Ice Cream

[Stella]

I am on an ice cream and pie making kick this summer and I am loving it. I have made both pie and ice cream in the past but neither is something I've done a lot of. Not enough to become expert level, anyway, and that is my goal.

Earlier this week I started with vanilla ice cream just to get my feet wet and it was out of this world. Tonight's attempt is honey peach and if the custard I tasted before I put it in the ice cream maker is any indication, this is going to be a hit.

This weekend I'm going to try a blueberry buttermilk. Other flavours I want to try are ginger, honey lavender, strawberry, raspberry, chocolate, cinnamon, plum, ginger plum and spicy chocolate.

What are your favourite ice cream flavours? Any tips?

[Mrs-M]

Sounds delicious Stella! Can I come to your house? :) My all-time favourite ice cream flavour of all? Tiger Tail!

[goldensmom]

Whatever you make is my favorite. So when I get to Minneapolis, which way do I turn to get to your house?

[cdttmm]

Vanilla malt, honey, and pumpkin are my three favorite flavors, but I will eat most any flavor of ice cream, except coffee. I have to draw the line somewhere.

[herisf]

Ginger, definitely ginger. Vanilla and/or vanilla bean too. Mint chocolate chip (without the green coloring) is also up there!

[jania]

For homemade it is always vanilla for me! And with chocolate fudge topping it's the best.

Mrs M, what is Tiger Tail? I'm intrigued.....

[Rosemary]

Hazelnut and apricot. In Germany they make more of a gelato-style ice cream and it comes in many, many fruit and nut flavors. They serve small scoops so that you can try a few flavors. Yum.

We recently acquired an ice cream maker so that I can experiment with vegan, no-refined-sugar "ice cream." While on the allergy elim diet, we tried some coconut milk based ice cream that is sweetened with agave nectar. It is delicious but very costly (about $5/pint). I found some recipes online and plan to make some homemade vegan strawberry ice cream this week (since our garden is bursting with strawberries right now) - the only additional sweetener will be some pureed dates, and I'll probably start with coconut milk and then experiment with almond milk, which has a lot less fat and calories.

[madgeylou]

rosemary, ice cream made with cocnut milk is AMAZING! my fella made me some with dark cocoa, completely unsweetened, a few weeks ago, and i swooned. here are some of the other flavors he's made: rhubarb crumble (crumbled up in vanilla ice cream and served with rhubarb sauce), plum ginger, chocolate swirl, strawberry, and vanilla with a lemon curd swirl.

i also love making frozen yogurt with the thick drained yogurt from a local middle eastern deli. so yummy with fresh fruit! just mix the yogurt with a tiny bit of sugar (or not) and stick it in theice cream maker.

[libby]

Peanutbutter cup is my hands down favorite. Yumm!!

[puglogic]

Madgeylou, I'd love to try the coconut milk ice cream recipe you talk about (the dark fudgy one). Any chance your fella would be willing to share the recipe he used?

Stella, I love all ice cream but last year had a ball making different flavors of gelato. Though vanilla variations are my favorite, we made a kahlua flavored one that was such an enormous hit, our house guests were getting up in the middle of the night to snack on it some more.

[treehugger]

Somehow it doesn't seem right to eat it in the summer, but we often make peppermint ice cream (with crushed peppermint candies) at Christmastime. Love it!

Have fun with your experiments. Homemade ice cream is such a completely different animal from commercial products.

Kara

[madgeylou]

Madgeylou, I'd love to try the coconut milk ice cream recipe you talk about (the dark fudgy one). Any chance your fella would be willing to share the recipe he used?


from what he told me, he mixed 2 cans of coconut milk with 3 or 4 tablespoons of fancy cocoa powder (the german sounding one, can't remember the name exactly). stirred in a teaspoon of vanilla extract and banged it in the ice cream maker. we ate it with fresh raspberries for sweetening -- i think next time we may just put a few tablespoons of sugar. it was lovely as is, but i think a tiny bit of sweetness would push it over the edge. you could also blend up some cherries or raspberries and add it about halfway through the churning/mixing time.

okay i may have to make that cherry variation on sunday!!!

also meant to say that next time we will probably make it with only 1 can of coconut milk since 2 cans made more than we could eat in one night, and it froze up super hard overnight in the freezer. the texture when it's freshly made can't be beat. and i always feel great after eating a bunch of coconut oil -- my body likes it a lot!

