't be afraid of this recipe - there is no custard base - so you don't have to worry about scrambled eggs instead of a perfectly fluffy, creamy ice cream. As in, this may be my all time favorite. Huge disclaimer: Apparently, this ice cream loses texture after an overnight freeze. You should probably finish the whole thing the night you make it (and that really shouldn't be that hard). I'm not sure why the texture goes from creamy to chalky, maybe because I didn't strain the ricotta.

Also note: as the weather gets hotter, don't try to churn ice cream in a sauna-ish temperature room. Your precious ice cream mixture will not freeze properly in the canister, and will be milkshake like afterwards. This is what happened to poor little strawberry basil. 

Basically all I did was blend all the ingredients together in Mai & Paul's vitamix!

Below is the only photo I got of the ice cream.  I was so busy eating and mingling!

Ricotta Ice Cream, recipe adapted from food52

Makes 1 Quart

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cup quality ricotta 
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Pistachios (optional)

Blend everything until the salt in a blender until smooth. Then add the heavy cream and blend until just combined. 

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker - I let mine run for about 40 minutes. I also tried really, really hard not to lick the bowl. During the last 5 minutes of the churning process, you can add your mix in's if you desire (i.e.pistachios, etc). 

Transfer your ice cream to an air tight container and let it harden ("bloom" ?) in the freezer for a few hours. I made mine in the afternoon - around 3pm - and served it around 8:30pm - and it was perfection! You could grill up some peaches, drizzle them with honey, and serve with the ice cream as well. Peaches aren't quite in season yet, or else I would have done that as well. 

This One Is For You, Ariel

Last summer, I had an ingenious idea to throw a Princess Ice Cream Party. Only, I ended up traveling for most of the summer, so I wasn't really around to throw said party. Anyways, one of the ice cream flavors I was going to make was salted caramel, for Ariel (get it: salt = ocean = mermaids). Other flavors included earl grey for Kate (now The Duchess, but forever a Princess in my mind), green apple sorbet for Snow White, Pumpkin for Cinderella, and Lavender for Belle.

Fast forward to last week, when I needed to take some pictures for my photo project. I also wanted to try some Salted Caramel Ice Cream, because I was in the mood for something different.

So, Ariel, this one is for you and, I guess, Prince Eric, my favorite Disney prince. Try and share it.

Egg Nog Ice Cream

I don't think I've ever even had egg-nog.  But, for the holidays - why not? I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of flavor, but I am pretty sure that any and all ice cream with loads of egg yolks and full fat dairy products will be hommy nom nom.

Egg Nog Ice Cream, recipe borrowed from Ice Cream: 52 Easy Recipes for Year Round Frozen Treats by Sally Sampson


Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 3 cups half and half
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
• zest of 1 lemon
• zest of 1 orange* (I only included a little bit of this - not the whole orange)
• Vanilla bean, split and scraped (Thanks Mai!)
• 8 large egg yolks at room temperature
• pinch of kosher salt
• 1 tbsp. of grand mariner
• 2 tbsp. of bourbon* (The original recipe called for 2 tbsp. each of sambuca, amaretto, and grand mariner.  I did not have all these on hand, so I subbed in the bourbon, and also cut out most of the alcohol as I was worried about the flavor being too strong)

Place the half and half, 1/4 cup of the sugar, nutmeg, lemon and orange zest, and vanilla bean seeds and pod (now empty) in a small pan and cook over low heat.  Whisk the mixture from time to time and heat it till it is warm, about 175 degrees. 

Place the egg yolks, 1/4 cup of sugar and salt into a medium sized metal bowl and whisk until combined. Add 1/4 cup of the warmed half and half mixture to the egg mixture, whisking the entire time.  Continue to add the half and half mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, until you have added about 1 1/2 cups total.  Be sure to whisk the entire time. 

Return the mixture back to the original saucepan and continue to cook until it reaches about 185 degrees (be sure it doesn't boil!!).  

