"The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz on ice cream

[jende]

Does anyone know if halving these recipes works well? A half-batch would be more feasible for just hubby and me (and then we can try more recipes!).

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I've been halving them, and they seem to work just fine (as long as the ingredients look like they can be halved - ie- it might be difficult with one that calls for 5 eggs, vs 4).

So far, the malted milk is my favourite - by far (and that's really saying something, because they've all been delicious). Although the chocolate raspberry was a very close second.

Next up - ginger, and chocolate mint.

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Halving should be fine. If you consider that 1 egg ~= 50g, then a recipe that calls for 5 eggs needs about 250g egg; half of that is 125g.

For purposes of making these recipes for home use, I don't think that a little more or a little less egg will be a showstopper. In other words, for your 5 egg example 3 would probably be fine.

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Thanks for the responses re. halving. I'm also going to try cutting back on the sugar in future experiments. All three flavors I've tried (vanilla yogurt, gianduja and roasted banana) were delicious but a little too sweet for me.

[John DePaula]

Well I knew I had to do something about the ever increasing variety of containers in my freezer.  Since today was Sunday, I thought why not have an old-fashioned Ice Cream Sundae Social

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Clever! I'm dying to try a new recipe, but I've still got three containers in the freezer. There IS a limit to how much ice cream a single woman needs in her freezer at any given time.

This brings up something I've been wondering about anyway – how long do homemade ice creams keep fresh?

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That’s a good question and I’m not exactly sure of the right answer. I think that because these recipes don’t use any stabilizers, they’re meant to be eaten fairly quickly. Surely they’ll last several weeks; however, the texture may degrade over time becoming more grainy.

Loved that scene in the Albert Brooks / Debbie Reynolds movie Mother when she offers her son some ice cream and he complains that it has gone bad. No it’s still good under the protective covering of ice, she replies. Too funny!

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homemade ice cream is meant to be eaten within a couple of days.  you can increase the shelf life by placing plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming...but as john says, the texture does degrade after a while.

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Since this is relevant, I thought I'd repost here. On David's site, he talks about shelf-life of ice cream. I'm sure he's talking about commercially made ice creams since the ones in his book do not use stabilizers, etc.

Apparently, you can melt and re-churn sorbets, sherbets and Philadelphia-style ice creams if they get too icy.

Read about it here:

How Long Does Ice Cream Last?

[merstar]

I made the Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, and it was superb! I used brewed espresso, and added about a tsp of Cuban instant espresso. Both the taste and texture were pure perfection. Thanks, David!!!

Edited July 28, 2007 by merstar (log)

[Terrasanct]

I saw this book at the bookstore the other day and just had to get it. The photos are beautiful and the little stories before each recipe make the book really interesting. Last night I made peach ice cream from the book but combined it with some mango and chopped crystalized ginger. I served it with raspberry coulis and a sprinkling of granola. It was very good, but I think I'll have it without the raspberry sauce next time, as it was a bit overpowering.

I made the recipe without sugar, so I'm expecting the ice cream to freeze up pretty hard. That's okay; I like having lower sugar ice cream without all the chemicals and sugar alcohols. I can taste the fruit more without all the added sugars, too.

[Terrasanct]

Has anyone made the cheesecake ice cream? It sounds really good. My first thought was strawberries on top, then I thought about chunks of candied jalapeno in it. I think I'll have to try it.

[bloviatrix]

Coffee Ice Cream was the flavor of the week. Much richer and with greater depth than commercial coffee ice cream. Wonderful silky mouthfeel. I actually made a second batch which will get a mocha swirl.

[sote23]

So far I've made the roasted bananas ice cream and the lemon ice cream. Anyone else make these?

Luis

Edited July 30, 2007 by sote23 (log)

[Terrasanct]

I made the cheesecake ice cream last night--very simple to put together and VERY rich. If you like cheesecake you'd probably like this. I forgot that I'm really not a big cheesecake fan, but I enjoyed a small serving, with some of the raspberry sauce I made last week. My husband loved it.

I made it with Splenda instead of sugar, and it turned out just fine.

[BeeZee]

I had fresh ricotta gelato yesterday (Bent Spoon - Princeton NJ) and it was great...I want to try to make a version of that (I liked the texture, it was almost chewy). Any thoughts about modifying the cheesecake icecream recipe? The gelato had no eggs.

Add some candied fruit/tiny choc chips = cannoli gelato anyone?

[alanamoana]

homemade ice cream is meant to be eaten within a couple of days.  you can increase the shelf life by placing plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming...but as john says, the texture does degrade after a while.

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Since this is relevant, I thought I'd repost here. On David's site, he talks about shelf-life of ice cream. I'm sure he's talking about commercially made ice creams since the ones in his book do not use stabilizers, etc.

