Um. Did I say, “Sure to please?”

So, at the Jeni’s scoop shop they use a variety of mint known as “Robert Mitchum Mint.”  The result is cool and pleasant.  I don’t like mint anything and even I like Jeni’s mint ice cream.  I was excited to try the Backyard Mint ice cream recipe because Joe really likes mint and I figured if I could get it even half as good as the scoop shop flavor it would be a win all the way around.

The Backyard Mint ice cream comes together the same way previous flavors have with heating the cream/milk/sugar, thickening slightly with corn starch and then adding in the fresh mint.  I purchased heirloom organic mint and bruised it to release the oils prior to placing it into the hot cream/milk/sugar mixture.  The kitchen really smelled of mint.  The recipe called for a “good handful.” I took the mint out of its little plastic box (you know, the ones herbs come in at the grocery store) and thought, “I guess this is a good handful.”

I let the minted mixture cool, sieved it, and spun it in the ice cream freezer.  It was easy, easy.

It was also really, really gross.  I give this flavor a thumbs down.  Now, perhaps with a different mint varietal, not so much mint, a shorter steeping period, or 2 quarts of plain or vanilla ice cream to cut it with, I could produce an edible batch.  I scooped a small scoop for Joe directly from the churn and he took one bite and declined to eat more saying, “That’s really minty.”  He didn’t give a thumbs up or taste a second bite.

I’m trying to decide if this batch is worth saving.  Maybe as a thin layer between 2 chocolate cookies for an ice cream sandwich?  Or maybe I’ll whip some cream and see if I can dilute the ice cream a little with it.  Well, if you really, really love mint and want to give this batch a try, just let me know!  If you have tried this recipe with different results, I’d love to hear about that as well.  How much mint did you use?  I’ll probably try again with this, in the future, so any help is appreciated!

Roasted! Beets! Carrots! Ice Cream!

So, I was excited about this little recipe because beets aren’t really my favorite although with goat cheese and balsamic they can be sublime and I was hopeful that this excusion would yield another tasty way to enjoy the magenta hued veggie.  Also, it was thrilling to head out into uncharted territory with carrots and ice cream. 

I secured some “cane syrup” at a local place and decided that I would try it in lieu of the corn syrup.  Yes, I know that cane syrup is sucrose while corn syrup is glucose but I wanted to see if the noncrystaline structure enhanced the mouth feel.  I used 1 tablespoon because it is really sweet and without the corn syrup the recipes have been almost too sweet for my palate so far. 

Overall, these were fun recipes to make.  First, I roasted the beets or carrots for about an hour.  Then I chopped them in my mini food processor.  It would not turn the roasted veggies into puree so I waited to strain the ice cream mixture of the peels until just before going into the churn.  That way the respective beet or carrot flavors could really meld into the ice cream. 

I started with the beet batch first.  So those are long ribbons (excellent tip Jeni to use the vegetable peeler to peel the rind off the fruits!  Easy solution!) of orange peel simmering in the cream/sugar/milk bath.  As you recall, orange rind contains lots of oil and oil is attracted to oil so this method really imparts a lovely orangey scent and flavor to the ice cream. 

I had some pictures of the beets in the mini processor but I forgot to turn the light on in the kitchen and it was late at night so the pictures are not (So, just figured out that half my post got chopped.  Sorry about that!) clear nor comprehensible.  But here are my beety fingers…

Once the beets were sufficiently chopped I whipped them in with the mascarpone and salt. 

 

Then I poured in the hot cream/milk/sugar/orange concoction. 

See the goregous curls of orange rind hanging off the whip?  That makes yum!  I then jarred this and stashed it in the fridge over night and began on the carrot lemon ice cream.  It was much the same.  Brewing lemon rind in the cream/milk/sugar while chopping roasted carrot and then mixing the carrot with the mascarpone.  Easy breezy!

 

Then the carrot-would-be-ice-cream was also stowed into a jar and the fridge.  The following morning I sieved the rinds out and churned, baby, churned!

 

Sorry.  The beets got short shrift.  No churning action shot.  So?  How did it turn out?  Glad you asked!

Verdict!

Coriander Ice Cream with Raspberry Sauce

The first thing I noticed retrieving this lovely jar from the freezer was that the pooling on the sides and bottom was mitigated a little bit this time.  I think putting the raspberry sauce in the freezer ahead of time helped.  Next time a fruit sauce is called for I will freeze it overnight while the ice cream mixture cools in the fridge.  Pretty isn’t it?

 

 My spoonful

Since I went off script and brewed coriander berries instead of using coriander essential oil I was especially interested in how the flavor would turn out.  So, what does coriander taste like?  Not much really although the ice cream was definitely flavored.  It is “warm” but not what I would consider spicy.  It gave the ice cream more complexity and depth of flavor but I couldn’t use words really to describe it.   Overall, as far as I can tell, my method of brewing the coriander berries worked very well.  I will be interested to try this one at the scoop shop so that I can compare how much coriander flavor came through with my method versus what the essential oil does.  I don’t think I would user fewer coriander berries because it seemed the perfect amount but if the scoop shop flavor is more flavorful using more berries might be fine.

