Ice Cream Month 2012 - Day 3

Haagen Dazs - Vanilla Milk Chocolate Almond Bar

A solid choice if your looking for a good ice cream bar. The ice cream is nice and rich with great vanilla flavor. The chocolate coating is thick an scattered with almonds.

Ice Cream Month 2012 - Day 2

Double Rainbow Mint Chip Ice Cream

I liked this ice cream a lot. Very Minty and creamy and the chocolate was dark and rich.

Ice Cream Month 2012 - Day 1

Magnum Mint Ice Cream Bar

I thought I'd give a second chance but the Magnum premium ice cream bar still isn't as good as Haagen Daz bars.

Chocolate Covered Pistachio Ice Cream

Chocolate Covered Pistachios in Rich Chocolate Ice Cream - OXO LockTop Container Giveaway

Thanks to our great friends at OXO for letting me test out these great  LockTop containers. I've been using them on a daily basis for a over a month now and they are great. The lids snap on and are airtight. You can put your leftover avocado or guacamole in them and it will not turn that unappetizing grayish brown. I've also used the little ones to transport milk to go along with my instant oatmeal breakfast. These containers are also freezer and microwave safe too.

But the true test is how well do they hold up for storing ice cream. The key to storing ice cream is that the container has to be airtight so that the ice cream doesn't absorb any weird flavors you have going on in your freezer. Plus the container must be able to eliminate any moisture from getting in and creating frost on top of your ice cream.


My normal way of storing homemade ice cream was in empty plastic quart-sized yogurt containers. They worked but the drawback was that I had to place a film of plastic wrap over the top to create a good seal. Plus since the yogurt containers are not see-through, I would have to label them because I couldn't tell what ice cream I had inside of them. 


With the medium OXO LockTop container, it has more than enough room to hold a quart of homemade ice cream. The seal is airtight so that excess moisture and any funky freezer flavor could not seep into and ruin the ice cream.  The OXO LockTop container is clear so it makes it easy to see how much ice cream you have left and what flavor it is. 

Since these OXO LockTop containers have a colorful green ring around the lid, it inspired me to create this chocolate-covered pistachio ice cream recipe.

You can win a set of these great OXO LockTop containers by leaving a comment below.  When leaving a comment please use the Name and URL option or leave your email in the comment. The contest deadline is midnight (PST) on July 16, 2012. I will randomly choose a winner and post the winner's name here. You will receive a set of 4 Mini and 1 Medium LockTop containers. Please note this giveaway is only for readers in the United States. 

The giveaway is now over. Congrat to Beth! I'll be sending out these OXO containers to you shortly.

Follow OXO on Twitter and Facebook

Ingredients for Chocolate-Covered Pistachios
1/2 cup of whole shelled unsalted roasted pistachios
8 oz of dark chocolate

To make the chocolate-covered pistachios, you need to temper your dark chocolate. You can use the double boiler method or the microwave. I tempered my chocolate in the microwave using a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl. If you're using dark chocolate from a bar, it will temper faster if you chop it into little pieces and then microwave them. When tempering chocolate in the microwave you want to do it in 10-second intervals and, in between intervals, stir the chocolate around so it melts evenly. 


Once your chocolate is nice and melted, add in your pistachios and mix them together until all the pistachios are covered with chocolate. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Using two spoons I laid out the chocolate covered pistachios on the baking tray and placed them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to harden.

Ingredients for Rich Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
2/3 cups of sugar
2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
6 tsp of dutch processed cocoa powder
6 oz of dark chocolate
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon

In a medium-sized saucepan combine the sugar, milk, cocoa powder, dark chocolate and heavy cream. Bring it to a simmer then temper the 3 egg yolks with the warm milk and cream. Pour the tempered egg yolks into the saucepan . Slowly bring the custard base up to 165 degrees and then transfer to a heat proof bowl and place in an ice bath for 1 hour. Stir in the vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon. Refrigerate the base for at least 4 hours or overnight and then churn in your ice cream machine. When the ice cream is almost done, stir in your chocolate-covered pistachios. You can also save a few to decorate your sundae. Place your ice cream in a freezer proof container, such as the OXO LockTop containers, and let the ice cream set for at least 4 hours in your freezer before eating.

Let me know if you have any questions and what did you think of the Chocolate-Covered Pistachios in Rich Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary set of LockTop containers to facilitate my honest review.  All opinions are my own. Thanks to OXO for sponsoring the giveaway!

World Peace Sundae

World Peace Sundae 

Another year has come to an end. There was much to celebrate and be thankful for.

Thank you for stopping by my blog and seeing my latest ice cream creation. I hope the new year continues to bring you much joy and happiness and that you are living your dream.

