July 25th
2007
I know, I know, I promised more ice cream recipes and I certainly won't stand you up, but to be honest, narrowing down my favorite top 3 flavors wasn't as easy as I had thought. Not a single ice cream experiment failed - quite the contrary and if only because of continuously enhancing the flavor throughout the preparation process up to to the very final step of freezing it. More sugar here, a bit more lime there, added some chocolate, even with the custard ready to chill there's still a chance of adding a last spoon or drop of something. Of course this entails not sticking to any recipes. The upside is, once you figured out the general process and methods, custard-based, yogurt-based or sorbet, there's hardly a chance to wreck things. Be adventurous is the credo!
Over the last weeks Aperol and San Bitter found their way into our sorbets, chili, lemongrass and ginger as well as sesame into other ice cream concoctions. While it's fun to experiment, even taking it to an extreme once in a while, we always tend to come back to more down-to-earth flavors. After our no. 1, the boosted walnut creation, no.2 has to be a cup of delish frozen yogurt with fresh seasonal fruits, which - if prepared with Greek yogurt - will always help to keep my cravings in check during hot summer temperatures. The blueberry one is a perfect example (recipe below).
My no.3 reveals a somewhat strange eating habit of mine: during scorching summer days I skip regular chocolate and opt for white bars - straight from the freezer, rock-hard as can be. My teeth are still doing great, thank you. Far from being fancy, the Milka white chocolate lime yogurt is my current favorite chocolate bar and inspired me, here is number three in our countdown. White chocolate + lime + yogurt were meant to be, the creamy result tasted exactly like the bars - find the recipe and ingredients below.
To make sure we won't run out of new ice cream ideas, what extravagant creations have you tried so far? What would be your very first ice cream of choice when buying a new ice cream machine?
For hot summer days - blueberry frozen yogurt:
Wash the blueberries and heat them (still wet) in a small saucepan together with the sugar until they get soft and the dark violet juices start to run out (5 to 10 minutes). Make sure to use the right kind of blueberries, if you want colorful results! Carefully (stains!) work the berry compote through a fine mesh sieve with a ladle and discard the firm remains.
Add the Greek yogurt to the blueberry juice and stir well, then chill for an hour.
Setup your ice cream machine according to the instructions and freeze your frozen fruit yogurt. Leftovers tastes great as a smoothie, mixed with some milk and a dash of lime juice.
White chocolate&lime addiction:
Combine heavy cream, sugar and lime zest and heat up in a small pot until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat. Add the chopped white chocolate and stir until it has completely dissolved, then add the freshly squeezed lime juice. Strain through a fine mesh sieve before finally adding the Greek yogurt and let cool down in the fridge for at least an hour.
Setup your ice cream machine according to the instructions and freeze your ice cream. As soon as the ice cream comes together nicely and may only need two or three more minutes, add the additional lime zest. The lime zest in step 1 will lose its vivid green color quickly (and ends up in the sieve), but the freshly added lime zest stays green and gives extra tanginess and mouthfeel.
Blueberry frozen yogurt
Recipe source: own creation
Prep time: 15min. plus chilling & freezing
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Ingredients (~4 scoops):
250g wild blueberries
100g white sugar
400g Greek yogurt (substitute with regular drained yogurt)
decorate with white chocolate shavings if desired
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White chocolate&lime addiction
Recipe source: own creation
Prep time: 20min. plus chilling & freezing
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Ingredients (~4 scoops):
250g heavy cream
50g white sugar
zest of two untreated limes
50g white chocolate, chopped
juice of 1 lime
200g Greek yogurt (substitute with regular drained yogurt)
to finalize: zest of another untreated lime
I am going to say that the blueberry is my favorite of these three - the color is amazing! PS: My husband is from Puglia and I'd never heard of Padre Peppe before...I will have to investigate in August!
Have you ever tried Garlic ice cream? I know it sounds gross, but wasn't that bad at all. The bluberry ice cream looks very good, too!
That blueberry frozen yogurt looks sooo beautiful! Since we got our KA ice cream machine just over a week ago, we've made David-Lebovitz-inspired vanilla ice cream, watermelon sorbet, coconut sorbet and Vietnamese coffee ice cream, as well as Heston Blumenthal's 'perfect' ice cream. All of them have been great, although we've realised that we prefer non-custard based ice creams to custard based ones, which are too rich. We've just bought blackcurrants from the market for today's experiment :)
Homemade frozen yogurt it is much better than anything you can buy! Love your ice cream bowl, très chic!
Both sound delicious and the color is just stunning!! A double treat.
mmm.. these look lovely - i am going to have to give my ice cream maker another whirl. it's been awhile since we made ice cream. maybe a month?
Well well, I love lemon-poppyseed muffins, so very keen to try that in an ice cream. As soon as I have an ice cream maker that is - unfortuntaley they are not as popular in South Africa.
