Recipe 9: Margarita Ice Cream (No ice cream maker needed!)

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

            Today I’m going to tell you how to make Margarita Ice Cream, a really delicious, really sweet ice cream that you don’t even need an ice cream maker to make.  Be warned: it’s a slightly irritating recipe.

As my Facebook friends know, this is my second attempt making Margarita Ice Cream.  It was actually the first ice cream I tried making way back in December, but I wasn’t too sold on the final product and I hadn’t started my ice cream blog yet so I wanted to remake it.

            Ultimately, Margarita Ice Cream is really easy to make but a little bit difficult to get exactly right.  The only emulsifier it has is the fat from cream, and there’s a shot of tequila in it, so you have to worry about making it too runny (Remember: alcohol won’t freeze – at least not in the temperatures you can easily generate at home.).  The first time I made it, I didn’t let it churn long enough so it never really set right, basically resulting in a runny margarita milkshake.  This time, I left it in the machine for over 30 minutes and froze it for two days before serving.  The resulting texture was still soft like soft-serve, but it didn’t instantly melt either.  Without creating an actual custard base, that’s probably the best texture I can expect.

            The second complication is getting the flavor just right.  The first time I made it, I didn’t calculate for the sugar in the margarita mix I was using and the resulting ice cream was extremely sweet.  It was edible, and my sister and girlfriend liked it, but I wasn’t quite satisfied.  This time, I was much more careful and very slowly added the powdered sugar, making sure that it wasn’t too sweet.  However, I’ve since discovered that I don’t much care for powdered sugar in ice cream.  It’s simultaneously dry, slippery, and hyper sweet.  Internet research has been surprisingly unhelpful in figuring out why this might be, but I would personally recommend trying another type of sugar.

            That being said, Margarita Ice Cream is a really cool idea and very good in small amounts.  It actually tastes like a margarita with a slight hint of tequila that I really love.  Sprinkle a pinch of coarse salt on top, add a bit of lime zest, and eat with a gingersnap cookie and you’ve got a delicious treat – so long as you don’t mind something sweet.

            The following recipe comes partly from the Food Network, partly from Wendy at The Weekend Gourmet, and partly from my own modifications.

Ingredients

• ½ cup margarita mix
• 2 tablespoons tequila
• 2/3 cups powdered sugar (or to taste)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• Lime for zesting

Directions

1. Pour the margarita mix and tequila into a bowl.  Mix together.  Add in the powdered sugar and stir until it dissolves.
2. Add the cream and softly whip together until thick and smooth but not stiff.
3. Cover and refrigerate overnight (Also possible to freeze overnight and make without an ice cream maker.).
4. Pour into an ice cream maker’s canister and freeze according to directions.
5. After churned, put into an airtight container to set.  Leave to set at least over night, preferably longer.

            And that’s it!  If you choose not to use an ice cream maker, the result will be pretty soft and melt very quickly.  Freeze your serving bowl beforehand to keep it from melting too quickly.

            This ice cream is one that I love on principle but that I don’t think I’ve gotten quite right.  Everyone that tries it likes it, but I don’t think it’s something that you could eat a pint of; it’s really more of a special event type.  Personally, I’d like to find a way to make a custard base and use granulated sugar.  If I could just get rid of that powdered sugar taste and get it a little harder, it’d be perfect.

Overview

• Base prep time: 10 minutes
• Base chill time: overnight
• Ice cream set time: at least overnight, preferably two days
• Taste: sweet and slippery with a pleasant tang of tequila and time; strong powdered sugar taste
• Difficulty level: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium
• Makes: about 3 cups

Recipe 8: Turtle Cheesecake Ice Cream

Thursday, February 19, 2015

            This week’s (or last week’s, to be more precise) ice cream recipe is a variation on the previous week’s Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream.  My sister wanted to celebrate Galentine’s Day (February 13) with some gal pals, one of whom suggested I make Turtle Cheesecake Ice Cream.  As you saw in the Blueberry Cheesecake recipe, I wasn’t too thrilled with the blueberry inclusion but really loved the cheesecake base.  This was a great opportunity to see if I could get the recipe as smooth and creamy as I traditionally like (Spoiler alert: I did.).

