Recipe 31: Caramel Apple Ice Cream

In the about six and a half months I’ve been making ice cream, I’ve come across some recipes that just don’t quite work out the way they should.  This week’s recipe, Caramel Apple Ice Cream, was a bit of a mixed bag.  The actual flavor of the ice cream was excellent, just a wonderful combination of cream, sugar, caramel, apple, and spices that I absolutely loved.  It was a great variation of apple pie with ice cream and one I want to make again.  On the other hand, adding the apple pieces was a poor choice.  I cut the pieces too big, and they prevented the ice cream from churning well and got icy and hard in the freezer, so while I’m going to write down the recipe the way I found it here at All Recipes/the way I modified it this time, first I’m going to give you a few tips so your recipe can go a little bit better than mine did.

1. Cut your apples very fine into no larger than ¼” size pieces.
2. Cook the apples until soft.  Don’t turn them into applesauce, but they need to be soft and squishy.
3. Don’t add all the apples into your base.  Put about half of them in and reserve the other half for serving.  This will allow your ice cream to churn properly and give you chewy apple bits.

If you keep these simple tips in mind, you should get a great flavor and chewy apple bits with an even texture.  And with this delicious base, it’ll only make your ice cream better.

Ingredients

• 2 cups finely chopped, peeled cooking apples (I used 4 Granny Smith apples)
• 2+ tablespoons butter (more as needed)
• 1 cup apple cider/”raw” apple juice (this is apple juice with pulp floating in it)
• 8 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice/ground cinnamon
• If you don’t have apple pie spice, add a dash of ground nutmeg and ground cloves as well
• 1/3+ cup caramel topping (more as needed)

Directions

1. Cook apples in butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.  Stir in apple cider and spices; cover and simmer for at least 5 minutes or until soft.
2. Once apples are soft, set aside half for step 3 and half for serving.
3. Whisk sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, and cream in a bowl until well blended.  Slowly stir in apple mixture.
4. Chill base until cold – at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. Once base is cold, pour into an ice cream canister and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. When base is almost ready, add about 3 tablespoons of caramel.  Allow the base to finish churning.
7. Once base is churned, transfer to a freezer-safe, sealable container.  Drizzle caramel between scoops and layers.  Press a sheet of cling wrap directly against the surface and seal the container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours. 

The resulting ice cream will be a wonderful treat and a great addition to any meal, especially summer holidays and barbeques.  The base will be thick, creamy, and syrupy and taste strongly of apple pie.  It pairs especially well with plain vanilla ice cream and apple crisp, and adding extra caramel, sweetened condensed milk, and apple chunks on top just increases its deliciousness.  Having the apple chunks in the base was nice, but until I get their size and consistency right, I don’t have anything really positive to say about them.  However, I can say that this is definitely an ice cream that deserves another try and a little bit of tweaking and that you should totally try.  It’s everything great about apple pie in one sweet, melty spoonful.  So enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 4 hours
• Ice cream set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: sweet and syrupy with strong, flavorful apple and spice notes; however, the apple chunks are a bit hard and tart
• Difficulty: low to medium
• Expense level: medium
• Makes: approximately 6 cups

Recipe 30: Influenza Rx Sorbet

This past week, every member of our household has developed some form of flu, cold, or sinus infection – if not all of them at once.  Our apartment is now full of discarded pill wrappers, used tissues, half empty water glasses, and semi-pathetic coughs.  So I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try the Influenza Rx Sorbet recipe from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer.  The ingredients are supposed to soothe, heal, clear, and disinfect, all while being rather tasty.

To be honest, this recipe is not the wonder cure the book promises, but it is good.  It’s this weird combination of soothing/burning because most of the ingredients give your mouth/throat the coolness it needs while the bourbon, ginger, and cayenne burns your throat and disinfects it.  It has the added benefit of actually making you feel better after consuming it, though not instantly as the book seemed to imply.  Either way, it’s a fun recipe that I’m glad I got to try, and I look forward to whipping it back up come the winter cold season.

Ingredients

• 2 cups orange juice
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup honey (I used orange blossom)
• ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
• One 3-oz packet liquid pectin (surprisingly easy to find at Kroger)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 tablespoons bourbon (optional; I used Woodford Reserve) 

Directions

1. Combine the orange and lemon juices, sugar, honey, and ginger in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from heat.
2. Add the pectin and cayenne.  Pour into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until cold – at least 4 hours.
3. Pour the cold base into an ice cream machine’s canister and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
4. When the sorbet is almost done, add the bourbon and churn for at least 5 more minutes (This will melt the sorbet a little.).
5. Once churned, transfer to a freezer-safe container.  Press a sheet of cling wrap directly against the surface and seal the container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours.

