Boozy Eggnog Ice Cream

Happy New Year! I started off mine by ripping off the name of this recipe from ice cream goddess, Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. I recently sent some of Jeni's ice cream to my sister and picked this flavor as one of the seasonal options. But since my sister lives about 1,300 miles away, I couldn't actually taste it. And listening to her sample it over the phone wasn't all that satisfying (at least not for me, I'm sure it was very gratifying for her). So after fantasizing about it for two days, it became clear to me that I had to haul out the old ice cream maker and fire it up. That was one of the last (and best) decisions I made in 2011.

BOOZY EGGNOG ICE CREAM

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts

1 cup whole milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups chilled heavy cream

3 tablespoons dark rum or bourbon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for garnish

1.       Bring milk and salt to a boil in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Remove from heat.

2.       Whisk together yolks and sugar in a bowl, then gradually add 1/4 cup hot milk, whisking. Add yolk mixture to milk remaining in pan in a slow stream, whisking, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture is slightly thickened, coats back of spoon, and registers 175° F. on thermometer, 3 to 5 minutes. Immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve set into a clean bowl and stir in cream, rum, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.

3.       Chill custard, covered, until cold, at least 2 hours.

4.       Freeze in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden for at least 2 hours. Soften slightly in refrigerator before serving, about 20 minutes. Custard can be chilled up to 1 day. Ice cream can be made 1 week ahead.

barely adapted from Gourmet, December 2005

egg yolks

egg yolks and sugar, with some hot milk tempered in

yolks, sugar and milk in the pot

straining

strained

putting the cream in ice cream

putting the booze in boozy (or perhaps the nog in eggnog?)

I used dark rum.

adding homemade vanilla (full of luscious vanilla beans)

grating nutmeg (looks like saw dust)

cinnamon and nutmeg added

eggnog custard

custard in ice cream machine, ready to start churning
(It looks much lighter at the crack of dawn.)

boozy eggnog ice cream

Because of the booze, it gets all melty a little
faster than other ice creams (I love that).

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Blueberry Lime Ice Pops

I really like this blueberry lime combo. It's got a sweet-tart thing happening that's fantastic. Also, I think purple lips are a good look for me (it really brings out my eyes). So if you want purple lips, but don't like old fashioned grape ice pops, try these. Let's face it, the grape ones don't even taste like real grapes anyway. In fact, I think they might actually be frozen Dimetapp (on the bright side, your congestion will probably clear up).

BLUEBERRY-LIME ICE POPS

Makes 8 to 12

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (not thawed), preferably wild (about 1 lb.)

3/4 cup sugar, or to taste

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1.   Simmer blueberries, sugar, and water in a heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally, until blueberries burst and collapse, 3 to 5 minutes.

2.   Purée hot blueberry mixture with lime juice in a blender until smooth (carefully). Taste and blend in more sugar if needed. Strain into a large glass measuring cup. Let cool to room temperature.

3.   Pour into molds, insert sticks and freeze until completely hardened, at least 4 hours or overnight.

barely adapted from Lillian Chou

fresh blueberries

blueberries, sugar and water

cooked blueberries in blender

limes

adding the lime juice

blended

Against my better judgment, I didn't strain mine,
but wished I had. It was still delicious, I just didn't
care for the specks of blueberry skin left behind.
So I adding straining to the recipe.

pouring blueberry lime mixture into ice pop molds

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Watermelon-Raspberry Ice Pops

I should really call this post "ice pop dos and don'ts" because my first attempt was a borderline fiasco (I say borderline because if I don't get burned or cut or drop an entire pan of something on the floor, it isn't a full-blown fiasco). Go ahead and scroll down to the photo captions and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, technical problems aside, I think these ice pops are a delicious way to use up leftover watermelon (and you know when you buy a whole watermelon, there will be leftover). And if you mess up the first batch like I did, don't despair (just let it melt until it's a little slushy, mix in some rum and call it a daiquiri).

WATERMELON-RASPBERRY ICE POPS

Yield: 2 cups (about 6 to 8 pops)

3 cups seedless watermelon cubes (about ½-inch each)

1 small container fresh raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups)

approx. 1/2 cup sugar or sweetener of choice (add to taste)

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

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1.      Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor; puree until smooth.

2.      Strain puree, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible.

3.      Pour into popsicle molds and insert sticks. Freeze for at least 4 hours (or better yet,
       overnight).

If you don't have popsicle molds, you can just fill some little paper cups, cover tightly with plastic wrap and poke in some popsicle sticks. That's how the cavemen did it.

watermelon slice

chopped watermelon

raspberries

lemon

ready to blend

blended

straining

I filled one all the way and then filled the rest
about 1/3 full, so I could use some leftover plain
lemonade and make stripes.

the white stripes are a layer of lemonade (they're a little
hard to see with the bright light from the freezer)

Here's when I realized I had a problem. I thought
I had plenty of room for the stick while the top watermelon-
raspberry layer was still liquidy, but once the lemonade
layer was frozen solid, I couldn't fit the stick in far enough.

