Recipe: Cider Cider Donut Ice Cream

This post is kind of unseasonal, but my friend Melanie (also my partner at July Twenty Fourth!) is visiting from California and she's the one who suggested this flavor so I thought I'd perfect it and make it for her. Additionally, Husband has been giving me a hard time about the frozen cider donuts taking up room in the freezer. AND it's time to start churning for  the annual summer ice cream party.

Long story short, I present you Cider Cider Donut Ice Cream.

You need: 

• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup of boiled cider (see below for procuring this!)
• 2 teaspoons of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cider donuts cut into bite sized pieces

How to:

1. Beat the yolks, boiled cider, flour and salt, and set aside. 
2. In a saucepan, at medium heat, heat the milk to a simmer. 
3. Slowly beat the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. 
4. Pour the entire mixture back into the sauce pan, and cook over low heat while mixing constantly until the mixture thickens. 
5. Once thickened, move the mixture from the stove, then pour through a strainer into a clean bowl.
6. Allow the mixture to cool for a bit and add the heavy cream.
7. Cover and refrigerate until cool.
8. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. 
9. Stir in the donut pieces

(This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite ice cream books: The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More)

How/where to get Boiled Cider:
First of all you need Husband. He is awesome at boiling down cider to syrup. Buuuuut, since I kind of need him here, I'll give you two other options.

Method 1:

While Husband cannot come to your house to do it for you, he has graciously agreed to share his method of making 1/2 gallon of cider into 1 cup of syrup (without burning it like I did the first time!)

1. To boil down your apple cider make sure you leave enough time. In our test it took about 4 hours to boil down a half gallon of cider into ~1 cup of syrup.Start with a pot that's just big enough to hold your cider. Unless you boil it over, the volume of liquid will only be going down. 
2. Boil the cider as fast as you can control. Check in on the boiling periodically and try to scrape any cider residue from the sides of the pot (that didn't burn) back into the mix.
3. As you start getting towards the end, be prepared to spend more time hovering over your mix and stirring. You do want to keep residue from forming on the sides, but the stirring at the end is more for your benefit than for the mix. Slow the boiling rate down considerably as you approach the final volume.
4. Determining when you are done is the hardest part. Cider molasses at about boiling temperature will be very liquid and flow well, but at some point you'll notice that it doesn't fall or splash like cider/water off your spoon. You'll also notice that if you temporarily crank the heat up, the bubbles will stack on top of each other and the whole mixture will rise up a bit.
5. At this point, you're done! The syrup is still hot so it will still flow very well. When it cools down it will be a thick syrup. The mixture should also taste sweet. If you really aren't sure, try cooling a bit on a metal spoon and giving it a look and taste.

Method 2:

Buy it. I have never used Boiled Cider but I have seen it at the King Arthur Flour Store. You can also buy it directly from the manufacturer's site, one of few places that still makes it.

Reviewed:

The reviews are in...Husband thinks it needs to be sweeter, which is really weird for him to say. He's usually not into things being really sweet.

Melanie says it's a very strong flavor with a punch to it. "A very strong tart apple flavor," she describes it. "That was yummy," she said when she put the bowl down. "A really, really good cider flavor."

 I don't think I would order a whole dish of this but a seasonal scoop would be really refreshing. It's not that I wouldn't order it because it's bad (it's really very good) but it's strong. It's very cidery -- which is exactly what I wanted to make when I mixed it. I think the donut bits are a really lovely cinnamony taste when you come across them in the cider base, too. (I got my cinnamon sugar cider donuts from Honey Pot Hill Orchard in Stow, Massachusetts...)

Irish [Ice] Cream

In her last post, Tina worried that the Bailey's Coffee Creamer in ice cream might have issues freezing. Since the creamer is alcohol-free though, I thought it actually might be a good answer to "adult" flavored ice cream because sometimes it's hard to freeze ice cream with too much alcohol content.

It froze ok (as opposed to not at all with some alcohol based ice creams) but my ice cream was kind of icy rather than super creamy. I figured I'd write about it even though I don't have time to make edits to my recipe and retry it before St. Patrick's Day, so what I'll do is share the recipe with a follow up of what I would try if I make it again.