Once it has reached 185 degrees, pour the mixture through a strainer into another bowl.  Discard the solids and bring the mixture to room temperature.  Stir in the alcohol, and then refrigerate at least 8 hours, but preferably over night. 

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to directions.  I used about 30 minutes here. 

Ending Notes:  So even though I used less alcohol than the recipe recommended, I still felt the alcohol flavor was too strong.  I'd probably just do 2 tablespoons of whatever alcohol I selected.  Otherwise, the texture and flavor of this ice cream were what I was expecting.  I still need to try a normal egg-nog drink and then see how this one compares.

Mulled Wine Sorbet

Another wintery inspiration from the beverage I served at Thanksgiving.  Another drink turned ice cream that is perfect for drinking/eating in front of the fireplace at your chalet in Chamonix (or your digital fireplace DVD).

I made this for the AIF NYYP holiday party at Rahul's place. It accompanied Meghna's cookies as dessert. 

Mulled Wine Sorbet, recipe adapted from here and here

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a bottle of red wine - I used Purple Moon Merlot from Trader Joe's.  At $4 bucks a pop, can't go wrong!
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• Juice from 1 fresh squeezed orange
• Juice from 1 fresh squeezed lemon
• Lemon zest from that same lemon
• 2 cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Combine the sugar, water, wine lemon zest and spices into a medium saucepan and let it simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Let it cool to room temperature and stir in the orange and lemon juices.  Strain the mixture, cover the mixture and let it chill in the fridge from 4 hours to overnight. 

Churn in your ice cream maker per directions - I churned it for about 20 minutes. 

Ending Notes:  The ice cream was of course very flavorful, and received rave reviews by all taste testers.  I think most testers appreciated the fact that this sorbet wasn't laced with heavy cream and whole milk and just some wine and freshly squeezed citrus fruits.  Try this one before New Years!

Candy Cane Ice Cream, Parte Une

Ah, holiday times!  I had put my ice cream maker away for the season, but after our holiday cookie party, where Marya had picked up some Molly Moons, I was inspired to create some holiday ice cream flavors.  Egg-nog (check), gingerbread, spiced cider sorbet, cranberry sorbet and candy cane were all on my list.  And I needed taste testers.  Becca generously volunteered all of SlamFam (her and her roomates).  So I decided to start experimenting.

Candy Cane Ice Cream Parte Deux

So I wasn't totally enamored with the first batch of candy cane ice cream I made.  I liked it...but I didn't love it.  It wasn't candy-caney enough to remind me of my toddler days when I would take the candy cane ornaments off of our fake tree and eat them "secretly" (let's be honest...my mom knew what I was doing).  

The next step was to use actual peppermint extract as this I figured this would add the best flavor.  First I started with the basic Philadelphia Style Ice Cream.  I know you have all seen this one mentioned tons of times.  If there were an awards ceremony for my blog, this one would receive honorable mention since I have in fact used it to the start of many of my bases.  In any case, I've included the recipe below if you guys forgot.  

Candy Cane Philadelphia Style Goodness!

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. peppermint extract
• Red food coloring (a few drops)
• Red edible glitter

Pour 1 cup of the heavy cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar and the salt.  Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining cream, milk and the peppermint extract.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge.  When ready to churn, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker per directions.  In the last 5 minutes, drop in a few drops off the red food coloring and use a pastry brush to tap in the red edible glitter.  I churned it total for about 30 minutes.  

Taste testers voted more in favor of this one when compared to version parte une.  I think it was because the flavor was pronounced, and, let's face it, who doesn't love red glitter? 

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Okay I lied. I brought my ice cream maker back out of hibernation.  For the Holiday Cookie Party, I wanted to make festive themed ice creams.  Cinnamon is the stand-out spice in all holiday treats and drinks, I think I used it in everything from the bruleed sweet potatoes to the mulled wine we drank.  I found a great recipe that let the cinnamon infuse in the custard so the flavor was subtle and went well with all our holiday cookies!

