Basil Ice Cream

I may have mentioned this before.  I probably shouldn't have.  I'm actually reluctant to mention it at all because it's something that I believe sets me apart from pretty much everyone else in the whole wide world--and not in a good way. The thing is, I'm not the biggest fan of ice cream....  I like it ok.  I remember once a while back I was chatting with an acquaintance of mine and he had just moved to the neighborhood I live in.  He told me he discovered this place, George's, and I happily added that I knew all about George's because they have the best chocolate fudge cake. He laughed at me because he found it odd that I mentioned a cake instead of the gallons and gallons of ice creams they have on display sitting below a menu that lists a plethora of different flavors as well as sundaes.

In short, George's is really more of an ice cream destination for most people--although they do have quite a selection of other types of non-frozen desserts--including that delectable chocolate fudge cake I adore/prefer over all of those aforementioned ice cream flavors. Don't get me wrong, I think ice cream is good.  But I'd much rather have a brownie or piece of cake over it.  At the same time, my lack of enthusiasm for ice cream doesn't prevent me from wanting to make it.  I mean I do have my own ice cream maker and truth be told, over the years I've made quite a bit of it.  But I think it's more the novelty of it--homemade ice cream is a little more rare than cake or brownies.  And as boring as it may be, vanilla ice cream is probably my favorite flavor.  It's also the most basic and simplest ice cream flavor to make--so I make it more than any other flavor.  Plus, it pairs so well with everything--especially chocolate cake and brownies...  Nevertheless, on occasion I like to expand my horizons and try something a lil different.  And since it's summer and I have an abundance of basil growing on my balcony, I knew that when I came across a recipe for basil ice cream I had to give it a shot.

The closest thing that basil ice cream tastes like is green tea ice cream.  Not surprisingly, it does taste basily--but not overwhelmingly so.  And I can't honestly say that I loved it (setting aside my moderate passion for ice cream in general) but I also don't think it's bad at all.  Though, what I think really elevates it is adding in some fresh berries--or some sort of fruit sauce--like cherry sauce--which is what I had on hand.  I'm not sure why or what the reasons are, but in the same way that vanilla ice cream and brownies go well, basil and berries pair quite nicely too.  Throw in some white chocolate magic shell (I made my own which was extremely easy) and you've got an amazing alternative type sundae.  It might seem like a very odd flavor but--as I mentioned earlier--it's no stranger than green tea ice cream.  So if you like that, then you'd probably enjoy this.  It's actually kind of a refreshing flavor--worth a try.  And for someone who isn't the biggest ice cream lover, I think that's saying something.

Recipe slightly adapted from Saveur

2 cups basil leaves
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 T lime zest
1/4 tsp salt
6 large egg yolks

First, combine everything in a blender until completely smooth.  Then transfer the mixture to a medium or large saucepan.  Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring often, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture has just almost come to a simmer.  Once heated through, remove from the heat and pour it through a fine mesh sieve over a large clean bowl.  Discard the leftover basil leaves.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.  The next day, freeze the mixture according to the instructions for whatever ice cream maker you utilize.  Enjoy!

Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

Perhaps it's a little late to be posting about something that contains strawberries and--heaven forbid--rhubarb. I mean, I know it's a bit late in the season.

But in my defense I made this ice cream weeks ago and just had it in the backlog of things to post.  Actually, it was technically birthday ice cream for my partner but we didn't actually end up eating it until after his birthday and we've been downing it scoop by scoop since then.

Nevertheless, here it is in full force.  This is an ice cream to be reckoned with.  You know how everyone claims ice cream is really really fattening?

Well this ice cream easily makes a case for that claim.  I mean...it has quite a bit of fat.  We're talking whole milk, buttermilk, heavy cream and cream cheese.  Kinda scary right?  Well, don't fret because I just read an article about how fat is back.

That's right--butter, cream, whole milk and cream cheese are ok to eat now--at least in moderation.  But if you're still worried then I have one more defense for this ice cream which is the simple fact that it's worth it.  And I know that that's not really a strong defense but I'm not writing to guide people on nutrition.

Plus, like I mentioned earlier I think these things are ok in moderation.  And it has fresh strawberries and rhubarb so it all balances out.  Sorta. But let's really get back to this ice cream and stop discussing the mental dilemma of do I/don't I.  You do. Simple as that.  Let's move on.

I found this recipe from a fellow hometown blogger who--from what I read--adapted it from a boutique ice cream shop chain named Jeni's.

Jeni's is based out of Columbus, Ohio and they are known as a kind of a farm to cone type of place.  They use local ingredients and dairy products from pasture raised cows and all that good stuff.

And their ice cream is really good.  So I knew that this recipe, especially after seeing its list of ingredients, would be just as good.

