Refreshing Mint

My second attempt at mint was similar to my first. On the advice of B&J, I deleted the salt. I also switched chips and used a full teaspoon of extract.

Mint Chocolate Chip II

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp mint extract
• ~ 1 cup Guittard 46% Semisweet Dark Chocolate Baking Chips (again, enough to look right)
• Green food coloring if you want.

1. Whisk the half-and-half and sugar until the sugar is dissolved
2. Mix in the heavy cream and extract
3. Mix in drops of food coloring until you like the color (obviously optional)
4. Churn per manufacturer's directions
5. When there are about 2 minutes left, add chocolate chips until it “looks right”

This batch was very similar to my first attempt.

• The texture was good. This isn't surprising since I've used this base several times now.
• There was too much mint extract this time. I guess a little less than 1 tsp is the right amount for 4 cups of dairy.
• The chips were good but hard to eat in frozen form. That was the issue with the Nestle chips. More research is required re: chocolate chips in ice cream.

Attempting a Mix-in

I discovered that Nestle makes bags of chocolate chip mixes, called Morsels & More. There is a Hot Fudge Sundae variety with chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and waffle cone pieces. Obviously, I had to try it in my chocolate ice cream recipe.

1. Start with my Real Chocolate Ice Cream recipe.
2. Churn per manufacturer's instructions
3. With 2 minutes to go, mix in the pre-frozen mix-in until it looks right (about 1 cup).

This one was a bit of a disappointment to me.

• The texture of the ice cream and the chocolate flavor were both good, but . . .
• In the beginning, I thought the extra stuff in the bag would make up for the chip's shortcomings in ice cream. Sadly, the mix was chip heavy with very few marshmallows or cone pieces. The marshmallows essentially dissolved into the ice cream and the waffle cone pieces all but dissappeared. This product might be fine in a cookie or other baked good, but I didn't like it ice cream.

Time for a Coffee Break

I had espresso powder on hand from a batch of brownies, so why not try espresso ice cream?

Express Espresso Ice Cream

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup half-and-half
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 3 TBSP espresso powder

1. Whisk the half-and-half, sugar, and 2 TBSP of espresso powder until the sugar is disolved
2. Mix in the heavy cream
3. Churn per manufacturer's directions
4. When there are about 2 minutes left, add the third TBSP of espresso powder (I got this idea from B&J. I'm not sure it really made a difference. Next time, I'll add all the powder at the same time and see.)

This was pretty good. I recommend it with Heath brickle sprinkled (or poured) on top!

• The texture was good. I think I like the slightly-higher fat percentage acheived by using 1 cup of half-and-half. Added bonus: this size batch fits my 1 quart freezer containers better.
• The ratio of 1 TBSP espresso powder per cup of dairy worked well. For the record, I used Ferrara Instant Espresso Coffee. (note: not an ad)

Butter Pecan

Butter pecan is one of my favorite ice creams! This one is based on the Ben & Jerry's recipe from their book: Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. I'm still on an eggless base kick, so I didn't follow B&J's recipe exactly. Kerfuffle happened whilst making this ice cream, so I had to adapt to that, too. The ingredients list is what ended up in the ice cream, not the recipe I started with.

Beautiful Butter Pecan

• 121 g pecan halves
• 1 stick Kerry Gold butter
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1¼ cup half-and-half
• ⅞ cup of granulated sugar

1. Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over low heat
2. Add the pecans and salt and sauté, stirring constantly until the pecans start to turn brown (I ended up with pretty dark, but still crispy pecans. Don't overcook them because they could get mushy.)
3. Drain the butter into a bowl and cool the pecans on a parchment-lined cookie sheet
4. Whisk the sugar in the half-and-half until desolved. (I started with 1 cup of half-and-half. I added more when the butter refused to combine. I also started with ¾ cup sugar. I added more when I added more half-and-half.)
5. Add the cream and whisk to combine
6. Add the melted butter and blend . . . This is where I ran into the Kerfuffle Monster.
   • The butter would not, under threat of serious consequences, combine into the mixture. It formed a bunch of little fat beads. At first, I thought it might be solids from the pecans, but I discovered that the beads would melt on my fingers. Now what?
     • I added ¼ cup of half-and-half with the idea of diluting the base, so the butter could dissolve. This seemed like a rational idea at the time. I also added ¼ cup of sugar to keep the ratios close. Unsurprisingly, this didn't work!
     • My son then had the idea of heating the mixture just enough to melt the butter fat. We heated the base over very low heat to 104°F, stirring constantly. We then cooled the mixture by gently stirring it in a metal bowl sitting in an ice bath. This worked!!! The butter fat went into solution and stayed that way.
   • There was some very dark butter in the bottom of the bowl that I did not scrape into the ice cream. I definitely had enough fat, but I think I left some good flavor on the table. I'm adding this part next time. I'll probably also use milk instead of half-and-half to account for the added butter fat from, you know, the butter.
7. Churn per the manufacturer's directions
8. With about 2 minutes left, add the cooled pecans

This was good ice cream, but I want a second attempt at making it.

• The texture was good, but I think there was too much fat. This could be informed by the fact that I had to heat the stuff up just to get all the fat to mix together. Next time, I'll use whole milk instead of half-and-half.
• The flavor was good, but the butter flavor was a little weak. I think this is because I left some of it out.
• The well-done, salty, buttered pecans were quite good. They'd be a tasty treat on their own.

