» Ice Cream

Healthy ice cream, ingredients you can pronounce

admin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:32:33 +0000

By JIM ROMANOFF
For The Associated Press
The term low-fat ice cream is somewhat of an oxymoron. After all, it’s in large part the butterfat in cream and whole milk that gives the frozen treat its luxurious texture and taste.
Apart from the real deal — made using a custard of cream, egg yolks and lots of sugar — there are plenty of scoopable frozen treats available that have a more virtuous nutritional profile along with a pleasing texture, but it’s often because they are made with thickeners and stabilizers whose names defy pronunciation.
But the arrival of small ice cream makers that fit in your freezer means making a healthier frozen dessert with wholesome ingredients has gotten a lot easier.
This brown sugar and toasted almond ice cream contains no cream, but is plenty creamy.
———
BROWN SUGAR & TOASTED ALMOND ICE CREAM
Start to finish: 2 hours 45 minutes (15 minutes active)
Servings: 8
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 1/2 cups low-fat milk, divided
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large egg yolks
12-ounce can nonfat evaporated milk
1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur or rum
1/2 cup chopped almonds
In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1 tablespoon of water. Let stand while you make the base for the ice cream.
In a large saucepan, stir together 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the brown sugar and cinnamon. Heat the milk mixture over medium heat, stirring often, until steaming.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and evaporated milk. Gradually pour in the hot milk mixture, whisking until blended. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the back of the spoon is lightly coated, 3 to 5 minutes. It should reach 165 F. Do not bring to a boil or the custard will curdle.
Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl (preferably stainless steel). Add the softened gelatin and whisk until melted. Whisk in the remaining 1 cup milk and the amaretto (or rum). Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours, or overnight.
In a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, toast the almonds, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
Once cool, whisk the ice cream mixture and pour into the canister of an ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Transfer the ice cream to a container, stir in the toasted almonds, cover with plastic wrap gently pressed into the surface and freeze until firm.

Ice cream scene heats up with hot new flavors

admin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:31:59 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Forget chocolate vs. vanilla, how about a dish of ale and bacon ice cream? Or maybe you’d rather stay old school and order some rocky road — but made with homemade marshmallows and a sprinkling of sea salt, of course.
The inside scoop on ice cream this summer is classic meets culinary avant garde.
Take Salt & Straw Ice Cream in Portland, Ore., which just opened with an ice cream pushcart (a scoop shop’s opening later this summer). Not only are they offering an ale and bacon ice cream, it’s a farm-to-cone concept using local ingredients. So the beer is from Portland-based Laurelwood Brewery and the bacon from Olympic Provisions.
Not artisanal enough for you? Other beer flavors (made from the offerings of various breweries) will include pear with blue cheese, lemon basil with sorbet, and sea salt with ribbons of hand-made caramel.
By the way, salted caramel is hot in the world of ice cream; it’s popping up at creameries everywhere.
Another big trend in ice cream is soft-serve. But we’re not talking the pale, bland swirl of tonsil-chilling sweetness you may remember from childhood.
At Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco, soft-serve flavors include vanilla, of course, but also spicy Mexican chocolate, and balsamic strawberry. They also have salted caramel, which marketing director Kirsten Bourne said is “the most popular flavor by far.”
The Creamery added soft-serve to its ice cream offerings last year after realizing that the shop, with its retro-vibe, was the perfect setting for the classic dessert. Just like the scooped ice cream, the soft serve is made from Straus Family Organic Dairy products.
The two daily soft-serve flavors, based on seasonal, local ingredients, can be combined in a swirl. The popular Kris’s Combo features vanilla soft serve with blood orange olive oil and Maldon sea salt.
The dream of a better ice cream extends to restaurants.
Candace Rowan, pastry chef at A16 restaurant in San Francisco remembers working in Bay area restaurants 20 years ago and having ice cream brought in. These days, chefs are churning out their own creations.
Rowan likes to use whatever is in season when making her sorbets and gelatos. A specialty is spumoni made with layers of chocolate, cherry and pistachio. “I kind of had to wait until cherries came into season and they’ve been really good for the past week and a half, so I’ve finally got to make spumoni gelato,” she said.
She likes to experiment; a recent creation was a Marsala (a sweet fortified Italian wine) date gelato, a new take on rum raisin ice cream.
But she’s not into choosing ingredients for shock value. “I’ve done a basil gelato,” she said. “It was OK.”
Her favorite thing is to take a beautiful ingredient, like a perfectly ripe peach, and turn it into something that still tastes like a peach. “Apricots. I had some great apricots and turned it into a beautiful sorbet with a little bit of honey,” she said. “Once it came out of the machine you couldn’t tell if it was a gelato or a sorbet. It was great. Sometimes, I’m just like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I made that,”‘ she added with a laugh.
Some frozen dessert data from the International Dairy Foods Association:
— 1.52 billion: Number of gallons of ice cream produced in 2009.
— Vanilla, Chocolate, strawberry, chocolate chip, butter pecan: Top five individual flavors in order of preference.
— 90: Percent of households in the United States where ice cream and related frozen desserts are consumed.
— California: State producing the most frozen dairy desserts, at 169 million gallons in 2009.

