Adventures in Ice Cream Making

It looks delicious, but it's already starting to melt,
right out of the freezer!

    For those of you who don't know me well, ice cream is my favorite dessert... so as you might imagine, I was delighted to receive an ice cream maker as a wedding present. Because it generally requires specialized equipment, I've never made ice cream before, but I have to say, nothing you find in the store compares to homemade. And although it's actually pretty simple to make, it's a great thing to serve if you want to make something in advance that's sure to impress :-). Up to this point, I've just been experimenting, but so far, everything I've tried has been pretty hard to resist (especially for me)!
     Both of this recipes are adapted from Ina Garten's creations (Barefoot Contessa Family Style
and Barefoot Contessa Parties!cookbooks). I've started using more of her recipes lately, because she uses very simple ingredients and most of the recipes are easy to put together and are not particularly labor intensive. It's great to make something really decadent and elaborate from time to time, but it's even better to have some reliable recipes that don't require hours in the kitchen. In general, recipes that call for half and half or milk are icier and less creamy than those that have heavy cream (but are also less fattening!). Depending on the type of ice cream, one or the other may be appropriate. I've tried two recipes so far, one with half and half and one with cream. If you make a recipe with heavy cream, you don't even need an ice cream maker, you can just throw it in the freezer in a sealed container and stir once or twice per hour until it's frozen (I did this with 1/2 the batter because it didn't all fit in the ice cream maker and it was virtually indistinguishable). Unfortunately, our freezer isn't very cold, so all of the ice cream so far has been very soft and melty. It still tastes good, but you have to eat (or photograph) it quickly! 
    I think next I'll try something with fruit... maybe buttermilk and berries or a sorbet.... Any suggestions?!


Espresso Ice Cream

• -3 cups half-and-half
• -6 large egg yolks
• -2/3 cup sugar
• -1/4 tsp finely ground sea salt
• -2 1/2 tablespoons finely ground espresso beans
• -1 Tb coffee liquor (I used Kahlua)
• -1 tsp vanilla
• 
  
• -4-6 ounces (2/3 cup) dark chocolate with almonds (Ina uses chocolate covered espresso beans)
• -Beat the egg yolks, sugar and salt with a stand mixer paddle attachment (if you have one). Meanwhile, heat the half and half until bubbles begin to form around the edges (you should not let it boil).
• -Slowly and carefully pour the half and half into the egg mixture, while the mixer continues to run. Mix until the ingredients are combined. 
• -Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
• -Pour the mixture through a fine sieve, and then add espresso, vanilla and coffee liquor to the strained mixture. Cover the mixture with a sheet of plastic wrap (placed right on the surface of the mixture) to prevent a film from forming and chill well in the fridge.
• -After the mixture has been chilled for a couple hours, I strained it again to remove some of the espresso bean  bits. Ina didn't do this, but I thought the ice cream would be too gritty if I hadn't. It's ok to leave some of the beans in- straining once is all that is necessary.
• -Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine, add the chopped chocolate bits and store in a sealed container in the fridge. Make sure that it freezes in the freezer for a couple hours before serving. For better or worse, this was gone before I could take a picture of it! 

Caramel Pecan Nut Ice Cream (pictured)


-1/2 c water
-2 1/2 c sugar
-6 c heavy cream
-2 Tbs vanilla
-3 c pecan halves, toasted and crumbled or chopped
-7-8 oz milk chocolate diced (I used Hershey's bars)


-To make the caramel ice cream base, place the water and sugar into a heavy saucepan. Cook sugar mixture over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
-Increase to high heat and boil until the mixture is a dark caramel color, about 3-5 minutes. DO NOT STIR! You may swirl the saucepan occasionally to make sure the sugar doesn't burn.
-Remove the saucepan from heat, and add the cream. At this stage, it will look like you screwed up- the old cream will cause the caramel to turn into an unmanageable, solid mess. I promise that when you put it back on the burner on low heat, the caramel will dissolve into the cream and all will be right in the world again. This should take about 5-7 minutes. Add the vanilla.
-Chop the toasted pecans and chocolate and place them in the freezer till you're ready for them.
-Chill the caramel/ cream mixture in the fridge till well cooled. I placed a piece of plastic wrap directly to the surface of the mixture to make sure that a film didn't form in the fridge. Chill for at least an hour- I kept it in the fridge overnight.
-Freeze the ice cream in an ice cream maker, add the nuts and chocolate and put it in the freezer in a sealed container until you're ready to use it. It's best to make it well enough in advance that it can freeze for a couple hours before serving. OR, if you don't have an ice cream maker, mix in the nuts and throw it in the freezer. Stir it 1-2 times per hour until it's well frozen.
-Below are some pictures of the ice cream base at varying stages of done-ness. Note that in the fourth picture, it looks like I've screwed up. Picture three was taken right before I removed the syrup from heat, to give you an idea about what color it should be.

Millions of Peaches

    A couple of weeks ago, my family went to Glen Arbor, MI for a long weekend, and I picked up some beautiful Red Haven peaches from an orchard on the way back. While I couldn't resist eating a couple myself,  I decided that they would be best used in a pie. Luckily, later in the week, my friend Lauren turned 26, giving me a perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe. So, we took her to her favorite restaurant, The Olive Garden, indulged in way too much salad and breadsticks, and returned to my place for pie. 

Gorgeous Red Haven Peaches from Gallagher's Farm Market near Traverse City

     This was actually the first peach pie I'd ever made, and I thought it turned out quite well. It's spicy and sweet without being overwhelming, and the peaches were fresh and flavorful. "Free stone" varieties, such as Red Haven are the easiest to use because the fruit is easily removed from the pit. This recipe was adapted from 2 different recipes: Deep-Dish Peach Pie from Bon Appétit , 2010 and Spiced Peach Pie from Bon Appétit, 2000. I don't think I'd change anything about the recipe, except maybe to use more peaches, add a dash of cloves and chill the streusel topping so that it held together a little better. Overall, though, it was a great recipe!

Peach Birthday Pie

Crust:

-2 1/2 c flour                               

-1 c unsalted butter

-1 tsp salt  

-1 Tb sugar                                

-1/4 to 1/2 c ice water

Filling 

-2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

-1/4 cup flour

-1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-3 pounds medium peaches

Streusel topping: 

-1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

-1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

-1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced

-3/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

 -For the crust, mix dry ingredients, then use a pastry cutter or food processor to blend until it resembles coarse meal. Try not to overwork the dough, this can make it tough. add water until the dough just comes together in your fingertips. Press together and divide in half, wrapping each in plastic wrap. You will only need 1/2 of the dough for this pie. Chill for at least 1 hour.
-While the pie dough is chilling, peel, pit and slice the peaches. Mix the other filling ingredients and set aside.
-preheat the oven to 375 F
-For the streusel topping, mix the dry ingredients and add butter in tablespoon sized pieces, and mix with a fork or food processor. Add pecans at the end so they don't get chopped too finely. Place in the fridge until the pie is ready to go.
-Roll out 1/2 of the pie dough on a floured surface till it fits in a 9 inch pie pan. Place crust in the pan, smooth the edges, trim the excess dough and crimp the edges. I used a fork to to create a pattern around the edges of this pie.

-Pour in the peach filling, cover will the streusel topping and pop it into the preheated oven.

-Bake ~45 min at 375 F. The topping should be golden brown and the pie juices should be bubbling.

-Enjoy! 

Lauren with her pie

"No Bake" Cool Key Lime Pie

      Key Lime Pie is the quintessential summer dessert, but it poses several problems for a first-time baker. First of all, key limes, which are smaller and sweeter than standard limes are more expensive and harder to find than conventional limes. Also, the filling is typically made of a custard of condensed milk and egg, and it can be a little tricky to get it to the right consistency.  

Limes are harvested year round in some tropical areas, but in other places, trees only produce fruit in the summer. Limes are yellow when fully ripe, but are better when harvested while they are still green.

      This recipe, adapted from Gourmet's 1998 version avoids some of these issues, but may need a little bit of tweaking to reach pie perfection. It is made with a pie shell instead of the traditional graham cracker crust and the filling is thickened with cream cheese instead of eggs, which means you don't have to bake it to get the filling to set up. It also uses standard limes instead of key limes, which saves you the expense and headache of using key limes. Unfortunately, although this is a beautiful pie and the filling was very good, I missed the graham cracker taste and felt like this may be missing something. If you do chose to make it with the pie shell, I would recommend adding something else, like fresh ginger or fruit. 

 

Key Lime Pie 

Crust:

-2 1/2 c flour                               

-1 c unsalted butter

-1 tsp salt  

-1 Tb sugar                                

-1/4 to 1/2 c ice water

-Plastic wrap

OR

Premade graham cracker crust

For filling

-1 pound cream cheese, softened

-3/4 cup fresh lime juice

-a 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

-1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest

For topping

-1 cup crème fraîche (may be made with 1 c heavy cream and 1 Tb of sour cream, left to stand overnight)

-1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

-For the crust, mix dry ingredients, then use a pastry cutter or food processor to blend until it resembles coarse meal. Try not to overwork the dough, this can make it tough. add water until the dough just comes together in your fingertips. Press together and divide in half, wrapping each in plastic wrap. You will only need 1/2 of the dough for this pie. Chill for at least 1 hour.

-For the filling, mix all ingredients well. Make sure the cream cheese is well blended, or you may end up with plain cream cheese chunks in your pie.

-Roll out pie dough, place in 9 inch pie pan, smooth and cut off excess dough. Crimp edges and prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. Fill with pie weights or (as I did) cover the crust with foil and fill the foil with uncooked rice. This will keep the shell from puffing up and infringing on the space for the filling. Chill the shell for at least 30 minutes

-Bake crust at 350 F for 20 minutes, then remove foil and rice and cook until the crust is golden brown, ~10-15 more minutes.

-allow crust to cool completely and then chill for 1 hour.

-fill the crust with cream cheese mixture and chill while making the topping.

-whip crème fraîche until it forms soft peaks, continue to whip and add powdered sugar slowly. Spread mixture carefully over the filling, allow to chill for at least one hour or up to one day, loosely covered.