ICOTW: Lime Granita

 

We have reached the end of a month of (4) ice cream (ish) posts.  I wanted to end with another popsicle recipe but then I didn't have enough available molds to make any recipe I found.  I wanted something other than a churned ice cream recipe since those have equipment requirements.  So, a granita it was!

What is a granita?  That's a great question.  I've only made one other one that, strangely, posted 6 years ago this week. They remind me of a sno-cone except made at home and without a sno-cone machine.  They are pretty forgiving and simple, few ingredients and not a lot of time.  They are very refreshing and are perfect for a hot summer day.  You all, I don't know why I haven't been making more of these.

This is a lime version, largely because I had limes in my fridge and the recipe bookmarked in the cookbook.  (Although I also pulled out last week's ice cream just with the contents of my fridge/freezer).  The cookbook mentions layering granitas on top of ice cream or under whipped cream, neither of which I did.  I just ate it straight.  These are so light that while they make a decent volume it's not a lot of servings.  Which is fine because they are also so easy to make that I don't feel like work is wasted if a whole batch is consumed by our family for one dessert!  

If you are looking for a refreshing treat in these hot days of summer, give this a try!

One year ago: Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Two years ago: Summer Fruit Crisp Ice Cream Bars
Three years ago: Coconut Pineapple Sorbet
Four years ago: Blackberry Sweet Cream Ice Cream
Five years ago: Raspberry Pineapple Sorbet
Six years ago: Lemon Granita

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, links for which are included within this post, at no additional cost to you.  Thanks for helping support this blog!   Of course, utilize the library or shop used or from an independent bookstore, if you prefer!  

 

Lime Granita
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
-3 cups water
-1 cup sugar
-zest of 2 limes (save the limes to juice)
-1 cup of lime juice (about 12 limes, or as many limes as you have and then topped off with the bottled juice)

Directions
In a medium saucepan combine ½ cup of water with the sugar and lime zest over medium heat, stirring frequently.  When the sugar is completely dissolved remove from heat and stir in the remaining 2½ cups of water.  Let come to room temperature and then chill in fridge for ~2 hours.

Stir together the lime juice and sugar syrup and pour into a freezer safe dish (I used a 9x9 glass Pyrex).  Place in the freezer.  After about an hour, stir the granita, pulling the more frozen edges into the middle.  Place back in the freezer and check in another ~30 minutes, stirring again to pull the frozen edges in.  Repeat.  It will be "done" when you have nicely frozen crystals that look a little chunkier than a sno-cone.  If it ever freezes too solid (such as overnight) just leave on the counter for ~5-10 minutes until you can restir it.  

Enjoy!

Source: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz (the #1 ice cream cookbook I recommend!)
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!  

ICOTW: Very Chocolatey Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate ice cream.  I aim to make a variety every July since I like chocolate and July is my birthday month and therefore my favorite month.  I knew I "needed" (by my own self-imposed goals) to make another ice cream recipe to help finish out the month of ice cream and so decided to kill two birds with one stone.  I had a free Saturday morning where the backyard was too wet to work on digging a sandbox (we've made SMALL progress on that!) so I made ice cream.  You all, I never regret having chocolate ice cream in my freezer.

In terms of difficulty, this is on the higher end of the recipes I've made and shared here.  There was egg separating and tempering which is never my favorite even though I have yet to make scrambled eggs in all the times I've had to do it (even though I HAVE messed up many an egg separating).  But really, the eggs were the most difficult part and there weren't too many steps involved.  I was also working with a recipe I just found that morning so had to go with one that I had all the ingredients for.  Which wasn't whole milk so had to do a little substituting of half and half for the whole milk.  I figured that would just make it slightly richer?  Either way it didn't seem to harm the final product at all!

I finally tried this earlier this week, after a crazy morning/early afternoon that included my kids being at 3 locations while I worked (that's right, one of them changed places while I worked) and making approximately 30 stops in our 5.5 hours out of the house so I could work for 3 (that's only a slight exaggeration...I really don't know the number of times I was in and out of the car).  So, post crazy morning, had one kid playing with cousins and the other was at least staying in his room for quiet time and I finally ate my lunch at 2:45 then was able to drown my "I was a taxi and then freezing in the AC at work and then refusing to use the AC in the car so now I'm really hot" exhaustion on some leftovers and then ice cream.  I highly recommend chocolate ice cream as a pick me up and speak highly of this one working well for that.  It's VERY rich and VERY chocolatey! 

