Flavor #12 - Zach's Mocha Peanut Butter Cookie

As my son Zach is celebrating a birthday this week, I made this at his request; Mocha Peanut Butter Cookie. I know I have made about as many cookie flavors as you can imagine in the early stages of this challenge. Please know that most of this is by request and that I do have a few more cookie recipes remaining on my list. On the plus side, this is also my first attempt in this challenge to lean towards chocolate. There will obviously be many chocolate based flavors on the way!

I used to make this strictly as a coffee flavor with the peanut butter cookies added until I chose to throw in some left over cocoa mix last winter. Now it seems to be one of Zach's favorites. Happy Birthday!

Two Cups of Coffee reduced down to 1/3 of a cup

1/4 Cup of Unsweetened Cocoa

1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 1/4 Cups of Milk

3/4 Cup of Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Pinch of Salt

14 Chopped Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Reduce the coffee while mixing all other ingredients. Add the coffee and let the mix chill in the fridge for a few hours. Add the cookies after taking the mix out of the machine. The mocha flavor combo is noticeably right away as your can definitely pick out the chocolate and the coffee. That mocha flavor combination with the contrast of the salty peanut butter makes this a worthwhile treat.

And yes, I know the the Nutter Butter brand is about as far away from an organic product as you can get, but that was the birthday boy's call!

Enjoy!

Flavor # 11 - Patrick's Maui Upcountry Pineapple Sorbet

Maui is one of my favorite places on the planet. It is also the home to several good friends, one of which is my former roommate Patrick Murray and his lovely bride Jeannie. I've known Patrick for over 20 years and can say, with all honesty, that Maui is the perfect place for him. So when it comes to a solid Pineapple Sorbet, naming it for my good friend makes all the sense in the world.

Like so many sorbet recipes, Pineapple is rather simple.

Two Cups of Cubed Fresh Pineapple

1 Cup of Simple Syrup

1/2 Lemon, Juiced

Puree the pineapple. You should yield about a cup from this. Mix it with the chilled simple syrup and add it to the machine.  Some recipes call for you to strain the puree. Talk about a long, difficult and needless process!

Maui is where I learned to appreciate Pineapple back when I was a teenager. I have only been able to return a few times since but know I could live there if I got the chance. There is so much going on for what amounts to a small island. Here's hoping I can join Patrick eventually!

Enjoy!

Flavor #10 - Strawberry Cheesecake

I have a number of strawberry recipes that I will parade out over time, but Strawberry Cheesecake was a first for me. After having seen it online along with another pie-related flavor, I figured I would give it a try.

Not bad for the first time out although when I do this again, I will be altering some of the recipe.

1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 1/2 Cups Milk

3/4 Cups Sugar

3 Egg Yolks

4 oz. Cream Cheese

10 Strawberries

4 Graham Crackers

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

This was a multi-step process. Heat the cream and milk without coming to a boil while combining the egg yolk, cream cheese and sugar in a separate bowl. After mixing the latter three ingredients, stir in the heated milk and cream slowly so to not cook the eggs. Then reheat the mix to thicken it up. Meanwhile, puree six strawberries and chop the other four while also pulverizing the graham crackers. One the mix is thickened to where it will stick to a spoon, cool it down and add the strawberry puree. Throw it all in the fridge to cool to about 40° then throw it all into the machine adding the chopped strawberries and the graham crackers when transferring the ice cream into the container.

It came out as expected and tasted great. Next time I may add a little more cream cheese, not crush the graham crackers as much and use a different technique when adding the strawberries as the chopped ones came out very frosty. I'll share the other technique in a later post on Strawberry Ice Cream. The great thing about this recipe is you can taste the cheese cake right away while having the lingering strawberry aftertaste!

Less than a month into the challenge and I am already 1/10th of the way there.

Enjoy

Flavor #9 - Cookies & Cream

Who doesn't love Cookies & Cream? It's simply Vanilla ice cream with crushed Oreos. As long as you have a good Vanilla recipe, it is hard to screw this up.

I still had the cookies from my go around with Coffee Cookie but I didn't have a lot of cream in the fridge, so this was a smaller batch by 1/3.

1 Cup of Heavy Cream

1 Cup of Milk

2/3 Cup of Sugar

3/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla

10 Oreos Crushed and Chopped

So many recipes recommend adding the cookies while the ice cream is in its final minutes in the machine.  Be careful. Add them too early and the cookies get soggy. Add them too late and they don't mix in well enough. Make them too large and they may gum up the works. One thing I learned from a few shop owners who make their own ice cream is to wait until after the batch is finished and mix the almost any item in as the ice cream is transferred to the freezing container. With cookies, I find that this gives you a really crisp, fresh cookie in your ice cream.

This batch was gone in less than 24 hours!

Enjoy!

