Sleepover Strawberry Ice Cream

We had our very first sleepover at our house, and we made strawberry ice cream together.  Our little guest had never made ice cream before, so this was an introduction to our family’s obsession. 

Thankfully, all that ice cream didn’t  keep the girls up all night!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 pound strawberries, hulled and chopped

2 tbs lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1.  Combine strawberries with lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar.  Allow the strawberries to macerate, about an hour.

2.  Combine milk and sugar, whisking until the sugar is dissolved.

Getting ready to whisk!!

3.   Add vanilla and heavy cream, continue to whisk until well combined. 

All three girls, hard at work.  S6 is in the back ground, mashing away while G8 is with our guest, measuring the cream.

 

 

4.  Pour in the liquid from the strawberries. Reserve the strawberries.

5.  Churn ice cream, per manufacturer’s directions

 

My girls waiting for mom to get the ice cream into the ice cream maker!

 

 

6.  Add the strawberries to the ice cream during the last 5 minutes of churning. (Sometimes the pound of strawberries produces a little too much strawberry; we use the excess for a topping.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoying our ice cream cones!

Invent A Flavor

One of the perks of  making your own ice cream is customizing the flavors.  The girls recently wrote about their (hypothetical) flavor inventions. 

G8: If I could make up any ice cream flavor, I would make Hamburger Ice Cream with French Fry Sprinkles!!  I would make it because I like both hamburgers and french fries!!  Maybe I should put little cheese bits inside too!

I don’t think people would buy it if it were in a store, though. Do you?

S6, Daddy and I are going to have to convince Mommy to let us eat it for breakfast.  We haven’t had much luck, so never mind that! 

S6: If I could invent a new ice cream flavor, it would be Egg Ice Cream with Hashbrown Sprinkles.  I am going to eat it all the time at breakfast.

These weird flavors sound like something they’d make on Iron Chef.  There’s definitely a parental veto on these flavors.  (Though French Fry Sprinkles sound yummy.  Sort of like dipping your fries in ice cream.)

What flavor would you invent?

Peach-Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

When school let out a few weeks ago, I celebrated with a peach ice cream.  I had peach on the brain (does that make me fuzzy brained?), and decided to make a peach variation myself. 

I’m not quite confident enough to re-create a flavor without a recipe.  But I did find this Peach Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream recipe in Shelly Kaldunski’s Sweet Scoops. 

I made it when we had a house full of guests…it was well received by all.  Sorry, I was too distracted by everything going on to take photos. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 cup raspberries

1/4 cup raspberry jam or preserves

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/4 pounds peach (I used 5 ripe peaches), halved and pitted

1 cup heavy bream

1/3 cup creme fraiche

1/4 tsp salt

yields approx 1-1/2 quarts

1.  Combine raspberries and jam in a bowl.  Mash down the raspberries.  Mixture should be chunky.  Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready.

2.  In a large, deep frying pan, combine sugar and water and bring to boil over medium heat.  Stir occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.  (Takes about 5 minutes.)

3.  Add the peaches, skin side up and simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn the peaches over and continue to cook until fruit softens and the skin loosens.  (about 5 minutes for me).    Remove from heat and let the peaches cool to room temperature.  remove the skins from the peach and toss.

4.  Put the peaches and the cooking liquid into your blender or food processor.  Add the remaining ingredients and puree until mixture is completely smooth. 

5.  Chill the mixture until very cold (4 hours minimum, up to 3 days)

6.  Pour the peach-cream mixture into the ice cream maker per manufacturer’s instructions. 

7.  Once the ice cream is done churning, spoon half of it into a freezer safe container, and top with several spoonfuls of the raspberry mixture.  stir gently in a figure eight motion to swirl the raspberry into the ice cream.  Repeat with the remaining ice cream and raspberry. 

8.  Cover tightly and freeze until firm.

Note: While swirling, I had extra raspberry mixture, which i just kept and used as a topping.

Also, it was very “guest friendly” to make the peach base ahead of time, and then pour it into the ice cream maker when everyone was ready to stand around and watch (and taste).

Cantaloupe Sorbet

A mom’s gotta get those kids eating fruit, so I convinced the kids we should make a Cantaloupe Sorbet.  They were skeptical, but were game to try it once they got involved in the preparation.

This recipe was originally in the June/July issue of Taste of Home Magazine, but the recipe portion below was written by the girls.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.  Put one cup  of water in a pot.

2.  Put one cup of sugar in the same pot

3.  Heat the simple syrup until boiling.

4.  Let the simple syrup cool.

5.  Cut 4 cups of cantaloupe. 

6.  After the simple syrup is cooled down, combine all the ingredients in the blender.  Blend until smooth. [the original recipe called for a food processor, but the blender worked for us!]

7.  Put cantaloupe mixture into the ice cream maker for about 25 minutes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our end product:

OK, I admit, this was not our favorite recipe.  First,  the sorbet ended up being more of an ice than a sorbet.  One of the girls was in charge of the simple syrup, and I didn’t check to see if it was thick enough.  I think if the syrup were a little thicker, it wouldn’t be quite so icy. 

Also, it was too cantaloupe-y.  I think making it an ice cream would have tempered the melon-y sweetness.  Maybe next time we’ve got some extra cantaloupe, we’ll try cantaloupe ice cream.  I found a very yummy sounding recipe from Ben and Jerry’s!

I’ve seen cantaloupe paired with prosciutto.  (I’ve never tried it though…prosciutto doesn’t seem all that kid-friendly.)  I wonder if little bits of bacon would be a yummy topping with cantaloupe ice cream?