One year ago: Chocolate Cinnamon Custard
Two years ago: Raspberry Peach Popsicles
Three years ago: Coconut Pineapple Sorbet 
Four years ago: No-Churn Brownie Caramel Ice Cream
Five years ago: Delectable Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
Six years ago: Fruit Coconut Pops

Very Chocolatey Chocolate Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ice Cream Ingredients
-1½ cups whole milk (or half and half works too!)
-1½ cups heavy cream
-¾ cups sugar, divided
-¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch Process, if you have it)
-¼ tsp fine sea salt
-½ tsp vanilla extract
-8 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
-4 large egg yolk

Fudge Swirl Ingredients
-¼ cup + 2 TB heavy cream
-1 TB unsalted butter
-¼ cup sugar
-2 TB packed brown sugar
-½ cup semi-sweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips)
-pinch of salt
-½ tsp vanilla

Ice Cream Directions
1) Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice cubes and a few cups of water.  Set a sieve over a medium bowl that will fit inside and set aside.  Chop and melt (I used the microwave) the chocolate and separate the eggs. 

2) In a medium saucepan combine the whole milk (or half and half), heavy cream, ½ cup sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla.  Set over medium heat, stir occasionally, until it is warm and is steaming, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the melted chocolate.

3) Whisk together the remaining ¼ cup of sugar with the 4 egg yolks.  Carefully whisk about 1 cup of the warm milk/cream/chocolate mixture into the eggs/sugar.  Keep slowly adding more milk/cream while whisking the whole time.  Once you have added all the milk/cream and whisked it all together, pour all of it back into the saucepan and set over medium heat.  Stirring constantly until it reaches 175° with an instant read thermometer, about 5-7 minutes.  DO NOT BOIL.

4) Immediately strain this through the sieve in the medium bowl and place the medium bowl into the large ice and water filled bowl.  Let it come to room temperature, stirring occasionally.  Then place the medium bowl in the fridge until chilled.  

Swirl Directions
5) Heat the cream, butter, and sugars in a small saucepan over low hear.  Bring to a boil and cook until the sugars are dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in chocolate.  Let sit for 3 minutes and then stir smooth.  Let sit at room temperature while waiting for the ice cream to be ready to churn.

Final Steps
6) Churn the chilled ice cream mixture per your machine's instructions.  When it is finished, transfer to a freezer safe container, drizzling the swirl between the layers.  Press a piece of parchment or plastic wrap directly on the top of the ice cream before putting on the lid.  Freeze.  Will need ~7-10 minutes to come to a scoop able temperature.
 

Source: Handle the Heat with Tessa Arias
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!  

ICOTW: Simple Peach Popsicles

It is peach season right now and I have eaten a lot every day for about a week now.  Peaches don't actually grow here (that I know of) but I have had very good luck with The Peach Truck peaches for 3 summers in a row now and I picked up my 1½ (split with a sister) boxes last week.  

There is the initial "this is a lot of peaches and wow I have no remaining counter space" which quickly gives way to the most delicious smell and me consuming 3 peaches in 8 minutes standing over the kitchen sink while the juice runs all the way down my arm.  Yes, it's wonderful.  

I spent a decent amount of time last weekend making more batches of sorbet than I'll expected (recipe multiplying problems) and also made these popsicles.  They are even easier than the super simple strawberry popsicles we make during strawberry season.  These don't even need peeled which saves me a few minutes of boiling and cooling (that pot space is precious when I am making the amount of sorbet I ended up making this weekend!).  Just a quick chop, run through the blender (which I already had out from sorbet) and freeze these up!  And then force a popsicle on Sam because I had a little too much mix and not enough molds.  We've hit the point of the summer where popsicle molds have a quick turn around.

These were easy and the one I just ate was very refreshing.  Obviously, the quality of your peaches will greatly determine how these turn out.  Seeing as I am currently eating 6-8 a day fresh...I can attest to the quality of the peaches I am working with.  

I think these will become a staple in our peach boxes consuming.  Really easy and really refreshing, exactly what I am looking for when I am looking to get some counter space back! 

 One year ago: Peach Sorbet (one of my all-time favorites)
Two years ago: Chocolate Coconut Sorbet
Three years ago: Strawberry Gelato
Four years ago: Salted Honey Ice Cream
Five years ago: Lemonade Ice Cream
Six years ago: Coconut Ice Cream

Simple Peach Popsicles
yield: about 8, depending on the size of your molds

Ingredients
-4 large, ripe peaches, don't need to peel
-juice of ½ lemon juice
-2 TB sugar

Directions
Pit the peaches and roughly chop.  Put in the blender or food processor with the lemon juice and sugar.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into molds and freeze until solid!  A quick run under hot water will help them out of the molds when you are ready to eat!

Source: The View from the Great Island
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!  

ICOTW: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

We're back to ice cream making season!  Well, ice cream posting season, I've been re-making old favorites since the beginning of summer!  (Like many batches of this strawberry ice cream).  I've made a lot of different ice cream flavors, this being my SEVENTH summer doing this (although I have scaled back greatly from once a week for 15 weeks!) so many many favorites we've found.  As I was prepping for this month of ice cream making (as in...planning this week...I haven't done much planning beyond this one) I was thinking through flavors I hadn't tried yet and I came up with mint chocolate chip.