Apparently, you can melt and re-churn sorbets, sherbets and Philadelphia-style ice creams if they get too icy.

Read about it here:

How Long Does Ice Cream Last?

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Thanks John.

Also, when working in a restaurant situation, we used to melt down all of our ice creams overnight and re-spin them in the morning...not just sorbets and Philly-style, everything. We would re-spin once and then toss extras after the re-spin. That was just a concession to freshness that my pastry chef preferred. We would also re-freeze and re-spin all ice creams and sorbets in the Paco-Jet at another restaurant where I worked.

So, you can probably do the same at home with your home-made ice creams rather than worry about ice crystal formation.

[maggiethecat]

We made the straightforward Lemon Sorbet last night, and it was everything it should be: A powerful lemon punch and a dreamy texture. Chicago Italian Ice for grownups.

Fab bonus: I love gin and Bitter Lemon and can't find the Schweppes yellow cans anywhere. (What happened? It's so good with rye and bourbon too.) Tonight I swirled a tablespoon of the sorbet into my g and t. Very, very close to the commercial product. Perhaps even better.

[Stuckey]

I made the coffee ice cream this weekend. Made the custard base on Friday, churned it on Saturday, and just had my first three scoops. It is beautiful! The coffee taste is full-bodied (I've not tried any other coffee ice cream recipe before, so can't compare to any recipes which call for instant espresso/coffee powder, as some do), and the texture is very smooth. It's instantly scoopable right out of the freezer. I didn't bother to add any ground coffee at the end - I didn't think it needed it.

I would definitely make this again, but I would use cheaper coffee beans next time! I used Mexican Oaxaca coffee beans, which cost around US$7 for the amount used in the recipe. I'll still use decent beans next time, just not fancy boutique single-origin beans!

[jm chen]

Just acquired this book and an ice cream maker, and so made my very first batch of homemade ice cream: roasted banana. Seems like a popular choice -- I wonder if other people also looked at the rapidly ripening bananas on the kitchen counter and thought, You know, I should do something with these.

Absolutely delicious, if a little icier than I'm used to with commercially made products. Served with crepes (also from the book), bittersweet fudge sauce, and Luxardo cherries.

My question is: how do you know when to stop churning? I stopped at half an hour, but is there a sign to look for? I have a Cuisinart, the kind with the canister you have to pre-freeze.

[Mr. Delicious]

I made the cheesecake ice cream last night--very simple to put together and VERY rich.  If you like cheesecake you'd probably like this.  I forgot that I'm really not a big cheesecake fan, but I enjoyed a small serving, with some of the raspberry sauce I made last week.  My husband loved it.

I made it with Splenda instead of sugar, and it turned out just fine.

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That sounds great, justa wondering what the ingredients are and how different it is from cheesecake batter. This book is my next purchase after my kayak.

[insomniac]

hahaha you sound like my husb...have just ordered the book but sacrificed kitchen renovations for aeroplane stuff

[Stuckey]

My question is: how do you know when to stop churning? I stopped at half an hour, but is there a sign to look for? I have a Cuisinart, the kind with the canister you have to pre-freeze.

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In my experience, icey ice cream is a result of overchurning. I discovered this when I made my first ever batch of ice cream years ago (using a Krups machine that used a canister that had to be frozen in advance), when I was churning and churning and waiting for the ice cream to reach the consistency of soft serve ice cream. It never did, and I stopped the machine after one hour! The resultant ice cream was very icey!

These days, I'm using an ice cream maker with a built-in compressor freezer. I only need to churn the custard for 10-15 minutes, and only until the custard increases in volume and has a slight grainy appearance. I also sometimes check the temperature by sticking a Thermapen probe through the machine's opening. If it's around 27F (no cooler than 25F), it's done. The ice cream still needs to go into the freezer overnight before it's ready to serve.

The coffee ice cream (what's left of it) that was churned on Saturday night is STILL scoopable straight out of the fridge. I prefer my ice cream to be dense, not airy, and the texture of the coffee ice cream is exactly what I was after!

Edit - upon re-reading this thread, I can see that Kerry's photo of her ice cream being churned sure looks like soft serve-consistency. My ice cream doesn't come out looking like that. I wonder why ice cream machines made by different companies, despite having built-in compressors, deliver different results. Would this be what distinguishes a high-end machine from a lower-end one?

Edited August 7, 2007 by Stuckey (log)

[Terrasanct]

My Cuisinart usually takes less than a half hour. If the ice cream isn't freezing hard, maybe the container wasn't left in the freezer long enough. Most ice creams can be scooped out of the container and let harden in the freezer for a while, but I don't like to do that with sugar-free varieties because they get very hard.

