"The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz on ice cream

[Darienne]

Ha! Ice Cream Mentor Man. You always come through for us. :wub:

[Darienne]

In the last few days I have made DL's Buttercrunch Toffee in vanilla, Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, and yesterday, the Aztec 'Hot' Chocolate Ice Cream.

I'd already made the 'Hot' Chocolate twice, but using canned chipotles in adobo sauce. This time I had ground Chipotle powder.

Now keeping in mind that I live in the frozen north and am growing my first crop of jalapenos this year...I don't have all that much experience with chiles. So when DL said...use the smaller amount of chile powder in the ice cream unless you know the strength of your chile powder. So I don't know how I would go about 'knowing' the strength of the powder and put in 2 instead of 3 TBSP. It's hot. Way hot. Way hot enough. Maybe even too way hot enough. But delicious.

Also made my first cajeta, in the oven in a foil-covered dish set in a bain marie...no chance of exploding cans...following a recipe by his nibs DL which is online and he adapted from his own recipe in the Perfect Scoop. The only dulce de leche we can get in my small town is made by La Paila (Argentina) or Hershey and I have tasted the Argentinian one and find it too sweet to bear. Mine was very nice, if I do say so myself. I'm going to try the real McCoy when we get to Moab.

Next for DL's Raspberry Ice Cream...

[Rodi]

Made The Perfect Scoops Cherry Sorbetto tonight, well the first half of it. Hopefully it gets finished in the am or when I get out of work. Mistake no 1? Bought 2 2lb bags of cherries and I now see the necessity of a cherry pitter!!

I have a new found respect for cherries! Almond extract may be my new best friend too!

Even hot it tasted awesome.

Will post some pics when completed!

[MarkIsCooking]

Made The Perfect Scoop's Tiramisu Ice Cream and here's the deal. I've eaten A LOT of ice cream in my life. A LOT!

This flavor will make your head spin around at least 4 times and roll your eyeballs back like nobody's business. [All the liquor in it probably doesn't hurt!]

A must try!

[Rodi]

Made the TPS Chocolate Ice Cream (French) and the Philly Vanilla. The Chocolate has to be the best chocolate Ice cream I have ever had, the vanilla, not so much, kinda too sweet and the vanilla is just ok. The chocolate, oh my, it is creamy, tasty and amazing, chocolate! I used only partial dutch process cocoa and a teeny bit more dark chocolate (Did not have any bittersweet laying around). The custard just tasted ok, but once out of the machine, WOW! I won't share (ha).

I used super premium milk and cream (FRESH) from a local dairy (glass bottles) and it made all the difference. The vanilla looks like a custard because the cream is so darn yellow.

[FrogPrincesse]

I made the chocolate ice cream last night. I did not have whole milk so I used 2% instead. It took a while to thicken the custard but the result was extremely rich and unctuous. As Rodi said, this is really fantastic, probably the best I ever had.

I suppose I could further improve on it by using better quality chocolate (just used the dark 72% chocolate from Trader Joe's), or heavy cream/milk (usually I try to use Strauss Creamery in the glass bottle but I used regular quality this time), but the result was already to die for...

[FrogPrincesse]

We had the eggnog ice cream from The Perfect Scoop at Thanksgiving, together with chocolate lava cakes. It was perfect, with a strong nutmeg flavor, and the rum/cognac did not hurt. I made the ice cream a couple of days in advance and it was still very smooth and creamy when we had it, with no ice crystals.

I had some ice cream left so I made the chocolate chip/walnut cookies a few days later, also from the book, and we had ice cream sandwiches! The cookies were relatively thin (fit for purpose) and crunchy. They were delicious in the sandwich and also on their own. I plan on trying the chocolate cookies from the book next.

[Darienne]

It's way past the middle of January and it's 12 below Fahrenheit (-25 C) where we live so it's obviously time to get back to making ice cream.

DL's Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream with Butter Pecans. (Made with Half&Half and cornstarch.) Delicious. And then to gild the lily, topped with homemade Magic Shell. It's for kids, but I love it.

ps. Has anyone ever tried making ice cream with DL's inclusion of Dark Chocolate Truffles? I have some incredibly delicious Raspberry ganache in the fridge (made with more booze than I ever imagined could go into a ganache) and will incorporate some into the Butterscotch ice cream in one small section to see how it might work.

Edited January 23, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[jamesglu]

New to the forum so thought I'd add my 2 cents. I have had only one non-success with this book so far (the Lemon Ice Cream that DL attributes to Barbara Tropp). I am currently making the pear-caramel ice cream, using pears from my own tree, but which seems like it should be another winner. The tiramisu sounds like it could be next up on our must-make list. Incidentally, his salted caramel ice cream, which does not appear in the book but which was on his blog some time ago, is a tried and true performer that all our guests go gaga over.

[jamesglu]

So I just took a look at the Tiramisu recipe. Living in New Zealand as I do, there is no way to get "light corn syrup" here. In general I have replaced light corn syrup with golden syrup in things like pecan pie that I would normally have used LCS in back in the US; does anyone know if there is a reason NOT to do that with this recipe?

[Darienne]

My DH, Ed, did not like the lemon ice cream either. Made with only half & half and not much else except lemon juice & sugar, Ed complained noted that it tasted like sherbet. Ed is not a sherbet kind of guy.

I can't see any reason why you can't use golden syrup in this recipe if that's what you are asking. It's only used as a doctor and you use only a little bit.