It has a lot of great qualities such as its creaminess and abundance of great summer fruits so it's double cool.  So make this and eat this.  And with that I bid you adieu...

Recipe--which can be found on Dinner was Delicious as well:

1 pint of fresh strawberries hulled
2/3c rhubarb cut into 1/4" slices
3T balsamic vinegar
1/8tsp salt
1c sugar
1T vanilla extract
1 1/2c whole milk
1/4c buttermilk
1 1/4c heavy cream
3T cream cheese softened

-Preheat the oven to 400F
-Toss the strawberries and rhubarb along with the balsamic vinegar in a large baking dish
-Roast in oven for 15 minutes
-Remove and let cool completely
-After cooled, take 2/3 of the roasted strawberries and rhubarb along with the juice and puree it until completely smooth
-Set aside the rest of the fruit to fold in to the ice cream later
-In a medium sauce pan, combine the pureed fuit, sugar, salt and vanilla
-Cook over medium heat until the mixture is syrupy and thicker (took me about 15 minutes)
-Remove from heat and let cool completely
-Meanwhile, combine all of the fat in a large bowl (Note:  In the original recipe it's mentioned that although the cream cheese is to be softened, there may still be a few stray chunks in the mixture which will work themselves out in the ice cream maker.  This was true for me and they never really got worked out in my ice cream mixer so there were small chunks of frozen cream cheese in my ice cream--which isn't a bad thing but fyi...if you don't want that then either make sure the cream cheese is really really soft or strain it out before you put it in your ice cream mixer)
-Now combine the fat with the fruit syrup and stir together
-Then pour that into your ice cream mixture and mix/churn according to the instructions that your ice cream mixer model embodies and don't forget to fold in the fruit about 5 minutes or less before the ice cream is done (took mine about 20-25 minutes to churn out a good mixture)

Homemade Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream and Cones

I have to admit that of all the sweet treats available in this world, ice cream is kind of at the bottom of my list of favorites...

I know.  Everyone else is madly in love with ice cream. Everyone everywhere.  It's like the universal sweet treat.

But, not for me.  I'm more of a cake/cookies/pie/brownies kinda guy.  For me, ice cream has just always been ok.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with it--it tastes great and all that but if I'm going to have it I'd rather it be alongside a piece of cake or hot apple pie or on top of a brownie smothered in hot fudge.

Alone, or just in a cone, never really made my mouth water.

The funny thing is that I own an ice cream maker.  I personally asked for it for Christmas one year.  And I even use it from time to time.  But I like making ice cream more for the novelty and fun of just the process that is involved. And then just the fact that I can say, "Hey look!  I just made ice cream!"

It's not because I love ice cream. I've never really loved it and didn't think I ever would.

But, I was wrong.  I was crazy wrong.  And it's all due to one flavor, one magnificent salted caramel butter flavored ice cream.

This ice cream is so caramely and sweet and it has these little bits of caramel praline embedded throughout that turn into a gooey caramel surprise that beautifully contrasts the smooth creamy caramel mixture.  

It's just a giant caramel overload.  

But not like a bad overload.  

No. A wonderful heavenly overload. What's more, I just may have kindled a new found love for ice cream...

Many thanks to my partner Andres for holding the
cone in various locations of our apartment while I fussed
over the best lighting.

A couple of things:  

I used David Lebovitz's Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream recipe which can be found here.  It's very detailed and he has great pictures.  

For the cones I used his recipe as well which is here.  They were extremely easy to make as far as working with the batter.  Once you have the batter made, you spread it out on a piece of parchment paper with an offset spatula (this is all assuming you don't have an ice cream cone waffle maker) into a 6" circle.  I think that next time I would draw a circle of the back of the parchment paper as an easy guide.   

As far as rolling them out into their cone shape I didn't have an ice cream cone roller so I went to Michaels and bought a couple options--a styrofoam and a paper cone. I opted for the paper cone and just wrapped it in aluminum foil.  It worked well.  But the whole rolling process has to go fast because the minute you take them off the hot baking sheet you have to roll them before they stiffen up.  The problem is that they are also really hot so I had to use a tea towel to roll them.  Most of the time it worked fine but I could never pinch the bottom of the cone to close off the hole completely.  So...I ended up melting some chocolate and pouring about a tablespoon into the bottom of each cone to close off the hole--which worked great.  And I love chocolate so I had no problem with this solution...

All in all the cones are very easy to make and kinda fun too.  Oh, and as you can see I dipped the rims in chocolate as well and then half of them in crushed peanuts and the other half in mini chocolate chips.  