I used the fat-free Original Irish Cream (which I think may have contributed to the iciness -- it was more like "ice milk"...remember that stuff?!) but I thought I would try that since the press release we were emailed announcing it and offering us free samples said "BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers is excited to announce the launch of new fat free versions of two of their most popular flavors, The Original Irish Cream and French Vanilla." I'd never tried the "fat" versions, but what the heck...they were excited about the new fat-free ones so I'd give them a whirl.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
2 cups Bailey's Original Irish Cream Fat Free Coffee Creamer
1 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Whisk the three eggs in a bowl until pale yellow. Bring the Bailey's Coffee Creamer to a simmer on the stove. Once simmering, remove from stove and pour the hot cream into the into the whisked egg. Whisk until well mixed. Pour the entire mixture back into the sauce pan, and cook over low heat while mixing constantly until the mixture thickens. Once thickened, move the mixture from the stove, then pour through a strainer into a clean bowl. Allow the mixture to cool for a bit and add the heavy cream.

Cover and refrigerate until cool.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

So here are my thoughts. If I made this again, I'd have to color it green. White for St. Patty's?! What was I thinking? I'd also try the "fat" version for a little more creaminess and less iciness.

Here's what my friend and I thought. Neither of thought it tasted very much like Irish Cream. The flavor just got too diluted out with the extra ingredients and I think it was lost in the freezing -- freezing always mellows flavor. My friend thought it tasted "nutty," almost hinting at "pistachio." I kept thinking it reminded me of cake cones. You know, the flat bottomed ones they serve soft serve in? I don't know if that's the right name but that's what I found to call them when I looked them up. Anyway, I don't really find those cones have much flavor, so the ice cream was almost like a sweet cream ice cream with no particular flavor of its own. As for the iciness, my friend said "I know what you mean about it being icy but it's really not that bad." Very diplomatic friend! She's a good one!

Shamrock Shake and Irish [Ice] Cream

Truthfully though, I'm saving my creamer for Tina's shakes! Last night, my friend and I tried making Tina's Shamrock Shake with the Fat-Free Original Irish Cream Creamer (since I didn't have Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream in the house we couldn't make the Muddy Leprechaun -- and yes, T, I LOVE the name!) and we loved it! Who would have thought that coffee creamers make the perfect shake!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ice Cream Bread

Violet is sleeping, Kevin is at the gym, and I am writing about ice cream. Oh, and eating it. Healthy me!

Anyway, this is a bit overdue but clearly a must post because I got emailed two separate links the same day on the subject: ice cream bread!

Say what? Yes, apparently the rage is to mix equal parts of ice cream and self rising flour and you get an ugly-but-yummy bread. Who knew?

First, the lovely Marsha of First Things First sent me a link from Instructables: Ice Cream Bread -- Ka-POW! (I just love the name). Apparently this was part of the bread contest that Instructables is having. I wonder if I can still vote. This one has my vote! Darn, it's too late, but Phyllo, good luck! I'm rooting for you!

Ice Cream Bread photo courtesy of
Nutrition Man

Then my lovely husband who seems to spend his day surfing the web (just kidding, Company-that-husband-works-for!) found a link and sent it to me later in the day. Oh, it seems to be a link to the same recipe but Kevin sent me the link as it appeared on Boing Boing and they aptly called it "Fugly Bread." It's true. It's not gorgeous looking, but it does have potential to be yummy!

I'm going to try it in the next couple of weeks. Boing Boing suggests it's probably more like a cake than a bread. To me it looks like scones. Ok, wait, actually, on first glance it looks like fried chicken! All the same, my wheels are turning and I just need the ingredients and the time.

Vote For Your Favorite Eagle Brand Ice Cream Recipe!

As Tina mentioned, I was a bit tied up lately (thanks for the good wishes -- we are totally enjoying our time with Violet!), but at the same time, I am told I can't move around too much so it's a good time to catch up on the blog while I also catch up on LOST. (Yep, Kevin pulled me and now we are addicted!)

Anyway, it's time now to vote for our entries in the Eagle Brand Ice Cream Recipe Contest. Scroll to the bottom of this entry for the ballot and please be sure to vote by Tuesday, August 31st, 11:59 PM EST.

In alphabetical order, here they are (please follow the links below the images to read more about the flavor and the recipe):

Coffeehouse Ice Cream

Decadent Dulce de Leche Ice Cream 

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

Summer Berrilicuious Ice Cream

Whiskey and Blueberry Ice Cream

Thanks to everyone for their fabulous entries! Once things calm down a bit here, I hope to try them out. Yes, Violet is going to be a huge ice cream fan just like her mom -- we need to get her started early, and these will probably do the trick!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

I made an ice cream cake this week. It was only the second one I have ever made, so I was pretty excited with how it came out.

