Blue Moon spiked Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream

You know the days when about halfway through you know that you would have been better off not leaving the house, or your bed for that matter? I'm having that kind of a week. I have a wedding cake order for this Saturday and being the good and responsible person that I am (HA!) I've broken it down into steps so that I can tackle it after work and not end up staying up all night to finish it at the last minute...which is basically what I've done every other time. Monday I made a list and went grocery shopping, so far so good. On Tuesday I cleaned and organized the kitchen, did all the laundry (may not be directly relevant, but still needed to be done), and settled in at the dining room table to watch a movie and make the sugar decorations for the cake. About halfway through the movie I got that prickly goosebumpy feeling on the back of my neck. There's a wonderful short story in Joanne Harris's "Jigs & Reels" about a woman who discovers that whenever she cooks from the cookbook her mother-in-law gave her, her kitchen becomes possessed. The more complicated the recipe, the more severe the effect. Well, it felt very much like that story. All the lights in the dining room and the adjoining kitchen got really really bright, like they were about to explode, and just as I moved out from under the chandelier to avoid the inevitable shattered light bulbs, all the lights got really really dim. Then they started flickering. By now my imagination started getting a little out of hand as my mind began spinning through the vast catalog of horror films I've seen in my lifetime and I became aware of quiet swearing coming from the kitchen. Then there was a loud pop and everything got back to normal.

Now I should probably tell you that while I like watching horror films, while Halloween is my favorite holiday, and while my sense of humor does sometimes lean towards the morbid...I'm extremely "uncomfortable" in realistically supernatural situations. Or the dark. I don't like the dark. I feel I'm perfectly justified in that though since I grew up in Russia and they don't exactly sugar-coat or Disneyfy the children's bed time stories. There are always wolves and monsters under the bed that will eat your feet if they're not properly tucked in, and I hate having my feet tucked in. There are creepy nursery rhymes that are always sung in low deep and scary voices that replay in your mind and haunt you as you close your eyes and try to fall asleep. And there are furry hats left on the piano that in the dark look like a black cat that's staring at you waiting for you to drop your guard before it will jump and eat you. Okay, that last one may have just been me, but I stayed up all night watching the "cat" making sure it wasn't up to anything and let me tell you, my parent's found a fairly terrified and sleep deprived toddler the next morning.

So to relieve the tension and bring my nerves back to normal, I did what most people do in this day and age: I updated my facebook status. Yep. Said something about how my upstairs neighbors are trying to create their very own Frankenstein. And I guess it helped because I was able to settle down, turn the movie back on and finish up my work. But apparently that wasn't it. Yesterday I came home with the daunting task of baking 15 cakes (9 batches) and when I went to defrost the butter in the microwave I noticed that it was dead. Uh oh. The microwave is on the same circuit as the KitchenAid mixer. Crap crap crap crap crap. Fine, I've been meaning to rearrange my tiny cramped kitchen anyways, right? And the middle of the counter is totally the best place for the mixer. So half an hour later I had rearranged (and cleaned under) half of my kitchen appliances, and somehow managed to knock off a corner chunk of my marble top island. Sigh. The rest of the baking went off okay and I now have a fridge full of saran wrapped layers waiting to be filled and frosted. I tell you, days like that require ice cream.



I made this ice cream at the request of one of my friends, who wanted it for her husband's birthday (same party as that Peanut Butter Banana cake I told you about a few days back). We were just bouncing ideas off of each other and this is what I came up with. The base for it is David Lebovitz's Orange Ice Cream, but I adjusted the amounts and added a reduction of a Blue Moon beer. It cake out tasting of an Orange Creamsicle with the beer flavor on the back end. In other words, pretty damn good, and just what was needed to keep the kitchen gremlins at bay.



Blue Moon and Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream
adapted from The Perfect Scoop
Yields about 1 Quart

2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest of 3 large juice oranges
1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (those same 3 oranges)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 bottle of Blue Moon Belgian White beer

1. Pour the beer into a small saucepan and gently simmer over medium heat until reduced down to half a cup, stirring occasionally. Pour into a container and chill completely in the fridge.
2. Pulverize sugar and orange zest in blender or food processor. It will look like moist sand and smell intoxicating.
3. Add orange juice, sour cream, cream, and the beer reduction and blend until the sugar is completely dissolved.
4. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours and then process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Hi, my name is Anna and I'm a hoarder. I am categorically incapable of sticking to grocery lists , I can never remember about the things I already have, and product placement most definitely works with me. I'll go into a store with a strict plan and I'll come out with a bunch of interesting finds without any plans on how to use them. As a second step on the road to recovery (the first was admitting that I have a problem), I am now going through the process of cleaning out my pantry. I made a promise to myself to not buy anything that's not on my very short list of perishables until I can see the back wall of the pantry. It's a daunting task, I've accumulated quite a variety of stuff.