            As far as I can tell, there isn’t a readily available Turtle Cheesecake Ice Cream recipe out there.  There are cheesecake ice cream recipes and turtle cheesecake ice cream pie recipes and turtle cheesecake recipes, but turtle cheesecake ice cream just doesn’t exist, so the following is a recipe that I made up on the fly (and that I think turned out quite deliciously).

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 12 ounces full-fat original cream cheese, softened
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 - 3 tablespoons caramel
• 2 – 3 tablespoons chocolate sauce or fudge
• 2.25 oz pecans, roasted
• Optional: chunks of turtle candy

Directions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until smooth.
2. Combine the milk and cream in a heavy, medium saucepan; bring to a gradual near-boil.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Gradually add hot milk mixture to cheese mixture, adding in approximately ¼ cup at a time (Be careful not to dump in too much and cook the egg.), stirring constantly with the beater until all has been incorporated (It will get very frothy.).
4. Return mixture to pan.  Cook over medium heat for approximately 10 – 15 minutes, stirring constantly.  Be careful not to curdle the eggs and remove from heat when mixture sticks to the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and cool completely, stirring occasionally.
5. Refrigerate several hours (or overnight) until mixture is very cold.
6. Before you churn the ice cream mixture, chop up the pecans into varying sizes.  Put them in a frying pan and cook them until aromatic at medium temperature.  Set aside to cool completely.
7. Pour mixture into ice cream maker’s canister; freeze according to instructions.  At the 15 and 25 minutes mark, add a couple heaping tablespoons of caramel and fudge (Add to taste.  It can get very sweet if you add too much.) and the roasted pecans.  Allow ice cream to finish churning.
8. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for three hours or until firm.
9. Optional: Add chunks of turtle chocolate candy along with the caramel, fudge, and pecans.

            This ice cream turned out great and tasted exactly like a piece of turtle cheesecake.  The caramel, fudge, and cheesecake blended beautifully with no one flavor overpowering the others.  The base was incredibly creamy and smooth if a touch dense (most likely due to all that cream cheese).  It was really delicious and great fun to eat.  I just have two (mild) complaints.

            The first is that I wasn’t able to get the fudge/caramel swirl I’d hoped for, but I think this is a failing of my ice cream maker (Sorry, Javier).  I just don’t think she churns fast enough or cold enough to get a good swirl.  A possible solution is to use that Magic Shell chocolate though I think that will just make hard chunks instead of swirls.  I may just have to give up my swirl-filled dreams.

            My second complaint is that I thought it was verging on a little too sweet.  If I make this again, I might decrease the amount of sugar I add initially or add less fudge and caramel.  That being said, my friend Katie (the original requester) loved it and actually added more fudge and caramel to her bowl!  So for those people with a sweet tooth, this could be the perfect ice cream.

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: overnight
• Ice cream set time: at least three hours
• Taste: creamy and sweet with distinct yet complimentary flavors of cheesecake, caramel, and fudge.  A little dense.
• Difficulty level: low to medium (low if you’ve made a cheesecake or custard base before)
• Expense level: low to medium
• Makes: approximately 8 cups

Recipe 7: Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream with Graham Cracker Pieces

Sunday, February 3, 2015

            As I’ve said before, I really love ice cream.  It’s usually the food I’m craving, and it almost always can make me feel better (with the exception of a truly horrendous Baskin Robbins experience).  But something else I love about ice cream is how it makes other people feel.  How their face lights up and their mood brightens when they take that first cool, creamy spoonful.  It’s especially wonderful when the ice cream in question is one you made.

            My sister Jenny’s been having a rough week.  She’s had a migraine for about five days now, and it’s only just (barely) getting better, so when she said she was really craving blueberry cheesecake ice cream, I knew I had to make it.  What I didn’t know was how much she’d love the ice cream I made for her.  When she first tasted it, she smiled for the first time in days.  I got all warm and gooey inside when that happened.

            There are several ways to make cheesecake ice cream.  First, you make a plain cheesecake base.  Then, you decide how to inject the filling.  You can choose to swirl in the filling, put it in when you’re almost done churning, or drizzle it on top at the end.  Jenny really wanted a bright purple ice cream with chunks of berry it in, so I opted to swirl in the filling before churning it.

