Saturday, July 25, 2009

Fresh Peppermint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream



Fresh Peppermint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream~


2 cups half & half
1 cup fresh peppermint leaves, unpacked
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Finely chop the peppermint leaves.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the half & half and the peppermint leaves.
3. Scald mixture over low heat, stirring frequently.
4. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium bowl.
5. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
6. Add in the cream, stirring well.
7. Put the mixture into the freezer to chill.
8. Pour into a 1 1/2 quart or larger ice cream maker.
9. Churn until a firm soft-serve consistency.
10. Add in 1 cup of cold mini chocolate chips and mix well.
11. Transfer to a container and freeze until firm.



My Conclusion~

I'm not a fan of mint chocolate chip ice cream, so even if it's in the freezer I normally won't eat it. However, I do like the fresh peppermint taste of this ice cream. Using the fresh peppermint from my garden makes a big difference. It's not green and artificial, it's light and fresh. I would process it longer than the 40 minutes that I did this time. It wasn't frozen enough and when I took it out of the ice cream maker it immediately started melting when I was stirring in the chips. I would process it 10 minutes more or even longer.


Reviews~

Mr. Brown Chick: Loves it!
Tween Chick: Sort of likes it, wasn't the best.
Young Chick: Loves it.
Baby Chick: Likes it.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Nutella Ice Cream


1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups nutella
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

1. Mix cream, milk, and nutella until completely blended.
2. Add to ice cream maker and process for 15-25 minutes, until the ice cream reaches a soft serve consistency.
3. Either add chopped hazelnuts to the ice cream maker, or mix in after transferring to a freezer safe container.
4. Freeze until firm.

Conclusion

The flavor was GREAT - afterall, how can you go wrong with NUTELLA! Unfortunately, once again my ice cream maker whipped too much air into the ice cream, making it less dense than I would like. I think if I made this again I would do 50/50 on cream and nutella, and use maybe 1/4 cup of chopped hazelnuts.

Reviews

Yellow Chick: Good flavor - but not quite dense enough.
Mr. Yellow Chick: Doesn't like hazelnuts or nutella... so I didn't really ask. :)

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Coconut Ice Cream





1 14- ounce can regular (not light) coconut milk
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut


1. Stir the coconut milk, milk, cream and salt in a medium bowl until the sugar dissolves.
2. Pour into a 1 1/2 quart or larger ice cream maker.
3. Churn for 40 minutes or until a firm soft-serve consistency.
4. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze several hours until firm.



My Conclusion~


The ice cream itself is creamy. The shredded coconut takes away the creaminess of it. I would use less coconut. Maybe 3/4 cup. I would also chop it up in a food processor so that the pieces are much smaller. I might also use half and half in place of the milk, to make it a little heavier. The addition of some coconut flavoring would make it even better I think. Overall it's good, but it's not "great".


Reviews~

Mr. Brown Chick: Loves it. Loves all the coconut pieces in it.
Tween Chick: Doesn't like the coconut pieces in it.
Young Chick: She "likes it".
Baby Chick: Hasn't tried it.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream



Fresh Cherry Ice Cream


3 1/2 cups cherries, with the pits removed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream


1. Cut the cherries in half and removed the pits.
2. Combine cherries and sugar in a blender. Puree until smooth.
3. Add cream to ice cream maker.
4. Start the ice cream maker and pour the cherry puree into the cream.
5. Churn for 20-30 minutes or until a firm soft-serve consistency.
6. Put into a freezer safe container and freeze for several hours.


My Conclusion

I started out by just copying Brown Chick's plum ice cream exactly, except for the cherries vs. plums of course. It turned out the cherries were much sweeter than the plums, so it was far too sweet. I added an additional 1 1/2 cups of cherries, and that balanced it fairly well, but I would probably use even less sugar if I did it again.

Reviews

Yellow Chick: I think it's pretty tasty, but could be a little more tart and a little less fluffy.
Mr. Yellow Chick: He liked the flavor a lot, but doesn't like how fluffy my ice cream always seems to turn out.