In case you try that before me, pleae let me know your recipe.
I'm dyin' here. Dyin'. Not enough scratch to buy anything but the lousiest of machines when all I want is a Gaggia like yours. Maybe there's a contest with a Gaggia or a really good Cuisinart available somewhere...
Ah, right. I meant to ask: most ice cream makers create ice cream with a texture akin to soft-serve that doesn't keep well in the freezer (too many ice crystals form). Does your Gaggia create dense, firm ice cream?
Cinnamon Walnut turned out surprisingly good.
I love the idea of turning a favorite candy or food taste into ice cream. Once I get an ice cream maker, I want to make a chocolate ice cream with bits of chili and a hint of cinnamon, not too sweet, just like the most amazing hot chocolate I had at Cafe Wedel in Warsaw. Another flavor I'd love to try would be coconut-lime-ginger, or gingerbread with bits of candied plum.
Do you have a favorite ice cream place in Munich? I'll be there next week for six weeks, is Sarcletti am Rotkreuzplatz still good?
That blueberry color is amazing! It reminds me of the huckleberry ice cream I had in Montana last summer. Unbelievable!! If you can get your hands on huckleberry, I highly recommend it.
That looks almost too good to be true! My brother made me blueberry ice cream for my birthday last year and it was some of the best ice cream I've ever had. I should compare your recipes. Either way, great photo and thanks for sharing!
Has anyone tried anything with fresh currants? I haven't but I'd be curious to hear more...
Both of those look fabulosu! My freezer is currently overrun with ice cream but I keep making more. My two fav flavours right now are prune-armagnac and matcha-white-chococlate-green-tea.
Not that I'd know where to start, but it would be amazing to make blackberry cabernet sorbetto like Ciao Bella's-- I'd probably eat nothing but that for the rest of my life.
Hmm.. I would try Mangoes with cloves. I tried this combination for jam and loved it. Continuing the Indian theme, i might try elaichi (Cardamom) + yoghurt with some pistachios.
I'm addicted to blueberries. Just got a huge tub from the store yesterday. So looking forward to trying this recipe out. Sounds simple! I know i just have to get that ice-cream maker. Thanks for the suggestions. I think i might end up with a Philips if they make one since my boyfriend is a designer for their consumer electronics..
p.s. btw i'm going to be making my first trip to Germany next weekend. Just crossing the Dutch border to Dusseldorf..
[...] picture of blueberry frozen yogurt at Delicious Days set my mouth a waterin’. I have made blueberry ice cream many times in the [...]
I don't make ice cream that often and although I consider other flavors, I usually settle on a rich French vanilla. And then I focus on ice cream toppings. Hint Hint..... can you give us a few recipes for those?
blueberry is my favorite
I don't have an ice cream machine but I have just made Blackberry Ice Cream the old fashioned way. I tasted really good. Can't wait till it's actually frozen! I will post it about it on my blog tomorrow, along with the recipe.
I love your blog!!!!
I can almost TASTE that red ice cream
Nigella Lawson has a great recipe for Margarita(!!) Ice Cream in her book "forever summer".
Heat 375 ml cream. Whisk 6 large egg yolks through it until it becomes a sort of custard.
Pour it into a bowl to cool. Then mix with:
- 400 ml sweetened and condensed milk;
- 90 ml tequila;
- 30 ml Triple Sec/Cointreau/Grand Marier (whatever's your preference);
- juice of 6 limes
- zest of 1 lime.
Best served in Margarita glasses! ;) and enjoy!
Supernena, That sounds fabulous for a menu with friends, thank you for taking the time to write it up!
Wow! We had gotten a fresh big pint of organic blueberries and tried the frozen yogurt with a bit more yogurt - forgot to strain the cooked blueberries before throwing in the yogurt, but it was a nice addition of a burst of fruit. The sugar proportion was perfect. Thank you for great inspiration!
Hm, I loooove champagne - has anyone ever thought of champagne-sorbet? ANd if yes, how did it taste ad where's the recipe?
Still trying to find a good ice-cream maker in South Africa..summer is around the corner here :-
Eri, Glad you enjoyed it! You are right, straining the fruits isn't always absolutely necessary, but if you want to achieve a perfectly smooth and velvet-like texture you should walk the extra mile and go for it.
Welche Eismaschine benutzt ihr? Auf den Bildern sieht das Eis immer perfekt gefroren aus, nicht zu hart, nicht zu weich...
Leo, Wir haben eine Gaggia Gelateria und sind bisher ausgesprochen zufrieden damit ;)
these look so yummy. and I love love love your site (but clearly, doesn't everyone?) i love the way the comments work on your site, too! wow! this is AMAZING. I am tempted to add you to my google reader, but then i wouldn't be able to see your fabulous design -- oh, what is a girl to do?
How much costs that fabulous machine ?