Adventures in ice cream making

Last summer, I caught the homemade ice cream-making bug.  It started innocently at first, with no-machine vanilla ice cream.  Then I tried no-machine chocolate ice cream.  And then you can probably guess what happened...I bought an ice cream maker.

Store-bought ice cream is convenient and, frankly, often cheaper than homemade but there really is something magical about homemade ice cream.  It's just the freshest tasting ice cream that you can tailor for yourself.  I've already shared a couple of recipes that put my ice cream maker to good use: Philadelphia-style (no egg) vanilla ice cream and chocolate gelato - two of our household favorites!  This past Memorial Day weekend, I took some homemade vanilla ice cream and made a few ice cream pops for our cookout.  I have to tell you that ice cream balls like to melt very quickly!  But seeing the kids enjoying them made the work worthwhile!

I've been putting my ice cream maker to work since it's come into my life and I thought I would indulge myself with a little ice cream "show-and-tell" today.  After all, prime ice cream making and eating season is upon us!  So here's some of what I've been churning up, both hits and misses!

Vanilla Fudge Ripple Ice Cream

Let's start with vanilla fudge ripple ice cream.  Did you ever buy those little  clear dixie cups with vanilla ice cream and fudge at the bottom and top?  I used to love digging into one of those with a wooden spoon as a child and this is the grown-up, far better, homemade version.  You make the fudge ripple sauce separately, chill it, and layer it between layers of homemade vanilla bean ice cream to create the panda pattern swirl.  It is divine!  I can't get enough of that fudge ripple!

On the topic of vanilla ice cream, I bought one of those enormous Tahitian vanilla beans and made Tahitian vanilla ice cream with it.  Whoa!  Tahitian vanilla beans are seriously intense!  Have you tried it, and if so, do you like it?  It was too strong and sweet for me and my 7-year old; my husband really liked it though.  

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

Now coffee is a popular flavor in my house - for my guys, anyway (I'm more Team Chocolate).  We adore this Vietnamese coffee ice cream because it's both tasty and easy to make.  You simply take very strong brewed coffee and combine it with condensed milk to create this rich, creamy, full-flavored coffee ice cream.

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream with Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans

Make it a little more interesting by adding some chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans into that coffee cream.  Gotta get some chocolate in there somehow!  Ironically, I think I'm the one in our house who likes a ton of crunchy mix-ins in my ice cream!  The boys lean more towards purists.

Caramel Ice Cream

Fan of caramel?  Do what I did and try making homemade caramel ice cream.  Caramel is not generally one of my favorite flavors on its own but the homemade version was luscious, smooth, slightly salted - great for caramel enthusiasts.

Click on...There's more ice cream, gelato, and sorbet that I'd like to show you!

Breaking in the new ice cream maker - chocolate gelato

I think I knew all along it was inevitable.  Yes, I am now the owner of an ice cream maker!  I tried to hold out, knowing that having one could/would lead to excessive ice cream consumption and an expanded waistline.  But in the end, I couldn't resist.  Those  homemade ice creams I made without a machine were delicious and I kept thinking how easy and better it would be if I had a machine.  I was also swayed by the idea of all the flavor possibilities and frozen treats I could explore for years to come.  So it's a good investment, right?

For my inaugural batch of ice cream from my new ice cream maker, I actually went with gelato - something a little lighter.  It's chocolate gelato, to be exact.  It may be nothing new but on a recent road trip to Vermont (Hello, Ben & Jerry's!) and Quebec, Canada, I kept noticing ice cream, or actually, gelato, everywhere.  In the hot touristy spots (it was "hot" literally), there was an ice cream/gelato/crème glacée shop on every block and every other person seemed to be carrying a cone or cup of it around.  That's what I love about summer vacations: ice cream!  And the blanket approval to indulge.

These days, gelato is as common as ice cream.  And the difference between the two?  "Gelato" is the Italian name for ice cream and the lines blur between the two but I've learned that, in general, gelato has a lower fat content (yay!) than ice cream, which allows the flavor to stand out and shine.  It is a little denser than ice cream, churned at a slower pace to give it a velvety texture despite the lower fat content, and stored at a slightly higher temperature than ice cream (at a gelateria).  Some gelato have egg yolks in them, some don't.  When gelato is thickened with starch instead of eggs, you might find it has a somewhat sticky texture.

Now what I personally like about gelato is the flavor choices.  I love a basic dark chocolate, like what I made here, but I'll usually find other favorites like gianduja (hazelnut and chocolate) and pistachio.  On a recent vacation in Quebec, we ate lunch in an airy self-service style cafe one day.  After our sandwiches, I made a beeline for the dessert and gelato offerings in the front of the shop.  I had a great dessert fix that afternoon.  The gelato was divine.  I was excited to score a scoop of chestnut gelato (the light-vanilla colored part of the cup below)!  I love chestnuts and it was my first taste of chestnut gelato.  It was subtle yet distinctly chestnut; I thought it was wonderful.  The other flavors I picked were dark chocolate and gianduja - the flavors really popped, a real trademark of good gelato.  Did I mention there was a slice of opera cake involved too?  It was a good afternoon...

This chocolate gelato recipe I made comes from the dessert/ice cream whisperer, David Lebovitz (of course!).  This batch I made was gobbled up in two days by the 3 of us.  We loved how it was rich but light at the same time; it truly is the lighter version of the chocolate ice cream recipe I made previously.  This gelato only contains milk, no cream, relative to its ice cream cousin.  I dare say we actually preferred this gelato to the richer ice cream but ask me next time I taste the ice cream and I might give a different answer.

Do you go for a cup or a cone?  I love sugar cones and I think a cone helps with portion control at home.  A cup is less messy though.  My son is strictly on the cup side.  He can be a surprising purist at times.