Now, mint chocolate chip ice cream instantly brings to mind two memories.  The more recent one is from a season 1 episode of The Office when Michael Scott insists on mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for Meredith's birthday.  I can. not. say or even think "Mint chocolate chip!" without hearing it in Michael's voice.

My second memory goes much further back, 25ish years ago to my Mom buying a gallon bucket of mint chocolate chip ice cream and helping myself to a generous bowl for snack one day while looking through a catalog for a knock-off American Girls doll line I have since forgotten the name of.  I remember thinking I couldn't believe I was getting away with eating all this ice cream in the middle of the day.

I don't know the last time I personally bought or had mint chocolate chip ice cream but it seemed like it was about time I made some myself.  So I did and it was good.  And easy!  One of the easiest ice cream recipes I've made, as long as you have an ice cream machine, a bowl & whisk, and about 45 minutes of time (almost all of that hands off), you can handle this.

One year ago: Lemon Cream Ice Cream
Two years ago: Blueberry Pie-Wiches
Three years ago: Blackberry Lime Sorbet
Four years ago: Coconut Lime Popsicles
Five years ago: Lemonade Ice Cream
Six years ago: Peach Sangria Popsicles

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
-1 cup whole milk, cold
-¾ cup sugar
-2 cup heavy cream, cold
-1½ tsp pure peppermint extract
-4 ounces mini chocolate chips to chopped chocolate
-green food coloring (optional but the only way your ice cream will end up green)

Directions
In a bowl combine the milk and sugar and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the heavy cream and the peppermint.  Immediately churn in your ice cream machine, according to the manufacturer's instructions, adding the chocolate chips in the last 5 minutes.

Pack into a freezer safe container and press a piece of parchment paper on top.  Freeze at least 4 hours.  Will need ~5 minutes on the counter until it can be scooped.

Enjoy!

Source: slightly modified from Chew Out Loud 

__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!   

ICOTW: Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

This brings us to the end of our month of ice cream!  I used to do these weekly but that was a kid ago and while I have time to make the ice cream, getting to the photographing and blogging is tougher.  So I remake a lot of our favorites from the past 5 years and then throw in a few new recipes too, always looking for more to add to the favorites file.  If only I was as happy making regular food as I am making ice cream...

I don't know if I've ever had Key Lime Pie.  If I did it wasn't memorable.  But, I like limes and I like ice cream and I had all the ingredients on hand for this one (It's because I keep so much heavy cream on hand in the summer, always ready for an ice cream emergency.)  It was also appealing because it is very easy, no stove time!  I've done more work on ice cream than I ever would have expected 5 years ago and definitely more than I ever could have guessed 10 years ago but I still like being able to post about easier ice creams.  If you've never made homemade ice cream, you definitely aren't going to be tempted to start by a recipe that involves separating and tempering eggs with three different times to turn the stove on and off.  It took me years to even start putting mixes with raspberries seeds through a sieve!

So, Key Lime Pie ice cream.  It is EASY.  Whisk a few things together, crush some graham crackers, run through the ice cream maker!  That's it!  Except this made so much I had to run it through in two batches but that's not hard, just a little confusing.

Luke actually picked this one for his after supper ice cream the other day which surprised me.  I was even more surprised when he talked about how much he liked it!  He's hit or miss on the lime stuff but this was a hit!  It isn't as creamy as some I've made that involve stove time but that's the price to pay for an easier ice cream!  It still had a fantastic lime flavor and did taste what I'd imagine key lime pie to taste like!  I'd especially recommend if you like the pie!

One year ago: Summer Fruit Crisp Ice Cream Bars
Two years ago: Pina Colada Popsicles
Three years ago: Blackberry Sweet Cream Ice Cream
Four years ago: Dark Chocolate Coconut Popsicles (one of the ones I remake the most!)
Five years ago: Super Simple Strawberry Popsicles (another one I remake a lot!)

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
yield: about 1½ quarts
Ingredients
-2 cups whole milk
-2 cups heavy cream
-1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
-½ cup lime juice (I mostly used bottled)
- ¼ cup lemon juice
-pinch of salt
-zest of 2 limes, juice the limes for part of the lime juice needed above!
-8 graham cracker squares

Directions
1) In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, lemon juice, lime zest, and salt.  Pour into base of ice cream maker (I had to do in two batches) and churn according to machine's instructions.
2) In the meantime, put 4 graham cracker squares in a ziploc bag and pound with your fist for ~10 second until mostly crushed.  When the ice cream is done churning, sprinkle in layers of graham cracker crumbs with the ice cream.  Press a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap on top before placing in the freezer.
3) Repeat with the rest of the mix when your ice cream maker is ready for a second batch.  Enjoy!

Source: Slightly modified from Fake Ginger
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!   

ICOTW: Chocolate Cinnamon Custard

Chocolate ice cream is generally my favorite of the ice creams I make.  (Although I could quickly, off the top of my head, come up with 3-4 favorites that AREN'T chocolate.)  I really enjoy it. HOWEVER, as my mother discovered after, I believe, my 2nd birthday party where I ate chocolate cake...I cannot handle large amounts of chocolate in the evening.  At least if I want to sleep at night, which I generally do.  Caffeine really effects me (as I also recently relearned when I had a frozen coke at 3pm and couldn't sleep 9 hours later, I don't think all of these are coincidences.). 

We often have ice cream cones in our backyard, under the string lights (post coming tomorrow on those!), after supper.  It's a delightful routine and it keeps the mess out of the kitchen.  It's also really nice to end our day, the pre-bedtime routine part, together. 

However.

I cannot eat this, or any other chocolate ice cream I've made, then because I really value sleep.  So this has been made an after lunch ice cream dessert where I then have to explain to Luke why I am eating ice cream and he...isn't.  Some days I don't get caught.  Some days, like today, I do.  Will that stop me from having an ice cream cone this evening?  We will see.  There is a reason quarantine me isn't in the best shape of my life!  I would have a hard time giving up ice cream even if I could get it down to a more reasonable once a day

(I don't eat ice cream twice a day, nearly ever day, to be clear.  Not even once a day, every day.  But there are days I eat it twice a day.) 

This was a relatively straight forward process compared to some others I've made.  I found the separating eggs bit the hardest but they do make it awfully creamy!  The cinnamon adds a nice touch of spice without overwhelming the chocolate, something I really appreciate, as much as I like cinnamon, I just like chocolate more.  Highly recommend this, if it wasn't for my sleep-hampering, I'd be making a lot more chocolate ice cream in the summer!

One year ago: Chocolate Coconut Sorbet

Two years ago: Coconut Pineapple Sorbet
Three years ago: No-Churn Brownie Carmel Ice Cream
Four years ago: Delectable Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Five years ago: Fruit Coconut Pops

(Apparently mid-July is the time I make coconut flavored frozen things)

Chocolate Cinnamon Custard
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
-2½ cups heavy cream
-½ cup milk (I usually use whole in ice cream)
-¾ cup white sugar
-2 TB unsweetened dark chocolate powder
-1 ounce dark chocolate bar
-5 egg yolks
-1½ tsp cinnamon

Directions
1) Whisk together the cream, milk, sugar, and chocolate powder in a saucepan over medium heat until it is combined and the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a simmer and stir in the chocolate bar until melted.  Whisk in the egg yolks and cook until the mixture will coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and refridgerate until cool, at least 6 hours.
2) Stir in the cinnamon and churn according to your machine's instructions.  Pack into a freezer safe container and press a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap on top.  Freeze until solid, at least 6 hours.  Let come to room temperature for ~5 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Source: slightly modified from All Recipes

__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!   

ICOTW: Peach Sorbet (no-churn or ice cream maker)

I try to have an abundance mindset when it comes to most things, there's plenty to go around (except for toilet paper in March and hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes currently in the store).  However.  I cannot get over a feeling of scarcity when it comes to peach sorbet.  I remember our childhood neighbors bringing my Mom back boxes of peaches from Michigan when I was a kid and, inevitably, my Mom would turn some of those peaches into sorbet.  Now we get our annual box of peaches from The Peach Truck and I turn some of those peaches into sorbet. 

Most of the ice cream (or ice cream like things) I make I freeze in reusable plastic containers from Target.  This generally works fine although I will probably upgrade my containers as these crack (but these are recyclable and they have served me for many years!).  Peach sorbet I always freeze in canning jars because that's how my Mom did it.  I also know I won't be in as big of a rush to get through them when they are in the basement deep freeze in canning jars rather than in the upstairs fridge's freezer.

My feeling of scarcity over peach sorbet probably goes back to my childhood when my Mom would open the treasured frozen jars of sorbet and we'd each get about 2 spoonfuls because there were 8 of us and those jars are big but not that big.  Now I still find myself somewhat hoarding, or to put it more nicely, treasuring every bite of my peach sorbet.  With the perfectly ripe peaches, it is the perfect summer treat.  Cold, refreshing, sweet, a tiny bit tart, and so perfectly peachy.  It's not flashy but it sure is delicious.

Note: I thought a lot over how to present this recipe because half of the recipe I grew up on fits perfectly in my ice cream maker or in the blender so even a regular batch I'd have to break up to process.  I included half that recipe here so it's a smaller yield but will all fit in one batch for processing.  Just multiply as you see fit, I make the equivalent of 4 of these batches at a time, just spreading out the processing.

