Very easy and amazing homemade ice cream.

At first I thought that I had to get this post on ice cream done before it was officially fall. Then I realized that as we move into the apple season, what could be more appropriate than a great, simple vanilla ice cream to go with an apple pie !!

As a kid in the summer, especially at our lake cabin in Eastern Washington, homemade ice cream was a treat and an expectation. It was always the very simple "Philadelphia" style, no eggs, no heating the milk. I seem to remember that my aunt's famous recipe was half and half, sugar and vanilla or lemon extract. While I loved this ice cream straight from the old hand cranked White Mountain freezer, it didn't save very well. It became icy when froze again.
 That is part of why I never used that recipe once I got my Cuisinart ice cream maker. Instead I would make a custard, which then had to chill. The ice cream was better once it had frozen some too. While it was very tasty, it was a process.
I can't remember why I decided to try the Philadelphia style recipe that came with my maker...but I am sure glad I did !! It is so rich, creamy, simple to make and freezes very well.
I'll be serving it this weekend with my baked apples.

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) The milk and cream should be chilled, meaning straight from the fridge.

2) Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, be sure the sugar has dissolved.

3) Place in your ice cream machine and set your timer for 25-30 minutes.

4) Eat right away or store in a container in the freezer until ready to serve.

It doesn't seem to last very long around here.

Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream

Tis' the season here at Strawberry Fields Forever, USA... did you know that a third of  this country's strawberries are grown right here along the central California coast.

This time of year I buy three cartons of fresh berries every Saturday at the farmer's market. While I eat most of them straight up, I decided to try making strawberry ice cream the other day.

It was so good I had to share it.

I use the basic techniques from my peppermint ice cream recipe.

Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cup fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and chopped

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cup whole milk

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1) Chop the strawberries in a food processor, you should get about 1 1/2 cup of puree.

2) Refrigerate this puree until later.

3) Combine cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling, stirring for 5 to 8 minutes, then reduce the heat to low. 

4) In a bowl add the egg yolks, sugar and the extract and mix together well. This mixture will be very thick, just keep whisking it or you could even use an electric hand mixer.

5) Add four tablespoons of the hot milk/cream , one tablespoon at a time, stirring each tablespoon in fully. This helps to warm up the egg/sugar mixture so the egg yolks don't cook when you add it to the hot cream.

6) Cook over low heat until slightly thickened, about 4 to 5 minutes. The ice cream will coat the back of the spoon.

7)  Cool the ice cream base completely in the fridge, overnight preferably.

8) Just before freezing, combine 1 cup of strawberry puree with the ice cream base, mix well.

9) Freeze for 20- 25 minutes.

10) Remove the ice cream into a bowl for further freezing. Swirl in the remaining half cup of strawberry puree.

Allow to harden before serving, about 2-4 hours.

The Most Amazing Chocolate Ice Cream

 Our 27th wedding anniversary this last weekend, the fall equinox and a visit from our friends Rex and Margaret, all conspired to inspire me to make this dark chocolate ice cream. Rex is a committed chocoholic, he prefers the term "connoisseur";-)
Each time he comes to visit I try to make some outrageous chocolate dessert. With our recent garage sale find of the Cuisinart  ice cream maker, this was a natural choice. For Rex the darker chocolate the better !! I was so impressed with how creamy and rich this recipe was.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

2 egg yolks

2 cups heavy  whipping cream

1/3 cup  cocoa powder

2/3 cup sugar

6 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped (I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Bar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1) Coarsely chop the six ounces of dark chocolate.

2) Separate  and whisk together two egg yolks in a medium size bowl.

3) Pour the whipping cream, milk and sugar into a heavy bottom saucepan. To add the cocoa powder I used a sieve to prevent lumps.

4) Whisk all those ingredients and heat over medium high heat until just boiling.

5) Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate in three batches. Make sure it has all melted before adding the next batch.

6) Slowly add a 1/4 cup of the hot chocolate mixture to the egg yolks. Once it is well combined slowly add the remaining chocolate mixture.

7) Return to the stove. Stir over medium heat  until it begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes.

8) Remove from the heat and add one teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 
Mix those in. I allow this to cool a bit before putting it into the fridge to chill.

 9) Best to cool it over night or 5-6 hours before churning. The mixture will thicken as it cools, which is great.

10) Follow the instruction on whatever ice cream machine you have. I love mine, it makes ice cream way too easy !!

11) After churning the ice cream, I stored it in the freezer to serve later that evening.

Here's how happy Rex was with his ice cream.

Look at the cute cookies Margaret made us for our 27th wedding anniversary.