Doctored ice cream — the easy way, your way

admin — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:15:19 +0000

By J.M. HIRSCH
AP Food Editor
How is it that ice cream can come in so many varieties, yet I still can’t find a flavor that is exactly what I want?
Blame our culture of customization. We’re so used to the have-it-your-way business model, it’s easy to be frustrated that while you can find pints of cake batter ice cream and pints of chocolate cookie ice cream, you won’t find chocolate cookie cake batter ice cream.
Which is why I have become a fan of doctored ice creams. It’s pretty simple really — buy a brand of chocolate or vanilla ice cream that you like, soften it, add to it whatever you like in whichever proportions you like, then refreeze and enjoy.
This is how I came up with my personal favorite — balsamic strawberry chocolate cookie ice cream. Try finding that at the grocer.
Yes, I know there are online services that let you customize ice cream right down to the fat content of the milk base. But that comes at a cost, not to mention way more of a wait than I’m willing to endure when the hankering for a chilly treat strikes.
So I offer this simple method and list of suggested add-ins for making your own doctored ice creams.
———

DOCTORED ICE CREAM
Start to finish: 2 hours (10 minutes active)
Servings: 6
1 pint vanilla or chocolate ice cream
Add-ins (see list below)
Open the pint of ice cream and microwave on high power for about 30 seconds. Timing will vary widely depending on the power of your microwave. You will need to watch this very carefully. It’s best to work in 10-second intervals, checking the ice cream between each. You are aiming for soft enough to mix with a spoon, but not melted.
Transfer the softened ice cream to a large bowl and add the ingredients of your choice. Mix well, then transfer to a quart-size container with a tight lid. Freeze until solid, about 1 to 2 hours.
———

ADD-IN SUGGESTIONS
>Dried cherries and broken chocolate-covered pretzels
>Crumbled chewy molasses cookies and apricot jam
>Crushed banana chips, mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips
>Almond extract and chunks of marzipan
>Chopped macadamia nuts, toasted coconut and dried pineapple
>Chopped salted peanuts, caramel sauce, crushed chocolate sandwich cookies
>Cubed pound cake and chopped fresh strawberries

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:51:36 +0000

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream
1 14-ounce can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted*
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon maple extract

Preparation

WHIP heavy cream to stiff peaks in large bowl. Combine sweetened condensed milk, pecans, butter and maple flavoring in large bowl. Mix well. Fold in whipped cream.
POUR into 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or 2-quart container; cover. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. Store in freezer.

Serves
Yield 1 3/4 quarts

Notes, Tips & Suggestions
*To toast nuts: Place nuts in dry nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat, shaking pan until nuts are lightly browned. To avoid over-browning, remove from pan immediately.

