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!

Mocha Almond Fudge

Happy National Ice Cream Month!!


July is here and summer is getting into full swing. It is my personal goal to post each day this month. The topics may vary but I have an idea that it will be mostly about the ice cream I am eating that day.  Yep you read it right I'm going to try and eat 31 days of ice cream this month.

I'm starting it off today by celebrating National Ice Cream month with my co-workers. I made a Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream that we all got to enjoy and a great break from the daily grind.

A little twist with Mocha Almond Fudge. I made it with Starbucks Via Instant Coffee - Bold Italian Roast. It turned out really well a great alternative if you don't have time to steep the coffee beans with you ice cream base.

Ingredients:
2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
4 egg yolks
2/3 cups of Sugar
2 individual packets of Starbucks Via Italian Roast
8 tsp of dutch processed cocoa powder
Fudge
1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds


The pictures will probably be not as good as my normal post, I'll be shooting most of the pictures with my iPhone 4. But I think you will get the hint and hopefully it will make me a better food photographer.

I hope everyone takes part in National Ice Cream Month go out and enjoy some great quality ice cream. Support a local  ice cream parlor or even attempt to make some homemade ice cream.

Let me know if you have any ice cream questions or suggestion.

Thank so much for visiting and I'll see you again tomorrow!

Purple Princess Ice Cream

It was my daughter's 3rd birthday this week. I asked her what color ice cream she wanted and she said "purple". That conjured up all sorts of possibilities. At the beginning of the year I took my family to San Francisco to relax and visit some friends. We also had a chance to visit some great ice cream parlors -- one of our stops was at Mitchell's Ice Cream, where they had taro ice cream that was a very bright purple color. I was seriously thinking of copying that ice cream; but, I don't think my daughter would have appreciated it. So I played it safe. I combined fresh blueberries and strawberries to make a very purple reduction.

I made this purple ice cream "Philadelphia Style," meaning that it contains no eggs. Usually I make my ice cream with 3-4 eggs and a cup of whole milk along with heavy cream. But this time I just used straight up heavy cream. When making a "Philadelphia Style" ice cream you can expect that the fat content is going to be greater, so when the ice cream melts in your mouth, you're going to taste a lot more cream. To compensate for this, you will need to add more flavor to your ice cream so that you can taste it better.

The blueberry and strawberry reduction works great for this style of ice cream because of the intense flavor that comes through the extra creamy texture. I also served this with some freshly toasted almond slivers and drizzled some of the left over reduction on top of the ice cream to make sure you can taste the fresh blueberries and strawberries that were used.

My daughter had a great birthday. She is my little princess. We will be making our first trip to Disneyland in the coming weeks, where I am sure she will be awe-struck to see the Disney princesses in person.

Purple Princess Ice Cream

1 cup of blueberry-strawberry reduction
3 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of sugar
pinch of salt

For the blueberry-strawberry reduction, I used 1 cup of fresh blueberries and 2 cups of fresh strawberries. I pureed them together, then reduced the mixture over medium heat. When the reduction is nice and thick, remove it from the heat and place in a heat-proof container. Let cool, then refrigerate until you are ready to add it to the cream.

To prepare the ice cream base, heat 1 cup of heavy cream, sugar and salt together. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, pour the warm cream into a bowl and combine with 2 cups of cold heavy whipping cream. Add 1 cup of the blueberry-strawberry reduction.  Chill the ice cream base for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Then follow your ice cream maker instructions.

When I served this purple princess ice cream, I placed it over a slice of sponge cake, drizzled some of the blueberry-strawberry reduction and topped it off with some toasted, slivered almonds.

I love reading your comments. If you have any questions feel free to leave them for me and I will answer them all.

Thank you.

Almond Cherry Ice Cream

Cherry season is here...but it will soon be gone. It must have one of the shortest season. I must say cherrries are probably on of my favorite fruits. I found this recipe for Almond Cherry Ice Cream. The ice cream base is vanilla bean custard with a touch of almond extract, the candied cherries were made with fresh bing cherries. I mixed the freshly toasted almonds and candied cherries once the ice cream was firm in the ice cream mixer. This is a great way to enjoy a taste of summer.