Ice Cream Social

Caramel Ice Cream!

My friend and I decided to have an ice cream social on Memorial day and make homemade ice cream. We sat down and picked out some tasty looking recipes and I went out and purchased an ice cream maker and she got the ingredient; then we went to town. The major lesson I learned is that ice cream making is time consuming if you are making multiple batches because the freezer part of the mixer has to be frozen in between every batch, which takes several hours. Also each recipe, after being made, has to be chilled before being put into the ice cream mixer - this also takes several hours. Bottom line, if you are making several ice creams start several days in advance.

My friend sampling the strawberries

Fortunately we started the process on Saturday night so all was well. The first night we made the coffee and caramel recipes and put them in the refrigerator to chill. Then on Sunday we began churning; starting with the coffee ice cream, which firmed up beautifully. Then, while the mixer was refreezing, we made the strawberry daiquiri ice cream recipe and put it in the fridge to chill. That afternoon we froze the caramel ice cream but it didn't firm up as nicely as the coffee ice cream, so after a while I just took it out and put it in the freezer anyway to continue freezing. That worked out pretty well but the ice cream is still on the softer side (but totally delicious).

Sunday evening we went to bike prom, which was awesome! (Pictures here: Beached Miami.) Once we were back from a wonderful night of biking and dancing - we biked around Miami with a sound system attached to a bike stopping periodically to break out into dance - I put the strawberry ice cream in the ice cream maker and froze it until it was the consistency of soft-serve then spooned in into containers and put it in the freezer to continue hardening.

Monday afternoon arrived and all our guests began to enjoy the ice creams! Definitely a solid hit and worth the effort to make! Also, a lot of fun.

My personal favorite in terms of flavor was the caramel ice cream - it was exactly the way caramel should be. The coffee was a close second in terms of flavor, though I next time I would make stronger coffee, and it definitely had the best texture: perfectly smooth and creamy. The strawberry was really popular with everyone, but I ended up not liking the lime flavor as much as I had hoped too - still everyone else seemed to think it was awesome so don't let that dissuade you.

Enjoy creating all of these recipes:

Salted Caramel Ice Cream (taken pretty much verbatim from Cherry Tea Cakes Blog)

1 1/4 cups Sugar divided
2 1/4 cups Heavy Cream divided
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla extract
1 cup whole Milk
3 large Eggs

Caramel:
Heat 1 cup sugar in a dry large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring to heat sugar evenly until it starts to melt.

It should clarify like this and not be milky

Do not stir after this point, only swirl the skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber. This is important!!! If you stir it it globs onto your spoon and crystalizes (I know cause that is what happened to me).

Add 1 1/4 cups cream (mixture will spatter) and the rest of the sugar and cook, stirring, until all of caramel has dissolved, and the mixture is thoroughly combined.

Caramel after cream has been added

Pass mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Transfer to a bowl and stir in salt and vanilla. Cool to room temperature.

Creamy part of ice cream:
Meanwhile scald milk and remaining cream.

In another bowl whisk eggs for a minute or two and then add in the scalded mixture in a slow stream. Let it run down the side of the bowl on a low speed (This prevents the hot milk from scorching the eggs I expect).

Adding the milk to the egg mixture

Pour combined mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats the back of the spoon.

The final part:
Pour custard through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, and then stir in cooled caramel.

Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold, about 1 hour in the freezer (I had to do this for two hours and it was still hella soft).

Freeze custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions (it will still be quite soft - kind of like a semi-melted shake); then transfer to a suitable freezing container and put in freezer to firm up. This ice cream will remain very soft even after freezing. Lower the temperature of your freezer if necessary to fully harden. FYI: It took at least 8 hours for this to harden in my freezer.

Makes about 1 quart, maybe a little more.

Creamy Coffee Ice Cream (taken directly from Not Eating Out in NY with a few additions to the directions)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup the strongest coffee you’ve ever made in your life (it should really be espresso strong)

Combine eggs, yolks and sugar in a bowl and blend thoroughly with a whisk or electric beater for about 5 minutes (mixture should thicken and turn a lemony yellow).

Heat milk and cream in a medium saucepan; do not let boil, just “scorch” it until it is near-boiling hot. Turn off heat.

Very slowly pour in one cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, beating rapidly with a whisk. Once it is all beaten in, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture while beating, then add in the coffee. Heat at about medium low, stirring constantly, for a few more minutes or until the consistency is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon when dipped in. Turn off heat.

Ours looked kind of "chunky" for some reason but turned out totally smooth

Pour mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the liquid (this prevents a "skin" from forming). Chill overnight or until completely cool. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow machine’s directions for how long it should churn.

Recommended: freeze for 2 hours before serving. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

As you can see everyone really liked this one

Makes about 1 quart.

Strawberry Daiquiri Ice Cream (taken from The Way the Cookie Crumbles)

1 cup sugar divided
2 limes zested
Pinch salt
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 yolks
1 1/2 cups (16 ounces) strawberry puree
1/4 cup lime juice (2 limes)
2 tablespoons rum

Pour the cream into a large bowl; set a fine-mesh strainer over the bowl and set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.

Sugar and eggs before mixing

In a medium saucepan, rub the lime zest into 1/2 cup of the sugar until fragrant.

Sugar and lime zest pre-rubbing

Add the half-and-half and heat the mixture over medium-high heat until it simmers.

Once the half-and-half has simmered, very slowly pour it into the beaten egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring just to a simmer over medium heat, still whisking constantly.

Pour through the strainer into the bowl with the cream; stir to combine.

Then mix in the strawberry puree, lime juice, and rum.

This looks so pretty!

Chill until cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Freeze the ice cream custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once frozen to the consistency of soft serve ice cream, transfer the ice cream to freezer container and freeze until firm. This may take several hours (I would bet on overnight or at least 6-8 hours).

Makes about 1 quart.