Preparation Time:
15 minutes

Freeze Time:
6+ hours

SOURCE:
Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

Ice Cream Sandwich Treats

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:26:29 +0000

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 10 ounce-package (about 40) marshmallows, or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal
1/2 cup assorted sprinkles
2 pints desired flavor ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet or gelato

Preparation

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Add cereal. Stir until well coated.
Using buttered spatula or wax paper, evenly press mixture to 1/4-inch thickness on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Decorate with sprinkles. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Remove from refrigerator. Using 2-inch cookie cutters coated with cooking spray, cut into desired shapes. Place small scoop of ice cream on undecorated side of one cut-out. Top with another cut-out, decorated side up. Gently press together. Return to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cut-outs and remaining ice cream.
Freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer to airtight container. Freeze for 2 hours to 1 week. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves
Servings 10 to 12

Preparation Time:
15 minutes

Total Time:
3 hours

SOURCE:
Rice Krispies

Strawberries & Cream Sherbet

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:12:24 +0000

Ingredients

1 bag (16 ounces) frozen strawberries, unsweetened

1 can (12 fluid ounces) Nestlé Carnation Evaporated Lowfat 2% Milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

PLACE frozen strawberries, evaporated milk, sugar and lemon juice in food processor; process until smooth.

POUR into 8-inch-square baking pan. Place in freezer for about 20 minutes, until ice crystals begin to form around edge of dish. Using fork, stir icy portions into middle of pan. Repeat, stirring edges into center every 20 minutes or until frozen (about 1 hour). Cover tightly. Freeze for up to 2 months. To serve, scoop into small paper cups, paper cones or martini glasses.

Serves
Makes 10 servings, 1/2 cup each

Notes, Tips & Suggestions
TIP: 3 cups fresh, whole strawberries can be substituted for frozen. Freeze berries before using.

Calories:	90g	Total Fat:	0.50g
Cholesterol:	5mg	Protein:	3g
Carbohydrates:	18g	Sodium:	45mg

Ice Cream in a Bag

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:00:39 +0000

Holiday Recipe Guide 2009

Teri Beeman, Platte Valley Companies

1 T sugar

½ C milk or half and half

¼ tsp vanilla

6 T rock salt

1 pint size Ziploc^© plastic bag

1 gallon size Ziploc^© plastic bag

Ice cubes

Fill the large bag half full of ice and add the rock salt. Seal the bag. Put milk, vanilla and sugar into the small bag and seal it. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy.

(More) Snow Ice Cream

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:11:27 +0000

Submitted by Geneice Walters – Marsland, NE

Star-Herald Holiday Recipe Guide Archives

1 ½ c. sugar

1 egg

½ c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix and stir in clean snow until thick

Snow Ice Cream

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:58:44 +0000

Submitted by Peggy Fulk – Morrill, NE

Star-Herald Holiday Recipe Guide Archives

2 slightly beaten eggs

¼ tsp. salt

1 c. sugar

1 qt scalded milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine eggs, salt & sugar, stir in milk. Cook in top of double boiler over boiling water for 5 min until mixture coats a spoon, stirring constantly. Add vanilla, cool to room temperature. Pour custard slowly over snow. Stir vigorously. More snow, more stirring, it thickens, it chills, it begins to freeze. When no more snow can be beaten in, the dessert can be served.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:49:24 +0000

Submitted by Cindy Larson – Scottsbluff, NE

Star-Herald Holiday Recipe Guide Archives

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

Beat with mixer until very smooth, then add:

3 tsp. vanilla

2 pints heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. salt

Pour into ice cream freezer, fill to the fill line with milk

Process and enjoy

» Ice Cream

Healthy ice cream, ingredients you can pronounce

Ice cream scene heats up with hot new flavors

Doctored ice cream — the easy way, your way

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ice Cream Sandwich Treats

Strawberries & Cream Sherbet

Ice Cream in a Bag

Check Out Our Holiday Recipe Guide Sponsors!

(More) Snow Ice Cream

Submitted by Geneice Walters – Marsland, NE

Snow Ice Cream

Submitted by Peggy Fulk – Morrill, NE

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Submitted by Cindy Larson – Scottsbluff, NE