I purchased a small 1-quart ice cream makera little while back. Best bad decision I’ve ever made. I’m a few months in, and could use a few tips. I’m a pretty good home cook, but I am an inveterate recipe follower, and making ice cream is new to me.
I’ve been using recipes from Serious Eats; that is my go-to web site for cooking-related stuff. So far, I have made:
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[li]Philly-style Vanilla Ice Cream: My go-to. Simple and easy, and makes an ice cream that is fairly light. I use dark rum instead of Scotch. Bourbon would be good, too, I think.[/li][li]Fior di Latte Gelato: Made this one once. Was good, but a bit too much work for something that didn’t give me any more real pleasure than the Philly-style ice cream.[/li][li]Buttermilk Ice Cream: Turned out pretty well, although with less buttermilk tang than I would like. This was part of one of my proudest moments as a home cook because I got creative (which I rarely do). Buttermilk made me immediately think of chicken, so for dessert one night I made some small waffles, topped them with a scoop of the buttermilk ice cream, and then garnished with a piece of crispy, salted chicken skin. Big hit![/li][li]Buttered Popcorn Ice Cream: Yum!! Will make again.[/li][li]Strawberry Sorbet: Turned out fine. Nothing remarkable, but I was using frozen strawberries, so I didn’t expect much.[/li][li]Pear, Riesling, and Ginger Sorbet: Came out very good, although the pears got a little lost in the flavor profile. Lots of ginger heat, which I liked. Might try again, but with lychees when they come into season down here.[/li][li]Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt: Decent. Next time I need to add more salt than I did, and even more cardamom. Icier texture than I expected (see question below).[/li][li]Browned Butter Pecan Ice Cream: Fantastic flavor! Base came out of refrigerator very thick - almost like pudding. Churned into thicker-than-soft-serve texture, not quite ice cream texture. Suspect I will need to move it to the fridge an hour or two before serving to make it scoopable (see question below). Would taste good with some bourbon in it (see additional question below).[/li][/ul]
So, my questions:
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[li]With the frozen yogurt, I used frozen mango pieces instead of fresh mangos. Could there be something about the water content of the frozen fruit that might have made the icy texture? I was expecting something creamier; it was closer to the texture of a sorbet than I expected.[/li][li]I had made a few custard-based ice creams before, and they all came out around the expected texture; dense and rich. The base was definitely liquid. The Browned Butter Pecan ice cream base came out of the refrigerator super-thick; it wouldn’t really pour into the ice cream maker. I had to spoon it in. In less than 15 minutes the churn was having trouble moving the ice cream around. It was essentially already soft ice cream texture. Any ideas what might cause that? Over-cooking the custard? Or is there something about the recipe that’s off, do you think?[/li][li]Consensus on the web seems to be no more than 5 Tbsp of booze (80 proof) to a quart of base. More than that and you’ll have freezing problems. The Browned Butter Pecan recipe (at least, as this batch turned out) could easily have absorbed 3-4 Tbsp of rum or bourbon to no ill effect, I think. Any tips or cautions when adding alcohol to an ice cream recipe?[/li][/ul]
Any favorite recipes you’d like to share? I’m game to try just about anything. Thanks in advance!
Once I used Liquid Nitrogen to make boozy ice cream, and, believe me, I didn’t have any freezing problems. (This method makes creamy ice cream and is sure to impress your guests.)
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/8 cups white sugar
3 tablespoons grated lemon zest
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Combine heavy cream, half and half, sugar, and lemon zest in a saucepan (you can combine the zest and the sugar in a bowl and leave for about an hour before cooking to infuse for a more lemony flavor); bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Gradually stir one cup of the hot cream mixture into the eggs, several tablespoons at a time. This will help to bring the eggs up to temperature without scrambling them. Stir the egg mixture back into the cream mixture in the saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until the mixture just coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl; cover. Refrigerate overnight.
When you are ready to make the ice cream, stir the lemon juice into the cold ice cream mixture. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. Transfer ice cream to a lidded freezer container, and freeze for 4 hours to ripen flavors before serving.
I used to make my own ice cream, but it was so damned good I had to stop. Having a quart or two of homemade ice cream in your freezer at all times was a disaster for the waistline.
Having said that, I remember one good tip I learned in ice cream making: replace some of the granulated sugar with some form of liquid sugar, like corn syrup or maple syrup. This works like magic to help prevent crunchy ice crystals from forming.
I do remember one flavor that I loved above all others, though I don’t have a recipe at hand. It was coffee Heath bar crunch. It was pretty easy - just make a good coffee ice cream, and at the end of the churning process, stir in a good handful or two of Heath bars which you have broken up with a mallet into smallish pieces. Yum!
Definitely. When you’re adding fruit, you’re also adding water. You want to compensate by increasing the amount of butterfat in your dairy ingredients. Use more cream and less milk.
Here’s the breakdown:
Skim Milk - less than 0.5% butterfat
One percent milk - 1%
Two percent milk - 2%
Whole milk - 3% to 4% - usually around 3%
Half and half - 10.5% to 18% - usually around 12%
Light cream - 18% to 30% - usually around 20%
Whipping cream - 30% to 35% - usually around 30%
Heavy cream - 36% to 40%
Double cream - around 48% - you’re generally not going to see this in stores
Clotted cream - 55% to 60% - another hard to find item
Butter - 80% or more
Just don’t go overboard and add too much butterfat. I once made ice cream with just heavy cream and it ended up tasting buttery when it was done.
If you’re using yogurt, things get more complicated. The butterfat content of yogurt can be anywhere from 0.5% to up above 15%. Figure a standard yogurt that isn’t calling itself low-fat is around 3.5% butterfat.
We received a 2-quart Cuisinart for Christmas one year; all my recipes are variations on those which came with it. Normally the booklet is inside the bowl but not at the moment so I don’t know where it is.
One can use coconut milk or coconut cream instead if making ice cream for someone who doesn’t do dairy.
I’ve done that with the coffee ice cream recipe which came with the Cuisinart. Simple vanilla base + instant cappuccino + crushed Heath bars. I even added a bit of Kahlua.
A couple more tips, if you want to make ice cream with mixed flavors.
If you want to do a swirl like fudge, caramel, or jam, don’t add it in while the base is churning. It’ll just get distributed throughout the base by the churning. Wait until the ice cream is done, then add in the swirl flavor and give it a light stir to spread it around some.
Less obvious is if you’re adding some kind of “chunks” like crumbled cookies or berries. The churning will often be enough to break these up and distribute them throughout the ice cream. What you should do is freeze the chunks before adding them. This will usually make them solid enough to survive the churning intact.
I’ll put in another vote for liquid nitrogen. It’s the easiest way to make ice cream, lots of fun, and if you can find any source at all for the nitrogen, surprisingly cheap.
I’m a few months in, and could use a few tips. I’m a pretty good home cook, but I am an inveterate recipe follower, and making ice cream is new to me.
