With any ice-cream maker, ice cream is super easy to make! It takes some waiting time for the ingredients to cool, etc., but there is hardly any actual work involved, just patience.
I usually allot 2 days for ice cream-making. My Kitchen Aid bowl has to be frozen for long enough, and my cooked custard needs to chill in the fridge.
Yummy ice creams happen for those who wait!
To read more on ice cream-making and explore another recipe, check out a previous blog post:
and pardon the wonky camera filter :)In this post, I'll walk you through the steps of making a caramel ice cream, and also reiterate some general ice cream-tips.
Then you can make and eat this:
I think this is the last recipe I'll try from:
This book as served me well, and it's time to end on a high note.
Caramel-Ginger Cookie-Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream:
time-consuming, but easy
Needed ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream*
1 cup whole milk*
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
6 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
12 soft-molasses cookies**
1/2 cup ganache(half of recipe) : 10 oz bitterseet chocolate and 1 cup plus 2 TBSP heavy cream***
* Feel free to play around with substitutions here. I use some half and half, etc. It changes the richness of your ice cream a little, but not much, and is worth a calorie exchange if you're really watching. I don't recommend using skim milk--too watery.
**If you want to go all out, you can find the recipe for these cookies here. This makes the recipe take even longer, mind you, because you have to make the cookies first. For this recipe, I spared no expense. But more likely, next time, I'll just see what I can find at the ole' grocery store. Please note the amount of cookies used will vary based on the size of the cookies you put in your ice cream. It's your ice cream. Use your own discretion as to how much cookie filling you want in it. :-)
***Use that same discretion on the amount of ganache you put into your ice cream. I made the whole recipe, so I put the whole recipe into my ice cream. I did not regret the extra chocolate!
So like I said before, ice cream takes time to make, but is really simple. You heat some stuff, temper some stuff, stir some stuff, and eat.
Like so:
Stir together milk and cream (or half and half or whatever you're using) in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, stir together sugar and water in medium, stainless steal saucepan. (Like most of us have anyway.) Cook over low to medium-low heat until the caramel is dark amber in color. DO NOT STIR.
I was scared to make a caramel, so I thought you might be too. Fear not. Leave it alone, and the magic happens. Here's what you can expect:
Not a whole lot of action, but it starts to bubble. DO NOT STIR.
Oooh a little more bubbly. Some more action in the pot. Watch it, admire it, DO NOT STIR.
Now it's really going. Guess what? Still DO NO STIR.
Oh yes, now we're cooking. Sugar's melting point is VERY HIGH so DO NOT TOUCH and DO NOT STIR. But watch it. Once your caramel gets to this point, it can burn really quickly. Keep an eye on it.
This is a light caramel color. Yummy. The directions said: "Dark Amber"
So here is where I said: DONE!
Now we're going to temper some stuff.
Tempering is slowing introducing cooking mixtures of different temperatures. We do this in small amounts to slowly let the mixes marry and reach a common temperature. If we were to be impatient and dump the caramel into the cream mixture, we might curdle something or separate something, and those are all bad somethings.
Remove your caramel from heat and CAREFULLY pour in about 1/4 c of the hot cream mix. The caramel will bubble fiercely (good work, recipe!) so do this SLOWLY.
Gradually add in the rest of the cream mix in 1/4 cup increments, stirring until all is well combined. The caramel should dissolve. If it doesn't, heat the mix A LITTLE again while you stir.
I am lucky enough to have a 1/4 cup measuring ladle (as pictured above). Use whatever ladle you have. The 1/4 cup measurement doesn't have to be exact, just slowly introduce the cream to the caramel and you should be fine.
You have the start of a caramel ice cream!
Next, whisk together the egg yolks and salt in a large bowl until smooth.
We're going to temper the eggs now and slowly heat them to the same temperature as your caramel mixture. If we do this too fast we'd have scrambled eggs. Eew. So, again, take your time.
Drizzle the caramel cream in with the yolks slowly to temper them. Whisk together. Add a little more. Whisk a little more. You should be an expert at this by now.
Once the eggs are warmed up, pour everything back in the big saucepan and heat over low heat until the mixture is thick and coats the back of your spoon. STIR CONSTANTLY.
I run my finger down the middle to check. You want to see the line distinctly.
Strain your mix into a bowl and add the vanilla.
This strain is to make sure any un-melted chunks of caramel, or scrambled egg (hey, we're only human) don't make it into your final ice cream. Don't skip this step.
Cover the bowl and let it chill in your refrigerator for at least 6 hours, up to overnight. See? Takes time, but it's not hard. :-)
The next day...
Break a part your cookies into chunks for your ice cream and make the ganache:
Combine the chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20 second intervals. Stir between each until smooth. Set aside and let it cool.
I microwaved it 2 1/2 times: 20 sec, 20 sec, 10 sec and it was melted.
Get out your handy dandy ice cream maker. I don't like to waste a lot of time, so assemble my bowl quickly and make sure the ice cream mix is ready to pour in.
Mix according to manufacturer's instructions.
I stirred in the cookies and chocolate the last 10 or so minutes of stirring time, then pop everything in the freezer for at least an hour.
Like I said before, I went ahead and used all of the chocolate. I stirred some in, so it got cold and broke into little pieces throughout the ice cream, and dropped some chunks in to find--like a prize!--while I ate my bowl of ice cream later.
I also used some soft cookies and some that were baked a little longer for crunch. I liked the varying textures in my ice cream.
The caramel flavor is soo delicious and smooth. The cookies add just a hint of ginger and spices for a savory element, and the chocolate balances everything out.
My husband and I love this ice cream!
Caramel-Ginger Cookie-Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream:
time-consuming, but easy
Needed ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
6 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
12 soft-molasses cookies
1/2 cup ganache(half of recipe) : 10 oz bitterseet chocolate and 1 cup plus 2 TBSP heavy cream
Stir together milk and cream (or half and half or whatever you're using) in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, stir together sugar and water in medium, stainless steal saucepan. (Like most of us have anyway.) Cook over low to medium-low heat until the caramel is dark amber in color. DO NOT STIR.
Remove your caramel from heat and CAREFULLY pour in about 1/4 c of the hot cream mix. The caramel will bubble fiercely (good work, recipe!) so do this SLOWLY. Gradually add in the rest of the cream mix in 1/4 cup increments, stirring until all is well combined. The caramel should dissolve. If it doesn't, heat the mix A LITTLE again while you stir.
Next, whisk together the egg yolks and salt in a large bowl until smooth. Drizzle the caramel cream in with the yolks slowly to temper them. Whisk together. Add a little more. Whisk a little more.
Pour everything back in the big saucepan and heat over low heat until the mixture is thick and coats the back of your spoon. STIR CONSTANTLY.
Strain your mix into a bowl and add the vanilla. Cover the bowl and let it chill in your refrigerator for at least 6 hours, up to overnight.
The next day, prepare the ganache and let sit at room temperature. Mix your ice cream according to your manufacturer's instructions. Don't forget your cookie and chocolate add-ins!
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment