7 Favorite Homemade Ice Cream Flavors
Screaming for Ice Cream
Several Christmases ago I asked for an Ice Cream Maker and my Father-in-law came through in a big way (I’m sure with a little hint from my thoughtful hubby)! A Cuisinart!
I was determined to become an ice-cream artisan. I could just see myself creating odd but delicious concoctions that I would give away to friends with a humble “I hope you like this”. Then they would ask for more to give to THEIR friends and word would eventually spread far and wide that the best ice cream anywhere came from A Brown House. I would be interviewed by the local news and people would beg me to open a small storefront. I could picture the place, in the hip part of town, in an old abandoned gas station, with the original signage and restored with brightly colored walls and plenty of outdoor seating for our temperate climate. I would get my eggs from my friend who had chickens and so many eggs she didn’t know what to do with them. Since I love games so much, there would be plenty of games for people to play while lingering over the unbelievably original flavors churned fresh daily in the back of the shop. Sometimes the line would be out the door, but people would not mind waiting because a fun, friendly, energetic ice cream scooper would keep them entertained with improv skits while still being able to remember their order and scooping it quickly.
So I got several books about ice cream and started to read. I read blogs, I read cookbooks, I read newspaper articles (yes, we still get the paper). And you know what is the one thing all these sources said you need to know about making ice cream?
SCIENCE.
Ummmm what? Could you repeat that?
My mind became frozen. (see what I did there?) It was very similar to drinking an Icee too quickly.
Molecular levels and binding ability and emulsions of water, butterfat, starch, sucrose, glucose or lactose caused my eyes to glaze over. My dream of becoming an ice cream prodigy came to a screeching halt. Also, all my friend’s chickens died or ran off, so there’s that.
So instead I just started making ice cream by following recipes exactly as they are written. I have only once deviated from a recipe and that was by mistake. I used Fat Free Half and Half instead of regular Half and Half that the recipe called for. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Fat Free Half and Half. How is that possible anyway?
My husband gets confused when I talk about freezing the ice cream. Our conversations go something like this:
“When will the ice cream be ready?”
“It’s a long process. I’ve made the ice cream but it needs to refrigerate overnight before I can make it into ice cream.”
“What?”
“To make it into ice cream I need to put it in the ice cream maker to freeze it and it churns for 25 minutes”
“Then will it be ready?”
“No, then I need to put it in the freezer to freeze.”
“What?”
“I know, it’s confusing, right? That’s because it is science.”
I could still use a dealer for eggs, so if you know of anyone that has too many eggs, help a sister out and let me know.
I started a notebook of all the recipes I have tried, searched the internet for reasons a recipe may be too soft or too icy and made notes. I am still not sure if my ice cream is DELICIOUS, like my family exclaims, or if they are just being encouraging. After all, it’s still basically sugar and cream. What’s not to like about that?
Our favorite flavors, in no particular order, are:
1. Mint Chip Ice Cream from DavidLebovitz.com
https://www.davidlebovitz.com/mint-chip-ice-cream-recipe-chocolate/
2. Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Ice Cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.
I can’t give you the recipe here because I don’t have permission but you should really buy this book anyway, because I have made several of the recipes in it and give it 5 stars.
3. Brown Sugar-pecan Praline Ice Cream
I have tried to make pralines before and they really turned out to be crumbled ice cream topping. But this recipe for pralines turned out perfectly for me the first time I tried them. https://www.marthastewart.com/349926/pecan-pralines
For the ice cream:
Pour 3 cups of whole milk into a saucepan and cook over medium heat just until tiny bubbles begin to form around the edges.
Beat 5 egg yolks with 1 cup of packed brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Slowly add a little of the hot milk whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs so they don’t scramble. Keep adding about ⅔ of the milk and then pour the mixture back in the saucepan and cook until it is thick and coats the back of a spoon.
Pour half and half and vanilla into a large bowl. Set a colander on top and pour the egg mixture over it. Stir it all together and cool with an ice bath then refrigerate overnight.
Put the dasher from the ice cream maker in the freezer for about 30 minutes before freezing the ice cream. This helps to freeze the ice cream more quickly. When the ice cream is frozen, empty it into a freezer safe container and layer it with crushed pralines. Freeze for several hours. Serve with whole pralines.
4. Milky and Mild Coffee Ice Cream from SeriousEats.com.
https://www.seriouseats.com/milky-mild-coffee-ice-cream-recipe So so so delicious and I was up all night from the buzz!
5. Berry Crisp Ice Cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.
Only I burnt the streusel so I didn’t use it but the roasted cherries with vanilla bean ice cream are marvelous. Mix a couple of cups of pitted cherries with half a cup or so of sugar and a couple teaspoons of cornstarch and roast for about 40 minutes. You will know it’s done when the juices have thickened and start to bubble. Make your favorite vanilla ice cream and when putting in the freezer to harden, layer it with the roasted cherries.
6. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream
from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Hubby is a big fan of mint chocolate chip and dark chocolate so I tried this out. While there are no chocolate chips in here, this hit the spot.
7. Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
Creamy Dreamy! So good, in fact, that we ate it too quickly and I forgot to take a picture. You’re gonna have to trust me on this one that it looked as good as it tastes. From ALatteFood.com https://www.alattefood.com/homemade-strawberry-ice-cream/