Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Cheesecake Ice Cream with Strawberry Swirl

After making the marble cheesecake, I got into a cheesecake craze and decided to try that cheesecake recipe I've been wanting to make. The ingredients are exactly like in a real cheesecake, except you just freeze it! The only thing I would change is to use less lemon zest because I found that there was a pronounced lemon tastes that stood out, but it didn't really bother me. This ice cream didn't last so long and I would definitely remake this using David Lebovitz's suggested blueberry swirl!

Last week I first heard about Theicecreamists. I didn't know if I should be shocked or interested about their gaga breast milk ice cream... Being an ice cream fanatic, I decided to check out their Facebook page (which you can visit by clicking here) and looked through their pictures. There's also a lot of talk about the fact that Lady Gaga is suing them for calling one of flavors "Baby Gaga". It doesn't seem as their main goal is to sell ice cream, but more about their events, partying and publicity. What do you guys think? Have you heard about Theicecreamists?

Valentine's Ice Cream Sandwiches

I've been wanting to make ice cream sandwiches for the longest time, but I had no idea how to shape the ice cream like the cookie so they would fit perfectly. Won't the process of cutting ice cream with a cookie cutter, then getting it out and onto the cookies just make the ice cream all melted?

Wait, there's a solution! Heart-shaped silicone molds!

It just happened that I had a cookie cutter with the exact same shape as the silicone molds. We've had these molds at our house for the longest time but I've never used them once before this weekend! Just churn your ice cream and place it in these molds to freeze.

In order to remove the ice cream from the molds, run hot water under the molds, then carefully detach the ice cream from the molds, one heart at a time. Sandwich the ice cream between two cookies and voilà: beautiful ice cream cookies for your valentine!

Here's the chocolate cookie recipe I used (the dough is insanely addictive!!). Enjoy!

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Chocolate Sablé Cookies

Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Makes about 40 cookies

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp coarse sugar (optional)

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy. Add the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, beat until smooth. In another bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Reduce the speed of your mixer to low and gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until blended.

Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces, pat each into a flat disk and wrap them separately with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the disks for at least one hour. (You can also store the disks for future use: store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 1 month. If freezing, place the well-wrapped disks in heavy-duty sealable plastic bags and thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using.)

When ready to roll out the dough, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheet with parchment paper (or silicone mats).

On a work surface, place the disks between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer them to prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1-1/2 inches apart. Gather the scraps and cut out more cookies. Sprinkle the cookies with coarse sugar (optional, I didn't).

Bake the cookies until the edges are crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the cookies cool briefly on the sheets. Transfer the cookies on the wire racks to cool completely.

Rum and Raisin Ice Cream

The first time I made this ice cream was last July and I found it had too much alcohol. Since rum and raisin ice cream is my mom's favorite and I'm also a really big fan, I couldn't leave it at that! So I remade it this weekend and it was unbelievable!! My secret: half the amount of alcohol in David Lebovitz's recipes from The Perfect Scoop! I also added some sugar and water to the raisins while simmering so they were sweeter! Love it!

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.

Candycane Ice Cream

December: the best month for baking. And how better to start the holiday baking than with another ice cream? I am obsessed, I know. I don't really like flavoring ice creams with extract, but since I found this Candycane ice cream on Simply Recipes inspired by David Lebovitz, I had to give it a try!

It is simply a vanilla ice cream (a little different from how David Lebovitz makes it in his book but also very good) in which peppermint extract is added, and crushed candycanes as well in the last minute of churning. I also added two drops of pink food coloring to get a pink color. A perfect way to welcome Christmastime :)

Here is the recipe!

Oatmeal and Raisin Ice Cream

Accounting projects, quizzes in finance, case reports in organizational behavior... it's been a long semester. I try to keep myself motivated by thinking of the pastry program I'll be attending after my accounting bachelor's. I bumped into one of my friends at Cupcake Camp 2010 event a few weeks ago who studied human relations and she told me that she had just started the Professional Pastry Making program at ITHQ! I'm so jealous!! I was asking her all sorts of questions about her classes, teachers and what she was learning now (crème anglaise). She even has her own KitchenAid in her practical classes!

I've been talking to a lot of people about my future plans and many have told me that baking for a hobby and baking for a job are completely different. Yes I won't be able to take my sweet time but how different can it be? Baking everyday and learning something new everyday? That would be awesome!