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Another Crack at Sherbet

My first go at orange sherbet was well received by the kids, but it wasn't particularly close to store-bought sherbet. The texture wasn't as nice and the flavor, while good, wasn't right, either. Here's my second attempt.

Another Orange Sherbet

• 2 cups high-quality, pulp-free orange juice
• 1 cup half-and-half whole milk
• ½ cup whole buttermilk
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup sugar
• 170g Kayro syrup
• Food color (orange or red+yellow) (optional)

1. Whisk ingredients until the sugar is completely dissolved
2. If you want an orangier color, mix in food color (I added 3 drops of red and 6 drops of yellow)
3. Churn per manufacturer's directions
4. Place in an appropriate sealed container and “ripen” in the freezer for at least 4 hours

How was it?

• The taste was good, but not better than the first attempt.
• The texture was worse than the first go. I think the lower fat content may be to blame.
• I'm not sure the buttermilk is working; next time, I'm leaving it out.

It's likely impossible to get close-to-store-bought results without a bunch of chemistry. I'm going to keep experimenting because I think I might just find something really good that is in no way sherbet, and thats okay.

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Green Ice Cream

I wanted to to try mint chocolate chip, so I did.

Marvelous Mint

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ~ 4/5 to 5/6 tsp mint extract (a bit shy of 1 tsp)
• ~ 1 cup Nestle semi-sweet morsels (just enough to look right)
• Green food coloring if you want.

1. Whisk the half-and-half and sugar until the sugar is disolved
2. Mix in the heavy cream and extract
3. Mix in drops of food coloring until you like the color (obviously optional)
4. Churn per manufacturer's directions
5. When there are about 2 minutes left, add chocolate chips until it “looks right”
6. Churn a little longer than 2 more minutes to recover from the fact that you forgot to put the chips in the freezer

I think this was a successful recipe. My son said this was the best ice cream I've made so far. I'm torn between this and my original chocolate. My thoughts:

• The texture was good. At some point I need to determine the optimal dairy ratio for eggless ice cream. Also, I need to try cream with whole milk instead of half-and-half.
• The Mint flavor was good.
• The chips were too big and/or too hard. Try smaller chips or some other type of chocolate.
• Warm/room temperature mixins . . . maybe don't.

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Orange ya glad there's sherbet?

Ingredients list for my local Harris Teeter store-brand orange sherbet:

MILK, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP,
HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, NONFAT DRY
MILK, ORANGE CONCENTRATE (ORANGE JUICE,
ORANGE PULP, CORN SYRUP, ORANGE OIL,
SODIUM BENZOATE [PRESERVATIVE]), CITRIC
ACID, LOCUST BEAN GUM, MONO- AND
DIGLYCERIDES, MODIFIED CELLULOSE, GUAR
GUM, POLYSORBATE 80, DEXTROSE, VITAMIN A
PALMITATE, ANNATTO COLOR, RED 40.

I like store-bought sherbet, but there's zippy chance I'd buying all that stuff. I'm not supposed to have high-fructose corn syrup anyway, so I had to come up with a different recipe. Important considerations:

• Type of juice
• Fresh squeezed or out of a jug?
• Type of dairy
• Half-and-half or milk?
• Buttermilk - yes or no?
• Ratio of juice to dairy
• Should there be some invert sugar?
• Lemon juice?
• Orange zest?

After much searching, the first question I tackled was juice-to-dairy ratio. Most recipes fall into one of three camps: 2-to-1, 2-to-1.5 (4-to-3), and 1-to-1. 2-to-1.5 is right in the middle, and it's Alton's sherbet ratio. That's a no-brainer.

I went with a jug of good-quality, pulp-free OJ from the mega-mart. I went with pulp-free so the kids would drink the leftover juice. If you want pulp, knock yourself out. Harris Teeter sees fit to add it, so who am I to judge?

Store-bought sherbet relies on a bunch of industrial food magic to get a good texture. I don't have any magic ingredients, so I decided to up the milkfat content a bit with a combo of half-and-half and buttermilk. Due to the high water content, I also decided to include an invert sugar in the hopes that the texture would be better. Kayro syrup to the rescue!

Orange Sherbet

• 2 cups high-quality, pulp-free orange juice
• 1 cup half-and-half
• ½ cup whole buttermilk
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup sugar
• 170g Kayro syrup

1. Whisk ingredients until the sugar is completely dissolved
2. Churn per manufacturer's directions
3. Place in an appropriate sealed container and “ripen” in the freezer for at least 4 hours

This sherbet turned out pretty good, but the vanilla flavor was stronger than I wanted. The texture was also harder than the store-bought stuff. I'm not sure I can get around the texture issue without resorting to “magic”. On the bright side, the texture was way better than a block of ice, and the orange flavor was pretty good. Next time, I'll try with less milkfat and no vanilla, just to see what happens.

Facts some might find interesting

• There's a legal definition of sherbet in the US. If you're interested, search the web for “21CFR135.140”. Of interest, sherbet must weight 6 lbs. per gallon or more and contain 1%-2% milkfat. I'm not selling it, so I'm not too worried about the rules.
• Where I grew up, most people called the stuff sherbert. Turns out, sherbert is just as valid a spelling as sherbet. For years I thought it was just a case of a phantom ‘R’ like the one in wash. Check out Merriam Webster for more info.

There are no ads on this page. I mention brands for specificity or context.

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