Basically, I layered the all the ingredients (except for the whipped frosting, sprinkles, and peanut butter cups) in a spring form pan, froze it, then when completely frozen, released it, and frosted and decorated it.

1.  I crumbled a box of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer Cookies in the food processor and added a half a stick of butter to help them stick. I used half of this crumble (or maybe a little more) as the bottom layer. In retrospect, next time I probably would use Oreos in place of the Wafer Cookies , because the cream would help it stick better. 
2. Next, I piled on a layer of ice cream. I used Jacques Torres Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe (it's a little hidden in the entire recipe listed, but well worth it.) While not usually a honey fan, I love the flavor that the touch of honey adds to it. Instead of vanilla bean, I used 2 tablespoons of vanilla bean paste. Unfortunately, I used to be able to get this at Trader Joe's for $4.99 a bottle, but as with everything I love from Trader Joes, they stopped carrying it. It's best to use the ice cream right out of the ice cream maker, so have the crust ready to go.
3. Next, the remainder of the cookie crumble.
4. I then added peanut butter sauce. My friend and I have been trying to reproduce Friendly's sauce. I found a recipe online here, but as I was making it, I thought it wasn't peanut buttery enough, and I added more. I shouldn't have. I think if I had left it as is, it would have been perfect. Thanks Rachelle at the Saucy Little Dish! Spreading was impossible, so I more dropped it on as dollops. I froze this layer while I made the next layer. 
5. I then added a layer of peanut butter ice cream straight out of the ice cream maker. This recipe was from The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book: Savory and Sweet, Breakfast to Dessert, Hundereds of Ways to Use America's Favorite Spread by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. I love these guys. You can also use the recipe from their The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More (my bible in ice cream making) but the one in The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book is more peanut butter, which is what the cake recipients liked! Freeze the cake after this step until frozen solid.
6. I then released the cake from the spring form, and frosted it. Frosting was made up of two cups of whipping cream whipped with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and a 1/4 cup granulated sugar until stiff peaks formed.
7. I decorated the cake with six Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate sprinkles, but really, you could do as you please!

Freeze again until the whipped topping is frozen and enjoy!

My apologies for the coloring on both photos. My phone makes them a little too yellow and the quality isn't great, we were impatient to try the cake (which, I forgot to add, was AMAZING, if I do say so myself -- but the guests enjoyed it too), and I am not great at color adjustment!

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Celebrating National Strawberry Sundae Day with The Naptime Chef!

So I am going to cheat just a little today and in lieu of a sundae, persay, we are going to focus on strawberry ice cream because The Naptime Chef just did a fabulous blog post and webisode for some extremely delicious looking Strawberry Mint Ice Cream and she has been kind enough to let us post her webisode right here! We think you'll find this as a replacement to the sundae quite worth it!

We've been a fan of The Naptime Chef since we discovered and posted about her very own Great Ice Cream Festival last August. Intrigued, we even interviewed her for the post and found out she is a master of all trades in the kitchen, and her skills go well beyond ice cream making. I even found she's only two degrees of separation in the whole Six Degrees of Separation, having had attended a small private girls school in New York with one of my dearest friends.

Anyhow, enough of a preview...let's get to the main feature:



You can also watch this and other Naptime Chef Webisodes at Mevio.

Enjoy!

Thanks, Naptime Chef!

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Spice Dish Saturday {January}: Chocolate-Almond Sorbet

We are so spoiled to have Spice Dish and her wonderful recipes, since I haven't made ice cream in quite a while. Thanks, Spice Dish! What a treat your recipes are!

This is a post-holiday gorge-fest recipe. It not only uses leftover chocolate from your Christmas stocking but is on the lighter for all those resolution makers.

Chocolate-Almond Sorbet
2 cups of cold water
1 1/8 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
8 oz semisweet chocolate (chopped or chips)
Small pinch of kosher salt
1/2 tsp Amaretto
1/2 cup toasted almonds

Whisk together 1 cup of the water, the sugar, the cocoa powder and salt together in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and whisk it for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate until it is melted completely. Add the Amaretto and remaining cup of water. Use an immersion blender (a standing one will work fine too) and blend the mixture completely. Chill completely. Once chilled freeze in your ice cream maker. Just before serving, top with the almonds for a great crunch!