So I borrowed the book Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food with Advice from Top Culinary Professionals and it is an amazing book. It tells you everything about the culinary schools (in the US), how to make a resume and find your first job, the kinds of jobs in the culinary arts, etc. My favorite section is where some top culinary chefs are interviewed and answer questions like what their salary is like, advice for people who want to achieve a similar career, what they like most/least about their job, how many hours a week they work... These are things I've wondered. When I finish my pastry diploma, where will I work? Will I like it? David Lebovitz also mentioned in The Sweet Life in Paris and there is also a section in this book about it, that it is important to work in the field before going to culinary school. This way I know if I truly like working in pastry and that I will be committed to my program. I think this is a great idea, except I don't know who would be willing to hire (or accept a stagiaire) without any working experience or schooling in the industry! I think I will ask at a few large hotels in Montreal and maybe a few bakeries. There's no harm in trying!

Ok, now for this oatmeal and raisin ice cream. This is an ice cream that takes a bit of preparing since you have to make the oatmeal praline and whiskey-soaked raisins before preparing the custard, but it is worth every minute!

You basically follow the usual steps of making a custard except you place some brown sugar and cinnamon along with the cream in the bowl with a strainer (where you will add the custard before cooling it all over an ice bath). Then a few minutes before ending the churning, you add the oatmeal praline and raisins. I used a vanilla bean because I find it gives a richer taste than vanilla extract but it's a matter of preference.

This is one of my favorites and I would definitely make it again just as it's written in The Perfect Scoop. The only thing I changed was the amount of whiskey with the raisins (I used 1/2 tsp whiskey instead of 2 tsp).

Rocky Road Ice Cream

Rich, french-style chocolate ice cream with toasted peanuts and mini marshmallows! Really, if you haven't added marshmallows to your just-churned ice cream, you've been missing out!

This is one of those recipes in The Perfect Scoop where I put a heart next to the title :)

Cran-Apple Crisps

It's cranberry season! We drink plenty of cranberry juice and dried cranberries can be found in our granola bars and cereals, but have any of you tried fresh cranberries? I just recently tried them for the first time and I have to say that... they're very sour! I stopped after one! But when combined with apples, dried cranberries, sugar and flour to make the filling, they taste sweet!

With all the members of TWD raving about this crisp and how easy it is to put together, it didn't take me long to decide to make it. I topped it with a scoop of Goat Cheese Ice Cream I made following David Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop, and... Mmmm!

The Repressed Pastry Chef hosted that week's TWD so the recipe for the Cran-Apple Crisps can be found on her blog!

Mastic Ice Cream

The only producer of mastic, also called masticha, is the island Chios in Greece, but it is used in many other countries (Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco) for sweets and pastries as well as liqueurs and chewing gums.

I tried mastic ice cream for the first time last summer on my trip to Greece. There's this really good ice cream shop called To Pagoto in Glyfada (Athens) where they have very unique flavors, like Tsoureki, a Greek Easter bread! And now, since I've been making quite a lot of ice cream and stumbled upon some mastic resin crystals (ok... really I looked for them in every gourmet market), I simply had to give it a try!

But there was no mastic ice cream in The Perfect Scoop! No problem: I just used David Lebovitz's method of making vanilla bean ice cream (French-Style), left out the vanilla bean and substituted it for ground mastic! I found that Kevin from Closet Cooking had also made this ice cream and decided to use some vanilla sugar just like he did.

The result was a creamy ice cream, with a slightly gummy texture (which I liked) and a hint of mastic flavor. I liked that the mastic taste wasn't too overpowering and would definitely place this ice cream in my top 5. I did have a hard time getting all the mastic off my pot, mortar and pestle and spoons though... I think I could have prevented this by grinding the mastic with some of the sugar...

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Mastic Ice Cream
Adapted and modified David Lebovitz's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Makes about 1/2 Liter (1/2 Quart)

1/2 cup whole milk
3/8 cup (75 g) vanilla sugar
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp mastic resin crystals
3 large egg yolks

Use a mortar and pestle to grind the mastic resin crystals. Warm the milk, sugar, ½ cup of the cream and salt in a medium saucepan. Add the ground mastic to the warm milk and stir. Remove from the heat and cover for about 30 minutes. There might be pieces of mastic that will have formed. (No worries, we will strain them out later!)

Pour the remaining ½ cup cream in a bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In another medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and slowly pour in the warm mixture (to temper eggs), whisking constantly. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan and constantly stir the mixture over low heat with a spatula, until mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly (even overnight) in the refrigerator. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

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.

Ice Cream Madness!!

I am really obsessed with The Perfect Scoop at this point! I think I can call it my favorite book (it has almost exceeded the Twilight series!!). If you don't own this book and love ice cream, check it out asap!

When I used to bake more, I always needed butter. Now I always need heavy cream. Lots and lots of heavy cream. I've been making half of David Lebovitz's recipes so when dividing the 5 egg yolks called for in most of the ingredients, I decided to use 3 instead of 2 1/2. I find this has made my ice creams softer and creamier... even better!

