October 11, 2008

A Story for Every Flavour

You know how much I love ice cream, right? So it should be of no surprise that I don't care what the weather is like outside, I'm going to keep on making ice cream. If you're one of those people who only eats ice cream when it's hot outside, I have this to say: It's always hot somewhere so if you're in the Northern hemisphere and preparing for cold weather, I can recommend lovely Australia as the place to go for sunshine and eternal enjoyment of ice cream. So without further ado here are a sampling of a few of the ice creams I've recently made. You can find all of these recipes in David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. A book every ice cream enthusiast should own.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream: The first time I had chocolate peanut butter ice cream was to impress a boy. It was his favourite flavour but I had never had it before and ordered it just to show him I had good taste. He also introduced me to cherry flavoured candy canes and although I like them both to this day, the boy is long gone. Lobovitz’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream wasn’t quite the same as the first cone I had but it’s awfully good when sandwiched between cookies.

Rich Vanilla Frozen Yogurt: This one is made by first straining regular yogurt, (or using Greek yogurt if you have access to it) until it’s thick and the results are phenomenal. I was hooked on this for a while and made batch after batch. That’s saying a lot for the girl who doesn’t like to make anything twice. It’s the perfect base for any add in of your choice but I liked it best with fresh fruit on top. I even ate it for breakfast with fruit and granola. What? It’s yogurt, it’s practically health food.


Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Fudge Ripple: I am a big fan of chocolate mint combos, especially if they come in the form of Girl Guide cookies. I was a Girl Guide for exactly one year and it may have been just so that I could eat a ridiculous amount of thin mint cookies. I haven’t laid my hands on a box of those in ages but I know if I did they would disappear in seconds. This Fresh Min Ice Cream was good on its own, but better with the Fudge Ripple.

Peach Ice Cream with Blueberry Sauce: I’ve struggled with peach ice cream this year. I’ve made it a few times and a few different ways and I’ve been somewhat disappointed each time. I don’t think the ice cream recipes have been the problem, I think it’s the quality of the peaches. Good peaches have been hard to find this year, they haven’t been sweet enough and consequently my ice creams have suffered. Coating the ice cream with blueberry sauce definitely helped make it better though.


Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream: I wanted to love this ice cream, I really did. I adored the intro story that David told, (he essentially described it as boy-bait) and I wanted to make it right away. Sadly I didn’t love the results, but once again, this is not the fault of the recipe. I decided that I don’t actually like Guinness and therefore didn’t like the ice cream. I kept eating it though because when you first take a bite all you taste is chocolate but the aftertaste is definitively Guinness. The Guinness makes the ice cream incredibly creamy though and I’m certain that this ice cream would win over many people but sadly I was not one of them.


Olive Oil Ice Cream with Lemon: Most people wrinkled their noses at me when I told them I made olive oil ice cream, and if your nose is currently wrinkled, unwrinkle it! The ice cream doesn’t taste overwhelmingly of olive oil, it’s just unbelievably creamy. I used a fruity olive oil from New Zealand and took David’s suggestion of infusing the olive oil with lemon zest. I’d be interested in trying it with orange and lime zest as well. I sneak citrus zest into a lot of things, I love the flavour it lends and zest is a fun word to say.


Fresh Ginger Ice Cream: I like ginger. I like it pickled with sushi, ground in desserts, grated in stir fries, candied and dipped in chocolate. I like it lots of ways. I like it in ice cream and especially when served over a Dorie Apple-Cranberry Crisp. Perfect for fall. Perfect for anytime.


Aztec “Hot” Chocolate Ice Cream: This one was definitely spicy. I like it that way though. It’s a confusing sort of ice cream as the temperature of the ice cream is obviously cold but after swallowing it your mouth is curiously on fire. I tried to dress up the ice cream by torching a marshmallow on top but stupid me forgot that ice cream + fire = ice cream soup. Only the top layer turned to liquid, it was still solid underneath and I love toasted marshmallows so I guess it was worth it. That reminds me, I want to make a toasted marshmallow ice cream…


I’ve also made David’s Super Lemon Ice Cream but the pictures are still in my camera and I have plans to make his Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream next. Stories for another day.

