Gettin' Phily With It...

Sometimes, I really want to whip up a batch of ice cream and really cannot face the idea of standing over a pot mixing the custard. Watching and waiting for just the right moment to pull it off the heat.  Then, I discovered Philadelphia or American Style ice cream.  Philadelphia style ice cream doesn't use any eggs, therefore no need to go through the custard process. Good for egg allergies and the flavour is awesome.

I reworked a recipe I found on this gorgeous blog http://dinneranddessert.wordpress.com, and her recipe was an alteration of my ice cream hero David Lebovitz recipe.

Being a little lazy in the kitchen, I used whatever ingredients I had. I didn't have the dutch-process cocoa, just some stock standard home brand stuff AND I only had dark cooking chocolate in the cupboard. However, I really like the intense, almost dry flavour I ended up with. The consistency was gorgeous and it tastes awesome with coffee & strawberries.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream - Philadelphia Style

300ml thickened cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 block good quality dark chocolate broken up into pieces (I used 70% cocoa)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate until it's melted, then whisk in the milk and vanilla. Pour mixture into a blender and blend for 30 seconds, until very smooth. (I poured into a bowl & stick mixed it for 30 secs)

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight if you have time) then sling it into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Strawberry Ice Cream

I've never eaten real strawberry ice cream before. Never has my strawberry ice cream looked like real pieces of fruit might be in there - mostly it has been the pink stripe in the neapolitan.

Recently I read that one of the largest sub-sections of bloggers are teenagers - none of the 4 teenagers I know personally blog, so I was pretty chuffed to find this blog - http://vondelicious.blogspot.com.au/
Excited, because I was after a strawberry recipe and stoked that the blog is written by a teen. Awesome.

The post ice cream making tasting (check out some pics on flickr) flagged that I could have made it a little more strawberry. Maybe if the berries are really, really ripe they would give more? It tasted amazing. I will make it again, and maybe put yummy bits of white chocolate through it.

Strawberry Ice Cream - from Vondelicious! (who adapted it from Delicious Ice Cream)
300ml milk
1 vanilla pod
4 large egg yolks
115g caster dugar
250g fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
300ml double cream

1. Pour the milk into a large heavy-based saucepan. Split open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds into the milk, then add the whole vanilla pod too. bring almost to boil, then remove from heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. 

2. Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until pale and mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk, then slowly add the milk into the egg mixture, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. Strain the mixture into the rinsed-out saucepan or a double boiler and cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle. Remove the custard from the heat and leave to cool for at least 1 hour, stirring from time to time to prevent a skin from forming. 

3. Puree the strawberries with a blender or by pushing them through a sieve. Stir into the custard mixture with the lemon juice. 

4. Whip the cream until it holds its shape. 

5. Fold the whipped cream into the cold custard, then churn the mixture in the machine following the manufacturers instructions.


6. EAT!

Vanilla-tastic!

I am very new to the way of homemade ice cream. To help me gain confidence in my new found hobby, I have been researching everything ice cream. From cooks to stylists to history to wacky flavour combinations, and I am slowly building my knowledge base.  

In all this reading I have discovered my ice cream hero, pastry chef - David Lebovitz. Author of the ice cream bible - 'The Perfect Scoop'. 

The Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe I used was from the book - and it was awesome. My first attempt at a custard base style ice cream, so I was a little nervous. 

My hot tip, is to really really keep stirring where the recipe says to stir. Otherwise your ice cream will end up with an 'eggy' flavour to it.

I followed the recipe ALMOST exactly. I used philadelphia cooking cream and a little thickened cream for the 'cream'. This was only because it's what I had in the fridge, the ice cream was delicious and I think it would have been regardless of this change.

Vanilla Ice Cream

About 1 litre

1 cup of whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup of sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups of heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour

2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2 litre bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5. Strain the custard into the cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly (ideally overnight)

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the machines instructions.

Delicious!

In the beginning...

In the beginning, there was the occasional purchase of delicious Homer Hudson Choc Rock, or anything from the Maggie Beer ice cream collection. But then, Santa, in all his wisdom delivered me an ice cream making machine this Christmas.

Once my pretty machine made it back to Melbourne from Christmas with the family, it took a number of days to test it out...kids, life, a little fear of a new machine held me back.  The opening ice cream recipe came directly from the machine's instruction manual - lame I know - but I needed a starting point.

Banana Ice Cream, was delicious.  If I made it again, I would use super super ripe banana's (like you use when making banana bread). Sprinkle some crushed nuts over the top - Yum!

Banana Ice Cream (from Lumina Ice Cream Maker Instruction Manual)
Ingredients: 
1 Large Banana
200 ml Skim Milk
100 ml Thickened Cream
50g Sugar

Method:
Mash the banana until smooth. Mix in skim milk, thickened cream and sugar. Pour mixture into your ice cream machine, follow your machines instructions for mixing - mine was around 20 mins. Allow to freeze in freezer until desired consistency is achieved. 


ICE CREAM FACT: The first commercial ice cream was produced in Australia in 1907 (http://www.streets.com.au/love-the-facts/)