Flavor #8 - Lime Basil Sorbet

I know, not exactly the first thing you would order when heading off to your local farm stand. I had some extra limes left over from Cinco De Mayo and some basil left over from the Mother's Day brunch I made last week. I was looking for a lime sorbet recipe and came across this one from Jamie Oliver, who has some interesting takes on food even though he can't pronounce the word filet. Anyway, I figured it was worth a shot even though the flavor combo seemed completely out of left field.

Yes, I could have gone with a straight lime sorbet, but the results have had me going back for more. On the first taste, you'll catch the bitter of the basil followed quickly by the sweet/tart flavor of the lime. It is a surprising flavor combination that may not be for everyone, but I like it. This was a small batch.

1 Cup Sugar & 3/4 cup of water in a Simple Syrup

1 Cup of Lime Juice or Six Limes

1/2 Cup of Basil

Jamie Oliver's recipe called for a full cup of loose basil off the stem. I found this to be a little overpowering so I reduced it to 1/2 cup. Take the basil and pulverize it. From there, put the basil in a strainer and filer the lime juice through at least twice. I am still surprised I liked this.  As for the name of this flavor, I am strongly considering going with the name Basil Fawlty.

Enjoy!

Today's Flavor Creation Song of the Day

I met Ray about 10 years ago when he was just getting started and was seemingly afraid of his own shadow. Glad to hear he's gotten over that.

Flavor #7 - Sea Salted Caramel

Once I launched the blog, I was surprised to see how many of my friends listed caramel as a favorite flavor.  I will likely be presenting a number of different versions of caramel across this challenge, so I figured that as I before I begin making my own Heath Bars or developing caramel swirl flavorings that I would start with a traditional caramel.   The Sea Salted Caramel is a version of a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. This was also my first attempt at this flavor and I am happy to say it came out better than expected.

There is much more prep for this than with most of my other flavors as you need to make the caramel first. If you are not careful, it is easy to screw up.

1 & 1/4 Cups of Sugar

3/4 Cup of Heavy Cream

2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt

Melt the sugar over medium heat, swirling as it liquifies.  Once you get the color you are looking for, take the caramel off the heat and add the cream.  Be careful as the mix will splatter! Stir to get an even consistency. Add the salt and cool the mixture in an ice bath. Once the caramel has cooled, add it to the ice cream mix.

1 & 1/2 Cups of Heavy Cream

1 Cup of Milk

3/4 Cup of Sugar

1Tablespoon of Vanilla

I found that my caramel was slightly singed even though I got the right color.  As it did not burn, it really did not hurt the flavor and ended up similar to a flavor I had once at Toscanini's in Cambridge called Burnt Caramel.

Enjoy!

Flavor #6 - Lemon Sorbet

Today is the first day of 2014 here in New England where the temps are going above 80°F. Nothing better than some refreshing  Lemon Sorbet.  This recipe is a little closer to the Lemon Italian Ice my brother and I used to get from Vecchitto's truck when we were kids in Old Saybrook, Ct.

Juice Six Lemons - About One Cup

Adjusted Simple Syrup - 2 Cups Water & 1 3/4 Cups Sugar

I don't like when sorbets come out syrupy and love when the lemons are a little sour. Making the simple syrup a little light on the sugar will give me the flavor I want as well as provide a little lighter consistency similar to Italian Ice. This is the other flavor requested for the party tonight and although it does have Italian Ice qualities, the party will not be on Revere Beach.

Enjoy!

Today's Musical Flavor Inspiration

The Stranglers - Golden Brown.  When you need the proper color match for Coffee, there is nothing better.

 

Flavor #5 - Coffee Cookie

I have learned that adding cookies to almost any flavor will attract any kid's interest.  When they were younger, my boy's would never ask for coffee ice cream.  Add some Oreos and, BOOM! Household favorite!

The brand name of Oreos themselves are not organic.  Paul Newman has similar organic style cookie but they were not available at Whole Foods on the last trip so I used the all-natural, but not organic, Whole Foods brand cookie. I also raised the milk fat content of this batch to make it a little smoother than the last batch of Coffee.

1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 Cup Whole Milk

1/2 Cup Coffee reduced from 2 cups

3/4 Cup of Sugar

14 Cookies

Over time, I have played with the number of cookies I need for this size batch.  14 seems to work for our house.  I usually chop them into different sizes with a big knife.  This is for a pre-Mother's Day/Birthday party later today as is the next flavor.

Enjoy!

Today's Flavor Creation Song of the Day

Today's song for flavor inspiration is from New Order...

Enjoy!

Flavor #4 - Orange Creamsicle

I had planned to plate this differently.  However, one of my son's chowed down on the Vanilla last night during the Bruins' win over Montreal in the playoffs.  As it is with most kids, no one ever wants to be the last one to actually finish the batch as that means you have to clean it up.  So you can imagine my disappointment seeing barely a scoop of Vanilla left for my first combo flavor - Orange Creamsicle!

The flavor combo brings me back to the creamsicle push-ups we would get at lunch when I was attending Ed White Elementary School in El Lago, Texas.  It also made a tasty breakfast! As it involves a combination of two earlier flavors, no recipe is needed for this post.

