Fall/winter flavors of ice cream

[amccomb]

i just got an ice cream maker, and this weekend I want to try my first batch. I was hoping to do some seasonal flavors, but I'm drawing a blank on ideas beyond pumpkin or cinnamon. I did think about a tart apple/caramel ice cream, or perhaps fig and honey, and egg nog or peppermint for winter, but beyond that, I'm stuck!

Any good flavor ideas? And to go a step further, any sauces or toppings to pair with them?

[FistFullaRoux]

Sweet potato and marshmallow (if you have ever eaten Thanksgiving dinner in the Southern US, you would understand)

And there's always the Jone's Soda version of turkey and gravy... ick.

I also think of dates, coconut, pecans/walnuts, and molasses/Steen's syrup as fall/holiday flavors as well. But my grandmother was the queen of holiday candy making in my neck of the woods.

But what the hell's wrong with chocolate? Especially as a first attempt. Now you could take off into chocolate/mint or chocolate/cherry combos as well...

Edited October 11, 2005 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[lperry]

Make the pumpkin like a pumpkin pie - just cook the custard base and add the spices and roast pumpkin, blender, chill, freeze. We had pumpkin pie ice cream at Halloween when I worked in an ice cream shop in high school. We always sold out. If you can't find a pumpkin, butternut squash is really nice too.

Now I want some!

-Linda

[avocado]

I once had a really delicious butternut squash creme caramel, and it was served with a yogurt anglaise. The squash with the sweet caramel and tangy yogurt was really very nice. That could be an interesting jumping-off point.

[ludja]

A favorite flavor of ice cream I've made at home has been pear. I served it ungilded, except for serving it side by side with a pear sorbet, but I think chocolate or caramel would go well with it.

Another fall flavor idea would be persimmon. Use the type that is very soft when it is ripe.

Nut ice craams would be nice as well--butter pecan, toasted almond, rum walnut...

Edited October 11, 2005 by ludja (log)

[petite tête de chou]

Maple ice-cream topped with crushed, spiced pecans.

Spumoni is a favorite of mine and it's so pretty.

The pumpkin/butternut squash ice cream is a good idea. You could top it with chopped bits of candied ginger.

Rum raisin (maybe add bits of graham cracker for a crunchy texture?)

Chocolate gingerbread ice cream served with freshly whipped cream.

Then there's amaretto, grand marnier or chambord liqueurs that you could add to either the ice cream or whipped cream.

[sugarbuzz]

I made some coconut ice cream( I posted a recipe awhile ago..you could do a search) with some honey roasted pineapple & pomegranate syrup.

You could do pear sorbet & I usually give it a nice kick by adding ginger & a tablespoon of wasabi.

Pumpkin ice cream with a maple cranberry compote.

If you can find some chestnut honey I have a great chestnut honey ice cream recipe..it goes great with chocolate.

I also have a killer vanilla malt ice cream recipe. I could hardly keep up with the demand for that one.

Maple pecan/walnut

Chocolate cinnamon

Kahlua Almond

as for sauces:

peppermint fudge

butterscotch

honey apple raisin

experiment with wine reductions

[FistFullaRoux]

And don't forget anything with brown sugar. Seems that most fall flavors work well with brown gugar.

[Macarons&Mozart]

how about chestnut? you can use a bit of store-bought canned chestnut puree, or cut creme de marron (sweetened chestnut puree with vanilla from france). this might blend nicely with a caramel flavor as well.

[Redsugar]

Autumnal Ice Cream Pairings:

Caramel…….with Apple Galette or Whiskey-Chocolate Cake

Black Walnut…..with Sticky Toffee Pudding

Cinnamon……with Plum Tart

Chestnut…….with Ginger-Brioche Bread Pudding

Cider…….with Apple-Pumpkin Strudel or Russian Tea Cakes

Brown Sugar-&-Sour Cream…..with Fruit Crisps

Café Brûlot…..with Hot Chocolate Soufflé

Goat Cheese…..with Apple Puff Turnovers

Crème Fraîche…...with, well, Stick Toffee Pudding!

Spiced Honey…..oh, most any apple-based dessert.

Cardamom……Port-Poached Pears

Curry…..with Sweet-Potato Cake

Cranberry...Pumpkin Upside-Down Cake

Applejack or Calvados…..Tart Tatin or Quince Pound Cake

Pumpkin……Gingerbread Pudding

Apple-Pie.....with Pumpkin Torte

Armagnac.....with Prune- (okay, dried plum) Chocolate Cake

Licorice (using an infusion of licorice root)…..Walnut Cookies

Happy churn-freezing!

Lawrence

[Abra]

Such nice ideas! Sugarbuzz, would you please post your chestnut honey ice cream recipe? Chestnut honey is one of my favorites. Hmm, I wonder how that would be with a gorgonzola dolce as a sweet/cheese plate.

[ludja]

Such nice ideas!  Sugarbuzz, would you please post your chestnut honey ice cream recipe?  Chestnut honey is one of my favorites.  Hmm, I wonder how that would be with a gorgonzola dolce as a sweet/cheese plate.

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That does sounds nice as does the Vanilla Malt ice cream. Is the latter made with something like Horlick's malt powder? Willing to sketch it out a bit? Thanks!

[ninetofive]

On my list to try this fall/winter:

Quince sorbet

Concord grape sorbet (actually, I made this last week -- yummy!)

Cranberry sorbet

Vanilla ice cream with chunks of maple/pecan candy

Espresso ice cream

What about a prune-flavored ice cream? That would be sort of rich and delicious for the winter.

[sugarbuzz]

I've been trying to find that vanilla malt recipe but can't find it. I do have it because I just copied it for someone a few days ago. I'll keep looking. I guess you could just add some malted milk powder to your favorite vanilla ic base. I use the Carnation's brand malted milk powder.

Chestnut Honey I.C.

1 vanilla bean

1/2 cup + 2Tbl. Chestnut Honey

1cup+ 1/2 cup 2% milk

1cup+1/2 cup half & half

1cup heavy cream

12 yolks

pinch salt

1/4 cup sugar

Bring all liquids & honey to a simmer for about 2 minutes. Do not boil.

Whisk yolks,salt & sugar together. Whisk in 1/2 of cream mix & temper. Return to remaining cream & cook until just a bit thicker than anglaise.

Pass through chinois. Scrape vanilla bean into mix. Stir & chill well before spinning in ice cream machine.

[I_call_the_duck]

Yum! All those suggestions sound great. I may just have to try some of those out myself. In my pastry days, we made the following in fall/winter:

maple ice cream

pomegranite sorbet

blood orange sorbet

clementine sorbet.

Banana ice cream is always nice too, or a nice chocolate with chunks of banana and walnuts.

[sugarbuzz]

While looking for that vanilla malt recipe I stumbled upon a recipe for some pumpkin seed brittle. Maybe a nice orange mascarpone i.c with crushed brittle in it would be good. Or just use it as a garnish for whatever i.c. you like. Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

20 oz pumpkin seeds

1tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 cup water

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

5 1/2 oz butter

Mix sugar,water & tartar. Heat to light golden amber color. Stir in seeds & pie spice. Keep stirring & add butter & continue to cook until creamy & dark reddish color. Pour onto heated, greased sheet pan . Spread into even flat shhet. Cool.

[amccomb]

I can not WAIT to try these out!

This weekend, I tried a buckwheat honey and armagnac custard ice cream, and while the flavor was great, it never really thickened up in the ice cream maker. I'm guessing either the freezer bowl was not cold enough (although I froze it until there were no sloshing sounds, like the directions said), or I added too much liquor. It finally froze in the deep freeze, but it had ice crystals, which I was not happy with. I want to try it again, but I am anxious to try the other flavors, too!

I am thinking about a cinnamon or ginger (both fresh ginger and candied) for this weekend, or maybe pear with a ripple of homemade cranberry jam, or pear with maple and walnuts...the possibilites just go on and on! I also really like spiced plum or sour cherries with rosemary (I make jam with those flavors), but I'm not sure how they would work in ice cream.

I was also considering a marscapone fig custard with a ribbon of ruby port syrup.

What I need is self-control! My husband and I both tend to eat ice cream until it's gone - no saving it in the freezer for a few weeks for us!

[amccomb]

So, my husband is making a gingerbread cake with mascarpone icing for my birthday this weekend, and I thought I would make ice cream to go with it.

ANy ideas for flavors that would compliment? I want to try something new, and I've already done armagnac/honey, cinnamon, and pumpkin flavors.

[KatieLoeb]

Pear-Bourbon Ice cream with a ribbon of dulce de leche. Oh baby.

[amccomb]

Pear-Bourbon Ice cream with a ribbon of dulce de leche.  Oh baby. 

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Mmmm.....

Ok, so, how would I make pear ice cream? Would I poach the pears, then puree them and add them to a custard base? What ratio, do you think? Or would I leave the pears in chunks....that seems like they would end up like icy little pockets in the ice cream, though.

I found this recipe on epicurious, maybe I could use this as my base:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/1285

[akwa]

dont know if i missed these

but sage is quite lovely

and a scarborough fair ice cream with a gentle infusion

of ya know

parsley sage rosemary and thyme

is quite divine

nothing rhymes with orange

[KatieLoeb]

Pear-Bourbon Ice cream with a ribbon of dulce de leche.  Oh baby. 

←

Mmmm.....

Ok, so, how would I make pear ice cream? Would I poach the pears, then puree them and add them to a custard base? What ratio, do you think? Or would I leave the pears in chunks....that seems like they would end up like icy little pockets in the ice cream, though.

I found this recipe on epicurious, maybe I could use this as my base:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/1285

←

Hey, I'm not a pastry chef. I'm good with coming up with the flavor combinations, but the execution I leave up to you and your compadres, the trained professionals. I suspect you'd definitely have to "cook" the pears somehow to make them amenable to getting mixed into an ice cream base. Do you have a recipe for apple ice cream? I'd imagine the prep would be similar.

I confess I'm a bit spoiled because I have Capogiro Gelato here locally, and they recently had a Pear-Bourbon gelato that just slayed me alive. Sooooo good. The Dulce de leche ribbon is my addition to gild the lily. Seems the flavors would work so well together. Dulce de leche would be good with almost anything, no?

The folks at Capogiro really have it down to an art. Maybe they'd tell you the secret formula if you dropped them an e-mail. But it can't be any more complicated than any other orchard fruit ice cream.

[jackal10]

Christmas pudding icecream (with rum butter sauce)

Stilton icecream

Mulled wine icecream

[jgm]

With the gingerbread... how about lemon custard? Maybe with some sort of accent flavor.

How about a pear amaretto ice cream? I would think that would taste good with nearly anything. It also occurred to me that pumpkin chocolate chunk would be good.

Feeling adventurous? Here's an idea. Several years ago, a friend returning from Portugal told me that in that country, avocado is always served sweet, never savory. And she gave me a recipe for a great avocado pudding. Use very ripe avocados, and puree in a food processor. Add a little sugar, a couple of tablespoons of port, and enough milk to create a smooth pudding texture. Done! Serve with 1/4 lime to squirt over the pudding. I have a feeling this would translate nicely to an ice cream, although I suspect the freezing may mute the flavors somewhat, and it's possible some adjustments might have to be made.

[ludja]

A favorite flavor of ice cream I've made at home has been pear.  I served it ungilded, except for serving it side by side with a pear sorbet, but I think chocolate or caramel would go well with it.

...

←

Pear-Bourbon Ice cream with a ribbon of dulce de leche.  Oh baby. 

←

Mmmm.....

Ok, so, how would I make pear ice cream? Would I poach the pears, then puree them and add them to a custard base? What ratio, do you think? Or would I leave the pears in chunks....that seems like they would end up like icy little pockets in the ice cream, though.

I found this recipe on epicurious, maybe I could use this as my base:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/1285

←

Here is an adaptation from an excellent recipe by Lindsey Shere in Chez Panisse Desserts. (While this isn't a frozen dessert cookbook persay, there are about 100 excellent ice cream and sorbet recipes in here for chocolate, nuts, liqueurs and many fruits. It's one of the first places I turn for ice cream ideas.)

1 1/2 lbs very ripe pears (Comice, Bosx or Bartlett), peeled, cored and sliced

3 Tbs water

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5/8 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

few drops vanilla extract

Cook slices (and their juices) in the water until they are heated through and release juices. Puree and measure out 1 1/2 cups of the puree. Make a thin custard with half the cream, and all the sugar and egg yolks and strain the custard into the pear mixture. Add remaining cream and carefully flavor with vanilla. I sometimes also add a few drops of lemon juice. I've not tried adding some poire williams in there, but it would probably be very nice.

The pear ice cream add-ins suggested above sound like great flavor combinations but consider trying this "plain" the first time. The glory of it is really in the pure pear taste which really surprises people. The ice cream is rather pale so one doesn't really know what flavor it is until tasting it.

Besides serving it with a pear sorbet as described above, I've also served it alongside a rich, chocolate French gateaux (un-iced). That cake is another reason to buy CP Desserts...