Thanks again, Spice Dish! We ♥ you!

Spice Dish Saturday {July}: Blueberry Apricot Sorbet

EB of Spice Dish is off to Europe for the summer, so we'll have to savor this recipe for a while. Won't be hard as it looks amazing. Thanks, EB and have a safe and wonderful trip!

This is the perfect summer sorbet. Light, refreshing and perfectly sweet.

Blueberry Apricot Sorbet

1 lb fresh apricots
1 pkg blueberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp Amaretto


Cut the apricots into small pieces. Cook the apricots, blueberries and water over medium heat until they have the texture of mush. Stir frequently. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. Add the Amaretto and puree the mixture in a blender until smooth. Chill the mixture until completely cold. Freeze in your ice cream maker.

SpiceDish Saturday {April}: Lemon-Rose Petal Ice Cream

It's time for April's SpiceDish Saturday. I'm particularly excited for this one. It's an exotic flavor and just so beautiful looking. It reminds me of those Brach's Jelly Nougats I used to LOVE when I was a kid. I recently rediscovered them at Chutter's (home of the longest candy counter) in Littleton, New Hampshire. But, I digress. Back to the subject at hand -- SpiceDish's amazing looking ice cream...

The world is thawing, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and new fresh flavors are everywhere. I was gifted with a large stash of lemons so perfect, they looked like plastic. Their fragrant, oil packed skin called out to be blended with rich cream an a little something special. I found the perfect something special at Bi-Rite the other day. Candied rose petals! This recipe would work fantastically with candied violets too.

Lemon-Rose Petal Ice Cream

3 Large lemons (zested & juiced)
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups ½ & ½
Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
4 tbs candied rose petals

Warm the ½ & ½, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a saucepan until just simmering. Remove from heat and let sit for1 hour. Re-warm mixture. While it warms, whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add several tablespoons of the cream mixture into the yolk mixture and whisk. Repeat procedure until the two mixtures are completely blended together. Return mixture to the saucepan and heat on medium, stirring constantly. The custard is cooked when it thickens and coats the spoon.

Pour the mixture through a strainer back into your mixing bowl. Chill the mixture in the freezer for 20 minutes. Stir thoroughly and put into mixer. While the ice cream churns, crush 2 tbs of the rose petals (or lavender, or violet). 5 minutes before the mixture is finished churning add both the crushed and whole candied rose petals.

SpiceDish Saturday {March}: Brown Sugar Banana Bread Ice Cream

Happy SpiceDish Saturday!

Here’s another banana based ice cream for you. I just love a good banana flavored anything and I wanted something to complement my Panettone Bread Pudding. This one is crazy easy. No cooking, just mix and freeze!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Brown Sugar Banana Bread Ice Cream

3 frozen and thawed bananas
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup ½ & ½
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp brandy
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp each of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, & ginger
Dash of salt
4 squares of cinnamon graham crackers, crushed

With a banana masher, mix the bananas, brown sugar, brandy, vanilla and spices. Whisk in the cream and ½ & ½. Chill for 30 minutes. Stir to mix completely and pour into your ice cream maker. While it is churning, crush the crackers. Pour the crackers into the maker 5 minutes before the mixture is finished churning.

Happy National Peach Ice Cream Day!

Happy National Peach Ice Cream Day! To celebrate, I tried something a little different and I infused rosemary into the cream as I was warming it, and made a Rosemary Peach Ice Cream.

This was not as sweet as I usually like, but I loved the mixture of flavors -- it has a very rich taste. As with many of my recent fruit ice creams, one churned and put in the freezer, this was a bit icier and froze harder than I would have preferred. However, once I let it sit and soften for for a bit, I liked the creaminess of the concoction

Unfortunately, I don't have time to post the whole recipe today, but I promise I will post it very soon!

In the meantime, you can take your favorite custard-style peach ice cream recipe, and while cooking the milk, add two sprigs of rosemary while it simmers. Continue following the recipe by adding the whisked eggs, cooking it until the sppon is coated and when it comes time to strain this custard mixture, strain out the rosemary as well.

Promise when I return from lack-of-internet-land, I will post the recipe, but until then, have the most wonderful National Peach Ice Cream Day!