Enjoy!

Flavor #3 - Orange Sorbet

I love sorbet. To me, it is like a popsicle in a bowl. Fresh fruit, water and sugar with very little actual prep. I had not made Orange in a while and was concerned it would not look right.  Organic sugar is brownish and really browns up when you make the simple syrup.  Even after mixing the bright orange juice the overall mix was pretty dingy.  After the mix and the hard freeze, the color came back out.

 2 freshly squeezed oranges - about 1 Cup

1 Cup simple syrup.

This was a somewhat small batch. As I refuse to add food coloring, It won't look like a traditional popsicle, but the taste is equally refreshing. One trick to remember; when making the simple syrup, go easy on the sugar. If you keep the traditional 1 to 1 ratio while making certain fruit sorbets your finished product may come out too syrupy if you don't factor in the added natural sugar in the fruit you are using.

Flavor #2 - Coffee

Coffee has always been pretty popular with the family. The recipe is pretty simple, even though I had been asked to scale down the overall fat content.  The difficulty is reducing the coffee without burning it.  In the past, I have just tossed a partial cup of coffee or a double cappuccino from the Dunks in with the mix, but the final product comes out too icy. 

2 Cups of coffee reduced on low heat to 1/3 of a Cup

1 1/2 cups of Half & Half

1 1/2 cups of Milk

3/4 cup of Sugar

I took my eye off the first coffee reduction and in just a few minutes saw the pan go from having a single measured cup to a brown sludge with a smell that brought me back to old coffee maker at WBCN that had no automatic turn off. The second time was the charm.  Overall, using the Half & Half gives it a lighter feel, but for me, it is too much like ice milk and not ice cream.  The batch is a good one and will be gone by the weekend!

A Busy Morning in the Kitchen.

Two new flavors in the freezer. Two more cued up for tomorrow along with a combo flavor tonight.

Today's ice cream soundtrack includes The Mighty Lemon Drops.

Flavor #1 - Vanilla

It is the base flavor for all ice cream. Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor in the US and almost everywhere else around the globe. New Zealand breaks ranks with the rest of the world, but I'll get to that in later.

Vanilla generally gets a bad rap. No one ever admits that Vanilla is their favorite. NFL coaches in the pre-season describe an ordinary game plan as Vanilla. Then there is Vanilla Ice. Yet without a great Vanilla, everything else would be disappointing. You have to make a great Vanilla to move forward with almost every other flavor.  

As easy as it is to make, it is just as easy to screw up. Making ice cream, is more than just getting the mix right.  The cylinder in the machine needs to be the right temperature, the right amount of air needs to be folded in with the mix and the end product needs to be frozen at the right temperature to get the final consistency just right.

2 Cups of Heavy Cream

1 Cup of Milk

3/4 of a Cup of Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla

1 Liberal Pinch of Salt

The pinch of salt always seems to bring additional flavor out.

Vanilla has a natural partner in Chocolate.  They are naturally linked up like Fred & Ethel.  However as predictable as it would be for Chocolate to be flavor #2, you will just have to wait.  I'll get there, just not right away. Believe it or not I am already getting requests for flavors on Facebook.

The Method to the Madness

As we begin the challenge I need to lay down a few rules:

1 - I will only be posting successful batches. There is no need for me to torture you.

2 - There will be some variations of a single flavor. For Example, Vanilla will also be the base for other combinations or mix-in flavors.

3 - Whenever possible, organic products will be used. Sometimes, there will be no organic options.

4. No preservatives - ever! No artificial anything. Small batches only.

I will be using the same machine I have had since I started, a small Cuisinart workhorse that will yield a little less than a half gallon.

I will display each new flavor after it goes through the hard freeze and not when it comes out of the machine.

Flavor #1 will be out of the freezer in a few hours.

Crossroads

Crossroads from Cream seems to be the right way to get started.

Getting Started

“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.” - John Barrymore

Back in the '80's I had a great part-time job at Haagen Dazs on Newbury St. in Boston.  There were many cool elements about the job that made it a great place to work.  As my life has moved on, I keep on thinking about how much I enjoyed working in an ice cream shop. I have since had successful careers in rock radio and in the world of college admissions. A few years ago, between the two careers, I thought about going back to the ice cream world and now that I am at another crossroads in my life, it looks like it is time to revisit my passion for cold creamy treats!

I have been making ice cream at home for the past 10 years. I even attended Ice Cream 101 at Penn State just to grow my skills. As I plot out my steps to take this out of the kitchen and to the public, I tripped over a fun challenge.  I must credit Scoopsies for the inspiration.  100 flavors in 365 days. I have a few things that need to be put in place before we can get started. Getting this blog off the ground is a good place to start!

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alexanderg409116.html#PhTfTKm7Rd6RkyV2.99

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alexanderg409116.html#PhTfTKm7Rd6RkyV2.99

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alexanderg409116.html#PhTfTKm7Rd6RkyV2.99