No, if I understand correctly and you are asking about a doctor in this Tiramisu Ice Cream recipe, I would say don't use it. The recipe calls for so much liqueur that you don't need one. Your ice cream could turn out just too soft.

Do get back on this. Thanks.

[jamesglu]

Here's my report: the mocha filling for the tiramisu ice cream came out just great using golden syrup in lieu of light corn syrup. In fact, I could happily have just eaten spoonfuls of the stuff alone. But I withheld the urge to do that and instead put it in the ice cream, which is extremely good. Too coffee-y for my SO to eat, so it will be reserved for myself and our guests. I also made the pear-caramel ice cream (including the addition of minced candied ginger), using pears from the trees on our property. Perhaps the pears were not of the right variety, or perhaps they were not ripe enough, or perhaps I used too coarse a sieve to press the pear-caramel puree through, but whatever the reason the texture of the finished ice cream is a bit gritty for my taste, though the flavour is right-on. The SO declared that it would be great with chocolate sauce, though in my plan it will be served alongside the banana-mocha cake from David's "Ready for Dessert" book, which I think will pair with it nicely.

[Darienne]

Good one, James.

[ElsieD]

Can custard based ice cream recipes be halved successfully?

[gap]

Can custard based ice cream recipes be halved successfully?

Yes. Just keep an eye on the custard while it's cooking if it's just a small amount

[Darienne]

Sister-in-law and her husband coming next week for a couple of days. Made DL's Vietnamese Coffee Ice, a real favorite and about as easy as falling off that there log.

Then started on the Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream. Did the pecans first. Then decided on the strength of a current Piloncillo topic in Cooking to use it instead of brown sugar. But came upon a package of Organic 100% dehydrated cane juice in last summer's care package of Mexican goodies from a friend in NJ. Good? Amazing. Never tasted panela before.

So I subbed the panela for the brown sugar. And then subbed Mexican vanilla for the usual Tahitian (or whichever I have on hand), and then decided to go the next step and sub Tequila for Scotch Whiskey. Oh yes, it is good. I am sure DL will forgive me.

Edited May 21, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[RWood]

I finally got around to making the Candied Cherry and Almond Ice Cream. After going back and forth, I decided to add the stracciatella as well.

I had wanted to make it for a while, but was waiting on cherries to show up. Really good, and I'm glad I did add the chocolate. It really makes it.

[LizD518]

Made the Philly-style chocolate ice cream a few days ago. I ended up playing with proportions of the cream and milk. I only had 2 full cups of heavy cream, instead of 2.5, then I had a some half and half left over so the final result was 2 cups heavy cream, 1.25 cups half & half and 1/4 cup 1% milk vs. 2.5 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk. It might have actually come out pretty close in fat content!

Whatever, the final result is rich and delicious. I used Penzey's dutch process cocoa and Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate.

[Darienne]

Made Rum and Raisin for our daughter's BF. Definitely an ice cream for adults with lots of rum. Very nice.

[Pille]

David's strawberry and sour cream ice cream has been a staple summer ice cream since 2008. Love it!!!!

[teapot]

It's spring and time to revive this topic. I've had great success with DL's recipes but was less pleased with the blackberry lime sorbet I made last night. While it was gorgeous to look at, the lime completely took over ( recipe calls for 3/4 of lime juice). You bite into this gorgeous deep red sorbet and only taste lime. Also, I love tart desserts but this one was super tart (I adjusted with someagave while it was churning). Blackberry and lime are good flavors together but I think 1/2 cup lime would be ample.

By the way, David's sorbet don't call for a small addition of vodka. I find adding a neutral vodka keeps the sorbet from getting to icy. I just has a taste of the sorbet I made yesterday and it still had a creamy texture. DL suggests that since sorbets are more icy, you need to let them sit outside of the freezer for 5 minutes before serving. Try adding a tbls of vodka and you won't have that issue.

[Darienne]

Good for you, TP. It is time for ice cream again...not that I quit at any time during the past year...but it's time to discuss it again.

I haven't tried any new DL ice creams for months now. Just keep making the same favorites over and over. DH doesn't like sherbets, and in fact, doesn't even like fruit ice creams the way I make them.

Not sure what I'll make next...

[teapot]

How about popcorn ice cream? It's not in DL's book but it's a simple premise. Make a batch of popcorn, lightly butterered and salted, and then steep 2 cups of the popcorn in warm milk/cream for an hour or two (much like DL's coconut ice cream and other flavors). Serve it with some salted caramel sauce. DELICIOUS!!!

[Tri2Cook]

I've done the popcorn sherbet from Francisco Migoya's Frozen Desserts, the popcorn flavor came through really well but there's something about it being out of context (cold and not crunchy) that seems to make it more difficult for people to recognize than some flavors. I was getting more "popcorn?" than "POPCORN!" from tasters. Once revealed to those who weren't sure or had no idea, it was instant recognition "Oh yeah! I knew it was familiar!". It's a fun flavor to play with.

[teapot]

I agree, it's one of those flavors that people don't immediately recognize. You could alway put a couple of popped corn on it. Or maybe peanuts and a prize .

I just made some vanilla yogurt gelato (why has it taken so long to discover how simple and good that is to make) and I swirled it with the blackberry lime sorbet. Oh. My. God. About as beautiful and refreshing as a cold creek on a hot day.