One of these things is a giant jar of peanut butter. For some reason I keep buying it, even though I only occasionally make PB&J sandwiches (I usually lack bread). Well, no more. The peanut butter cake I made recently put a major dent in my supply and I further depleted the inventory by adding a Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream to my repertoire. It has once again been inspired by the ever talented David Lebovitz. I started with his recipe for easy Peanut Butter ice cream, added some melted and cooled chocolate and upped the half and half amount to get the right texture. My ice cream machine has been getting quite a work out this summer and if this keeps up, I might have to invest in a bigger and better machine that does not require duct tape.

I have a few more ideas for the peanut butter, but the next challenge is...what to do with all the crushed pineapple cans?




Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
adapted from David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
3 cups half and half
4 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled to room temp
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Purée the peanut butter, sugar, half and half, chocolate, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. That's it! Easiest recipe ever.

Chocolate Guinness Ice Cream

It has now been just over two years since I have visited and fallen in love with Ireland. To this day whenever I get too frazzled or stressed out, I close my eyes and remember the sense of peace I felt sitting on the beach listening to the waves and the occasional distant braying of sheep, surrounded by miles and miles of green and not a single person in sight. Aaahhhhh.



Incidentally, Ireland was the place where I had my first Guinness. I've never been a huge fan of beer, preferring a nice glass of red wine to any of the brews people around me guzzled, but you can't help but get caught up by all the propaganda. So one day while having a quick dinner at a pub, I ordered a pint. Not bad. I'm not saying that right then and there the sky opened up, sunshine streamed down bathing the glass in a golden glow and I became a beer devotee. No, nothing like that, but I have been giving beer a chance more often and I even have a few favorites.



But now it's a season for ice cream, and while I've already had a few ice cream posts, I'm nowhere near done. Last weekend I finally broke down my rule of not buying any more cookbooks (they're taking over my house) and bought The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz. Basically all my ice cream recipes were coming from him anyways, so why not just cut out the middleman? Plus, I had a coupon.



Armed with my new book, I added Chocolate Guinness ice cream to my repertoire, and believe me, you'll want it in yours too. It's smooth and creamy with just a slight hint of the beer bitterness. The perfect thing to create your own little moment of peace.



Chocolate Guinness Ice Cream
Adapted slightly from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop

The original recipe calls for milk chocolate, but I never ever have any in my house since I prefer dark and bittersweet, so I used that. I'm sure that using milk would give you a stronger beer flavor, but I liked it just the way it came out. Just be sure to use good quality chocolate since you will definitely be able to taste the difference.

7 oz chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.
- Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted.
- Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
- Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

If you put a few scoops into a tall glass, you can pour a bit of the leftover Guinness over it and make it into a float. Believe me, it's delicious.

Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream

We are now in the thick of raspberry season around here and I for one couldn't be happier. I love them in everything. And as you know, berries you picked yourself are a whole heck of a lot better then berries you get at the grocery store. They have a sweeter, deeper flavor and a slightly floral scent. They make your eyes roll into the back of your head, especially when they're still warm from the sun. With that in mind, my friend and I decided to venture out this past Sunday morning and load up.



When we drove up to the orchard my friend had picked there was a sign on the closed gates saying they were closed, so we'll have to try them again next year. I, however, had a backup plan. I found a place about 20 minutes away that had great prices and very flexible hours. Up Berries operates on the honor system, leaving containers and instructions for visitors along with a lock-box to leave money, which makes them open as long as the sun is out.

As you drive up, there's a house and a beautiful old barn by the parking area:



and since I had my camera handy...



But on to the important things: the berries! There was only one other family that was out there picking when we got there, and the bushes were full of ripe berries. What I hadn't counted on was the bugs. Now I don't really mind the beetles and bumblebees, but I cannot stand mosquitoes. It would be an irrational hatred if they didn't treat our every encounter as an attempt to suck me dry.



An hour and a half later, my friend and I each had full baskets and were ready to go. I had killed about a dozen mosquitoes, but they won this round...I came home with at least 30 bites. We had a lot of fun though and even when our baskets were full we couldn't help stop along the way back to the car to pick just one more...and just another one...and look at that ripe one over there!



I have plans for jam and pastries, but the first thing I wanted to make was ice cream. When I saw the "I ate it all myself" review for Chocolate Raspberry ice cream at Sea Salt With Food, I knew I had to try it.



Whoa nelly! This is good stuff. I already promised to share it, but if I didn't you'd find me in a dark corner somewhere in my house with a tub of this ice cream and a spoon, whispering "my preccccioussss".



Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream
via Sea Salt With Food

1 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
5 Tbsp Unsweetened Dutch-process Cocoa Powder
2/3 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Raspberries, I used fresh, but frozen would be just fine too.