The bourbon will prevent the sorbet from ever getting really hard, but it will also add a fairly harsh burn to it.  The original recipe calls for adding the bourbon in step 2, but that’s a good way to prevent the sorbet from ever actually churning.  Still, it’s your call.  Doing so might infuse the bourbon more evenly and take out the sting.  All I know is that next time I try this, I’m going to go sans-bourbon.  It might make it a little easier to eat lots of this at once (You can really only have two or three scoops in one sitting.  Otherwise, it starts to hurt.).

The resulting taste is sweet and citrusy with a burn that steadily grows at the back of the throat.  It’s great for soothing you if you feel hot and uncomfortable and actually does relieve a sore throat for a few hours.  It’s not quite a hot toddy or tea with honey, but it is pretty refreshing during the summer

cold season.

Enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 20 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 4 hours
• Sorbet set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: sweet, cool, and citrusy with the slight taste of bourbon and a burn at the back of your throat
• Difficulty: low
• Expense level: medium
• Makes: approximately 5 cups

Recipe 29: Cucumber, Honeydew, and Cayenne Frozen Yogurt

I love cucumber, especially when it’s combined with something else.  Cucumber water is so very refreshing, cucumber melon is pretty much the best scent on the planet, and tzatziki is the perfect cool companion to finger foods.

So when I saw this Cucumber, Honeydew, and Cayenne Frozen Yogurt recipe in Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer, I knew I had to try it.  However, I hadn’t made frozen yogurt yet, and I was a little leery about the inclusion of cayenne pepper.  After all, Sriracha did fundamentally change an excellent Earl Grey Ice Cream recipe.

I needn’t have worried.  This recipe maintained its cool and refreshing promise, each spoonful melting on the tongue and soothing it.  The flavors of cucumber and honeydew are strong and combine well with the slightly sour and tart flavors of the cream cheese and yogurt.  The cayenne is barely present, just the slightest burn in the back of the throat (It’s really just there to bring out the other flavors.).  It’s a wonderful companion to a hard, stressful day at work and a good complement to a cool, wet afternoon.

Ingredients

• Frozen Yogurt Base
• 1 ¼ cups plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 oz. cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• Cucumber-Honeydew Syrup
• 1/8 medium honeydew
• ½ Japanese cucumber*
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

*You can find this at most Asian markets.  Look for it in the spring and late summer.

Directions

1. Make the cucumber-honeydew syrup first.  Slice the rind from the melon.  Cut the flesh into chunks and puree in a food processor or blender.  Measure out 1/3 cup honeydew puree.
2. Peel the cucumber, halve lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds.  Cut into chunks and puree in a food processor or blender.  Measure out ¼ cup cucumber puree.
3. Combine the honeydew, cucumber, sugar, and cayenne in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.  Do not boil.  Remove from the heat and let cool.
4. Next make the frozen yogurt base.  Start by mixing about 3 tablespoons milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.  Set aside.  Then whisk the cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth.  Set aside.  Finally fill a large bowl with ice and water and set aside.
5. Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
6. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring a heatproof spatula until slightly thickened – about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.
7. Gradually whisk in ½ cup of the hot milk mixture at a time into the cream cheese mixture until fully combined and smooth.  Add the 1 ¼ cup yogurt.  Pour the cucumber-honeydew syrup in through a fine mesh sieve.  Whisk together until smooth.
8. Place the mixture in its bowl in the ice bath and leave until lukewarm.  Then transfer into a 1 galloon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag into the ice bath.  Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold – about 30 minutes.
9. Pour the frozen yogurt base into the ice cream machine’s canister and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
10. Once churned, transfer to a freezer-safe container.  Press a sheet of cling wrap directly against the surface and seal the container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours.

As I said earlier, this was my first attempt at frozen yogurt, and I was a bit leery of it.  However, it turned out really well with a clean, nuanced, delicious flavor and a soft texture.  It’s not anything like the “frozen yogurt” you’d find in a frozen yogurt store, but it’s better: it doesn’t melt as fast, it has a better flavor, and you can really taste the yogurt.  I’d like to try some different recipes in the future, especially ones that incorporate more sugar – I think that would get the really smooth texture I prefer.  If you want to learn more about how to make frozen yogurt and what it is, click this link from Serious Eats.  Otherwise, enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 45 minutes
• Base chill time: 1 hour
• Frozen yogurt set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: strong notes of cucumber and honeydew with lingering touches of cream cheese and frozen yogurt and a slight but pleasure burn at the back of the throat; very smooth with a slight sour/tart flavor
• Difficulty: medium
• Expense level: medium
• Makes: approximately 5 cups