The cheesecake ice cream has very similar ingredients to actual cheesecake--cream cheese, sour cream, cream, lemon zest; no eggs though. I wonder if making a custard base and then adding the other ingredients would make it taste more like New York cheesecake?

[merstar]

I just tried to make the Strawberry Frozen yogurt, and it was a disaster. It got overly frozen and hard with a thick layer on the sides of the bowl within a few minutes, and hence, the paddle had no room to turn. I was left with overly frozen, hard-as-a rock, icy yogurt on the bottom and sides, and mushy, liquidy stuff in the center. My freezer was set at about 10 below, and that's what I usually use for ice cream - maybe it's too cold for this type of frozen concoction, since it doesn't have much fat, and therefore, is thinner and more watery than the typical ice cream. I used frozen strawberries for the base - David says frozen fruit can be used instead of fresh. I also strained the yogurt for several hours before using. What do you think went wrong?

Edited August 8, 2007 by merstar (log)

[Stuckey]

We don't have "half-and-half" here in Australia. We do have "extra light thickened cream", which contains 12% fat, and "light thickened cream", which contains 18% fat. Would either of these make a suitable substitute for half-and-half? Or if it's just half milk, half cream, and I have both those items handy, can I simply make up the specified quantity of half-and-half with equal amounts of whole (full cream) milk and heavy cream (35% fat)?

[Kerry Beal]

We don't have "half-and-half" here in Australia. We do have "extra light thickened cream", which contains 12% fat, and "light thickened cream", which contains 18% fat. Would either of these make a suitable substitute for half-and-half? Or if it's just half milk, half cream, and I have both those items handy, can I simply make up the specified quantity of half-and-half with equal amounts of whole (full cream) milk and heavy cream (35% fat)?

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The 12% would be closest to the half and half I buy.

[CaliPoutine]

We don't have "half-and-half" here in Australia. We do have "extra light thickened cream", which contains 12% fat, and "light thickened cream", which contains 18% fat. Would either of these make a suitable substitute for half-and-half? Or if it's just half milk, half cream, and I have both those items handy, can I simply make up the specified quantity of half-and-half with equal amounts of whole (full cream) milk and heavy cream (35% fat)?

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The 12% would be closest to the half and half I buy.

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Kerry is correct. Half and Half in Canada is marked 10% on each package.

You could probably make it yourself, but it might be difficult( for me anyway, I suck at math) to come up with the right percentage.

[Stuckey]

Thanks, Kerry and Randi! I'll go with the extra light cream with 12% fat. I'm gonna use it to make the Super Lemon ice cream this weekend. Cheers!

[merstar]

I just tried to make the Strawberry Frozen yogurt, and it was a disaster. It got overly frozen and hard with a thick layer on the sides of the bowl within a few minutes, and hence, the paddle had no room to turn. I was left with overly frozen, hard-as-a rock, icy yogurt on the bottom and sides, and mushy, liquidy stuff in the center. My freezer was set at about 10 below, and that's what I usually use for ice cream - maybe it's too cold for this type of frozen concoction, since it doesn't have much fat, and therefore, is thinner and more watery than the typical ice cream. I used frozen strawberries for the base - David says frozen fruit can be used instead of fresh. I also strained the yogurt for several hours before using. What do you think went wrong?

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Please ignore my previous post, quoted above. I found out what the problem is - it's my ice cream maker. I just tried to make a chocolate ice cream which I've made many times before, and the same thing happened. It's time for a new one.

[Stuckey]

So I made the Super Lemon ice cream this weekend. I was initially a bit wary with the combination of lemon juice and dairy, since most lemon-flavoured iced desserts available in Australia are either sorbets or ices, and I'd never actually had a citrus-flavoured ice cream before. Admittedly, the mixture looked a bit curdled and smelled a bit funny once blended and pre-churned. However, once churned and popped in the freezer for a few hours, I can say that IT WORKS! The lemon flavour is great and sufficiently lemony-tart, and the texture of the ice cream is also really nice and soft. It's very refreshing, and quite addictive. I'd definitely make it again, and the fact that it was really quick and easy (no cooking!) to put together means that I can make it at short notice. Awesome!

[jm chen]

I've now made the roasted banana ice cream, the Aztec "Hot" Chocolate ice cream, and the nectarine sorbet. All are delicious. Both batches of nectarine sorbet totally overflowed the machine, so I wonder if I'm churning too much or if this particular recipe is just a little overgenerous with the quantity. Haven't scooped it from the freezer yet so I don't know what the consistency's going to be like. We'll see.

The Aztec hot chocolate is amazing, though. I only used two teaspoons of powdered ancho so it's not in there as a discernable flavor of its own. Though my husband, who served himself an extra scoop, said "The heat builds up if you eat a lot of it."