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

My initial plan was to make some seasonal baked good.  However we've been subjected to this "heat dome" and I was surfing through some of my favorite food blogs and came across an ice cream cake that someone had made.  So I started thinking that ice cream seems way more appropriate.  I mean, this heat dome is quite stifling and that's a lot coming from someone like myself who actually does like the heat and humidity.  I know--some may think I'm crazy for admitting such a thing but the other thing is this:  I live in Chicago--and it's excruciatingly cold in the winter and I hate the cold. So when days come around where I can walk outside in a t-shirt and shorts and not be the least bit nipped I fully accept them and cherish them.  That said--there was this one day when I was a little overwhelmed with the heat.

Let me set the scene:  I was waiting for the train on the train platform on my way to work --keep in mind that this platform faces directly east.  I was in work clothes (work clothes are a pair of khakis and a short-sleeved polo).  It's about 8:30am and the sun is at such an angle that the entire train platform is drenched in sunlight.  There is a small canopy overhanging a portion of the train platform that can sometimes provide shelter and shade from such things as rain or sunlight.  But not on this day.  Like I said, the sun was at such an angle that the entire platform was covered in sunlight and there wasn't an inch of shade to be found.  Oh, and did I mention that the trains were running late that morning?  And that the entire platform was packed with people baking in the sun?  I mean--it was pretty awful.  Sweat was pouring down my back, down my legs--like it was soaking through my pants at my knees it was so bad.  And I kept looking around at the other people waiting and they were looking on their phones or reading books or listening to music and I was like, I can't do any of those things because I can't concentrate on anything but the laser beam sunlight that is piercing my soul with all the fires in hell and causing sweat to seep out of every conceivable pore of my body. If there was any moisture left available in my body I might have started to cry.  And then...then...the trains finally start coming and of course, they are packed to the max so I can't get on yet because if I do I'm going to be sweating all over everyone that will be squeezed up against me.  So I wait for the next one.  And the next one.  And the next one.  And then finally I get on. 

I get on to a slightly less packed train where all the seats are taken so everyone else is standing, the air conditioner is just barely puttering along and the other occupants have just all been baking and sweating in the very sun that I was so we are all re-radiating heat onto one another while more sweat pours out of our bodies.  So I am just standing as perfectly still as I can doing my very best not to touch or come into contact with anyone for fear that I'll transfer sweat to them or vice versa--which is totally gross.  Plus, at that point I was in a state of extreme irritation so any contact with me would have been a toxic experience for anyone because I wasn't having any of it unless it was a fan blowing ice cold air directly into my face.

Well, eventually I get to work and all I can think about for the rest of the day was the cold.  The cold that I hate so much on any normal given day.  But on a day where a heat dome is enveloping the city I ease up on my animosity towards it and learn to appreciate it just ever so slightly.  Then I saw that ice cream cake I mentioned earlier so any notion of me baking something in a hot oven was immediately put to a halt.



But then...I was reminded of Audrey Hepburn's brownie recipe from another food blog I was perusing and I thought about how much I love vanilla ice cream and those brownies...and I had cooled down from my commute from hell...so I put the hot oven back in the mix and I decided I had to make brownie ice cream sandwiches come to fruition. So I did.





These brownies are very easy to make.  They are definitely more fudge-like than cake-like and very very rich.  I was reminded of them while looking at David Lebovitz's blog and so I just grabbed his recipe here .  The only thing I didn't add were the nuts but that's just because I didn't have any on hand.  I've made them before with walnuts and they were pretty darn good. 

As for the ice cream--which I did make on my own as well (I just didn't document it like I did for the brownies) I used just a simple vanilla ice cream recipe that came with my ice cream maker.  I wanted something that I could make quickly. This was actually the first ice cream recipe I ever made and I still really enjoy it.  But, you could obviously make any recipe you want--the possibilities are endless.....  I substituted the 1 cup of whole milk with skim milk because I had it on hand and I did not have any whole milk.  I've done it before and it works out fine but I'm sure you would get a richer mixture if you used whole. 

A couple of notes about the process:

Make sure the brownies are completely cool before you cut them up.  They are very fudgey and like to stick together.  I used as sharp of a knife as possible to get as clean of a cut as I could but--as you can see--it's not completely perfect. 

I cut the brownies into 2x2 squares and since I used a 9x9 pan I had an inch leftover which I willingly devoured just to make sure that the recipe came out alright.  Obviously.

I used one scoop of ice cream to top the brownies and just sorta spread it on them as best as possible before adding the top half.

One thing that might be worth trying if you want a very clean looking sandwich is to freeze the brownies before you cut them--they might cut cleaner and also it might be an easier way to spread the ice cream on them and lessen the initial melting of the ice cream while you are trying to put them together.

That's about all.  Enjoy...