You could probably cut the sugar more, I already did from the original recipe but only as far as I've indicated below.  Next year I plan to try even less sugar.

The easiest way to peel peaches is to cut an X into the bottom and place in a pot of boiling water for about 60 seconds.  Remove and run cold water over the peaches to shock them.  Then the skins should come off very easily.

One year ago: Chocolate Coconut Sorbet

Two years ago: Blackberry Lime Sorbet
Three years ago: Salted Honey Ice Cream
Four years ago: Lemonade Ice Cream

Five years ago: Coconut Ice Cream

Fresh Peach Sorbet
yield: about 1/2 quart (maybe 1½ large canning jars?)
Ingredients
-2 cups sliced, peeled, pitted, ripe peaches
-½ cup orange juice
-¾ cup sugar
-1 TB lemon juice

Directions
1) In a medium saucepan, combine the orange juice, sugar, and lemon juice over medium heat, until the sugar dissolved.  Meanwhile, puree the peaches (I used my immersion blender) until very smooth.  Remove the juice/sugar mix from heat, let briefly cool, and stir in the pureed peaches. 

NOW, choose your own adventure:

ICE CREAM MACHINE 
2) Transfer the peach sugar juice to a bowl and place in the fridge until cool (at least a few hours).  Then pour into your ice cream machine and churn according to instructions.  When finished, put the sorbet in canning jars, screw on lid and ring, and place in the freezer until solid.  Will need to let sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving.

NO-CHURN
2) Pour the peach sugar juice into a 9" x 13" pan and freeze until firm.  Break it into chunks in a blender or food processor and blend until it is lighter in color and fluffier.  I do about 30 seconds on low and then pulse for another ~45 seconds.  Transfer to canning jars, add a lid and ring and freeze!  Will need to let sit at room temp for a minutes before serving.

Source: Modified from a very old recipe my Mom had cut out of somewhere at least 25 years ago, I highly doubt anyone knows where it's originally from, but if you do, let me know and I'll add proper credit!
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!   

ICOTW: Lemon Cream Ice Cream

Happy week two of ice cream making Summer 2020!  There is a lot that is different about this summer but I can still make ice cream!  And make it I have.  I have a list of flavors I hope to make this summer but that list is largely dependent for when fruit is in season or on sale.  Which is why I made 4 tubs of strawberry ice cream in June.  Lemons are a little less seasonal so this was an easy one to sneak in while waiting for other fruits to show up in Aldi's weekly ad.

My memories of lemon ice cream are from this little ice cream stand we have often visited around Memorial Day when making, what I've termed, the "Memorial Day Memorial Tour".  My Dad grew up near where Matt's family's lake cottage is and most Memorial Days (not this year, because of that great ruiner of things, COVID).  I meet my parents and some sisters to visit the grave sites of our Grandparents and Great-Grandparents.  We clean off the tombstones and put down new flowers.  It's a very fun morning.  It's very rare that a group of us sisters are together without husbands or kids and there is a lot of trying to talk over each other the whole time.  We also stop at this ice cream stand and at a winery.  For a long time at our ice cream stop I would get a lemon soft-serve cone since it's the only place I've ever seen lemon soft-serve.  Then I started to get more expensive blizzard-like things or other scooped ice cream (sorry Dad), like my sisters.  I still think fondly of the lemon ice cream though and was delighted to find this one.  It comes with less reminiscing (at least outside of this post) but I do get more than one cone of it once a year!

This is light and flavorful and fairly easy to make, I'd just recommend reading through the whole recipe before starting.  I'm starting to feel in my ice cream making groove (that's a thing!) now that I'm more than 8 batches in this year, with many more to come. 
  
One year ago: Coconut Peach Popsicles

Two years ago: Strawberry Gelato
Three years ago: Coconut Lime Popsicles 
Four years ago: Raspberry Crisp Ice Cream
Five years ago: Peach Sangria Popsicles

Lemon Cream Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
Lemon Syrup
-2-3 lemons
-2 TB sugar

Ice Cream Base
-2 2/3 cup whole milk
-1 TB + 2 tsp cornstarch
-2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
-1/8 tsp sea salt
-1½ cups heavy cream
-¾ cup sugar
-¼ cup corn syrup
-zest of 2-3 lemons from above

Directions
1) Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lemons in large strips.  Set aside.  Juice the lemons until you have 2/3 cup lemon juice.  Combine this lemon juice with the 2 TB of sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and refrigerate until chilled.

2)  Whisk the cream cheese with the sea salt in a medium sized bowl.  Mix 2/3 cup of the milk in a small bowl with the cornstarch to make a slurry. 

3) Add the remaining 2 cups of milk, heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup and lemon zest in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in the milk-cornstarch slurry.  Put this back over medium-high heat and return to a boil, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

4) Slowly whisk the hot stove mixture into the cream cheese/salt bowl.  Refridgerate until completely chilled, I usually do overnight.