I knew it would be pretty tough to unmold an ice pop with
no stick. But then I learned it's also not a good idea to
unmold one with a stick that hasn't been frozen long enough.

I only had one more with a stick, so this time I waited until
the next morning and with a little warm water, it popped right out.

After my first failed attempt, I tried again. This time my
goal was to successfully put out one batch of unbroken ice pops
(and not to show off with fancy stripes). Mission accomplished
(but for real, not in a George Bush kind of way).

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Frozen Mosaic (Mango, Blackberry and Vanilla)

I'm not sure I need to say much about this frozen little work of art. It's so easy and pretty. You can make it days ahead of time (in about 30 minutes) and your guests will ooh and ahh (if they don't, consider getting yourself some new guests...I mean, really, it's the polite thing to do). 

These flavors are a great combination — very colorful and light & refreshing on a hot day. Of course you can make this with any flavors you want (as long as you make a sauce thin enough to fill in the cracks). I was thinking maybe a chocolate and vanilla version with raspberry sauce (not as colorful, but nice for chocolate lovers). And if you really want to be a superstar, make your own ice cream/sorbet (of course if you go that route, you can kiss quick and easy goodbye).

FROZEN MANGO, BLACKBERRY AND VANILLA MOSAIC

Makes 10 to 12 servings

2 pints mango sorbet (4 cups)

1 pint vanilla ice cream (2 cups)

6 oz. fresh blackberries (1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons crème de cassis (black currant liqueur)

1.     Put sorbet and ice cream in refrigerator until evenly softened, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

2.     Meanwhile, purée blackberries, sugar, and cassis in a blender until smooth, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Freeze to thicken slightly until ice cream is ready, 20 to 40 minutes, then stir until smooth.

3.      Lightly oil a 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan (or other 7- to 8-cup capacity mold) with no-taste oil (like canola oil). Cut a piece of parchment to fit bottom and long sides of pan, leaving at least 3 inches of overhang on each side.

4.     Fill pan decoratively with spoonfuls of sorbet and ice cream, pressing down and filling empty spaces with blackberry purée as you go. Smooth top, pressing down with back of spoon to eliminate air spaces, then fold parchment flaps over top and freeze until solid, at least 3 hours.

5.     To unmold, run a thin knife along short sides of pan to loosen mosaic, then open parchment and invert onto a flat serving dish, discarding parchment.

6.     Cut mosaic into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Can be made 5 days ahead and frozen, covered with plastic wrap.

from Gourmet, July 2007

blackberries with sugar and crème de cassis

blackberry sauce

straining the blackberry sauce

layering the ice cream and sorbet

Remember to push down as you layer to avoid holes
(mine had a few, but nothing too terrible).

blackberry sauce drizzled on

ready to wrap up

In order to unmold it, I did run a little warm water over the
sides of the pan. As you can see, it's a little melty because of that.
I just stuck it back in the freezer for 20 minutes--no problem.

unmolded, the short end

cross section

As you can see, every slice is different. Fun.

I wrapped the leftover in plastic wrap (in individual slices) and put them
back in the freezer. It was easy for my family to quickly grab a piece.
If you don't want those lines on yours, don't use a serrated knife like I did.

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Spiced Orange and Honey Sorbet

In case you've lost count, we're already on day six of Greek week. You didn't think I'd go the whole week without making a dessert did you? I was going to make baklava (but wouldn't you know it, I posted that already). Then I learned that baklava might not even be Greek (gasp!). Depending on your source, it could be Turkish, Armenian or Lebanese. Luckily it doesn't matter because I made sorbet.

I liked this, it was very light and refreshing. But I should warn you that it's probably more of an adult taste with the spices added. I never thought I'd see my daughter turn her nose up at anything resembling ice cream, but she did (I could see right up her tiny little nostrils).

SPICED ORANGE & HONEY SORBET

Makes about 4 cups

3 cups water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup clover honey

2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest

2 teaspoons chopped, peeled fresh ginger

1 whole star anise or cardamom pod

1 whole clove

1 small bay leaf, preferably fresh

2 cups chilled fresh orange juice

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1.      Combine water, sugar, honey, orange zest, ginger, anise, cloves and bay leaf in heavy large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil until syrup is thick and mixture is reduced to 2 cups, about 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf; cool syrup.

2.      Strain syrup into medium bowl. Add orange juice and lemon juice. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3.      Pour mixture into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer sorbet to container, cover, and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours and up to 3 days.

adapted from Michael Psilakis

sliced oranges

juicing

adding the honey

adding the orange zest

cooled liquid sorbet mixture
(I added one blood orange, just to liven up the color a little)

before churning

after churning

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