[JaneV2.0]

My all-time favorite is an extinct Haagen-Dazs flavor with toasted coconut, ginger, and sesame brittle, and my partner loved its equally-defunct Mayan chocolate with cinnamon. I also liked their late lamented Cinnamon Dulce de Leche. Rum raisin is good (I made it myself once, with Sucralose instead of sugar, and it was sublime), and I'm always up for good quality chocolate or vanilla. Mostly, I like dense ice cream or gelato, not the flabby air-filled cheap stuff. If I had room in my tiny freezer, I'd make ice cream more often.

[catherine]

I scream for ice cream!! I love all ice cream, but my current favorite is Ben & Jerry's Imagine Whirled Peace.

I particularly like basic fountain versions of it: Ice cream sundaes, Ice cream sodas, or just a scoop will do, too.

[Gina]

I've been using almond milk for my latest blender icecreams. I've tried coconut milk in the past, but now prefer the almond (though someday I want to make a true coconut icecream). I use trader joe's vanilla unsweetened almond. I also add just a bit of dairy cream for richness.

Over the years I've made a lot of ice cream with a traditional White Mountain churn - both hand crank and electric. But after years of dealing with ice and salt and just no longer making it very often, I now just make smaller quick batches in the blender.

My favorite ice creams are made with a traditional custard base, vanilla, milk, cream, and lots of fruit. Yellow peaches roasted in the oven with butter (the previous day) is a winner. And Strawberry steeped with the sugar and lemon zest over night is also great.

I've never added ginger to any recipes, but that sounds really good, so I will. With peach sounds wonderful.

Of late I've been making quick blueberry icecream with a bit of banana for texture, sweetner, 'milk', and cream. The other day I made some straight banana, and it was wonderful. The fresh apricot was just OK. In the past I've made pumpkin with spices which is also exceptionally good.

It's always best when fresh and soft, but if you freeze it and it gets hard (esp if you use a non-sugar sweetener) you can soften it up in the microwave. Go slow, test it often, and stir often till you regain the desired texture.

Oh, and if you try to use too much booze, it won't freeze as well because the alcohol lowers the freezing point too much.

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Jania.
Mrs M, what is Tiger Tail? I'm intrigued..... Tiger Tail ice cream is the result of a combination of orange and very (very) mild black licorice. Let me put it to you this way, I HATE black licorice with a passion, yet when it comes to Tiger Tail ice cream the licorice flavour is never overpowering or strong. No kid should ever go through their childhood without experiencing Tiger Tail ice cream! No adult should either! :)

[jania]

Thanks for the reply Mrs M. Wow, I was thinking orange and black but I never would have come up with orange (flavor) and black licorice. This must be one of those exotic delicacies I'm always hearing about that comes from Canada! I'll keep my eyes open where I live and give it a try.

[Mrs-M]

Hi Jania. It is sooo mouthwatering delicious! To die for! The most acute and refreshing orange flavour mixed with a subtle and mild hint of black licorice. Sooo good!!! So many delicious sounding recipes and flavours here!

[Rosemary]

First attempt of no-refined-sweetener, non-dairy strawberry ice cream was very tasty but not perfect. Hmmm, I guess we'll have to do more 'research.' My garden is overflowing with strawberries this week, fortunately! :)

[Gina]

I envy your strawberries. :)

Earlier I made a quick batch of blender ice cream. That gives about 1.5 to 2 cups. This time it was partially frozen banana, plain cocoa powder, frozen almond milk 'ice' cubes, vanilla, sweetener, and a bit of cow cream. Very, very good. Definitely will make that again.

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