When Grade B Is Better Than Grade A

After all this time, you think I would have learned about the delicate nature of ice cream making. Alas, it is a lesson I seem doomed to learn over and over again. This week I tried making maple ice cream. Most of the recipes I looked at online called for using Grade B Maple Syrup, but all I had in my refrigerator was Grade A. Eager to make maple ice cream, I thought why not? I'll tell you why. Grade A Maple Syrup is too delicate to use in ice cream. In fact, Grade B Maple Syrup is used in almost anything you would bake with maple syrup (ex: maple cookies, candies, etc).

For those of you who may be confused as to why this is, a brief tangent on the "rankings" of syrups. Unlike many other things, such as meats or school, in the case of syrups, grades do not refer to the quality of the syrups. Thus, Grade A Maple Syrup is not better than Grade B Maple Syrup. Rather, the grades refer to the darkness and thickness of the syrups. Grade A are lighter syrups, while Grade B are thicker, more syrupy syrups. When eating something like waffles or pancakes, Grade A syrups are usually better because you do not want to be overwhelmed with a thick, syrupy taste in your mouth. However, when baking, when you have to contend with other flavors, such as flour or creams, that will be changing as the items cook, so you want a thicker syrup that allows the maple taste to stand out.

Maple Ice Cream

Ingredients

2/3 cup Grade B Maple Syrup

1 3/4 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup whole milk

4 large egg yolks

Preparation

Heat the maple syrup in a small saucepan until it is reduced by a quarter, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the cream and milk in a separate saucepan until simmering, about 5 minutes

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg yolks for about 2 minutes.

Pour about half a cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly to temper the egg yolks.

Add the egg yolks to the cream mixture. Stir constantly until the mixture is thick, about 3 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add in the maple syrup. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight to chill.

Churn mixture in your ice cream maker. Enjoy!

The consistency of this ice cream was great. Unfortunately, the Grade A Maple Syrup I used does not pack enough of a punch to stand out against the cream and the milk. The result is not bad, but does not really taste like maple. Use some Grade B Maple Syrup and let me know how it turns out.

Note: After leaving this ice cream in the freezer for a couple days, it tasted much better. The maple flavor was richer and tastier. Sometimes ice creams just need a couple days to sit and that seems to be the case with this flavor. Grade B Maple Syrup may still make a tastier maple ice cream, but Grade A will work as well.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.

Coconut Curry Ice Cream

For dinner one night this week, my husband and I took a trip out to Jackson Heights and ate at Tawa. Tawa is a traditional Nepalese "restaurant." I put restaurant in quotations because it is more like a shack with folding tables and three different vendors selling you things. The food is delicious, however. We both ordered thali, which is a plate of rice with lots of little dishes of lentils, curries, pickles, veggies and other things surrounding it.  As you eat, you can watch these old women in the back making roti and chaptai by hand. The roti and chaptai is so delicious that we may be going back this weekend just to buy some more. If you are in New York, I definitely recommend going to Tawa now!

I give all this back story, as a way of explaining the flavor of the week:

Coconut Curry

Ingredients:

4 cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Preparation:

Bring the coconut milk, sugar and curry powder to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. Cover and chill overnight.

Churn mixture in your ice cream mixture. Add the coconut flakes 1 minute before the ice cream is done.

This ice cream was definitely interesting, as its name promises it will be. It is not that the ice cream was bad, in fact, I would say it is pretty tasty. It just does not taste exactly the way you would expect ice cream to taste. Coconut Curry ice cream is more savory than sweet. It tastes like a mild curry sauce that you may use as a dip for bread. In fact, it reminds me of a recipe I used to make back in the day before I was a vegetarian. In this recipe, I smothered chicken in a curry sauce made of vanilla yogurt and curry powder. Tasty, but not what you expect when you bite into an ice cream cone. Nonetheless, if you are in the mood for a non-sweet dessert, this ice cream may be right up your alley. I think I will try making it next week with just the coconut milk, and no curry, for a nice coconut ice cream.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.

The Most Disgusting Ice Cream Flavor in the World

Happy New Year!

One of my resolutions this year is to try to update this blog more frequently. When I originally started this blog, I said I would update it weekly, so I am going to try to stick to that. So far this year, I have already missed a week, but who knows, maybe I can keep up with the other 51 weeks. I hope the rest of you are fairing better than I am with their New Year's Resolutions.

This week I did not have a lot of ingredients just lying around, so I decided to make olive oil ice cream. All you need is milk, cream, salt, sugar, eggs and olive oil. All of these are ingredients that are a staple in my kitchen. Before you say anything, I know exactly what you are thinking, Olive Oil ice cream sounds disgusting. I tend to agree, but I had many friends who told me that it could be quite good. Guess What? My friends may have had good Olive Oil ice cream somewhere, but mine came out every bit as disgusting as it sounds. Hence the title of this post, The Most Disgusting Ice Cream Flavor in the World.

I made this ice cream using Equal Exchange Fairly Traded Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but I think any will work (or not work, as the case may be). I just like to give you a scoop of political correctness with your ice cream. The olive oil was a Christmas gift from my mother. Unfortunately, while wonderful with a variety of other recipes, the olive oil does not hold out in ice cream. For your brave souls who would like to try the most disgusting ice cream flavor in the world, the steps are below.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups whole milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

• Bring milk, cream, salt, and ½ cup sugar just to a simmer in a medium saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar.
• Whisk egg yolks and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a medium bowl for about 2 minutes. 
• Whisk ½ cup hot milk mixture into yolks. Whisk yolk mixture into remaining milk mixture in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 2–3 minutes. 
• Strain the mixture into a clean bowl and set it in the refrigerator to cool. 
• Once it is cool, churn it in your ice cream mixture. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
• Hopefully, I can give you a better recipe next week. Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on (just not olive oil ice cream)!

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Holiday Peppermint Spice & Everything Nice!

This was a week of firsts for me. I went downhill skiing for the first time in my life. It was a lot of fun, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Given what everybody was telling me, which was mostly that I was going to hate the experience, I was dreading the upcoming weekend. It didn't help that I was sick. Thus, I was not exactly in the mood to be rolling down a snowy hill. I ended up having a great time though, which only goes to prove that you should always try new things once and that you can teach an old dog new tricks. I had some great instructors, who to my surprise kept telling me to slow down. Given that I'm a naturally cautious person, I was surprised to find that I was going down the hills too fast. I thought too slow would've been by problem. I stuck to the bunny slopes though and only fell once!

Anyway, enough about skiing, this is an ice cream blog after all. As promised, I made peppermint ice cream (also for this first time) this week. This is another recipe that is entirely of my own invention and I am very proud of the way it turned out.

Peppermint Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups milk

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

4 egg yolks

1 ½ cups heavy cream

¼ cup crushed candy canes

Directions:

Bring the milk and sugar to simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks. Temper the egg yolks by pouring a cup of the warm milk mixture over them and whisking briskly. Add the egg yolks to the saucepan and simmer over low heat until it gets very thick, 5 to 7 minutes.

Take the mixture off the stove and pour in the heavy cream and vanilla. Stir to combine. Refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly cooled or overnight.

Add mixture to the ice cream maker. After it has churned for twenty minutes, add in the crushed candy cane pieces.

Note:  Year old candy canes left over from last Christmas work perfectly in this recipe. Don't judge, it gets tiring shopping for ice cream ingredients every week, especially at this time of year.

The ice cream had a nice, refreshing taste and wasn't too heavy or overly minty. I am not a huge fan of mint ice cream, so I was a little nervous about how this ice cream would turn out. In my mind, though, it was the perfect amount of peppermint. It reminded me a little of a york peppermint patty without the chocolate. Also, the texture or consistency was perfect! The egg yolks really seem to be doing the trick for helping the consistency of the ice cream.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays! Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.

'Tis the Season: Coquito Ice Cream

It's that time of year again. The weather outside is frightful, but everything else is so delightful, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! I am one of those people who love the Christmas season. I love that everyone is more cheerful; I love Christmas trees; I love baking holiday cookies; I love the angels at Rockefeller Center; I even love snow.

As I count down the days to Christmas on my advent calendar and listen to Christmas carols, I have also been making all the traditional Christmas treats. One such treat is coquito. I was introduced to coquito by one of my best friends in high school. For those of you who don't know, coquito is a Puerto Rican drink that is similar to eggnog, but even better. This recipe is not only delicious, but is extra special to me because it invokes all the nostalgia and warm feelings the holiday season traditionally brings. 

Ingredients:

2 cans (12 oz. each) Evaporated Milk

1 can (15 oz.) Cream of Coconut

1 can(13.5 oz.) Coconut Milk

½ cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

½ cup white rum (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. ground cinnamon, plus more for garnish, if desired

Cinnamon sticks (optional)

For ice cream, add:

1/2 cup of cream

2 egg yolks

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients together in a blender. Blend for 1 - 2 minutes. Serve cold.

2. If making ice cream, churn ingredients in an ice cream maker after blending.

As I was drinking coquito, I thought this would make for an amazing ice cream. I took the above recipe added half a cup of cream and two egg yolks and put it in my ice cream churner. It was delicious! I am particularly proud of this recipe because it is the first one I have made completely on my own (without looking at another recipe). For my first completely original flavor, I give it a thumbs up.

Spoiler Alerts: I plan on making a candy cake (peppermint) and eggnog ice cream  in the next couple of weeks to celebrate the holiday season!

Until next time, stay calm and get your ice cream eating on.

Things To Be Grateful For

For the Thanksgiving holiday, I made Chocolate Ice Cream and Honey Thyme Ice Cream. Do you know how there are moments where you want everything to be perfect? Well, this is how I felt about debuting my ice cream to my family. Unfortunately, the ice cream was sub par. The flavors were good (which I guess counts the most), but the consistency was off. I have two theories on why this could be. The first is that I normally make small batches of ice cream and leave the ice cream churner in the freezer for about a week before churning my ice cream. As there were going to be 12 people at our Thanksgiving dinner, I needed to make much larger batches of ice cream. Since my ice cream churner holds only up to 2 quarts of ice cream at a time, I had to make the ice cream in batches over a couple days. As such, the ice cream churner was in the freezer for less than 24 hours at a time. This could have affected the texture of the ice cream. The second possibility is that my ice cream maker may be broken. It seemed like the actual churning part of the ice cream maker was not churning as much as it could be. I will keep experimenting over the next couple weeks to see which of these possibilities is more likely. If it is the ice cream maker, I will have to buy a new one, so be on the lookout for a blog about the pros and cons of different ice cream makers over the next couple weeks.

Despite all my ice cream woes, the ice cream was still a hit! The Honey Thyme Ice Cream was the favorite of the day, with no left-overs at all. I am so grateful that I could spend the day eating and being merry with such wonderful people and family. Instead of my usual ice cream recipe, I am posting a list.

The things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving:

My husband

My family (parents, sister, extended family and in-laws)

My friends

My dog

Having a warm house to come home to everyday

Having enough food to eat

Living in peace

Having a job that allows me to pay the bills and put clothes on my back and still allows me time to pursue my other interests, such as ice cream making

Ice Cream

Running

Books

Origami

Travel

My life experiences

My education

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.

Sweet Cream Take 2

Since I have been trying to improve the consistency of my ice cream, I decided to do a redo on my sweet cream ice cream. There were two reasons for this. First, sweet cream ice cream is a good base off of which to build other flavors. I want to make sure I have a base that both both tastes good AND has a good consistency, as I start to design other flavors. The second reason is that it was my husband's birthday and he loves sweet cream ice cream. Rather than making a cake, I decided to make some sweet cream ice cream. In order to gain a better consistency than I did my first time around, I turned to my trusted source, Bon Appetit magazine, and made sure to use plenty of egg yolks as stabilizers.

Sweet Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream (Courtesy of Bon Appetit)

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 large egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Combine cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add pod or add vanilla extract. Bring mixture just to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. If using vanilla bean, cover; let sit 30 minutes.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until pale, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in ½ cup warm cream mixture. Whisk yolk mixture into remaining cream mixture. Cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat a wooden spoon, 2–3 minutes.

Strain custard into a medium bowl set over a bowl of ice water; let cool, stirring occasionally. Process custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container; cover. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 1 week.

Note: In order to make the sweet cream ice cream, I left out the vanilla. My husband loved the ice cream. Sweet cream and Honey Thyme are competing for first place in his mind.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.