- Whisk together the cream, cocoa powder, and sugar in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and add the raspberries. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender. If you wish, press the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds. I was too lazy and skipped this step, but I think next time I will actually do it. The texture would be so much smoother without the little raspberry bits.
- Allow the mixture to chill thoroughly, then freeze it in an ice cream maker.
- Devour.

Cherry Rose and Coconut Ice Cream

It is too hot for words. Walking outside feels like wading though hot pudding and my glasses fog up each time I dart from one air conditioned space to another. This is the time for envy towards anyone with central air. I have one air conditioner in the dining room and I literally close off spaces to tunnel the cold air towards my bedroom. One day got so hot, I actually slept in the living room and that was only because I would not fit inside the actual AC unit. I tried.



Needless to say, cooking in this weather is absolutely out of the question. Spinning ice cream on the other hand is perfectly acceptable. Oh, and so is eating it straight from the machine instead of dinner. There's fruit in it, and dairy, and a coconut has the word "nut" in it, so it counts as a protein, right? Anyways. I've had this recipe earmarked for a while and when I found beautiful ink-black cherries at the farmers market, I decided that this will be a week for ice cream. I basically made it as is (how can you not, it's beautiful), except that I substituted rose tea for the actual rose buds. The flavor was very understated in the ice cream, but I loved the cherry spiked coconut flavor, with just a hint of something floral. It felt very tropical. Now where's the cabana boy? I need an umbrella drink!



Cherry, Rose and Coconut Ice Cream
via Tartelette

For the rose infused cherries:
1 cups pitted and halved cherries
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 tea bags of Numi Organic Tea White Rose

For the ice cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup whole coconut milk
1 cup granulated sugar

Prepare the cherries:
Place all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn the heat off and let steep one hour (longer for an even intense rose flavor). Remove the tea bags and refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the ice cream:
In a large saucepan set over medium low heat, bring the cream, milk, coconut milk and sugar to a simmer, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, preferably overnight.
Process the mixture into your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's intructions.
Once the ice cream has reached soft serve consistency, pour into a freezable container. With a spatula, swirl in the cherries and a few tablespoons of their liquid. Freeze a couple of hours. Or, if you're impatient like me, swirl some of the syrup and the cherries into your ice cream during the last minute of churning in the machine, that way it's ready to eat as soon as you find a spoon.

Summer Makes an Entrance

If you live anywhere near Chicago you know that summer is finally here, and with a vengeance. I don't remember the last time I had my air conditioning on this early in the year. The farmers markets are filling up with bright and fresh produce and I am making room in the freezer for what summer pickings will provide. And that means the cranberries have to go, and what better way to use them up in this heat then with ice cream? I tagged a recipe a while ago from Annies Eats and mixed in the last bottle of POM pomegranate juice I had left and maybe a bit too much Grand Marnier then was strictly called for and I had two pints of beautiful sorbet to cool down with. One more batch and I'll be ready for strawberry season in June.



Cranberry Pomegranate Sorbet
adapted from Annie's Eats

1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ cups pomegranate juice
2 tsp. Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

Cook cranberries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan until liquid begins to boil. Let simmer for a few minutes until the cranberries have popped, then remove from heat and cover. Allow the mixture to cool, puree a food processor or a blender, and then pass through a fine mesh sieve to remove any large bits of cranberry skin. Stir in the juice and the liqueur. Chill the mixture thoroughly and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Scoop some out into a pretty bowl, find a nice air conditioned spot in the sun and enjoy.

Cherry Picking

When I was little I used to climb trees. Tall ones, short ones, ones with branches really low to the ground and those that you really had to work to get anywhere. While it usually wasn't a requirement, I loved to climb fruit bearing trees mainly because they came with snacks. I'd climb a tree full of still-green plums and hang out and munch until my belly ached. Then I'd pick whatever would fit into the skirt of the dress my mom would send me out in, hoping that for once I'd keep it clean, and I'd lug the loot home for homemade punch, jam or whatever else my mother was inspired to make. Inevitably, I fell out of more trees then I can recall, but I always came back for more. There's just no better vantage point from which to observe the world then from the quiet solitude of a tall leafy branch.

When we moved to the states, the suburbs no less, my tree climbing days were abruptly cut short. I tried to pick up where I had left off, but after a few neighbors complained, I was firmly asked to keep my feet on the ground, which is more or less where I've kept them for many years. Now you rightfully ask, why would I tell you this? Well, because it turns out my tree climbing days aren't quite as behind me as I had feared. I have been wanting to go sour cherry picking for many years and two weeks ago I found a spot in Rockford, IL and drove a little over an hour early in the morning to do just that. Some of the trees were already picked over as this was not the first day and I was not the first one to come, but after I grabbed four large bags back at the front desk, where a large dog washed my feet with his tongue, all part of the service, I turned left where others turned right and I was able to find some nice trees where I promptly got to work. After going through most of the tree and barely filling up one bag I looked up and saw....tons and tons of unpicked cherries hanging off of the hard to reach branches way above my head:


"Aha! If I just climb up there, I'll be able fill up my bags in no time," I thought to myself. I hesitated for a moment, remembering all those pesky neighbors, slung my camera over my shoulder, hung the bags over one of the higher branches and climbed up higher where I was literally surrounded by dozens of crowded bunches of sun warmed red cherries, which basically jumped into my bags on their own. Aside from one startled Polish lady that didn't see me up there when she picked my tree to pick her harvest until I dropped a few cherries, narrowly missing her head, no one complained and I came away with a huge load of cherries to work with.

I gave one of the bags to my mom, just as I used to in the old days, and she promptly churned out dozens and dozens of cherry filled buns and cookies. Yummy! I shared a large bowl of them with a friend and took the rest home for experimentation. First up came sour cherry sorbet using a recipe I found on this site. It was very good, but next time I think I'll cut the sugar by quite a bit as it was too sweet to my taste.



The next batch went into a large jar with several liters of vodka with the hope that in a few months I'll have a lovely sour cherry liquor to give out as gifts for the holidays. I'll post pictures once the mixture gets a bit more saturated.

And finally, skipping the ones that I ate right out of the bag, the rest were turned into a "no recipe" sour cherry jam I read about on David Lebovitz's site:


I think next time I'll save more for just eating :)

Strawberry Love - Part 2

Just as promised, I'm writing about the rest of the strawberry creations I attempted this weekend. First up is this summery tart inspired by the recipe I found on one of my favorite blogs to stalk: Tartelette. I juggled the amount of fruit to add and snuck in a bunch of slices strawberries and then I shaped it like a tart instead of a galette, but it still came out quite good. I loved the tender crust which didn't get soggy and held it's own against the filling. Here is my recipe adapted from the one provided by Tartelette:

Pastry crust:
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
1 stick butter, cut in small pieces
1 egg
2-4 tablespoons cold water

Combine flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the butter is cut in, but not too fine. Add the egg and pulse just until it's evenly distributed. Dump the contents into a bowl and mix it into a smooth mass adding a bit of water to help as necessary. Wrap in plastic and put into fridge to rest while you make the filling.

Filling:
1 small apple; peeled, cored and diced
3 tablespoons lemon juice (about two lemons)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 pint sliced strawberries
1 pint blackberries, whole

Combine chopped apple, lemon juice and sugar in a medium pot over medium heat and cook until the apples are tender. Add the blackberries and the strawberries and cook a few minutes. Meanwhile, combine water with the corn starch and mix into a smooth paste. Add this mix to the fruit and cook until it's thick and no longer foamy, only another minute or two. Remove from heat and cool.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about a quarter inch thickness. You can either cut 6 inch circles and make galettes like Tartelette did or go the lazy route and transfer the dough into a tart pan with a removable bottom, trimming along the top. Fill the shell with the cooled filling and top with decorative accents cut from the leftover dough if you like. You can brush the edges with an egg and sprinkle with some sugar if you want to make it pretty, but I figured it was sweet enough, so I skipped this step.
Bake about 20 min until the crust is a light golden color and serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.


The next recipe comes straight from the fabulous FoodBlogga, so I won't copy it here. I will tell you that the only adjustment I made was to toss in a few extra strawberries and a few extra pecans into the mix. It was by far the favorite of all the things I made both at the Father's Day BBQ and the people who got to try some at work. I'll definitely be making more of this moist and fragrant cake and I highly recommend you click on the link above and make this cake soon. It tastes a LOT better than this picture looks :)



Finally, I was flipping through some back issues of Gourmet when I ran across this recipe for Strawberry Gelato. I had all the ingredients and my ice cream maker bowl was already in the freezer, so I went for it.

3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 1/4 cups sliced hulled strawberries
2 tablespoons pomegranate juice

Stir sugar and cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan (don't do this too vigorously or you'll end up wearing the cornstarch like I did). Whisk in milk and cream. Whisk over medium heat until the base thickens a little and begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Pour into bowl and cool over ice, stirring occasionally.

Puree strawberries in processor. I strained the mix to get rid of as many clumps and seeds as I could and then added into the gelato base. Mix in pomegranate juice and chill the mixture, loosely covered in the fridge for about 3 hours or overnight. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to container and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days. Hoard or share as your conscience allows.

I tried to take a picture of the ice cream to share with you, but by the time I served it all and got back to the table, this is all I saw from everyones plates:


How's that for a raving endorsement?