            While Jenny absolutely loves this ice cream, I’m not 100% convinced by it.  My favorite types of ice cream are really rich and creamy with as few ice crystals as humanly possible (one of the many reasons why I adored the Coconut Ice Cream with Crystallized Ginger).  Unfortunately, fruit has a lot of water in it and so did the blueberry pie filling I used.  Adding it in before the churning process meant that I lost a lot of the base’s creaminess.  It still tastes pretty good but not as phenomenal as I thought it would.  I’m especially upset by this because the cheesecake base was so freaking good.  I mean, really good.  I kept tasting it over and over again while cooking.  It was kind of a distraction.

            A little bit of research has shown that a good way to improve creaminess and decrease ice crystals in ice cream is by adding emulsifiers.  Emulsifiers are basically additives that prevent fat and water from separating in ice cream (thereby improving creaminess and decreasing melt time).  A really common emulsifier is egg yolk, which is why the more egg yolks you add, the creamier your ice cream will be.  However, if you’re adding a lot of fruit (which has a lot of water in it), you might need to go the extra mile and add something else like guar gum or carrageenan.  Both of these are natural (not synthetic) and are commonly found in store bought and small batch ice creams.  Here’s a good article about different kinds of emulsifiers and the correct amount to use in your ice cream (Note that adding too much can make your ice cream chewy.).  As I make more ice creams and use fruit, I’m going to look into purchasing a couple different kinds and experiment.  If I could even just reduce the ice crystals to the blueberries, I’d happily make this ice cream again.

            With that being said, I’d like to stress that this was a good ice cream.  Jenny has eaten at least one serving of it a day since I made it and seems to have cheered up quite a bit.  The flavor is also really soothing, and I like the texture of the frozen berries – they’re like little frozen surprises.  So for those of you that don’t mind a little bit of ice crystals in your ice cream, I’d definitely recommend this recipe.  For those of you that hate ice crystals, I’d recommend skipping the fruit and drizzling some on top when you serve it.  That’d really be the best of both worlds.

            The following Blueberry Ice Cream recipe comes, more or less, from Recipe Girl.  However, I opted for full-fat ice cream because, come on, why make ice cream if you’re going to count calories?  That’s not what ice cream’s about.

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 12 ounces 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened (next time I’m going for full fat)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 21 ounce can of blueberry pie filling (You can make this for yourself with blueberries, powdered sugar, and water, but why add an extra step for yourself?  The pie filling works just as well.) 

Directions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until smooth.
2. Combine the milk and cream in a heavy, medium saucepan; bring to a gradual near-boil.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Gradually add hot milk mixture to cheese mixture, adding in approximately ¼ cup at a time (be careful not to dump in too much and cook the egg), stirring constantly with the beater until all has been incorporated (It will get very frothy.).
4. Return mixture to pan.  Cook over medium heat for approximately 10 – 15 minutes, stirring constantly.  Be careful not to curdle the eggs and remove from heat when mixture sticks to the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and cool completely, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir blueberry pie filling into milk mixture.  Refrigerate several hours (or overnight) until mixture is very cold.
6. Pour mixture into ice cream maker’s canister; freeze according to instructions.  Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for three hours or until firm.
7. Optional: Add bits of graham cracker to the mix as you’re putting it into a freezer-safe container. 

I’m personally not sure whether or not to call this ice cream a success.  I love the color, and the flavor is actually very soothing and makes you feel instantly happy; it’s also surprisingly refreshing.  However, I would have preferred fewer ice crystals and a sharper cheesecake flavor (I just cannot stress enough how delicious the plain cheesecake custard base was.).

I’d rate this recipe as in-progress and encourage people to experiment to get a flavor and texture that they prefer (and then tell me what they did).  It’s also worth noting that I may have made this ice cream incorrectly.  First, I didn’t want to curdle the eggs and the mixture was so frothy (making it difficult to see) that I may not have cooked it long enough.  Second, this recipe was twice as large as any I’ve attempted and may have produced uneven freezing, resulting in those ice crystals.  Third, I had to make the ice cream and then freeze it in its canister before transferring it to a new container several hours later.  The more often you take out and thaw and freeze ice cream, the more likely you are to get ice crystals.

