Real Simple Interviews Ice Cream Authority David Lebovitz

If there is a god of ice cream David Lebovitz is it. I am so lucky to have an awesome coblogger who sent me his book, The Perfect Scoop, and ever since I have been a follower. He has made success out of making premium ice cream and really really interesting recipes. Tonight while catching up on all my favorite blogs, one being Simply Stated,  I stumbled upon an interview that Real Simple just did with him. It gives some insight into his beginnings, some quick tips, and his take on some good flavors. I love his foolproof advice....use good ingredients. Seems so simple but when you taste the difference between farm fresh ingredients vs Stop & Shop you'll see why. Don't get me wrong I make plenty of ice cream with good old Hood products and the end result isn't so bad, actually it's pretty darn good but when I get the chance to hit our local dairy farm it definitely kicks it up a notch. Regardless, check out his interview and if you are new to making ice cream or even if you have had your hand in it for awhile David Lebovitz is one to follow. 


Here's an easy and awesome recipe of his. And as David says, if you can't find Blood Oranges you can use tangerine, grapefruit or plain old orange juice. Just be sure it's fresh for the best taste.

Blood Orange Sorbet

1. Juice your blood oranges. The measure the juice.

2. For each 1 cup (250ml) of juice, figure 1/4 cup (50g) of granulated sugar to be added.

For example: Use 1/2 cup (100g) sugar for 2 cups juice (500ml).

3. Put the sugar in a small, non-reactive saucepan. Add just enough juice to saturate it very well. Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

4. Stir the sugar back into the reserved blood orange juice.

5. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

The Perfect Scoop's Aztec "Hot" Chocolate Ice Cream.

I know I have written before about how much I love custard based ice creams, but just the other day I really wanted to make a chocolate ice cream and found a recipe that didn't use eggs and thought I would give it a try. Um, YUM.

I whipped out my copy of The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments and was about to make the regular chocolate ice cream until I came across the recipe for “Aztec ‘Hot’ Chocolate Ice Cream” and decided to be a little daring. I pretty much followed Lebovitz's recipe, but made one replacement because I am trying to clear out my cupboards of things I don't use that much. Following a tip at the bottom of the recipe, I put in the ancho chile powder instead of regular chili powder to give it an extra oomph. Additionally, I made the executive decision to replace regular cinnamon with Saigon Cinnamon, something I once thought was a good idea to buy from Costco even though I had never tried it. Now while it has a nice flavor with a nice little kick, I don't have a clue what to do with seven ounces of Saigon Cinnamon. Well, now I do.

The combination of the Saigon Cinnamon and the Ancho Chili Powder mixed in with the chocolate was wonderful. First you get a lovely taste of chocolate with a touch of spiciness. As the ice cream is melting onto your tongue, you are left with a surprise kick (which I found to be "kickier" in some spoonfuls than in others).

The texture of this eggless ice cream was not icy as I often find eggless ice creams to be, but incredibly smooth and silky.

A definite must try.

The wonders of bacon

Coming from a household that cooks a pound of bacon weekly(I can proudly say I am not consuming it..most of the time that is!), this of course caught my attention. Candied Bacon Ice cream from our favorite ice cream maker and author, David Lebovitz, is ice cream innovation at its best but is it surpisingly scoopalicious?! It really is amazing what one can do with this oh so bad piece, but yummy, piece of pork. Who would have thought to add it to ice cream. I can't claim to have tried it yet but I do plan to make it since I have a feeling others in my home will love it. I'll be sure to share our findings but in the meantime enjoy and checkout Everything Tastes Better with Bacon for some main courses before tempting your guests with the bacon ice cream.

Have you experimented with fun and innovative additions to your ice cream? We'd love to hear about it. Let us know your crazy flavor finds.