Ice Cream Exploits 2011

Piña colada

(unpictured)

I subbed regular rum for the coconut, and that may have been a mistake. It's okay, but tastes more like straight-up coconut milk than piña colada. I'll probably either try this again with the correct rum, or look for a recipe with creme of coconut instead.

Pear-riesling sorbet

I tried something similar once upon a time at the North Market in Columbus, and always vowed to recreate it once I had an ice cream freezer. For my version, I used red pears, and left the peels on until after poaching, which gave it a lovely pink color. It froze extremely hard, though, so next time I'll probably either add more wine and reduce it, or throw in a shot of vodka in at the end as "antifreeze". More sugar would work, too, but I'd hate to over-sweeten it.

Honey Peach

I didn't notice in the recipe that I was only supposed to puree half the peaches, but it came out well all the same. Better, if you don't like peach chunks. I used 5 peaches, which came to about 1 lb, 10 oz. It's quite yummy, but I think I'll try it again at some point with the full 2 lbs., to weigh it more towards the peaches than the cream. Shown here with Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Thins.

Strawberry Crème Fraîche

Amazing, no changes needed; if you like strawberry cheesecake, this is a must-try. It was a bit too high-yield for my freezer, but I may have inadvertently whipped in some air with my immersion blender. At any rate, I ended up shoveling some out about halfway through freezing. My only other note is that you can make your own crème fraîche by combining a large glug of buttermilk (2-3T) with a cup of cream, and leaving it at room temperature for 24 hours. Use a towel, if anything, to cover it, as it needs to breathe. I'll likely try this recipe again with peaches at some point.

Coffee (and Donuts)

I served this at a party, and it was a huge hit ("The best coffee ice cream I've ever tasted!", even), but goodness was this a picky recipe. Next time, I would strain the beans before making the custard, as I ended up squeezing them by hand to get it out. I'd also skip the ice bath entirely, unless I was in a big hurry. I added chopped up donuts shaken in cinnamon sugar during the last 5 minutes of churning. This one seemed a bit low-yield; I think I only got 1 quart including the donuts. As a result, it froze quite quickly, so keep an eye on it.

Lemon-Lime-Mint Sorbet

I found this one via Amy Welborn, who is also on an ice cream kick, and thus, like me, has lots of egg whites to use up. The raw meringue gives this one an amazing texture, so if you're shy of such things, best to just move along. It wouldn't be the same without it.

Bonus:

Homemade Chocolate Syrup