So I’m not willing to give up on this recipe or say that you shouldn’t try it.  Rather, I’d say go for it if you love blueberry cheesecake – my sister does, and she thinks this is the best damn ice cream I’ve ever made.  Sometimes being a perfectionist just gets in the way of good ice cream.

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 6 hours
• Ice cream set time: at least 3 hours
• Taste: soothing and sweet with a strong blueberry flavor and icy, crunchy bits of berry; cheesecake flavor is muted and mellow
• Difficulty level: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium (depending on if you want to make your own blueberry filling or buy a can)
• Makes: about 8 cups

Recipe 6: Coconut Ice Cream with Crystallized Ginger

Monday, February 2, 2015

   

               One of the most exciting things about this challenge is getting to try new ice creams that I wouldn’t necessarily choose for myself (especially if I had to pay for it; I like knowing that I’m going to love my ice cream before shelling out five bucks), and this week was one of those recipes that I never would have tried: Coconut Ice Cream with Crystallized Ginger.

                 Now, it’s not that I dislike coconut or coconut milk; the real problem is the ginger.  I’ve always found ginger just a hair under unbearable.  It’s so tart that it hurts a little bit, and it’s really, really strong (especially if you’re just going to eat a chunk).  But what can you do?  It wasn’t my week to choose the recipe.

However, this is now one of my top three favorite recipes.  This ice cream has a custard base with half coconut milk/half heavy whipping cream, and the texture is so incredibly creamy and thick.  Adding coarsely chopped chunks of ginger intensified the base flavor while creating a pleasant, tangy surprise.  The flavors married well together, and it was just delicious.  I didn’t have to add anything to it either – no chocolate, no shortbread, no whip cream, just creamy, delightful coconut ice cream with ginger.

                 This custard base was also a lot easier to make than the Cinnamon-Basil one – for a few reasons.  One would be the coconut milk, which helped prevent curdling.  Another would be the fact that this recipe only requires three egg yolks (unlike the Cinnamon-Basil’s eight).  Finally, I was much more cautious with the heat, leaving it on medium-low for about ten minutes and stirring constantly before getting bored and jacking it up to medium (and stirring constantly).  The resulting custard was perfectly thick and smooth without the slightest hint of curdled eggs.  The entire process was actually very peaceful.

                 Once again, this recipe came from Peggy Fallon’s book Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts.

Ingredients

• 1 can (13 to 14 ounces or 375 to 400 grams) unsweetened coconut milk (I used organic because I was at Whole Foods, but I don’t think it matters)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Pour the coconut milk into a heavy medium saucepan, making sure to scrape the thick part at the bottom; whisk to homogenize.  Whisk in the cream, sugar, and salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for approximately 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the coconut cream is hot.
2. Beat the egg yolks lightly in a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in about ½ cup of warm coconut cream at a time until you’ve added about 2 cups.  Then return the egg yolk mixture to the saucepan, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (If it won’t thicken, raise the temperature to medium.).  Do not let boil or the egg yolks will curdle.
3. Remove the coconut custard from heat and let cool to room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 6 hours or as long as 2 days.
4. Once the custard is cold, stir in the ginger and vanilla.  Pour the custard into the canister of an ice cream maker and freezer according to its directions.  Transfer the ice cream to a covered container and freeze until it is firm enough to scoop, at least 3 hours or overnight.  (Honestly, the ice cream sets so perfectly while churning that it’s good to go immediately.  There’s really no need to wait.)

                  I cannot praise this ice cream enough.  I absolutely love the thick, creamy custard base, and the addition of crystallized ginger to amazing.  My only complaint is that this recipe doesn’t make that much – barely four cups!  Next time, I think I’ll double it (and maybe had some toasted coconut on top).

Overview

• Base prep time: 20 – 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 6 hours
• Ice cream set time: good almost instantly; otherwise 3 hours to overnight
• Taste: thick and creamy, almost foamy, very rich with a mild but discernible coconut flavor and small, sharp bites of crystallized ginger
• Difficulty level: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium (neither coconut milk nor crystallized ginger is too terribly expensive and much of this can be made with ingredients you already have)
• Makes: about 1 quart (4 cups)