I was attracted to this Green Tea Ice Cream mainly because I love green tea latte but also because of its vivid green color. To make this ice cream, you follow the custard base recipe and all you do is whisk in 4 tsp matcha powder to the heavy cream before you pour in the custard through a strainer. My ice cream didn't have the vivid green color as shown in the book... maybe I should've bought a higher quality matcha powder? It did taste just like green tea latte though!

Mint and chocolate ice cream is my favorite flavor. I just love that combination. Give me After Eight, Pep or Mint Aero and you'll be my best friend. I'm so used to the mint extract flavor though that when I tasted the Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream, I was a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it's delicious (we finished it in 2 days), but it tastes very different from the ones we buy at the supermarket. If you're looking for something like that, I suggest you use mint extract instead.

After making my favorite, I decided to make my sister's: Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream. This ice cream is also very easy to make. You simply make a vanilla custard base ice cream and then layer it with the raspberry swirl (raspberries, sugar and 1 tbsp of vodka). This ice cream also vanished in a matter of days but for next time, I would try to find a raspberry swirl that doesn't freeze, kind of like a syrup.

This summer, I've been visiting our local ice cream shop La Paysanne pretty often (even if I've been making a considerable amount of ice cream recently). Instead of gelato, I've been going for sorbets which I find are so refreshing in hot weather. My favorite until now are lemon, lime and raspberry. I had some frozen raspberries in the freezer so I decided to make Raspberry Sherbet which consists of whole milk, sugar, raspberries and a bit of lemon juice. It tasted exactly like the raspberry sorbet I've been having at La Paysanne but a bit creamier. Yum!

Super Lemon Ice Cream

It's pretty clear that I'm obsessed with The Perfect Scoop by now! I've been making ice cream once a week. It's starting to get warm (we've been getting 20-25 degrees these past few days!!), so great timing!

If you live in Montreal or happen to be visiting, you must stop by Léo Le Glacier! Their gelato is amongst the best in the city, especially the lemon one I tried. It was so creamy, light and airy, not too lemony and not too sweet... the perfect lemon gelato for a warm summer day!

So I flipped through The Perfect Scoop and fell upon this Super Lemon Ice Cream. It sounded creamy, light and airy, just like the one I had from Léo Le Glacier.

The result: a delicious lemon ice cream that reminded me of lemon meringue pie (minus the crust, some cookies inside would have been nice) but not the one from Léo Le Glacier. Even if the taste was really good, the texture was disappointing. I left the ice cream out for about 20-25 minutes to defrost because it was really hard, and I couldn't form a decent scoop. Every time I would come close to getting a scoop, it would crumble!

Regardless the texture, this ice cream takes 10 minutes to make, tops. Plus 1 hour in the fridge to chill while you enjoy the beautiful weather :)

My cat Fofo watching me struggle to form a scoop!

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Super Lemon Ice Cream

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Makes about 1 Quart (1 Liter)

2 lemons, unsprayed

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)

2 cups (500ml) half-and-half (I used 15% cream)

Tiny pinch of salt

Zest the lemons directly into a food processor or blender. Add the sugar and blend until very fine. Add the lemon juice and blend until sugar is completely dissolved. Blend in the half-and-half and salt until smooth.

Chill for 1 hour, then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Yum yum yum!




It was really worth using a vanilla bean for this ice cream instead of simply adding vanilla extract. It gave such a rich taste and smell to the cream! I placed the vanilla bean into the mixture and left it in the refrigerator the whole night so it would extract as much flavor from the vanilla bean as possible. The following day, I strained the mixture again and placed it into my ice cream machine.


This is the second ice cream I make from "The Perfect Scoop". The recipe is also posted on David Lebovitz's blog. I think I'm getting the hang of making ice cream now. It's actually not that hard and it's so much better than buying it because you can make any flavor or combination of flavors that you want! I'm already trying to decide which I will make next!

Lavender & Honey Ice Cream

Ever since I watched the movie "It's Complicated" I've been dreaming of making lavender and honey ice cream. I wondered how lavender must taste. So I searched for the ultimate lavender and honey ice cream recipe online. But just then I received my ordered copy of "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz and he had a recipe for it! Perfect.

This is the first ice cream I made from the book and it won't be the last. I never imagined that honey and lavender would make such a delightful pairing!

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Lavender and Honey Ice Cream

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Makes about 1 quart (1 Liter)

1/2 cup good-flavored honey

1/4 cup dried or fresh lavender flowers

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

Heat the honey and 2 tbsp of the lavender in a small saucepan. Once warm, remove from the heat and set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. Pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavor as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Add the remaining 2 tbsp lavender flowers and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, before churning, strain the mixture, again pressing on the lavender flowers to extract their flavor. Discard the flowers, then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.