26 comments:

Snooky doodle said...

wow what an array of delicious ice creams. I would love to make the chocolate peanut butter one. But they all look delicious,. I bet my boyfriend would like the guinness one. I don t think I will though I prefer to stick to chocolate and vanilla. The photos are awesome :)

Peabody said...

Holy ice cream Bri. I love that book, which is funny because I don't like his blog. Way to step up and do all of those.

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

OK, the mint with fudge ripple is the one that got me. I'm a huge fan of that combination, too, since discovering it at a Boston ice cream parlor in the 1970s. Mint chocolate chip is another favorite -- but then it needs chocolate sauce on top to get more fudgy flavor.

kat said...

I can't wait until we get an ice cream maker!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

you are my kin of girl Bri! Ice cream any time any where. That Guiness ice-cream caught my attention!

Anonymous said...

I love that whenever I check in here, the dial is still set to "Ice Cream." Love this post and the delicious brain-freeze that came with it. Great work!

Susan @ SGCC said...

One of the (only) great things about living in Florida is that I can make (and eat) ice cream year round without getting funny looks from people!

I must say, you've got a mouthwatering assortment there! I can't begin to choose among them. They all look fantastic!

LyB said...

That is a lot of ice cream! And that's not a bad thing at all, all those flavors sound incredible.

Manggy said...

Oh my! I suppose you have the ice cream maker model with a compressor? Because I'd have to wait two days in between making each batch to completely refreeze the container! :P I love the swirled frozen yogurt-- I made one too a while back but haven't posted it.

Kitchen M said...

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Ice cream is definitely my favorite food! Yours ice cream flavors are very creative and sound so good!

Anonymous said...

Your pics are great! I'm all about eating ice cream in every type of weather too! I've been wanting to make ginger ice cream! I hope to soon!

K and S said...

all sound so good!

thecoffeesnob said...

Oh wow. I feel like I just ascended onto Ice Cream Heaven.

I have David's book- absolutely love it!- but i've been a little squimish about the olive oil ice cream. But i just have to try it now- it looks sooo good!

Patricia Scarpin said...

If I ever buy an ice cream maker - and I'm very close to doing that - you'll be the one I'll hold responsible for it. ;)

Shaheen said...

Olive oil ice-cream? Really? Wrinkling of nose apart, I love your inclination to experiment here.

Love the different varieties here. I'm craving for some ice-cream now.

Deborah said...

I'll eat ice cream any time of year, just like I'll eat soup any time of year! They all look amazing!

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I love the Guiness recipe! However, I used an oatmeal stout instead of guiness, so maybe that's why. I also love the regular vanilla and chocolate recipes in that book, as well as the coffee ice cream. So far, I haven't been disappointed with anything from Perfect Scoop.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

You're doing a superb job of convincing me I really need an ice cream maker.

Cookie baker Lynn said...

You've got me drooling and reaching for my copy of The Perfect Scoop. Those all look amazing. I agree about the peaches this year. Very disappointing.

Sara said...

amazing. they all look fabulous.

Maggie said...

Goodness - I think that's ice
cream heaven!
Loved them all, but I would struggle with the Guinness - I'm too girly for that one.

Anonymous said...

Ever since my son was about 2, he has always preferred to have ice cream in the winter and really, if something is tasty, it's tastier all year round!! All those look divine.

Maria said...

I am craving ice cream now! I need to get out my Cuisinart! Don't you love the dream machine?? :) All of these look so great!

Cakebrain said...

How does one make so much ice cream? Wow! they all look so good too!

Anonymous said...

Your chocolate peanut butter ice cream looks so good! What about adding peanut butter and/or chocolate chunks to it?

Anonymous said...

How industrious! You should enter that rich vanilla frozen yogurt into HHDD. Sounds like the rightest wrong way to start they day.