Bacon Ice Cream

Val and I went on this scrumptious chocolate tour of the LES in the fall.  We stopped at a few really great places, and I came to find out that Dessert Truck has its own STORE FRONT.  How I did not know this sooner is beyond me, but let's just cut to the point.  Dessert Truck had a yummy bread pudding.  On top of that bread pudding was a BACON CUSTARD.  Yes, Bacon.  At first, it sounds gross.  But when you taste it, it has a familiar, homey, sunday morning with pancakes and maple syrup type taste.  The bacon was sweet and complemented the bread pudding sooo amazingly.

So then the wheels in my head stomache started turning.  Cream Anglaise, or custard, is so similar to the batter I make for ice cream.  I COULD TURN THIS INTO ICE CREAM! OMFG.  So then I started discussing with the tour guide as to how would be the best way to do this.

Saffron Coconut Ice Cream

Wow - I TOTALLY forgot about this one!  So here we are in November, posting about ice cream made in hot humid August.  Bored with the typical ice cream flavors I had recently experimented with, I wanted to continue trying NEW AND EXCITING things!  

Brown Butter and Peanut Brittle Ice Cream

I've mastered the basic flavors of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, french vanilla, strawberry. I was ready to try something EXCITING. Actually, I was just looking for something to use up egg yolks because I had made some scrambled egg whites over the weekend and had a lot left over. I guess this is the summer of high cholesterol.

Toffee, Coffee Hom Nom

I really loved how my coffee oreo ice cream turned out, so I wanted to try it again but with a different flavor. What to do what to do? I researched and found out that toffee is a great addition to coffee. Ah-ha!

By now, you should know the drill...

Instant coffee

Skor bars! I thought about getting heath bars, but I haven't had Skor in years so I figured I'd use this one instead.

Break up the pieces into chunks so they are ready to whirl in!

The final result was a total crowd pleaser...this might have been everyone's favorite!

Coffee Toffee Hom, Nom!

• 1 cup whole milk, well chilled
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp. espresso powder
• 2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. chocolate extract
• 2 Toffee bars, such as Skor, or Heath. I chose Skor for no particular reason

In a medium bowl, mix the milk, sugar and espresso powder with a hand mixer until the sugar and espresso dissolves.

Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla and chocolate extract.

Pour into a chilled ice cream maker and churn away (about 30 minutes).

In the meantime, break the toffee bar into small pieces. In the last 5 minutes of the chilling process, slowly drop the toffee pieces in.

I let this one sit in the fridge for a while after I churned it, instead of eating it ASAP.

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream

My widdle baby sister went to Buenos Aires for the summer and came back with all kinds of goodies, such as boots, macha and DULCE DE LECHE!!

Why didn't I think of buying this when I was there? You can technically make your own, but its not as exciting as getting a sweet treat from South America!

Whisking the milk, heavy cream and dulce de leche...

Quick chilling the mixture

I've gotten to be a pro at this ice cream making stuff!

Absolutely delicious! Thanks sis!!

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream, borrowed from Smitten Kitchen:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 2/3 cups dulce de leche (so, basically that entire jar plus some)
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the dulce de leche until it is dissolved. Whisk in the vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl.

Quick chill by putting the bowl in a larger bowl with water and ice cubes, stirring occasionally until cold (probably 20 minutes-ish). Freeze in your ice cream maker. You might want to let it sit for an hour in the freezer.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Ganache

I was attempting to be creative with my ice cream. I also discovered, shockingly, that I prefer a vanilla base with chocolate accouterments instead of chocolate base with chocolate mix-ins to create a chocolate craziness. Yes, I said it. I discovered this at my beloved Shake Shack, when after multiple tastings, it dawned upon me that I prefer the Shack Attack with vanilla ice cream and not the chocolate.

My sister made me these nom nom brownies for my birthday once that had a layer of ganache on top. I love that ganache. So, my plan was to make a nice vanilla ice cream with ganache swirls.