This World Peace Sundae was inspired by the World Peace Cookies created by Dorie Greenspan

The Sundae is constructed with a layer of Hot Fudge and then a layer of Chocolate Ice Cream.  Then I crumble a layer of World Peace Cookies and then top with homemade whipped cream and some nuts of your choice.

Have a fantastic 2012!

Always,
Bao

Chocolate Waffle Cones

Chocolate Waffle Cones

Well once you start making your own ice cream I think it is a natural progression to start making waffle cones. Nothing beats the smell and taste of a fresh crispy buttery waffle cone.

I decided to deviate a little from the regular waffle cone recipe and added in a couple teaspoons of coco powder and made the cones richer and more sophisticated.

Ingredients

2 large egg whites
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoon of unsalted melted butter
2/3 cup of flour
2 teaspoon of coco powder

 

Chocolate Sauce

Chocolate Sauce 

I want to show you a simple chocolate sauce you can make that will go great with any ice cream. You can make this sauce in 10 minutes and turn you ordinary ice cream from good to spectacular!

Ingredients

1/4 cup of strong coffee  ( I used a french roast)
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1/4 cup of sugar
2 ounces of dark chocolate chips
1 tablespoon of corn syrup
2 tablespoon of heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract


Combine the coffee, cocoa powder, corn syrup and sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a simmer. In a separate heat proof bowl combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream and vanilla extract. Pour the hot liquids into the bowl of chocolate chips and whisk until everything is melted. Let cool at room temperature and top off ice cream. If you are in a hurry you can refrigerate the sauce for 5 minutes and then enjoy with your ice cream.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for stopping by!

Bao

Caramel Swirl and Caramel filled Chocolate Turtles

Caramel Swirl and Caramel filled Chocolate Turtles Ice Cream

I found these little caramel filled chocolate turtles while grocery shopping at the store and I new they would go great in an ice cream.

I've been practicing Jeni Britton Bauer recipes. So I made a simple vanilla ice cream swirled in  some fresh caramel and placed a couple handful of turtles.

Haagen-Dazs Coffee Almond Crunch

National Ice Cream Month - Day 6

Today I needed some coffee to make it through. I decided on the Haagen-Dazs  Coffee Almond Crunch. The ice cream bar had a good coffee flavor definitely on the safer side of things. When I make my coffee ice cream I like it to have a little more buzz a little more darker bolder flavor. I can see why Haagen-Dazs didn't want to make the coffee stronger because the ice cream bar was covered in milk chocolate with bits of roasted almonds and toffee. A bolder coffee flavor could easily overwhelm the rest of the components. 

The ice cream was smooth and the chocolate coating was thick and when pared with bits of almonds and toffee it provided a good crunch. You certainly can't go wrong with a Haagen-Daz bar on a nice summer day.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Stay cool and don't forget to eat your ice cream!

Chocolate Ice Cream

National Ice Cream Month - Day 4


Happy 4th of July. It was a great day of enjoying time with family and friends.

I made a simple Chocolate Ice Cream to celebrate the day.

Ingredients:
1 cup of milk
2 cups of heavy cream
6 tsp of cocoa powder
6 oz of semi sweet chocolate
4 egg yolk
pinch of salt

Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

Since I began making homemade ice cream, I have had the grand desire to make great homemade ice cream sandwiches. I've seen many reviews of big fat ice cream sandwiches on huge cookies. But I don't necessary think bigger is always better. And I think after a while of eating all that ice cream your frozen taste buds won't be able taste the cookie or ice cream anymore.

This Christmas my lovely wife bought a set of ice cream sandwich molds, which really got my juices flowing. I read the instructions for the molds and they suggest using a store-bought cookie dough and rolling it out into a baking sheet. Once the cookie is baked and still soft, the instructions say to use the mold to punch out the top and bottom part of the ice cream sandwich.

I wanted to bring up the degree of difficulty and make my own cookie dough, so I searched my favorite food sites and blogs and landed on a sugar cookie recipe. When I was rolling out the sugar cookie dough, I thought it would be easier to stamp them with the mold and then bake them since sugar cookies for the most part retain their shape during baking.

I think my steps worked out pretty well, for the most part. I was able to place the bottom part of the cookie in the mold and fill in the chocolaty homemade ice cream. I then removed the mold and placed the top cookie. The ice cream sandwich was good but not great. I'm going to have to try again as it was a little messy to eat.  I was looking for a softer cookie so that when you bite into the ice sandwich it doesn't push the ice cream out.

As a quick alternative, I had some Trader Joe "Joe Joe's" (Oreo-like cookies), so I scraped out the creme and stuffed it with some dark chocolate ice cream. These were delicious and almost bite size, mini ice cream sandwiches.

Thank you for reading my first ice cream post of the year. Stay tuned for exciting new flavors.