5) Remove the lemon zest from the fridge mixture and pour into your ice cream maker.  Pour the refrigerated lemon syrup into your ice cream maker, while it is running, churn according to machine's instructions.  When finished, pack into a freezer-safe container and press a piece of parchment paper on top.  Freeze until solid, at least 4 hours.  Enjoy!

Source: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer

__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!   

ICOTW: Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

It's July which means it's time for weekly ice cream posts again!  There was a time when I did these ice cream posts every week.  This is no longer that time.  I still make A LOT of ice cream in the summer (I think we have 6 tubs of homemade ice cream in our freezer, as well as two kinds of homemade popsicles) but I've found so many favorites in this project that I mix in a heavy dose of those in with trying new ones.  Which means I just intend of these to run throughout July but we'll see how ambitious I get in trying new recipes!  I only intended to make drink recipes through June but then kept making new ones...so those will continue every other week too (and I've already written some of those into August...I make A LOT of drinks at the start of summer and then just repeat favorites). 


I knew I was going to make a new strawberry ice cream because that's Matt's favorite and I bought A LOT of strawberries when they were in season and on sale.  I made two batches of this one because it's super easy but came across this featured recipe in a cookbook and threw it in as well.  The main appeal of it was the use of buttermilk since I now know someone with a cow (my sister).  I've met the cow that produced this buttermilk, which I'm pretty excited about (everything else came from Aldi).  If only I had picked the strawberries as well!  Alas, that is not something I made time for in June.  We'll have to settle for pretty local buttermilk.

This is certainly more involved than the strawberry ice cream post I linked above (no stove time on that one!) but the taste is outstanding.  The buttermilk lends a certain tang to it as well as a more complex flavor that comes with a more complex recipe.  It also has 4 different dairy products in it which is...quite a few.  BUT, you are rewarded for your work with a delicious ice cream.  Or, in the case of my family, they are rewarded for my work.  I am more than happy to share.


One year ago: Coconut Peach Popsicles

Two years ago: Strawberry Coconut Milk Popsicles
Three years ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Four years ago: Raspberry Crisp Ice Cream (one of my VERY favorite find of all the ones I've made)

Five years ago: Clean Out the Freezer Popsicles

Roasted Strawberry & Buttermilk Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
Roasted Strawberries
-1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced about ½ inch thick
-1/3 cup sugar
-3 TB lemon juice

Ice Cream Base

-2½ ounces cream cheese, softened
-1/8 tsp sea salt


-2 cups whole milk
-2 TB + 2 tsp cornstarch
-1 2/3 cups heavy cream
-¾ cup sugar
-2 TB + 2 tsp light corn syrup
-1/3 cup buttermilk

Directions
1) Set out the cream cheese to soften in a medium size bowl.  Whisk in the salt once the cream cheese is soft.

2) For the strawberries, preheat the oven to 375°.  Combine the sliced strawberries with the sugar in an 8 inch glass baking dish and spread evenly.  Roast for 8 minutes or just until soft, let cool.  Process in a food processor or blender with the lemon juice.  Measure 2/3 of this mixture for the ice cream and refrigerate the rest to be used as an ice cream topping. (You need to fill the bottom of the dish to prevent burning, which is why you have to over make this.)

3) Measure out the 2 cups of whole milk in a glass measuring cup and then pour about 2 TB into a separate small container.  Add the cornstarch to this small container and whisk to make a slurry.  Pour the remaining milk from the measuring cup into a medium saucepan.  Add the heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup to the sauce pan as well.

4) Bring the saucepan mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and let boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the cornstarch-milk slurry.  Put back over medium-high heat and return to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

5) Slowly add the hot stove mixture to the bowl with the cream cheese and salt, whisking constantly.  Add the measured 2/3 cup of strawberry puree and the buttermilk, blending well.  Refridgerate until cool or overnight.

6) Churn according to your machine's instructions and then pack into a freezer-safe container, placing a piece of parchment paper on top.  Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Source: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer (a FANTASTIC ice cream cookbook, if you are in the market for one of those!)
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!   

ICOTW: Sour Cream and Brown Sugar Frozen Custard

When I think of custard I think of Ritter's Frozen Custard which we used to visit semi-often when I was a teen.  I feel like every time we helped with a big project or yardwork day at my parents, once we were all cleaned and showered and exhausted, my Dad would declare we were going to Ritter's and we'd all get frozen custard.  These large projects were usually helping cut down a dead tree.  And by "help cut down" I mean my Dad did all the cutting but my sisters and I would haul all the branches to the back of the property to be burned, load up the tractor wagon with logs for the log pile, and rake all the leaves.  I feel like we were constantly dealing with dead trees in my teens but really it was probably just a dozen or so, maybe not even that many.  But it felt like I spent a lot of Saturdays dealing with trees.