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Top Selling Ice Cream Books at Amazon...What's the Scoop?

Out of curiousity the other day, I looked up "ice cream" at amazon in the cookbook section and then sorted them by bestseller. Though anyone can do this search, I thought it would be fun to see how many of the top ten I have, and review those I do have! How "with it" am I in ice cream land? Do I have all the best sellers? Do my favorites make the list?

Answer: I have three of the top ten. And no. One of my favorites made the list (The Ultimate Ice Cream Book) but one did not (Gail Damerow's Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop!)

So I used my lazy internet skills, created an amazon widget, added some comments, and made a list! I'd love to hear more feedback on these products if anyone has used them!
[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

And we have a winner!...

I randomly drew a name from the feedback on the most creative ice cream flavors, and xsquared was the winner of the free pint of Ben and Jerry's! Way to go!

I loved the feedback though and I am going to relist the creative flavors our readers posted:

• i never seen these crazy flavours you speak of! I am going to have to start looking harder!
  Weirdest Ive had is Green Tea, but thats fairly common really :S -Tanybug
  

• I actually tried Red Bean at our local chinese restaurant and it was surprisingly very good. It had more of a spicy flavor like Ginger does rather than sweet. -Our very own Tina
  

• I've made 2 slightly odd flavors:
  
  1. David Lebovitz's Candied Bacon Ice Cream - delicious! But only the first night. After that, the bacon got unpleasantly rubbery in the ice cream. Recipe: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/03/candied_bacon_i_1.html
  
  2. Toasted Sesame Vanilla - the base base delicious but I didn't like the texture of the sesame seeds - next time I would leave them out.
  Recipe: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/03/in-the-kitchen-with-lara-ferroni.html -xsquared
  

• I didn't try this because it really looked disgusting, but we had a friend whose favorite concoction was Mint Chocolate Chip with a dollop of peanut butter mixed in! -Jennifer from Ohio

Thanks all for some good flavor ideas to fill out Ice Cream Month! I am not sure I will try all of them (I don't like sesame seeds or green tea), but they are good to have on the back burner for my ice cream party.

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Happy Fourth of July!

Trying to find some super cool Independence Day Ice Cream treats for you, and it has been quite a struggle.

I found a couple to get you in the mood though...

Thinking frozen treats and red, white, and blue,the first thing that comes to mind is being about seven years old, standing in line at the Washington Monument, and Mom and Dad buying us those rocket pops from a vendor. . What a treat! It certainly made the line go faster (or at least it seemed...) I also remember thinking how cool it was that our popsicle mimicked the monument ahead of us It looks like it is a Blue Bunny treat that we had: Bomb Pop, Jr.: cherry, lime and blue raspberry on a stick! Added bonus? I just found a Blue Bunny coupon! Yay!

On my search for Rocket Pops, I also found them called Firecracker Pops as well as the Blue Bunny Bomb Pops. Though Firecracker Pops aren't exactly the treats we had, but they look pretty close as well -- I am sure though, in 1986, our treats did not have an exploding candy top. I would have remembered that! A search on Google also brought up a listing of tons of recipes to make your own "rocket pops."

I am headed up to Concord, Vermont for the fourth, but if I were home, I certainly would be making these little fellas from BakeSpace. How cute!

Have a great fourth of July -- full of frozen treats!


[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Today, July 1, is Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day

We start July off with National Ice Cream Month as well as today being Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. What could be finer?

Many things come to mind with Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. It brings back to mind the list I made a while back of the Top 10 Craziest Ice Cream Flavors. In the meantime, Arianna sent another good one: Thai Black Bean Ice Cream.

This also makes me want to visit Udder Delight Ice Cream House and Jeni's Ice Cream which were also in that post and certainly had some very creative flavors. If you live near Rehoboth Beach, Deleware or Columbus, Ohio, today might be the day to pay them a visit!

I think my most creative flavors have been:

1. Lisa's White Chocolate Cranberry Cookie Crunch (I promise to post this recipe soon!)
2. Vanilla Bean Jelly Bean (OK, maybe I just like the name the best!)
3. Shirley Temple Ice Cream
   

There are a couple of good ones in the works, but I don't want to post them until they are tried and true!

What is the most creative flavor you have ever tried or made? Post a reply and let us know (be sure to include your email) and enter for a chance to win a coupon for a free pint of Ben and Jerry's! Change of date: Let us know by this Saturday, July 5.