Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

I have now realized that I cannot follow cooking groups. I feel really guilty calling myself a French Fridays with Dorie member since I participated for only the first two weeks! It's hard for me to make something that is chosen for me, especially when it involves cooking and not baking.

The good thing about cooking/baking groups is that you get to see everyone else's results who followed the recipes from the books. I had read a lot of good reviews about Dorie's Burnt Sugar ice cream from her book Baking: From My Home to Yours, so I had no doubt that this was going to be a successful one!

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Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Makes about 1-1/2 pints

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp water

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

Pinch of salt

1-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Stir the sugar and water together in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place the pan over medium-low heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil, without stirring, until the syrup turns a deep amber color (be careful not to burn it!). Swirl the saucepan from time to time.

Lower the heat and add the milk and cream. Everything will bubble and seethe and the mixture will have some hardened caramel. Keep stirring and it will calm down and smooth. When the mixture is completely smooth, remove the pan from the heat.

In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and salt together until slightly thickened. Still whisking (and never stop) drizzle some hot liquid inside slowly to temper (or warm) the yolks. Keep whisking and slowly pour the remaining hot liquid into the yolks. Pour the custard back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens and reaches between 170 and 180 degrees F on a thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat and strain into a clean heatproof bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract and cool over an ice bath.

Refrigerate the custard overnight (or until chilled, the more the better) and churn it in ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

Ice Cream Madness (Part II)!!

I avoided this (Unsalted) Butter Caramel Ice Cream because I am really bad at making caramel. I usually burn it on my first try, then undercaramelize it on my second attempt because I'm afraid to burn it again. This week, I was somehow feeling more confident in the ice cream-making department, so I decided to give it a try! This recipe isn't in The Perfect Scoop but I found it on David Lebovitz's blog. Even if I was really careful when making the caramel, I still burnt it the first time. I just kept telling myself "a little longer, a little longer..." for the color to turn amber but what I forgot is that when I take off the saucepan from the stove, the caramel keeps cooking since the pot is still hot, causing it to burn. I think I'll start using a thermometer from now on.

There's no doubt that this ice cream is out of this world! I really had to stop myself from eating the whole thing! It reminded me of those individually wrapped salted caramels you can find at candy stores. I didn't have salted butter so I used unsalted instead but still added the fleur de sel as mentioned in the recipe. The caramel bits didn't melt and become gooey after letting the ice cream freeze, but this ice cream is still one of my favorite!

I find peanut butter really good though I prefer having raspberry or apricot jam on my toast. But my sister has this thing with peanut butter. The only way she eats it is with a spoon directly from the container. She is the biggest peanut butter fan I know so I immediately thought of her when I saw this Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Fudge Ripple in The Perfect Scoop.

I followed this recipe to the letter and it didn't double up in size after churning like all the other ice creams I've made so far. Maybe it's because there are no eggs? I had made some peanut butter patties from the Mix-ins section of the book, but the ice cream had a stronger peanut butter flavor than I had imagined so I left them out. The fudge ripple is a must though! I recommend this ice cream to all the peanut butter fans out there!

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Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Makes 1 Quart

2 cups half-and-half (I can't find this in Montreal so I used half whole milk and half heavy cream)

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Whisk together half-and-half, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Heat and whisk frequently until the mixture comes to a boil (it will foam up). Remove from heat, whisk in peanut butter and stir until completely blended.

Chill the mixture overnight and freeze it in your ice cream maker.

Fudge Ripple

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Makes 1 cup

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

6 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powder together in a medium saucepan. While whisking constantly, heat over medium heat until there are bubbles at the edge of the mixture.

Continue whisking until the mixture comes to a low boil and then cook for another minute (keep whisking). Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla extract and let it cool completely before chilling it in the fridge overnight.

Layer spoonfuls of the fudge ripple between layers of the just-churned ice cream.