Mint Coffee Brownie

Rating: ****

Cheryl made some brownies the other day and very kindly saved some for ice creaming. After extensive debate, we decided on mint coffee ice cream with brownie bits in it. The original idea was to have the mint be throughout the base, the coffee in swirls, and the brownies in discrete bits, so all three flavors would be in distinct modes. That didn't happen.

I need to figure out a proper way to do swirls in ice cream. Cheryl did diagram all the options we considered. We went with option B (which didn't work), separating out some of the cream to mix the coffee into and add later, but it ended up still just mixing evenly throughout. If anyone has tips, let me know. I think maybe we should have mixed coffee into a portion of almost-finished ice cream, then put that back in, but I don't know how well the coffee would have blended (i.e. the granules wouldn't dissolve). That would have been option A or C, depending on the timing.

Anyway, about the recipe itself. The mint part is easiest -- just a tsp of peppermint extract in a sweet cream base. Ben & Jerry's coffee recipe (pg. 66) says to use 3 tbsp of coffee, but we only used about half of that, which I think cooperates better with the mint. Then just crumble in a bunch of the brownies. I'm not the biggest fan of coffee or straight coffee ice cream, but this combination is nice.

Graham Screams

... for ice cream. Ah, I do love ice cream. And I must say that getting an ice cream maker of my own was a life-changing experience.

This blog is a record of ice cream flavors I've made, and any thoughts or tips I came up with in making them. I won't generally type up complete recipes, but I will tell you where to get them, or explain that it's such-and-such a recipe with certain additions, modifications, or whatever. This is all just play and experimentation anyway.

Feel free to share your own ice cream thoughts or flavor suggestions!

Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

Rating: ***
From Ben & Jerry's book, page 81. 1 cup of chopped Reese's PB cups takes about 5-6 of them.
It's certainly good, but I'd just as soon have the chocolate peanut butter chocolate chip recipe I did before, and it's not much more work. That's the only reason I rated it relatively low.

Chocolate Ginger

Rating: ****
Ben's chocolate recipe, from the Ben & Jerry's book, pg. 44
+ 1 tbsp of powdered ginger
Diced some candied ginger (~1/4 c.) to add at end.
Didn't seem at first like it would be enough powdered ginger, but it turned out to be plenty.
Used candied ginger that wasn't coated in sugar already. Diced very tiny. Seemed chewier than I remembered.
Texture was a little grainy. Maybe chocolate + milk phase needed to be heated longer? Or maybe it was how the powdered ginger reacted to it?
(This was Rowyn's birthday ice cream.)

Chai

Final Rating: *****
Nickname: Please Chai to Control Yourself

I made this on Rowyn's moving day, as an afternoon reward for everyone who helped shift furniture and whatnot. The full story of both iterations can be found here: A Tale of Two Ice Creams.

I started with this Elise.com recipe, but I was a bit random on spices. Put in cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, cloves, then numerous shakes of pre-made "chai spice."

Version 1 ***:
Followed above recipe, but with 4 egg yolks instead of 6. Still too eggy. Very thick and custardy, which didn't seem appropriate for the flavor.

Version 2 *****:
Simplified and left out eggs entirely. Steeped spices then tea in 2c regular cream and 1c milk. Strained and stirred in sugar. Chilled and froze.
This comes out much lighter and more melt-in-your-mouthier, and therefore all around better. Do this again for other tea-related recipes.

They're both yummy, though. This was my mom's favorite flavor, and prompted a quote from Rowyn's mom along the lines of "this is the sort of thing that makes you believe in heaven."

Blueberry

Rating: ****
Ben & Jerry's recipe, pg. 59
Blueberry and cream flavors seem kind of separate
Maybe should have juiced the berries more for mixing in the initial juice with cream
(even though we then pureed the berries in the blender).

Honey Lavender

Rating: ****
From this Epicurious recipe.
No sugar, just 2/3c honey.
2t dried lavender flowers.
Steep flowers in hot cream for 15 min. then strain.

I used milk instead of half-and-half, also didn't measure the lavender.
Came out very soft and creamy. Mom's favorite so far.

Lacey and I made this with lavender we picked in Portland and dried on the dashboard of the van on the drive back to California.

Cookies 'n' Cream

Rating: *****
Straight from Ben & Jerry's book, page 88.
I added about 4 oreos more than the suggested 1 cup.
Way better than store-bought C&C.
(Made this for Rowyn's game night.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Rating: *****
From Ben & Jerry's book, combining:
Jerry's chocolate, page 45
Chocolate chip variation, page 45
Peanut butter variation, page 47
Awesome!
(Would be better with mini chocolate chips, though, instead of regular.)
(Made this for Rowyn's game night.)

Key Lime

Rating: *****
Here's the About.com recipe I used.
1.5c cream
6 egg yolks
15oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2c key lime juice (8-10 med. limes)
simmer cream, then beat into egg yolks
stir over low heat to thicken
cool, then stir in condensed milk and lime juice

Didn't have key limes, so used regular (8 "large").
Didn't seem limey enough at first, but was good once frozen.
Condensed milk comes in 14 oz cans, so I added 1/4 cup more cream.
Also crumbled in 3 graham crackers at end of machine cycle (this is a must!!!)