I haven't helped with a dead tree since before we were married but eating custard, or just hearing the word, makes me think of those Saturdays.  I did not have to help with a tree to enjoy this custard, just had to make it and separate a whole lot of eggs.  Egg separating is not my favorite kitchen task.  I've done it dozens of times but I always get anxious, feel like I am going to mess it up or put the whites and yolks in the wrong bowls or mix them together or just fail.  It always helps to have some extra eggs on hand, it eases my fears if I know I have a little room for error in my separating.

I have not posted many custard recipes.  And the maybe ONE I posted I actually titled as ice cream although it has a whole lot of egg yolks and had a very similar texture to this one.  Maybe it was actually custard?  It's at least the closest I have to one on the blog until now.  This recipe comes from Midwest Living, a magazine to which I do not subscribe but my Mom does/did and passes on her read magazines (mostly) to me.  I have a slightly irrational love for brown sugar, although not irrational because brown sugar is delicious, and immediately knew I would make this.  Does Luke ask for a bit of plain brown sugar anytime he sees me using it?  Yes.  I have NO IDEA where he learned that.

Thanks to all the egg yolks, custard is very thick and very rich.  I ate a couple spoonfuls to taste test before writing this post and that was about enough.  (Plus I am about to run and I don't need food settling weird for that).  Add in some whole milk and heavy cream and full-fat sour cream...this is not a light dessert.  But a little serving is also plenty.  It's very rich but has a fantastic taste.  It's named after brown sugar and sour cream but neither of those flavors stand out, just a wonderful, full taste.  Delicious.

One year ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Ice Cream

Two years ago: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream
Three years ago: The Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream
Four years ago: Fudgesicles (between pulling recipes for this section and writing the post...I made a batch of these and they are DELICIOUS)

Sour Cream & Brown Sugar Frozen Custard
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
-6 egg yolks
-1½ cups whole milk
-1 cup heavy cream
-1/3 cup sugar
-1/3 cup packed brown sugar
-3 TB light corn syrup
-1/8 tsp sea salt
-1/3 cup sour cream (not light)
-1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1) In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until they are well beaten.  Set aside.

2) In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the milk, cream, both sugars, corn syrup, and sea salt.  Bring to a simmer, careful not to let it boil.  Remove from heat.

3) Slowly pour the warm milk/sugar/cream mixture into the beaten egg yolks, whisking the whole time, keep whisking until all the liquid has been added.  Pour back into the saucepan, placing over medium heat.  Stir constantly, cooking until the custard is noticeably thicker, coats the back of a spoon, and reaches 160°.

4) Pour it through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, discarding any solids.  Whisk in the sour cream and vanilla extract and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

5) Freeze custard in your ice cream machine, according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze until solid, at least overnight.  Enjoy!

Source: slightly modified from Midwest Living magazine, March/April 2018
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites! 

ICOTW: Raspberry Peach Popsicles

Back in May my Mom e-mailed myself and my local sisters to tell us that The Peach Truck would be coming to town twice in July.  She was interested in getting some peaches and wanted to let us know in case we wanted some too.  The first time The Peach Truck was here she was out of town and none of us remembered to get peaches.  The second time she let us all know that she was going to get peaches for herself and would pick some up for us too.  Well, I think we pretty much all jumped on that offer.  I don't have to drag my boys out of bed, across town, and wait in line to get peaches?  But instead have them delivered to my doorstep, when my Mom was coming to babysit my boys, and then she would also lay them all out on my counter for me?  Yes.  I have a wonderful Mom.  (I did pay her for the peaches, to be clear, she just did all the work of procuring them.)

It was pretty exciting to have a whole lot of not quite yet but about to be ripe peaches on my counter.  Blueberries have long remained among my very favorite foods, of course topping my fruit list, but next is usually whatever fruit is currently perfectly in season (which means it changes frequently in the summer).  

After a couple days the peaches were ready to be dealt with.  I think I ate 4 by lunchtime that first day.  They were perfectly ripe, juice dripping down my arm while I ate.  PERFECT.  We had a busy weekend ahead of us (NOT at the lake) and I knew they mostly all needed dealt with on Friday.  By the end of Friday I was OVER peaches. 

I made peach crisp, a double batch of peach sorbet, these popsicles, and then froze 3 cookie sheets of them peeled and sliced. It was a LOT of hours in the kitchen but I couldn't let my perfect peaches (and money) go to waste.  The boys and I also ate a lot of fresh ones (again, Matt preferring peaches when they are rock hard, something I have yet to get after over a decade of marriage).  We still have quite a few peaches in various forms in the freezer and I am already missing the perfectly ripe ones.  They were perfect.

I planned this recipe to coincide with when I knew I would have these peaches.  They were pretty easy, like most popsicles are, and they are just so pretty with the layered colors (something that did not work as well as I had hoped).  Peaches and raspberries both make for fantastic and vivid colors and these perfectly capture that.  And they taste pretty good.  Those ripe peaches wouldn't have lasted on my counter this long but they can live on awhile more as popsicles!

One year ago: Brownie Caramel Chocolate Ice Cream
Two years ago: Sweet Peach Ice Cream
Three years ago: Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream
Four years ago: Peach Sorbet

Raspberry Peach Popsicles
yield: I got about 16 but depends on the size of your molds
Ingredients
Peach Layer
-1½ cups peaches (peeled and pitted)
-¼ cup milk (I used 2% because we had it but would have preferred coconut milk)
-½ cup orange juice
-¼ tsp vanilla extract
-1TB honey

Raspberry Layer 
-2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
-½ cup water
-2 TB honey
-juice of ½ lemon

Directions
1) For the peach layer, combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Set aside.

2) For the raspberry layer, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  For the smoothest layer you can then push it through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds but if you are using frozen raspberries like I did, this won't really be possible (too frozen).

3) Alternate pouring the peach and raspberry layers into the molds.  Freeze at least 4 hours until solid.  Enjoy!

Source: modified from One Lovely Life

__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites! 

ICOTW: Summer Fruit Crisp Ice Cream Bars

I enjoy making ice cream; something I never thought I would be saying a couple years ago.  For a long time the one homemade ice cream recipe I had involved a can of sweetened condensed milk and a box of pudding mix (and some milk, I believe).  Now, I don't even know how many kinds of homemade ice cream and sorbet are in our freezer along with some popsicles.  It's a little ridiculous how full the freezer is and how much ice cream we have to eat (this is not a problem, although it might take well into fall).  Ice cream is one of the things I feel most competent at in the kitchen - along with mixed drinks and general dessert making.  (Would it be nice if I was more interested in making actual meals for my family instead of just the unnecessary treats?  Yes.  That would help almost every day of the week.)  But I really do enjoy making a good batch of ice cream.

However, I know not everyone shares these feelings.

So, this is another recipe for an ice cream treat you CAN use homemade ice cream for, but you can also just buy some at the store and still end up with something pretty close to what I have here.  (Although if you are in possession of an ice cream machine you should at least try using it sometime).

This is a fairly straightforward and simple recipe.  As soon as I saw it in a magazine I knew I was going to make it since fruit crisps were one of my specialties as a kid (meaning, I'd offer to help my Mom make supper but really just mean I was going to make a dessert which at least 50% of the time would be blueberry crisp, using the same fantastic recipe I still use multiple times a year as an adult).

You mix up a simple crisp recipe, bake it, stir it.  Let it cool.  Add strawberries to the ice cream.  Layer all that, freeze, and the next day you have a delicious dessert.  I wrapped them in parchment paper for the picture but it's really much easier not to do that.  Just cut a slice and send your kids outside to eat them (adults can probably be trusted indoors but they are crumbly).  I loved the texture of the crisp along with the creamy ice cream.  It was a fantastic mix of tastes.  These were so easy to make I might try blueberry next (somehow I've never made blueberry ice cream!). 

I used this Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream for mine but a quart of store bought would work just as well.  I did not remember this turning out so Pepto-Bismal pink last time but it is kinda fun, as long as the color doesn't remind you of stomach problems (I guarantee none of the guys in my house will have trouble eating any of this.)

Note: I've written the directions for store bought ice cream.  For homemade ice cream I made according to the instructions and then added the 1 cup of chopped strawberries to the freezer container after churning, sprinkling them around.  
 

One year ago: Coconut Pineapple Sorbet
Two years ago: Blackberry Sweet Cream Ice Cream (one of my favorites from this project!)
Three years ago: Raspberry Pineapple Sorbet
Four years ago: Super Simple Strawberry Popsicles 
Strawberry Crisp Ice Cream Bars
yield: depending how you cut, I'd give it 12 servings
Ingredients
-2 cups flour
-¾ cup rolled oats
-¼ cup packed brown sugar
-¼ tsp salt
-½ cup (1 stick) of butter
-1 quart strawberry ice cream
-1 cup chopped fresh strawberries (washed and hulled)

Directions
1) Preheat the over to 400°.  Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.  Cut in the butter until it resembles corse sand.  Pat lightly into an 8 inch square baking dish and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven when lightly brown and stir to crumble.  Let it cool.

2) Remove the ice cream from the freezer about 15 minutes before ready to assemble so it can soften.  Remove half the crumbs and pat the remaining ones into a loose crust.  Stir the chopped strawberries into the softened ice cream and then spread over the crust in the pan.  Top with the remaining crumbs.  Cover the dish and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.  You will probably need to let this sit at room temp for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

source: modified from Better Homes and Garden
__________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!