Vanilla ice cream getting ready to roll (ha)

So much chocolate, so little time

To help the chocolate melt faster, it is best to break it into pieces

Well, this is chocolate ganache...let's make this MORE chocolatey!!

Melt away! (as I say to the roll I've developed from all the ice cream I've been eating...)

Melted away, that was fast!

Ready to eat and totally to die for! Of course it's delicious, it's chocolate!

I can't quite remember where I pulled the ganache recipe, but it was pretty standard:

• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, broken into chunks
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp. chocolate extract

Very simple to make. Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add the chocolate. Let it melt and stir away. Then add the chocolate extract. Try not to lick straight out of the bowl before adding to your recipe. Note: because this is all heavy cream and fat, if you eat more than 3 tbsp. on a Tuesday morning before work, you will likely feel nauseous.

The ice cream recipe was adapted the Philadelphia style ice cream from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz:

• 3 cups heavy cream (or, 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. chocolate extract

So I ran into a problem while mixing. My ideal ice cream was going to be vanilla with ganache swirls. Something happened and it didn't quite make the swirl design I was hoping for. It became vanilla mixed with ganache and then random pieces of ganache. I think maybe the ganache was too liquidy? In any case, as I was layering in the ice cream into the container, I poured ganache in over each layer, so it kind of created a "ribbon". sort of.

Delicious recipe. I would totally do this again!*

*I may or may not have licked the plastic container that I stored this ice cream in clean after I finished eating the ice cream.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Round 1

I was really craving peanut butter ice cream. Weird, because I usually crave chocolate ice cream.

Chunky peanut butter...Yes, the jiffy kind. Not the "only has peanuts" kind that I always buy from TJ or WF. I figured if I'm blending it with whole milk and heavy cream, then I can also throw in some high-fructose corn syrup to boot. Because, why not?

Blending it up

In goes the heavy cream!

Voila! Super chunky peanut buttery ice cream!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream, courtesy of here

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix the peanut butter and sugar until they are both smooth. Add the milk and blend until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla extract. Pour into your pre-frozen ice cream canister. I'd recommend letting it freeze for a while in the freezer before you eat it.

Now, this wasn't my favorite recipe. I thought it was too crunchy. Wayy too peanut buttery. I think I just don't like crunchy peanut butter. I should have gone with my instincts and tried the smooth jiffy kind that I love (but never eat anymore).

I did try another peanut butter ice cream recipe of which I will share shortly.

Coffee Oreo Ice Cream

Mai hosted a lovely ice cream social event last Thursday. She made many yummy flavors (including chai masala, green tea, honey lavender and coffee oreo) and had cute serving glasses...both of which inspired me to 1) make more ice cream and 2) buy cute serving bowls.

My most favorite from her party was the coffee oreo ice cream. I normally don't like coffee flavored dessert all that much, but for some reason, it was love at first nom nom.

I was gonna say that I haven't had oreos in years, but then I remember that I probably had them in the pantry at work maybe a month ago.

Mai donated her remaining quart of whole milk to the coffee oreo ice cream cause. I already had instant espresso powder from the previous entry (frosting).

I know Halloween is coming up shortly, but that doesn't stop me from indulging in whole milk and heavy cream. Princess Jasmine ate ice cream, right?

Enter glass of skim milk here.

Nice and frothy!

Overflowing with coffee oreo ice cream

Better than Baskin Robbins...

These are my new dishes/spoons from a store in Union Square. Ice cream for two! <3>

Coffee Oreo Ice Cream

• 1 cup whole milk, well chilled
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee
• 2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. chocolate extract* (or, just use 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
• 3/4 - 1 cup oreo cookie crumbles (depending on your taste preference)

In a medium bowl, mix the milk, granulated sugar and espresso powder with a hand mixer until the sugar and espress powder are dissolved, about 1-2 minutes on low speed.

Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla.

Pour into the chilled ice cream maker. Prepare according to your ice cream maker's directions. I chilled mine for about 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of the chilling process, slowly sprinkle in the oreo cookie crumbles.