Summer Ice Cream
Tonight we attended a church party, an ice cream social at a nearby park.
The price to attend the party was simply that you had to bring some ice
cream (either store-bought or home-made) to share.
A couple of years ago (I think for Father's Day) Kristy got me an
ice cream
maker (a fantastic product that I highly recommend).
I got it down from the cupboard last Sunday after succumbing
to a craving for home-made ice cream (it is warming up around here). I
didn't have any cream, but I was thinking that I could just use whole
milk instead... it didn't work.
This past week I bought some cream and this afternoon I set to the task
of making some ice cream both for the party tonight and for Father's Day
tomorrow. I have two ice cream recipe books; one by
Ben & Jerry
and one called
The Ultimate Ice
Cream Book. The Ultimate cookbook focuses more on custard-style (or
French) ice creams, whereas Ben & Jerry focuses more on "American" style
ice creams (no cooking is involved). For kicks today I made four flavors
of the custard-style recipe: bubble gum, cinnamon, burnt almond joy
(vanilla with chocolate chunks, toasted coconut, and toasted almonds), and
finally peanut butter twix.
I sampled each flavor as it came out of the machine.
All of the flavors - except the bubble gum - were fabulous (I detest
even the smell of bubble gum, but Kristy loves the stuff).
My anecdotal observation is that the custard-based
recipes produce a richer, smoother ice cream than its American
counterpart. Kristy agrees.
I'll try and remember to reserve some time to make
two of the same flavor in the future, both custard-style and
American-style, and have a taste-off.
We took the bubble gum to the church activity and it was
an immediate hit - thankfully, there was not any leftover to bring
home. The stuff was just not good.
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