Running Errands

I had to run a couple errands over the weekend. Since I wanted to let Esther have some time to herself, I took the kids with me. Of course, nothing is free. The cost of dragging the kids along with me to three different stores: ice cream.

On the way back from the shopping misadventure, we stopped at Carvel in DeWitt. I remember going to Carvel as a kid. It’s changed through the years, but still remains a good place to have great tasting ice cream. In fact, recently Carvel increased their portions. The “kiddie size” is now closer to a small.

Since we were on a schedule (after all, I broke a cardinal rule and had ice cream BEFORE dinner), I asked the kids to share a flavor. Here’s what they thought:

S6: I went to Carvel with G8 and Dad. [G8 and I] got Chocolate Crunch. I LOVED it. It was great. It was chocolaty!

G8: We went to Carvel! S6 and I had Chocolate Crunch. It is made of chocolate ice cream and crushed Oreo! I really liked it because there were sometimes chunks of Oreo in it! I liked to eat the chunks of Oreo with ice cream! I liked the store because it is [a] very yummy store! I also like it because it is very, very close.

I tried Chocolate Volcano. It was primarily a vanilla ice cream with chocolate mixed in. It also had those small chocolate crunchy morsels of goodness that they sometimes put on ice cream cakes. You end up with vanilla and chocolate mixed together with a light crunch in every bite. The combination may sound simple, possibly even boring. But when it hits your mouth, you realize the elegance that is conveyed through its simplicity. Genius. Sheer Genius.

Next time, maybe something with peanut butter cups…

School’s Out!

Last week,  we went out for a celebratory end-of-the-year ice cream cone.  This is the second year we've done this; the girls love it so much I think it's going to become a long standing tradition.

From G8: School is out! We went to Kimberly's [in Manlius, NY]!  I got Cotton Candy [ice cream].  My sister got the same thing.  I really like the ice cream because [the flavor] is very cotton-candy-like.  I have tasted cotton candy before, [so i know what it tastes like].  I love Kimberly's!

S6’s take on things: I went to an ice cream/candy store.  I went with my sister and mom.  My sister and I both ate KaBoom Cotton Candy ice cream.  It's cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles [mixed in].  I love it!

Mom’s note: The girls have only eaten real cotton candy once…and they didn’t really like it.   They love  that cotton candy flavor in an ice cream, though! 

While the girls gobbled up their cotton candy ice cream with an explosion of sprinkles, I enjoyed Kimberly's specialty flavor, Amaretto Peach Toasted Almond.  It was a smooth creamy peach ice cream with a hint of amaretto, with little chunks of peach and bits of toasted almond mixed in. Fancy, but not too fancy!  It’s inspired me to try making a peach ice cream.  I just need to have patience while I wait for the peaches to ripen!

The atmosphere at Kimberly's is fun, relaxed, with a touch of class. They make all their own ice creams and sorbets and have a variety flavors, from Holy Canoli to “Just Plain” Vanilla (made with bourbon vanilla…nothin’ plain about that!)

In addition to ice cream, Kimberly’s carries ice cream cakes, pies and premium chocolates.  I kicked myself for not thinking of Kimberly's for all those end-of-the-year teacher gifts.  Oh well, there's always next year,right?

In the mean time, happy summer vacation!

Frozen Bananas

One can only eat so much ice cream.  Well, sort of.  Our family can eat an unlimited amount of ice cream, but then we’d all have serious health issues. 

I had been brainstorming some healthier frozen options when I was inspired at Disneyland.  The ice cream guy only had one Mickey-ice-cream-on-a-stick left.  So I  did the mature thing and let the kids have the Mickey ice cream and ordered a frozen chocolate covered banana.  I have to say, I really enjoyed it!  And I didn’t have to feel guilty after eating it. After all, its really fruit!

I enjoyed it so much I decided we needed to re-create it at home… (This recipe is so easy the kids had a great time doing much of it themselves.)

Here’s the recipe:

1.  Peel 4 ripe, but still firm, bananas.   Cut them in half width-wise and insert a craft stick into each banana.  Lay them out in a dish to freeze. Cover and freeze for about at least 4 hours. 

 

You want your bananas nice and frozen.  (We did overnight.)

(It would be helpful to line your dish with wax or parchment paper.  We didn’t do that and had a little trouble lifting the bananas out after they were frozen.)

2.   Melt your choice of dark chocolate over a double boiler with hot (not boiling) water.  We used 2 bars of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate.)

3.  Dip your frozen bananas into the chocolate, then roll it in whatever topping you’d like.  We used rainbow sprinkles and walnuts, just because we had them in the house. 

One website suggested that you transfer the chocolate into a glass and then dunk your banana into the chocolate.  We tried that, but in the end, I found it easier to just spoon the chocolate onto the banana. I was able to use all the chocolate, as well as cover the banana better that way. 

I had the toppings in pie pans to make it easier to roll the bananas. But again, I discovered it was easier to just spoon the toppings right onto the chocolate. 

4.  Set your covered bananas onto wax or parchment paper and freeze for an hour. 

Actually, our bananas were so frozen that the chocolate hardened almost immediately.  But, putting the chocolate covered bananas back into the freezer ensures a nice hard chocolate shell.  Also, I realized I didn’t have wax paper, so used aluminum foil instead.  It worked out fine. 

5. Store frozen bananas in the freezer.  (I just put ours in a big Ziploc bag.)

 

 

Who knew fruit could be so yummy ?