Oh, and warming the cream cheese worked better.  Next week I’m going to remember to add just a little of the warm ice cream mixture and whisk that first and think I will have successfully eliminated the need to dirty the extra bowl!  Yahoo!

This batch had a record number of tasters!  Joe, Kari, Nancy, my Mom, and myself.  That breaks the record so far by *1*.  Yeah!  I only have photographic evidence of Joe though.  So, he gets to weigh in first.  What did he think?

He liked it!  He said it was the best of the flavors so far.  He had 2 servings on 2 separate nights!  Kari said it was yummy.  Nancy had two scoops.  My Mom said it was terrific.  I have had it several evenings in a row.  It is luscious, warm, and has good mouth feel.  Overall, I would definitely make this flavor again.

Next week?  Ohhhhhh, yeah!

Goat Cheese Ice Cream with Roasted Cherries…

 

 

Kona Stout Ice Cream

 

So, I don’t own any Kona coffee.  I forgot to buy kona coffee.  I do however own a burr coffee grinder so my run of the mill, don’t even know the brand, coffee tastes wonderful anyway.  So, that’s what I used in this recipe.  Also, I used Guinness.  It was what I had on hand after failing to purchase a stouter stout.  I know, such a disappointment!  But I persevered and made ice cream anyway.

Yes, I think it is strange to put beer in ice cream.  After the horrible,”Let’s put chocolate milk into this champagne!” college days fiasco I have been fairly unwilling to experiment with milk based products and alcohol based products very much.  Okay, I do like a mudslide from time to time but beer?  Really?

I digress.

This weeks flavor crew:

• Milk
• Cream
• Sugar
• Freshly ground coffee
• Stout
• Corn syrup  Sugar substituted again
• Cream cheese
• Corn starch

This flavor was easy, easy to construct.  It required no sieving.  Thank goodness!  It did require cleaning the french press coffee maker out from breakfast but that probably needed to be done anyway.  As usual, we started by heating the cream, milk, and sugar together.

And, throwing caution to the wind, decided not to mush the salt and cream cheese around the bowl and instead dumped it directly into the jar in a cold lump.  Perhaps this wasn’t the best plan.  We will know shortly.

Finally, I dumped the coffee into the french press to await it’s bath in sugared cream.  I briefly considered brewing tomorrow’s batch of coffee (look I liked iced coffee what can I say?) the same way but decided I didn’t really want to drink that much milk and sweetened condensed milk and carried on making ice cream.

Once the milk mixture was hot I poured it into the grounds.  The recipe calls for a 5 minute brew but I just didn’t think that would be long enough given my experience with this kind of coffee so I did a 10 minute brew.  I really wanted the coffee to stand out more than the stout as well.

You can see that although it has been 10 minutes, it doesn’t look very dark.  Due to the “whiteness” of the milk/cream/sugar I don’t think you could get a dark brew very easily.  I will say that sampling the brew was a treat!  It had a nice coffee taste which wasn’t overwhelming and a richness that most other coffee beverages lack.  Which is probably a good thing-whole milk *and* cream in one’s coffee would make for many extra treadmill minutes.

After brewing I pressed the coffee and returned it to the heat with the addition of the cornstarch and milk conglomeration.  I let it cook until it bubbled again (at that point it isn’t going to thicken anymore because the cornstarch has done all it can) and poured it over the cream cheese lump slowly.  Then I mixed.  And mixed.  And mixed.  Frustrated with the lack of even distribution I put the lid on the jar and, using potholders, shook the jar.  It still didn’t dissolve completely.  I’m afraid that the finished product is going to be peppered with little bits of cream cheese.  It shouldn’t taste bad but it may not have the awesomely satisfying mouth feel of last week’s batch.  I’m considering that next weeks flavor I may continue to try to cut corners in the cream cheese department by warming the cream cheese before applying the hot ice cream mixture to ensure a more even distribution.

I added the stout to the hot ice cream and stirred it slightly to distribute.  Then I plunked it into the fridge.  I decided to spare you the “inside the fridge” picture today.  I’m sure you can use your imagination to approximate the mason jar filled with tan liquid sitting on the shelf next to vegetables, fruits, and sundry leftovers that have been forgotten.  See, aren’t you glad it is just your imagination and not the real thing?  Yes, I know that mac n’ cheese is inedible.  I’ll get to tossing it soon!

Both Joe and I are pulling for this to be a good flavor.  Joe doesn’t drink alcohol but he loves coffee so I’m hoping the stout just adds a smoky, rich quality and not an “Ewww!  Beer!” note to the flavor.  We’ll know shortly!  Stay tuned!